In the same Los Angeles Times Article that California Senator Barbara Boxer gives as a reason for the Department of Justice to investigate the "True The Vote" campaign, the L.A. Times says: "... Ohio tea party researchers [True The Vote] have correctly identified voters who have died or moved, speeding up the official updating of registration files. They also found voters registered at a Cincinnati trailer park that no longer exists..."
But in a 27 September Barbara Boxer news release titled "Boxer Calls on Department of Justice to Protect Americans from Voter Intimidation," Boxer cites the L.A. Times article by Michael Finnegan, in which he also writes that "...Lori Monroe, a 40-year-old Democrat who lives in central Ohio, was startled a few weeks ago to open a letter that said a stranger was challenging her right to vote in the presidential election..."
"...Monroe, who was recovering from cancer surgery, called the local election board to protest. A local tea party leader was trying to strike Monroe from the voter rolls for a reason that made no sense: Her apartment building in Lancaster was listed as a commercial property. 'I'm like, really? Seriously?' Monroe said. 'I've lived here seven years, and now I'm getting challenged?'...Monroe's is one of at least 2,100 names that tea party groups have sought to remove from Ohio's voter rosters..."According to the article, Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, smells a conspiracy. Says Finnegan:
"...The racial dimension of the 2012 clash over weekend voting burst into the open last month when one of Ohio's most powerful Republicans, Franklin County GOP Chairman Doug Preisse, told the Columbus Dispatch, 'We shouldn't contort the voting process to accommodate the urban — read African American — voter-turnout machine.'...Some Democrats see the developments in Ohio as part of a national drive by Obama's opponents to minimize turnout of his supporters, one that includes efforts elsewhere to impose new voter ID rules...'Too much of this is going on for this not to be a coordinated effort,' said Tim Burke, chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party in the tea party stronghold of southwestern Ohio.'..."
(See Full L.A. Times Article HERE)
Catherine Engelbrecht, Founder and President of True the Vote doesn't see Boxer's request to the Department of Justice as calling for an investigation to protect citizens' voter rights. She believes Boxer wants to shut down the "True The Vote" organization.
Why?
In a newsletter to subscribers, Engelbrecht explains:
"...'Progressive' Senator Barbara Boxer just wrote an urgent letter to the Obama Justice Department demanding that it 'investigate' True the Vote...Specifically Ms. Boxer says that our efforts to prevent voter fraud are part of a scheme to 'suppress' the vote in the swing state of Ohio...That's nonsense of course. What Senator Boxer wants is for the Obama Administration to shut us down!..."
Engelbrecht elaborates:
"...True the Vote has never and will never try to prevent an American citizen from casting a legal ballot...Our job is to stop "progressive" vote-collecting groups from stealing this year's election, especially in important states like Ohio...And that scares the heck out of radical politicians like Barbara Boxer. So she wants the feds to shut us down!...It's now quite clear that our efforts have struck a real nerve with the 'progressives' who rely on large ACORN-like get-out-the-vote operations in order to get reelected...They are absolutely terrified that True the Vote will be able to stop them this November...That's why Barbara Boxer and her allies are attacking us so viciously...They are trying to shut us down and allow illegal votes to be cast on Election Day..."In her letter to Civil Rights Division, Assistant Attorney General, Thomas E. Perez, Boxer says:
"...Please let me know if you are investigating voter suppression incidents such as the type described in the Los Angeles Times and the steps you are taking to enforcing voting rights laws across the country to ensure free and fair elections..."The "True The Vote" organization describes its purpose as:
"...working to restore integrity to the American system of electing its leaders. With True the Vote, we have, 'deconstructed the entire process, focusing on educating voters, examining the registry, recruiting, training and mobilizing election workers and poll watchers, training how to collect data all along the way, then use the data to shape government action and legislative agendas to support desperately needed election code reform...Our government was built upon the belief that election results represent the true will of the people and our election processes were always intended to be supported by citizen volunteers. We are helping stop corruption where it can start – at the polls..."
