September 26, 2007 8:12 AM

No to America's Top Vote Suppressor

Today's the day: as we told you yesterday, we have to act to block a known vote-suppressor from joining the FEC. Spakovsky is not a good guy. Why? As Act For Change informs us:

* He played a major role in injecting partisan politics into the decision-making process on law enforcement actions, as well as hiring and promotion practices at DOJ.

* He demanded that supervisors alter performance evaluations for individuals with whom he did not agree.

* He refused to recuse himself from the Georgia voter ID issue even though he was well known to be biased in favor of the Georgia proponents of the measure.

* He tried to impede the enforcement of the Help America Vote Act by recommending that voters be kept off the rolls for typographical errors or other mistakes made by election officials.

* He drafted legal briefs supporting Republicans concerning elections in Ohio, Michigan, and Florida just before the 2004 election -- in violation of the policy that the Civil Rights Division should not inject itself into politics on the eve of an election.

On the Georgia issue, Think Progress gives us a little more info:

Spakovsky approved "modern day poll tax" over objections of career staff: In 2005, a team of Justice Department lawyers and analysts who reviewed a Georgia voter-identification law recommended rejecting it because it was likely to discriminate against black voters. But the law was approved the next day by political appointees, including Spakovsky. When the law was eventually overturned, a federal judge compared it to a Jim Crow-era poll tax.

Send your Senators a message this morning: this man should not govern our Elections. Block his nomination now.