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{{Short description|1981 US voter intimidation group}}{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2016}}The National Ballot Security Task Force (BSTF) was founded in 1981 in New Jersey, United States by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to discourage voter turnout among likely Democratic voters in the gubernatorial election.The group's activities prompted the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to bring a federal lawsuit, alleging a violation of the Voting Rights Act, illegal harassment, and voter intimidation. The RNC and New Jersey Republican State Committee entered into a consent decree in 1982, barring them from engaging in further such conduct.NEWS, REPUBLICANS AGREE IN LAWSUIT TO AVOID INTIMIDATING VOTERS,weblink September 5, 2023, New York Times, November 7, 1982, The RNC tried to lift the consent decree several times over the next 25 years; these attempts were rejected by the federal courts. In 2009, the US District Court of New Jersey agreed to several modifications of the consent decree, including the addition of an expiration date.WEB, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY, December 1, 2009, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL. v. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, ET AL.,weblink March 2, 2022, GovInfo.gov, That date was set for December 1, 2017. Democrats sought an extension of the consent decree based on allegations of new conduct, but the request was denied in January 2018 and the decree expired.WEB, GERSTEIN, JOSH, Judge ends consent decree limiting RNC 'ballot security' activities,weblink POLITICO, 10 September 2018, en,

Overview

{{Further|New Jersey gubernatorial election, 1981}}The task force consisted of a group of armed, off-duty police officers wearing armbands, who were hired to patrol polling sites in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods of Newark and Trenton.WEB,weblink Florio's Defeat Revives Memories of G.O.P. Activities in 1981, November 13, 1993, Sullivan, Joseph F., New York Times, Initially, 45,000 letters were mailed (using an outdated voter registration list) to primarily Latino and African-American citizens.WEB,weblink Poll Position, September 20, 2004, Toobin, Jeffrey, The New Yorker, Many of these letters were later returned as non-deliverable, and the 45,000 addresses were used to create a list of voters.BOOK,weblink The Politics of Deceit: Saving Freedom and Democracy from Extinction, Smith, Glenn W., 2004, John Wiley and Sons, October 7, 2008, 0-471-66763-3, 124, These voters were then challenged by the BSTF, a practice known as voter caging.WEB, Justin, Levitt,weblink Reported Instances of Voter Caging, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law, June 29, 2007, In addition, the Republican National Committee filed a request for election supervisors to strike these voters from the rolls, but the commissioners of registration refused when they discovered that the RNC had used outdated information.BOOK,weblink S. Hrg. 108–694: Maximizing Voter Choice, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Government Printing Office, Serial No. J–108–98, 65, October 5, 2004, On New Jersey's election day in 1981, the BSTF posted large signs, without identification but with an official appearance, reading {{blockquote|{{center|WARNINGTHIS AREA IS BEING PATROLLED BY THENATIONAL BALLOTSECURITY TASK FORCEIT IS A CRIME TO FALSIFY A BALLOT ORTO VIOLATE ELECTION LAWSBOOK,weblink registration, Governor Tom Kean, 184, Felzenberg, Alvin S., 0-8135-3799-1, Rutgers University Press, 2006, October 7, 2008, NEWS,weblink NJ's 1981 vote: Armed men at the polls, Larsen, Erik, Asbury Park Press, October 27, 2016, November 2, 2016, }}}}Armed members of the Task Force "were drawn from the ranks of off-duty county deputy sheriffs and local police," who "prominently displayed revolvers, two-way radios, and BSTF armbands." BSTF patrols "challenged and questioned voters at the polls and blocked the way of some prospective voters" in predominantly African-American and Hispanic areas. Democrat James J. Florio lost the gubernatorial election to Republican Thomas H. Kean by 1,797 votes.

1982 lawsuit and consent decree

A civil lawsuit was filed after the election by the DNC, which alleged that the RNC had violated the Voting Rights ActDavid G. Savage, Supreme Court denies RNC bid to end voter fraud consent decree, Los Angeles Times (January 14, 2013). and engaged in illegal harassment and voter intimidation.BOOK,weblink registration, Why Americans Still Don't Vote, Piven, Frances Fox, Cloward, Richard A., 0-8070-0449-9, Beacon Press, October 7, 2008, 2000, 245, The suit was settled in 1982, when the Republican National Committee and New Jersey Republican State Committee, instead of a trial, signed a consent decree in U.S. District Court saying that they would not allow tactics that could intimidate Democratic voters, though they did not admit any wrongdoing.BOOK,weblink registration, How to Rig an Election, Raymond, Allen, 2008, Simon & Schuster, October 7, 2008, 17, 978-1-4165-5222-2, WEB,weblink DNC v. RNC Consent Decree, Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law, November 5, 2016, The case and ensuing decree were supervised by District Court Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise for the ensuing 34 years.WEB, DNC v. RNC Consent Decree {{!, Brennan Center for Justice |url=https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/court-cases/dnc-v-rnc-consent-decree |access-date=2022-11-05 |website=www.brennancenter.org |language=en}}The consent decree, entered on November 1, 1982, prevented the Republican Party "from engaging in activities that suppress the vote, particularly when it comes to minority voters."NEWS, Matt, Katz,weblink Armed Men Once Patrolled the Polls. Will They Reappear in November?, WNYC News, September 1, 2016, It also barred the wearing of armbands at polling places. Under the consent decree "the Republican party organizations agreed to allow a federal court to review proposed 'ballot security' programs, including any proposed voter caging." The consent decree was set to expire in December 2017.NEWS,weblink Rachel Maddow Versus the Poll Watchers, The Advocate, October 25, 2016, A successor consent decree, applying to several states, was entered on July 27, 1987.

