[EL] Project Vote v. Project Vote

Thu Aug 25 13:26:34 PDT 2011

Whatever one's view of this, surely it doesn't rank with one of the
all-time mis-steps, "CREEP".  

Roy A. Schotland

Professor Emeritus

Georgetown Law Center

600 New Jersey Ave. N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20001

202/662-9098

        fax: -9680

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Rick
Hasen
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 12:45 PM
To: Larry Levine
Cc: 'law-election at uci.edu'
Subject: Re: [EL] Project Vote v. Project Vote

My impression is that the ACORN meme has permeated beyond core
Republican voters to independents, and there is no reason for the Obama
campaign to help stoke the fires for no apparent purpose.

If the name Project Vote was deliberately chosen as a kind of dog
whistle for the left, I think the point is going to be lost by most
Democratic voters, who may have heard of ACORN but not Project Vote.

On 8/25/2011 9:34 AM, Larry Levine wrote: 

While you can't let the other side dictate your agenda - a trap into
which the administration has stepped with regularity - you also don't
need to buy into futile controversy. But above all, you must remember
there are people out there who won't voter for you under any
circumstances. The late Sen. Alan Cranston once said: "If you are
running against a rock the rock will get 35% of the vote." In this
instance the Obama campaign could have come up with a name for the
program that would have sidestepped even the possibility of becoming an
issue. On the other hand they opted for a name that describes what they
intend to do and will appeal to the targeted audiences. Tell me what
ACORN hater was going to vote for Obama anyway.

Larry

From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Dan
Johnson-Weinberger
Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2011 9:23 AM
To: Rick Hasen
Cc: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] Project Vote v. Project Vote

Why Project Vote?

Perhaps because the Obama campaign refuses to play to the lowest common
denominator of those who lie about voter fraud conspiracies in order to
reduce.the number of citizens who vote. Instead, perhaps, the Obama
campaign is proud of the President's lifelong work at expanding the
electorate and will not allow the enemies of full participation to
tarnish the name of a successful registration campaign that the
President helped to lead in 1992.

Perhaps it is less of a "stupid name" and more of a confident choice
from those who will not concede the truth to their enemies. The meme is
a lie. I suspect their choice of name reflects that bedrock
understanding.

I should say I am neither an employee nor vendor to the Obama campaign
so my thoughts are mine alone.

Dan

On Thursday, August 25, 2011, Rick Hasen <rhasen at law.uci.edu> wrote:
> Project Vote v. Project Vote: Dept. of Dumb Names
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=22241>
>
> Posted on August 25, 2011 8:47 am
<http://electionlawblog.org/?p=22241> by Rick Hasen
<http://electionlawblog.org/?author=3>
>
> Mike Allen today reports
<http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/62049.html>for Politico that
"President Barack Obama's reelection campaign on Thursday announced
'Project Vote,' a campaign-within-a-campaign that is aimed at increasing
registration and participation among Democratic base constituencies -
including young voters, seniors, African Americans and Hispanics, plus
Native Americans and gay and lesbian voters."
>
> While the move to increase participation among the Democratic base may
be a smart one, I cannot think of a more stupid name for the
initiative-it is going to feed into the right-wing Democratic voter
fraud meme.  "Project Vote" is also the name of this organization
<http://projectvote.org/>, an organization aimed at getting out the vote
as well.  Although non-partisan in the sense that it is not affiliated
with any political party, the group works toward enfranchisement of
groups that have been disenfranchised, especially pushing the provisions
of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) which require states to
take steps to register voters at welfare offices and other government
agencies.
>
> Project Vote has long been affiliated with ACORN (and there has been
some dispute about the entangling of the two organizations).  ACORN is
now defunct, but the cries of voter fraud against ACORN are now being
directed to Project Vote.  Just today, for example, the Washington Times
has run a story
<http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/aug/24/watchdog-suspicious-of-
federal-ties-to-project-vot/> on a FOIA request by Judicial Watch to
seek information about ties between Project Vote and the Justice
Department.
>
> In conducting research for my book, The Voting Wars, I came across a
nauseating amount of unsubstantiated claims against President Obama as
promoting voter fraud to help him win his election.  Much of this
writing stems from work Obama had done as a community organizer in
Chicago and briefly as a lawyer for the Project Vote organization.
>
> Why on earth would the Obama campaign seek to stoke these conspiracy
theories, and cause confusion, by naming its efforts Project Vote?
>
> </mail/u/0/s/?view=att&th=13201a4eddf94059&attid=0.0.1&disp=emb&zw>
<http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Felectionlawblog.org
%2F%3Fp%3D22241&title=Project%20Vote%20v.%20Project%20Vote%3A%20Dept.%20
of%20Dumb%20Names&description=>
> Posted in election administration
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=18>, fraudulent fraud squad
<http://electionlawblog.org/?cat=8> | Comments Off
> --
> Rick Hasen
> Professor of Law and Political Science
> UC Irvine School of Law
> 401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
> 949.824.3072 <tel:949.824.3072> - office
> 949.824.0495 <tel:949.824.0495> - fax
> rhasen at law.uci.edu
> http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
> http://electionlawblog.org
>

-- 
Dan Johnson-Weinberger

Attorney at Law
111 West Washington, Suite 1920
Chicago, Illinois 60602

312.867.5377 (office)
312.933.4890 (mobile)
312.794.7064 (fax)

-- 
Rick Hasen
Professor of Law and Political Science
UC Irvine School of Law
401 E. Peltason Dr., Suite 1000
Irvine, CA 92697-8000
949.824.3072 - office
949.824.0495 - fax
rhasen at law.uci.edu
http://law.uci.edu/faculty/page1_r_hasen.html
http://electionlawblog.org

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