Via "Consent Decree" from 1982-Dec. 2017, “RNC and its employees were prohibited from engaging in Election Day activities, including poll watching."…In Nov. 2016, “party officials knew to keep their distance” from “Donald Trump’s vote-counting operations on Election Night” Sean Spicer said.
8/8/2018, “End of 1982 Consent Decree: GOP finally can contest vote fraud after 36 years,” Investment Watch blog, Dr. Eowyn
“Did you know that since 1982, the Republican Party had been legally prohibited from contesting elections due to suspected vote fraud, because of
a legal agreement called
the Consent Decree the GOP made with the Democrat Party?
Finally, 36 years later, a judge has ended the agreement, freeing the Republican Party to ensure electoral integrity by investigating and pursuing suspected vote fraud….
THE 1982 CONSENT DECREE
As I explained in my post of November 15, 2012, “Why the GOP won’t challenge vote fraud,” in 1981, during the gubernatorial election in New Jersey (NJ), a lawsuit was brought against the Republican National Committee (RNC), the NJ Republican State Committee (RSC), and three individuals (John A. Kelly, Ronald Kaufman, and Alex Hurtado), accusing them of violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1971, 1973,
and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
The lawsuit was brought by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the NJ Democratic State Committee (DSC), and two individuals (Virginia L. Peggins and Lynette Monroe).
The lawsuit alleged that:
- The RNC and RSC targeted minority voters in New Jersey in an effort to intimidate them.
- The RNC created a voter challenge list by mailing sample ballots to individuals in precincts with a high percentage of racial or ethnic minority registered voters. Then the RNC put the names of individuals whose postcards were returned as undeliverable on a list of voters to challenge at the polls.
- The RNC enlisted the help of off-duty sheriffs and police officers with “National Ballot Security Task Force” armbands, to intimidate voters by standing at polling places in minority precincts during voting. Some of the officers allegedly wore firearms in a visible manner.
To settle the lawsuit, in 1982 — while Ronald Reagan was President (1981-1989) —
the RNC and RSC entered into an agreement or Consent Decree, which is national in scope,
limiting the RNC’s ability to engage or assist
unless the RNC obtains the court’s approval in advance.
The two parties [RNC and RSC] agreed that “in the future, in all states and territories of the United States,” they would:
(d) refrain from giving any directions to or permitting their employees to campaign within restricted polling areas or to interrogate prospective voters as to their qualifications to vote prior to their entry to a polling place;
(e) refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision to conduct, or the actual conduct of, such activities there and where a purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting; and the conduct of such activities disproportionately in or directed toward districts that have a substantial proportion of racial or ethnic populations shall be considered relevant evidence of the existence of such a factor and purpose;
(f) refrain from having private personnel deputized as law enforcement personnel in connection with ballot security activities.
The RNC also agreed that the RNC, its agents, servants, and employees would be bound by the Decree,
“whether acting directly or indirectly through other party committees.”
To put it bluntly, the Consent Decree in effect gave a carte blanche to the Democrat Party to commit vote fraud in every voting district across America that has, in the language of the Consent Decree, “a substantial proportion of racial or ethnic populations.” The term “substantial proportion” is not defined.
In 1987, the Consent Decree was modified to define “ballot security activities” as “ballot integrity, ballot security
or other efforts to prevent or remedy vote fraud.”
Since 1982, the Consent Decree had been renewed every year by the original judge, Carter appointee District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise, who, even after he retired, returned every year for the sole purpose of renewing his 1982 order for another year.
Debevoise died in August 2015.
In 2010, the RNC appealed “to vacate or modify” the Consent Decree in “Democratic National Committee v Republican National Committee,” Case No. 09-4615 (C.A. 3, Mar. 8, 2012). But an appeals judge at the New Jersey District Court, Obama appointee Judge Joseph Greenaway, Jr.,
declined to vacate the decree.
Flash forward to December 1, 2017, when the Consent Decree was due to expire.
According to NJ.com, the Democrat Party tried to extend the Consent Decree, claiming that the 2016 Trump presidential campaign had colluded with the RNC in voter intimidation efforts, and
that Trump’s commission to examine suspected Democratic voter fraud was, in the words of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ),
“a thinly veiled voter suppression effort”.
