To the Editor:
Re “Strong-Arming the Vote” (editorial, Aug. 3): Your suggestion of partisanship by both a federal judge and the Department of Justice was unfounded. That claim is refuted by the court’s two well-reasoned written opinions and the underlying facts.
Alabama lags behind every other state in the nation in complying with the voter database requirement of federal law. The Justice Department spent more than a year trying to negotiate an amicable agreement to remedy Alabama’s conceded violations of federal law. Alabama’s secretary of state, however, preferred the appointment of a special master rather than agree to compliance by the federal elections in 2008.
The resulting appointment of Gov. Bob Riley was supported by county elections officials, 76 percent of whom are Democrats. Moreover, the creation of the voter database required by law cannot be partisan, especially in a state like Alabama, where voters do not register by party.
It is unfair to besmirch the Justice Department’s commitment to evenhanded law enforcement, much less a federal judge’s.
Wan J. Kim
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice
Washington, Aug. 4, 2006
