NAACP suit filed to protect voters

October 25, 2008

Talks under way to assure foreclosure lists won't be used to block ballots

By Kevin O'Neal
Indianapolis Star

A lawsuit filed by the Indianapolis chapter of the NAACP, which aims to protect voters from being turned away at the polls if their homes have been foreclosed, could be settled this morning.

Negotiations were under way Thursday to reach an agreement on a potential court order that would keep anyone from using Marion County foreclosure lists as the sole basis of a voter challenge, according to the county Republican chairman."A foreclosure never could have been an adequate basis for a challenge on its own," said Tom John, chairman of the Marion County Republican Central Committee.

A newspaper story that quoted the chairman saying foreclosure challenges were possible was mentioned at the beginning of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's court filing. But the lawsuit names only the Marion County Election Board, a bipartisan body, as the defendant. The plaintiffs are an Indianapolis couple who lost their home to foreclosure.

The issue is especially sensitive in Indianapolis. Last year, nearly 26,000 home foreclosures were filed in the metro area, a 7.9 percent increase from 2006, real estate monitor RealtyTrac reports.

"I am very thankful that we are a party to this issue," said Cornell Burris, chairman of the NAACP chapter. "We are not trying to be partisan." He said similar issues in Michigan and Ohio led to the Indianapolis suit.

The suit comes eight days before Election Day. Voting, especially in the presidential race, is expected to be close.

The suit was filed on behalf of April and Shawn Herring, a married couple from Indianapolis who lost their home to a sheriff's sale after the husband lost his job. It asks that the court issue orders that if a person's name appears on a foreclosure list, that does not establish that the person no longer lives at the address of the foreclosed property, and use of that list as the only reason to challenge a voter would not be allowed.

A printed statement from Nathaniel Lee, an Indianapolis attorney representing the NAACP in this case, said: "We feel that all residents who experience severe economic distress, resulting in the loss of their home, should have the right to vote."

Although the county Election Board is a bipartisan body and the current county clerk, who oversees the election, is a Democrat, the suit specifically mentions Marion County Republicans. It notes county GOP Chairman Tom John as saying that potential voters might be challenged if their names appear on a foreclosure list.

"It's entirely possible," John said in an Oct. 3 news story. "I think it would be a solid basis for asking someone to vote provisionally." A printed statement from John, issued from his office after the story was published, said: "Our party will not challenge anyone based on a foreclosure notice or list. We had no plans to challenge based on this information and we will not."

Indiana law allows challenged voters to cast a provisional ballot. They must return to prove their eligibility to vote.

In what John said was a separate statement, added to the county GOP's Web site Wednesday, the party's Circuit Court candidate said foreclosure or eviction should not stop a person from voting.

"I want to ensure that people know that if they are evicted between now and Election Day, they are still eligible to vote and should exercise that right," read the statement from Lawrence Township Judge Jim Joven.

Source: Indianapolic Star