WASHINGTON, D.C. — A U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report about threats to voting rights for minorites and the disabled allegedly never saw the light of day after being voted down by conservative commissioners, according to a report.
The commission spent months working on the analysis, which looked into how the coronavirus pandemic might impact both in-person and mail-in voting by minorities, people with disabilities and those with medical conditions that make them vulnerable to the virus, USA Today reported.
The report listed what one commissioner called a “behemoth” set of recommendations for what should be done to overcome the obstacles, according to the newspaper.
But an Aug. 21 vote to release the report failed in a 4-4 tie along party lies. All four of the conservative commissioners were recently appointed by President Donald Trump, who is seeking re-election.
The move comes just as the country is about to hold an unprecedented and especially contentious election on Nov. 3. The pandemic will lead to a record number of mail-in votes, with some states shifting entirely that direction this year to prevent crowding at polling places. Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that increased mail-in voting might lead to a fraudulent outcome.
Michael Yaki, a Democratic commissioner, commented during the meeting that “to simply bury” the report “as if it never occurred is contrary to transparency; it’s contrary to what we have done in the past; contrary to just the spirit of open debate and discussion.”
The commission sought input from voting rights groups and experts as well as advocates for people with disabilities and those with limited English language skills.
Among their concerns were problems seen during primary elections in several states amid the pandemic, the steep reduction in the number of polling places, the need by some people for assistance at the polls, and the lack of protective gear for poll workers — which puts both themselves and voters at risk.
J. Christian Adams, a conservative commissioner appointed two weeks before the meeting, told USA Today he voted against releasing the report because it “overlooked the disenfranchising effect of mail voting” such as ballots being undeliverable, rejected or lost. Adams made a similar comment to the House Judiciary Committee in June, which the fact-checking site Politifact deemed “mostly false.”
Another conservative commissioner, Stephen Gilchrist, said he rejected the report because he found its timing so close to the election “somewhat suspect” and believed some of its contents were politically motivated.
Catherine Lhamon, the commission’s Democratic chair, told USA Today she was “deeply dismayed” that the report was shelved and that the panel is not speaking “to this moment, which is unlike any other in terms of an effort to vote in the history of this country.”
The commission, which is an independent federal agency, was established in 1957, and its work has informed such landmark legislation as the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Age Discrimination Act of 1978 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
It, however, has not been immune to political maneuvering over the years, USA Today noted. Commissioners serve six-year terms. The president appoints four members, the House speaker appoints two, and the president pro tempore of the Senate appoints two. No more than half the commissioners can belong to the same political party.