But Sean Spicer, who had been a top RNC official before entering the Trump White House as spokesman, testified there was no collusion of the Trump campaign with the RNC, and that the RNC had stayed away from all 2016 election day activities, including any voter-intimidation, voter-suppression or ballot-security efforts. Nor did any party officials discuss voter fraud allegations with the Trump campaign. Spicer said:
“It had been abundantly clear for the six years that I worked at the RNC that the RNC and its employees were prohibited from engaging in Election Day activities, including poll watching, so I
intentionally stayed away from all of that.
The [RNC] counsel’s office had been vigilant in informing both senior staff and subordinates on the importance of the consent decree and the activities that we were clearly should not be engaged at or be even perceived as engaging in. And so we had grown accustomed to not even coming too close to a line that would
in any way, shape, or form lead one to believe that we were engaged in those activities.”
RNC lawyer Bobby Burchfield said Spicer’s testimony proved there was no collusion and asked the presiding judge, U.S. District Court Judge John Michael Vazquez, to allow the 1982 Consent Decree to expire.
As reported by NJ.com on January 9, 2018, Judge Vazquez ruled that the Democratic National Committee did not prove that the RNC violated the Consent Decree prior to
its Dec. 1, 2017, expiration date.
And with that, Judge Vazquez, an Obama appointee, ended that noxious
1982 Consent Decree legal agreement between the RNC and DNC
RNC spokesman Michael Ahrens said “We are gratified that the judge recognized our full compliance with the consent decree and rejected the DNC’s baseless claims” and that Judge Vazquez’s ruling
“will allow the RNC to work more closely with state parties and campaigns
to do what we do best, ensure that more people vote through our unmatched field program.” As a result,
the GOP will be able to boost its Election Day turnout operations, including targeting potential voters
and get them to the polls,
which the Democrats have been able to do but the Republicans have not for 36 years.
Nominated by Obama to the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey in March 2015, John Michael Vazquez, 47-48, who received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law, was confirmed by the Senate on January 27, 2016, by a vote of 84 to 2. Thank you, Judge Vazquez, for your fair and judicious ruling.”
…………………………………………..
Added: ““We [the RNC] had grown accustomed to not even coming too close to a line that would in any way, shape, or form lead one to believe that we were engaged in those activities,” he [Spicer] said.” In Nov. 2016, “party officials knew to keep their distance” from “Donald Trump’s vote-counting operations on Election Night” Sean Spicer said.
12/29/2017, “Here’s what Sean Spicer said in N.J. voter intimidation case," nj.com, Jonathan D. Salant, Washington
“White House spokesman Sean Spicer testified there were no signs keeping Republican National Committee staff members
vote-counting operations on Election Night, but
party officials knew to keep their distance.
“It had been abundantly clear for the six years that I worked at the RNC that the
RNC and its employees were prohibited from engaging in Election Day activities,
including poll watching,
so I intentionally stayed away from all of that,” said Spicer, then a top Republican National Committee official.
Spicer’s testimony came as the Republican National Committee sought to end limits on its voter activities imposed 35 years ago as a result of GOP activities in the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election narrowly won by Thomas H. Kean.
That consent decree expired Dec. 1, [2017] but Democrats are seeking to extend it.
Spicer said the poll monitoring and data operations were housed in a small room on the fifth floor of Trump Tower, with entry restricted. He said he and Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus were the only RNC officials who were on the fifth floor.
While there were no signs telling party officials to keep out,
they knew to stay away, Spicer said.
Spicer said neither he nor any Republican National Committee officials were involved in what could be seen as any voter-intimidation, voter-suppression
Nor did any party officials
discuss voter fraud allegations
with the [2016] Trump campaign, he said.
“The counsel’s office had been vigilant in informing both senior staff and subordinates on the
importance of the consent decree
and the activities that we were clearly should not be engaged at or
be even perceived as engaging in,” Spicer said.
“And so we had grown accustomed to
not even coming too close to a line
that would in any way,
shape, or form lead one to believe that we were engaged
in those activities,” he said.
