DOJ Monitoring Early Voting in True the Vote’s Homebase

DOJ coming to True the Vote's crib to monitor elections.

By Brentin Mock Oct 19, 2012

Today the U.S. Department of Justice announced that they will be monitoring early voting in Dallas and Harris County, Texas to make sure Voting Rights Act laws are being followed. Coincidentally, DOJ visited Harris County to monitor voting during congressional elections in 2010 also. And it just so happens that Harris County is the homebase for True the Vote, and the King Street Patriots tea party group they grew from.

It was also during those 2010 elections that DOJ began looking into True the Vote’s activities after waves of complaints came in from Harris County voters — mostly black and Latino — that poll watchers were getting all up in their faces, as reported by Talking Points Memo’s Ryan Reilly and American Prospect’s Abby Rapaport.

DOJ’s announcement today doesn’t say their monitoring is related to True the Vote. Meanwhile, the "election integrity" group referred to by civil rights groups as "ballot bullies" have suffered quite a pummeling in the past month with lawyers and government officials responding to their elections tampering and Rep. Elijah Cummings demanding documents that show their poll watching and voter registration list research operations. Earlier this week, I reported that True the Vote is now trying to cash out by suing states over spurious "injury" claims to collect taxpayer money to fund their operations.

Read more about Voting Rights Watch 2012’s True the Vote coverage here.