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Who Is Hans von Spakovksy?

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Antoine Morris
civilrights.org

Jun 12, 2007 12:00 AM EDT

During his tenure in the U.S. Department of Justice, Hans von Spakovsky made it harder for Americans to vote.

Now the Bush administration has nominated him to the Federal Elections Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, he could influence election law in this country for the next three election cycles, a prospect that should alarm all who care about the right to vote.

As an attorney in the civil rights division of the Justice Department from 2001-2005, von Spakovksy did everything in his power to minimize the vote, particularly of minorities and Democrats.

In spring of 2005, he authored an article under a pseudonym in support of a controversial Georgia voter ID law that required all voters to have a government-issued ID or pay $20 for a valid substitute at the DMV. The law also reduced from the number of other documents which could be used to vote from17 to 6.

Fewer than 60 out of the 159 counties in Georgia had a DMV. With no branch at all in Atlanta, he voter ID law reduced the number of eligible voters in the inner city, among the elderly, and the disabled who would have to make a daytrip to outlying suburbs to get a drivers license in order to vote.

Civil rights attorneys in the DOJ opposed the Georgia voter ID law as did a federal judge who compared it to a Jim Crow-era poll tax.

But when the law came up for review by the Justice Department, von Spakovsky, knowingly and unethically, did not recuse himself from the review and led the charge to have the law validated.

The result: Georgia minorities, the poor, the disabled, seniors, and those living in rural areas would have a harder time getting the necessary documents to vote in Georgia. That law is currently on appeal.

Von Spakovsky also tried to undermine the work of a commission looking at the impact new voter ID laws.

When the federal Election Assistance Commission came out with a report critical of the voter ID laws that von Spakovsky championed, he sent a testy email to EAC chairman Paul DeGregorio objecting to the commission's findings and eventually helped orchestrate DeGregorio's departure.

Von Spakovsky found new ways of disenfranchising minority voters.

In 2003, he used his expertise and influence in the DOJ to push through Tom Delay's Texas redistricting plan against the objections of the more experienced lawyers and analysts who said the plan discriminated against black and Hispanic voters in two Congressional districts. In 2006, the Supreme Court held that parts of the plan violated provisions of Voting Rights Act by diluting minority voting strength.

With competitive races in 2008 on the horizon, having von Spakovsky serve a six-year term on the FEC would give him additional opportunities to undermine the progress made on ensuring fair elections and, even, potentially unjustly influencing the outcome of numerous races.

Hans von Spakovksy Fact Sheet

Von Spakovsky's Anti-Voting Rights Agenda

In 2004, von Spakovsky prevented the Civil Rights Division from investigating serious allegations of voter discrimination against Native Americans in Minnesota with weeks to go in a very competitive November election.
In 2005, he sped approval of voter ID laws in Georgia and Arizona, joining decisions to override career lawyers who argued the Georgia law would restrict voting by poor blacks and the elderly. The Georgia law was later invalidated by a federal court, which likened the law to a Jim Crow-era poll tax.
In 2005, during Spakovsky's tenure, the Civil Rights Division filed a single complaint, alleging racial discrimination against white voters in Mississippi, the first time the Voting Rights Act has ever been used to do so.

Exploiting Enforcement of Voting Rights Laws

In 2002, under von Spakovsky's leadership, the DOJ stalled making a determination under the Voting Rights Act on a pro-Republican Mississippi Congressional plan, causing the plan to go into effect by default and influence the outcome of a key House race.

In 2003, he and other officials moved to approve a Tom Delay Texas Congressional redistricting plan that weakened minority voting power. In 2006, the Supreme Court held that parts of the plan violated provisions of the VRA by diluting minority voting strength.

In 2003, von Spakovsky urged an election official in Maryland to deny voter registration applications if any of the information on the application failed to match what is in the DMV and Social Security databases. That approach exceeded federal law and led to California, Florida, Maryland, Texas, and others needlessly rejecting thousands of applications to vote.

Why He Is Wrong for the FEC
As a commissioner of the only body that enforces federal campaign finance laws, von Spakovsky has consistently exhibited partisanship and a contempt for the right to vote. With competitive races in 2008 on the horizon, von Spakovsky in a four year term on the FEC could undercut fair elections and potentially and unjustly influence the outcome of numerous races across the nation.