Republican attempts to lift consent decree

Prior to the expiration of the decree in 2018, the Republican Party attempted several times, without success, to have it terminated. They argued that it was "antiquated" and unnecessary. The Democratic National Committee countered by arguing that "recent campaigns show the 'consent degree remains necessary today.'" In 2009, a New Jersey federal judge rejected the RNC's request to vacate the consent decree. This ruling was unanimously affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 2012.Democratic National Committee v. Republican National Committee, 673 F.3d 192 (3d Cir. 2012). The Supreme Court declined to hear the RNC's appeal in 2013.

2016 motion

On October 26, 2016, the DNC filed a motion asking the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey to find that the RNC had violated the consent decree. The motion was filed after the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggested, without evidence, that the election was "rigged" in favor of his opponent Hillary Clinton and urged Trump supporters to watch the polls to combat supposed "voter fraud."NEWS, Matt Friedman,weblink Democrats: RNC violating anti-voter intimidation agreement, Politico, October 27, 2016, The DNC also sought to extend the duration of the consent decree. A shortened discovery occurred, and on November 5 the court denied the request. The court determined that the DNC did not present "sufficient evidence of coordination between the Trump campaign and the RNC on ballot-security operations" but did "allow the DNC to offer further evidence after the election."

Expiration of consent decree

{{see also|2020 United States Postal Service crisis}}The consent decree restricting Republican Party conduct was set to expire on December 1, 2017, but Democrats sought an extension,NEWS, Jonathan D., Salant,weblink Here's what Sean Spicer said in N.J. voter intimidation case, NJ.com, NJ Advance Media, December 29, 2017, NEWS, Matt, Friedman,weblink After questioning Spicer, Democrats want to depose Priebus about election night activities, Politico, December 29, 2017, alleging that statements from Donald Trump campaign officials showed the RNC had engaged in activities in violation of the decree. U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez allowed the Democratic Party to take the deposition of Sean Spicer before issuing a decision on whether the decree should be allowed to expire, but denied Democrats' motions for hearings on the issue. On January 8, Judge John Vasquez ruled that the decree had expired on December 1, and would not be extended.The 2020 presidential election was the first presidential election since 1980 in which the Republican Party was able to deploy "ballot security operations". In 2019 Justin R. Clark, an official in Trump's re-election campaign, was recorded telling Republican lawyers that the expiration of the consent decree was a "huge, huge, huge, huge deal" for the campaign's election day operations in Wisconsin.WEB,weblink The Election That Could Break America, November 2020, September 24, 2020, The Atlantic, Barton, Gellman, Barton Gellman, In March 2020 the RNC announced plans to mobilize 50,000 poll watchers to swing states, while Trump described plans to mobilise law enforcement as poll watchers, and the True the Vote group sought to recruit police officers and military veterans. The political scientist Kenneth Mayer of the University of Wisconsin–Madison argued in August 2020 that the lifting of the consent decree raised the prospect of a return to practices of voter intimidation, while Justin Levitt of Loyola Law School argued that the RNC was unlikely to have the capacity to mobilize such numbers.WEB,weblink In 1981 a 'task force' intimidated voters at the polls. Will Republicans revert to their old tactics?, August 24, 2020, September 14, 2020, The Guardian, Ed, Pilkington, NEWS,weblink Trump's suggestion of deploying law enforcement officials to monitor polls raises specter of voting intimidation, August 22, 2020, September 14, 2020, The Washington Post, Rosalind S., Helderman, Josh, Dawsey, Matt, Zapotosky, In October 2020 the Trump campaign said it had enlisted more than 50,000 volunteer poll watchers in swing states.WEB,weblink Trump campaign ready to unleash thousands of poll watchers on Election Day, October 8, 2020, October 9, 2020, Politico, Alex, Isenstadt, Natasha, Korecki, In a September 2020 opinion column, Florio likened Trump's rhetoric to the use of voter intimidation in the 1981 campaign.WEB,weblink Armed men at N.J.'s Black, Latino polling places? Ex-gov. warns it has happened before, September 13, 2020, September 14, 2020, NJ.com, James J., Florio, James Florio,

See also

• Voter suppression in the United States
• Corruption in the United States

References

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