Courts set back GOP voter suits

By: Lisa Lerer
Politico.com
October 26, 2008

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Republican legal campaign questioning the legitimacy of many newly registered voters hit a wall this week when courts rejected several cases filed by GOP state parties and officials.

As Democrats registered record numbers of new voters over the recent months, Republicans asked courts to enforce a law intended to prevent fraud, but that voting rights advocates feared could erroneously purge thousands of legitimate voters from the rolls.

But over the last week, several judges ruled against or threw out Republican-filed challenges in battleground states.

Republicans hit back on Friday, when the White House asked the Department of Justice to investigate 200,000 Ohio voters with questionable registrations.

The battles are over a section of the Help American Vote Act, passed in 2002 by Congress to prevent another Florida-style recount. HAVA requires states to match information supplied on voter registration forms with department of motor vehicles and Social Security records.

(More here.)