AUGUST 16 - 22, 1987
GO
sett es vote
ASH GTO - The De­
mocratic ational Committee
cted today to ttle its
1986 voter intimidation law­
suit again the Republican
ational Committee with an
out-of-court agreement that
requires the RNC to obtain
federal court pre-clearance of
. any programs it propo s
for challenging voter regis­
tration and participation.
"The agreement we have
obtained from the Republi-
cans will effectively put an
end to their efforts to target
and disenfranchi minority
voter with so-called ballot
curity program like the
one they initiated in
Louisiana and in other states
last year," Jane Frank Har­
man, chair of the DC's
ational Lawyers Council,
said in commenting on the
ttlement.
The suit charged the Re­
publican with violating civil
a
ass
e
t s
5
Lanny Griffith, commenting
on Republican ball t inte­
grity" effort in Louisian :
'I kno thi race the
U.S. Sen te rae in Loui '­
ana) is really important to
you. I would gue s that
this program will eliminate
at lea t 60-80 000 folks from
the roll. . . If it's a clo
race ... which I'm ssum­
ing it is, this could keep the
Black vote down consider­
ably."
rights laws and 1982
federal court consent order t
which the D C obtained
after the Republican ational
Committee u d intimidating
tactics gain minority
voters in the ew J er y
general election of ovember,
1981.
The 1 suit flled la
October charged that the
C was violating civil rights
I ws and the 1982 con nt
order by targeting Black
precinct in Louisiana with
a program th t included mail­
ing "Do ot Forward"
letters to individuals on the
voting rolls in those pre­
cincts as a potential b sis
for wholsale challenges.
R C documents obtained
by the D C in legal "dis­
covery" last October included
a memorandwn from the
C's midwest political
director, Kris Wolfe, to
southern political director -