Ehrlich Refuses to Answer Questions About GOP Voter Suppression Manual

GOP handbook tells poll workers:

“Your most important duty as a poll worker is to challenge people…â€?
—quote from GOP handbook

North Baltimore (November 2, 2006)—On the day he was scheduled to vote absentee, Bob Ehrlich refused to answer questions about the recently discovered manual produced by the Maryland Republican Party that instructed poll workers on how to challenge the ability of Marylanders to cast their votes.

“It’s sad that on the day that Bob Ehrlich is exercising his right to vote, he’s also secretly planning to suppress the ability of other Marylanders to exercise their right to vote,� said Hari Sevugan, Communications Director for the O’Malley/Brown campaign. “Bob Ehrlich may not want to answer questions about his voter suppression efforts now, but he’ll have to answer for them on November 7th.�

When asked about the GOP manual at a press conference in North Baltimore this morning, Ehrlich refused to take questions on the subject. An aide then was heard telling the press corps that the governor “really had to go in� and Ehrlich was hurried away.

This morning the Washington Post reported that the Maryland GOP is distributing manuals instructing their poll watchers that their “most important duty as a poll worker is to challenge people.� The manual also instructed poll watchers to threaten judges with jail time if they refused challenges.

A spokesperson for Common Cause said that the manual is an “insidious voter intimidation tactic.�

The revelation about the GOP voter suppression manual comes a week after the governor admitted that he was lining up “a lot of lawyers� and planning a “lot of challenges� to absentee ballots.

“Bob Ehrlich’s voter suppression effort has taken to a new low. He tells people to vote absentee and then he lines up lawyers to challenge absentee voters.�

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