Democrats and Republicans settle foreclosed voter lawsuit

Mark Brewer, Michigan Democratic Party chair and Saul Anuzis, Michigan Republican Party chair

The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) have settled a federal lawsuit triggered by a Michigan Messenger story reporting that the Macomb County Republican Party planned to use mortgage foreclosure lists to challenge the eligibility of voters in the upcoming presidential election.

Here is the text of the joint statement released by the parties in the case:

“Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and individual Macomb County residents have alleged that the Republican National Committee, the Michigan Republican Party and the Macomb County Republican Party were planning to use foreclosure lists to challenge certain voters on Election Day. The Republicans have denied the allegations and have stated that they never intended to challenge voters based on any such list. To clarify the matter for all voters, all parties are pleased that they agree that the existence of a person’s address on a foreclosure list does not provide a reasonable basis for challenging the person’s eligibility to vote and that none of these parties will challenge any voter’s eligibility on that basis.”

Both sides agreed to dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be re-filed.

But not everyone is convinced that this is the end of the story.

For an earlier story about this lawsuit, Gerry Hebert, executive director of the voter rights advocacy group Campaign Legal Center, told the Michigan Messenger that he was concerned that the GOP could continue to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters by folding them into a larger voter challenge list that does not make explicit the basis for the challenge. Hebert:

“It’s true that using the foreclosure lists may be radioactive and they may have decided not to do that explicitly, but they may still be planning to do a massive challenge and incorporate the names and addresses from the foreclosure list into that program and use the larger list to challenge voters.”

Mary Ellen Gurewitz, the attorney for the Obama campaign and the DNC who handled the case, told the Michigan Messenger that the law does technically allow for such a possibility, but she doesn’t think the GOP would attempt to do this now because of the settlement in this case:

“The Michigan statute does not require people who are challenging to provide to the elections inspector the source of the information which they use to base their challenges on. Under the Michigan statute, however, it is a misdemeanor to make a challenge that is not a good faith challenge and they have acknowledged publicly and in sworn statements that this does not provide a good reason to challenge a person. So I think if they challenged a person on this basis, it would be a crime. They’ve committed themselves not to do so and they’ve said in their sworn statements that they won’t do so, so I think it would be really problematic for them to use foreclosure lists given the posture in this case and the statements they’ve made publicly and under oath.”

Both parties tried to spin the settlement as favorable to their position. The Michigan Democratic Party put out a press release saying, “The settlement acknowledges the existence of an illegal scheme by the Republicans to use mortgage foreclosure lists to deny foreclosure victims their right to vote.”

In fact, the joint statement explicitly says that the Republicans continue to deny the allegations that they ever had such a scheme.

Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, had a different take in a press release about the settlement:

“Let’s be perfectly clear: The plaintiffs who brought this baseless lawsuit have agreed to ask a judge to dismiss it. Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer either is ignorant of the terms of the agreement to dismiss or he’s flat-out lying. The Michigan Republican Party only agreed to the truth: There was never a plan to use foreclosure lists, there is no plan to use foreclosure lists, there is not going to be a plan to use foreclosure lists … The joint statement by all parties states what has been the truth since day one: There is no plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters, there never has been one, nor will there be.”

In an interview with the Michigan Messenger, Brewer stood by his original statement:

“Why would they agree to a settlement and that statement if they never planned to do this? Why not go into court and get the judge to agree with them? They can spin it all they want, but the settlement gives us everything we wanted in our original lawsuit. I think it’s a tacit or implicit acknowledgment that the program existed, they got caught, and now they’re running away from it.”

Hebert told the Michigan Messenger that that no matter how you spin it, this settlement was a good thing for the country. “I think it’s an important development that voters in Michigan will not be challenged based on the fact that their names appeared on any foreclosure list and that that’s not a basis for doing so,” he said. “Prosecution of vote caging schemes remain at the top of the list for ensuring voter protection. It’s important that any person in any other state who plans to challenge voters because they appear on a foreclosure list should know that such plans are likely illegal and do not provide a good faith reason for challenging people’s right to vote.”