Don't let the GOP buy or steal the elections

Call Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy: Tell him to immediately hold emergency hearings on Republican efforts to steal the 2012 election in key battleground states.

Call Senator Leahy: Tell him to hold emergency hearings on Republicans' vote stealing scheme in Pennsylvania.

Dear Jim,

Thank you for taking action to call on Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to hold emergency hearings on Republicans' scheme to steal the 2012 presidential election in Pennsylvania and other key battleground states.

So far almost 86,000 CREDO activists have signed the petition urging Senator Leahy to launch a congressional investigation into Republican actions to interfere with the outcome of a federal election, stemming from Pennsylvania GOP House Leader's explosive public admission that his party passed the state's voter ID law in order to hand the state's electoral votes to Mitt Romney.

The need to generate pressure on Senator Leahy has become more urgent as the voting rights crisis in Pennsylvania is only getting worse. Just days ago Pennsylvania state election officials released new data indicating that the voting rights of over 758,000 registered voters are at risk under the new Republican voter ID laws.¹ That number is "significantly higher than prior estimates" by Pennsylvania's Republican Governor.² To put it in perspective, the number of Pennsylvanians whose voting rights are at risk under GOP's new restrictive voter ID law now exceeds President Barack Obama's margin of victory in that state in 2008, which he won by about 600,000 votes.³

Call Chairman Patrick Leahy: Tell him to immediately hold hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Republicans' scheme to steal the presidential election in Pennsylvania and key battleground states. Click here for a sample script and the number to call.

In order to prevent Republicans from stealing the 2012 election, we need to continue building pressure on Senator Leahy to hold hearings and shine a light on this scheme.

As reported by The Nation's Ari Berman, if the Republicans are able to enforce Pennsylvania's restrictive voting ID law this November, they will suppress as many as 18 percent of the voters in Philadelphia, which happens to be the "Democratic and progressive hub" of the state with an electorate that is about 44 percent African American.⁴ Berman observed that this kind of voter ID law could be carried out in such a way that it would "disproportionately" impact turnout of "Democratic and progressive leaning voters" and could swing the election in favor of the Republicans in 2012.⁵

The Department of Justice cannot challenge the state's restrictive voter ID law like it has done in states such as Texas and South Carolina, because Pennsylvania is not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision which requires certain states with a history of racial discrimination to have changes to their voting laws approved in advance by federal authorities.⁶

Senator Leahy bears the responsibility to make sure our federal voting laws are not compromised in Pennsylvania and any other states where the Department of Justice does not have the power to challenge the Republicans' effort to disenfranchise thousands of Democratic voters. So it is critical for us to put as much public pressure on him as possible to move immediately on this issue.

Call Chairman Patrick Leahy: Tell him to immediately hold hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Pennsylvania Republicans' scheme to steal the presidential election. Click here for a sample script and the number to call.

Thank you for all you do to protect the integrity of our democracy.

Murshed Zaheed, Deputy Political Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. Bob Warner, "Voter ID law may affect more Pennsylvanians than previously estimated," The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 5, 2012.
2. Ibid.
3. Nation in the News, "Ari Berman: Why Republicans Are Challenging the Voting Rights Act," TheNation.com, July 9, 2012.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
6. Ryan J. Reilly, "Pennsylvania Pays Romney Bundler's Lobbying Firm To Publicize Voter ID Law," TalkingPointsMemo.com, July 10, 2012.