6. Voter Suppression: 18 U.S.C. §§ 241 and 242
Voter suppression schemes are designed to ensure the election of
a favored candidate by blocking or impeding voters believed to
oppose that candidate from getting to the polls to cast their ballots.
Examples include providing false information to the public – or a
particular segment of the public – regarding the qualifications to vote,
the consequences of voting in connection with citizenship status, the
dates or qualifications for absentee voting, the date of an election, the
hours for voting, or the correct voting precinct. Another voter
suppression scheme, attempted with partial success, involved impeding
access to voting by jamming the telephone lines of entities offering
rides to the polls in order to prevent voters from requesting needed
transportation. This case was successfully prosecuted and is discussed
below.
Currently there is no federal criminal statute that directly
prohibits voter suppression activity. Nevertheless, the conspiracy
against rights statute, 18 U.S.C. § 241, has been successfully used
to prosecute conspiracies to destroy valid voter registrations, United
States v. Haynes, Nos. 91-5979, 91-6076, 1992 WL 296782, at *1 (6th
Cir. Oct. 15, 1992), and to destroy ballots, In re Coy, 127 U.S. 731
(1888), United States v. Townsley, 843 F.2d 1070 (8th Cir. 1988). The
Criminal Division believes that voter suppression conspiracies, such as
those described above, are the functional equivalent of the acts
involved in these prosecutions, and that voter suppression conspiracies
can – and should – be pursued under Section 241 where their objective
is to deter voting in a federal election (thus depriving the victim voters
of their federally guaranteed right to vote for federal candidates), or in
any election when they involve “state action” in their execution (thus
depriving the victim voters of their rights to due process and equal
protection as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment). As noted
above, the substantive crime for Section 241 conspiracies can be
prosecuted under 18 U.S.C. § 242, deprivation of constitutional rights,
where the voter suppression is carried out “under color of law.”
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