What Is Scott Brown Really Afraid Of?

By: Sarah Betancourt

@RWwatchMA put it best: “Republican Scott Brown gets his panties in a twist over enforcement of bipartisan 1993 ‘Motor Voter’ Registration.” Senator Scott Brown accused the Massachusetts Transitional Assistance Department of helping rival Elizabeth Warren gain an unfair advantage by sending 478,000 voter registration forms to people on public assistance. He believes increasing the ranks of these voters will give Warren an edge.

The registration forms were sent out as part of a settlement over a lawsuit accusing the Patrick administration of violating the Federal “Motor Voter” law of 1993.

Section 5 of the Act requires states to provide individuals with the opportunity to register to vote at the same time that they apply for a driver’s license or seek to renew a driver’s license.

The suit was filed in May by a number of voting rights groups, including Demos, a left-leaning group based in New York whose board is chaired by Warren’s daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi. Warren campaign manager Mindy Myers responded to the attack: “His entire attack is built on efforts in multiple states to enforce a law passed almost 20 years ago with bipartisan support. Even the Bush Justice Department filed suit to enforce this provision of that law,” said Myers.” Bush also signed the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in an attempt to quell allegations of voter fraud during the 2000 election.

Largely due to Motor Voter, the number of Americans added to the voter rolls between 1994 and 1998 increased by 20 percent. Scott Brown and his conservative friends probably realized that 42% of the state’s eligible low-income residents are a significant portion of the voting bloc of the state. Trying to manipulate the issue into anything but a twisted attempt to ostracize an entire portion of a population out of fear is just sleazy and low.

Elizabeth Warren’s daughter has the same amount of control over the implementation of the “Motor Voter Law” as Scott Brown has over his haphazard campaign: none.

Media outlets like the Boston Herald continue to feed the the cheap criticisms of Elizabeth Warren by conveniently leaving out the reason for why the registration forms were sent out in the first place.

Read more about the “Moter Voter” case in Massachusetts here. It truly is astounding that Scott Brown is willing to concede that fact that more poor people voting could harm his campaign. Apparently, if you can’t beat them, quiet them.

By: Sarah Betancourt

Sarah Betancourt is a Boston-based journalist who has written for In These Times, Open Media Boston, Spare Change News, Boston.com, the Boston Globe Environment Blog, and has had work appear in video on the National Geographic Water Currents Blog. She writes primarily about Boston politics, labor, Generation Y issues, and environmental policy.