Spicer joined the Trump White House after the campaign but resigned his post in July.
Democratic lawyer Angelo Genova had sought to question Spicer to show links between the RNC and Trump, who has claimed without evidence that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election
and formed a commission to examine voter fraud, which
studies have shown is virtually non-existent.
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., has called the panel “a thinly veiled voter suppression effort” and
has introduced legislation to disband it.
Following Spicer’s testimony, Genova asked U.S. District Court Judge John Michael Vazquez to let him question Priebus, who later became Trump’s chief of staff, as well as Trump campaign aides Mike Roman
and Brad Parscale.
RNC lawyer Bobby Burchfield said Spicer’s testimony proved there was no collusion and asked Vazquez to end the case with the consent decree expired.
“This court has repeatedly observed that the DNC has failed to submit evidence of RNC participation in ballot security efforts or voter suppression efforts during the 2016 election cycle,” Burchfield said. “Much as the DNC wants to continue these proceedings, however, it has provided no sound reason to do so.”
The limits were imposed after the 1981 New Jersey gubernatorial election in which the state Republican Party reportedly targeted heavily minority communities that tend to support Democratic candidates.
Trump and Republicans have championed the use of
that have been found to
discriminate against minority voters.
The type of in-person voter fraud such laws are designed to protect against is
extremely rare, studies have shown.
For example, after the 2016 election, reviews by election officials in California, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee found just 324 potential fraud cases out of more than 29 million ballots cast, or one-thousandth of 1 percent, according to the Center for Election Innovation and Research in Washington.
And Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles,
found just 31 possible fraud cases out of more than 1 billion votes
from 2000 through 2014."
………………………………………
Added: Having observed 2012 sham Romney effort, voters comment on so-called Republican “Consent Decree” in place since 1982 (created after a 1981 NJ governor election):
11/12/2012, “No Joke: The GOP Can Not Legally Help Stop Vote Fraud,” Politijim…
“During the weekly True the Vote webcast, Catherine Engelbrecht related a meeting she had with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus,
asking what the GOP would do about voter integrity.
The answer? Nothing. They aren’t legally able to. (I’m not joking.)”…
Two of the clauses read this way:
(e) refrain from undertaking any ballot security activities in polling places or election districts where the racial or ethnic composition of such districts is a factor in the decision to conduct, or the actual conduct of, such activities there and where a purpose or significant effect of such activities is to deter qualified voters from voting;…
(f) refrain from having private personnel deputized as law enforcement personnel in connection with ballot security activities….
ACORN Whistleblower Anita Moncrief…pointed out during her comments tonight that in visiting the [2012] Democrat advocacy groups in Ohio, they were organized, motivated and purposeful in getting out their vote as was witnessed by the long line of Somali and Ethiopian voters bussed in to polling places. When she visited the Romney campaign offices, she said there was utter confusion, many were just sitting around waxing about how the couldn’t wait to Free Willy. (ORCA was the name of the failed computer program the Romney campaign tried to use to “micro-target” volunteers to get out the vote where it was needed.)
It was down ALL DAY,
and finally late in the day people were sent out with printed
registration cards to go find people to vote….Moncrief said one other
thing of interest. When she visited random Ohio polling places [in 2012], there was almost NEVER a GOP poll watcher and ALWAYS a Democratic one.”…
………………….
Six among voter comments in 2012 about Republican so-called “Consent Decree:”
…………………..
“johnrhett
………………………………………..
Added: 8/16/2016, “How this bit of nasty N.J. history may foil Trump’s vow to stop ‘rigged election’," nj.com, Jonathan D. Salant
“[Republican] Party officials have [allegedly] attempted to get from under the constraints several times, but the courts have upheld the agreement, including
the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. [No link provided].
The agreement is due to expire in [Dec. 1,] 2017 unless the Republicans are found to have violated its provisions,
in which case the
Democrats can seek to extend it.”..
.........................................
Comment: For 35 years the Republican Party and Republican National Committee agreed that based on one 1981 election in New Jersey that the entire party was inherently racist, that it couldn't be trusted to restrain its racist impulses, so shouldn't be allowed to compete on a level playing field with the Democrat Party.
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