Obama's Voting Bill

[msgadget]

(I didn't see this here - apologies if its a dupe)

... even in this awesome age of technical advancement and easy access to information, there are folks who will stop at nothing to deceive people and keep them away from the polls. We've got deceptive practices that all too often target and exploit vulnerable populations: African Americans, senior citizens, the poor, the disabled. Think about the story of the 2004 elections. We had voters in Milwaukee who received flyers from nonexistent "Milwaukee Black Voters League" warning them that they risked imprisonment for voting if they had ever been found guilty of an offense, even a traffic violation. In that same election in a county in Ohio some voters received mailing misinformation that said anyone registered to vote by the Kerry campaign or the NAACP would be barred from voting. You know there are a lot of tried and true tricks that are used on Election Days. A lot of times voters are warned that an unpaid parking ticket will lead to their arrest or that folks with family members who have been convicted for a crime are ineligible to vote. These warnings obviously have no basis in fact and they are made with only one goal in mind, to keep Americans away from the polls.

You know, it's not enough for us to hope that people who go to the polls are not victims of such malicious campaigns. So, this week I'm introducing the Deceptive Elections Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2005. That's a mouthful, but it's a very simple idea that we are trying to introduce. It says that there is going to be clear statutory language and authority provided to investigators to look into allegations of deceptive practices. It establishes significant harsh penalties for those who've engaged in such fraudulent practices and it seeks to address the real harms of these crimes, voters who are discouraged from voting, by establishing a process for reaching out to those who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can cast their votes in a timely basis.
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clip from podcast transcript: http://obama.senate.gov/podcast/051110-protecting_voters_against_deceptive_practices/index.html

bill:http://obama.senate.gov/record/051108-s1975_deceptive_practices_and_voter_intimidation_prevention_act_of_2005/index.html