WASHINGTON — As debate over controversial voter ID laws heats up, some voting rights activists have raised another issue — campaign tactics to spread deceptive and misleading information.
Many opponents of the voter ID laws support legislation that would make it illegal to scare or mislead people into changing their vote. The Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act aims to make the practice of deliberately misleading voters illegal.
In 2008, voters across the country reported cases of deceptive or misleading information from candidates and campaigns, according to Tonya Clay House, of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. In the worst cases, she said in prepared testimony for a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, that fraud – in the form of false fliers, intimidating robocalls and fraudulent Facebook messages – prevented voters from going to the polls.
“It’s absolutely despicable what some people do,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., the bill’s sponsor, in a hearing. “To me people like this really belong in jail, because they’re really violating the fabric of our democracy.”
House and representatives of other groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union also are trying to overturn voter ID laws. Since 2010, 11 states have passed controversial voter identification laws, which require citizens to present valid identification in order to vote.
Advocates of the legislation argue that it prevents voter fraud. Opponents – including many civil and voting rights groups – say the law makes it harder to vote, especially for minority and elderly voters. And they’re taking their protests to state courts, most recently in Pennsylvania.
“Ultimately, it’s not just about who people are supporting,” said Leah Christian, a senior researcher at Pew Research Center. “It’s about who is actually going to show up on election day.”
As November approaches, and the fight for turnout heats up, the battle over the voter ID laws as well as deceptive practices will likely escalate.
Several states have laws that prohibit deceptive practices, but those laws haven’t proven effective, said House.
“They’re not very vigorous,” House said at the hearing. “Not everyone is actually enforcing those laws in a way that is going to ensure that we’re protecting people’s rights.”
Six Democrats have co-sponsored the bill, but it hasn’t garnered much Republican support.
“This bill represents a frontal attack on First Amendment Freedom of Speech,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
The measure is currently sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee. GovTrack.us predicts it has a 4 percent chance of being enacted.