Justice Dept. Staff Cleared in Election Report Inquiry

An independent investigation has found that Republican appointees in the Justice Department did not, as had been alleged, censor a bipartisan commission's report on the sensitive topics of voter fraud and voter intimidation.

The findings come in a report by the inspector general at the Election Assistance Commission, which was formed to help states overhaul their election procedures after the highly contested 2000 presidential election.

The probe examined the commission's delay in releasing a report on voter fraud and intimidation. In the final version, a key conclusion -- that there was little evidence of polling-place fraud -- was altered to state that there was a great deal of debate about the pervasiveness of fraud.

The Bush administration and many Republicans have repeatedly said voter fraud is common, and they sought to enact tighter voter ID laws. The White House ousted some U.S. attorneys in 2006, explaining in part that they were not pursuing fraud allegations hard enough. Democrats have maintained that fraud is rare and said that voter ID laws are meant to exclude poor or minority voters who often favor Democrats.

The inspector general, Curtis Crider, concluded the editing delays and changes resulted from the belief that the report was "poorly written" and "contained unsupported conclusions." "We found no evidence to support the allegation that the changes were made to the report due to improper reasons or political motivations," he said.

Former Justice Department lawyer Hans A. von Spakovsky said the conclusions represented a personal vindication. Von Spakovsky's appointment to the Federal Election Commission has been held up for months because of allegations that he tried to exert undue political influence on the government's handling of voter fraud and identification matters.

The report, in a section describing allegations of inappropriate Justice Department influence, quoted one of the Republican appointees to the commission claiming that von Spakovsky "certainly tried to influence" him, adding: "There's no question about that."

But von Spakovsky said yesterday that the commissioner, Paul DeGregorio, had misinterpreted his role in the process -- that the Justice Department was supposed to serve the commission in an advisory capacity. "The purpose of the advisers is to provide advice. I was entirely within the scope of my job," he said.