Senior House Democrats Slam Barbour’s Efforts to Violate Voting Rights Act and Mississippi Voting Law

Representatives John Conyers, Jr. D-MI), Robert Brady (D-PA), Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) expressed outrage at Republican Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour’s efforts to violate Mississippi state law as well as section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in the design of Mississippi’s November ballot. In a move apparently motivated by extreme partisan politics, Barbour is seeking to put the close Senate election between Republican candidate Roger Wicker and Democratic candidate Ronnie Musgrove at the bottom of the November 4^th ballot, making the race easily overlooked. While a lower court in Mississippi has ruled against the Governor, Barbour has appealed the decision to the State Supreme Court.

Mississippi law requires that all federal races be placed at the top of the ballot. Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires that covered jurisdictions – which includes the entire state of Mississippi – have any changes to its election procedures – which includes changes to election ballots – precleared by the Department of Justice.

"Attempts to disenfranchise any of our nation’s eligible voters this November, including those in Mississippi, simply cannot be tolerated," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers. "The Mississippi Governor does not get to change the rules when the race is not going his way. I am asking that the Department of Justice intervene in this blatant violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act."

"This is an all too familiar reminder of the dirty tricks and voter suppression tactics of long ago," said Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson. "What we have here is a clear intent to confuse voters. The purpose of our voting rights laws is to protect vulnerable populations against this type of gutter-politics."

"We will use every tool at our disposal to combat these blatant efforts to disenfranchise Americans," said House Administration Committee Chairman Robert A. Brady. “"Use of ballot design to minimize participation by qualified American voters is a direct affront to the American voting system and undermines the integrity of our electoral process in countless ways. Bad ballot design disenfranchised Americans of their intent in 2000 in Florida, and Mississippi is attempting to do the same in 2008."

"It is a national disgrace that our Justice Department continues to drag its feet in the enforcement of our voting rights laws," said House Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler. "As we approach an important national election, the Attorney General must do everything in his power to ensure all eligible Americans are able to exercise their right to vote without partisan deception, or tactics aimed at disenfranchising minority voters."

"Once again we see the GOP actively working to confuse and disenfranchise voters," noted House Administration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren. "Governor Barbour has apparently decided that since they are having a problem winning at the ballot box they’ll just hide the ballots. Their efforts are not just illegal, they are a violation of the basic principles of our government."