November 5, 2012 The Honorable Thomas E. Perez Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division U.S.

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Dear Assistant Attorney General Perez: The undersigned civil rights and community organizations write to raise concerns about the likely targeting of African-American voters by the Republican Party and groups and individuals acting in concert with it in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Allegheny County is one of 51 jurisdictions that will be monitored by the Civil Rights Division of Department of Justice on Election Day 2012 as part of the Departments efforts to enforce the Voting Rights Act, to prevent discrimination, and to the protect the rights of voters of color. We have received information that strongly suggests the Republican Party, under the guise of combating alleged voter fraud, has assigned Election Day poll watchers disproportionately to majority African-American precincts in Allegheny County. We are in receipt of a partial list of targeted precincts that was distributed at a poll watcher training conducted by the Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement. The Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement conducted this training, on behalf of the Republican Party, as part of its program to combat alleged voter fraud in Allegheny County. We understand the Republican Party has targeted approximately 111, out of a total 1,319 precincts, in that county. The partial list, which is attached hereto as Exhibit A, includes 59 of the total 111 precincts targeted by the Republican Party. We are unaware of any history of voter fraud at any of these 59 locations. We are concerned that these locations are being targeted for impermissible, racially-motivated reasons. A comparison of the 59 Republican Party targeted precincts to the other precincts in Allegheny County reveals that the targeted precincts disproportionately contain African-American voters. Specifically, the targeted precincts are over 79% African-American. By contrast, the nontargeted precincts contain, on average, less than 11% African-American registered voters. Moreover, although the targeted precincts include only 3% of the total number of voters in Allegheny County, they contain 18.5% of the registered African American voters. The vast majority of these precincts are among those with the mostly highly concentrated AfricanAmerican populations in the County. A statistical analysis of the 59 Republican Party targeted precincts is attached hereto as Exhibit B. On the basis of the above, the undersigned organizations are extremely concerned that the racial composition of the targeted precincts districts suggests that race may have been a factor in the decision of the Republican Party to target these 59 precincts in its voter fraud prevention program with the purpose or potential significant effect of deterring qualified African-American voters in Allegheny County from casting their ballots and thereby suppressing the minority vote.

We call upon the Justice Department monitors to make every effort to ensure that voters at these targeted locations are able to cast their ballots freely and fairly on Election Day and to inquire of the Republican Party and the Pittsburgh Tea Party Movement as to the source of its list and the basis of the targeting. Respectfully submitted, Advancement Project 1220 L Street, NW, Suite 850 Washington, DC 20005 Common Cause 1133 19th St NW Washington DC 20036 Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 1401 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 400 Washington, D.C. 20005 Service Employees International Union 1800 Massachusetts Ave, NW Washington, DC 20036 American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania 313 Atwood Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213 One Pittsburgh 841 California Ave Pittsburgh, PA 15212 Pittsburgh A. Philip Randolph Institute 60 Blvd of the Allies, Room 208 Pittsburgh, Pa 15222 Pittsburgh United 841 California Ave Pittsburgh PA 15212

CC: David Hickton U.S. Attorney Western District of Pennsylvania 700 Grant Street, Suite 4000 Pittsburgh, PA 15219 Chris Herren Chief, Voting Section U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Meredith Bell-Platts Deputy Chief, Voting Section U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 Spencer Ross Fisher United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Voting Section 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20530 David Knight United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20530 For additional information contact: Nicole G. Berner SEIU, Associate General Counsel 202-730-7383

Exhibit A
Partial list of precincts targeted by the Republican Party Election Day poll watching efforts inside polling places in Allegheny County, PA: McKees Rocks 01 01 McKees Rocks 01 02 Penn Hills 01 01 Penn Hills 01 02 Penn Hills 01 03 Penn Hills 01 04 Penn Hills 01 05 Penn Hills 02 02 Penn Hills 09 05 Pittsburgh 03 01 Pittsburgh 03 03 Pittsburgh 03 05 Pittsburgh 04 06 Pittsburgh 04 18 Pittsburgh 05 04 Pittsburgh 05 05 Pittsburgh 05 07 Pittsburgh 05 08 Pittsburgh 05 11 Pittsburgh 05 13 Pittsburgh 05 15 Pittsburgh 05 16 Pittsburgh 08 12 Pittsburgh 12 01 Pittsburgh 12 03 Pittsburgh 12 04 Pittsburgh 12 05 Pittsburgh 12 06 Pittsburgh 12 07 Pittsburgh 12 08 Pittsburgh 12 09 Pittsburgh 12 10 Pittsburgh 12 14 Pittsburgh 12 15 Pittsburgh 12 16 Pittsburgh 13 02 Pittsburgh 13 09 Pittsburgh 13 13 Pittsburgh 13 14 Pittsburgh 13 16 Pittsburgh 13 17

Pittsburgh 13 18 Pittsburgh 13 19 Pittsburgh 14 10 Pittsburgh 14 16 Pittsburgh 25 02 Pittsburgh 25 03 Pittsburgh 25 05 Pittsburgh 25 06 Pittsburgh 26 05 Pittsburgh 26 06 Swissvale 00 02 Swissvale 00 03 Swissvale 00 06 Swissvale 00 10 Wilkinsburg 01 01 Wilkinsburg 01 02 Wilkinsburg 01 03 Wilkinsburg 01 04

Exhibit B
Total Registered Voters All of Alleghany County 879,340 (1319 Precincts ) Targeted 59 Precincts 25,971 Remaining 1260 853,369 Precincts Percentage of voters 2.95% contained in the 59 targeted precincts Average % of African American Voters in the targeted Allegheny County Precincts Average % of African Americans for all Allegheny County (excluding targeted) African American Registered voters 111,579 20,676 90,903 18.5% Percentage African American 12.7% 79.6% 10.6%

79.6% 10.6%

Allegheny County Precincts

80.00% 60.00% 40.00% 20.00% 0.00% Average % of African Average % of African American Voters in the Americans for all Allegheny targeted Allegheny CountyCounty (excluding targeted) Precincts

Targeted Precinct Pittsburgh 12 08 Pittsburgh 13 13 Pittsburgh 12 09 Pittsburgh 12 07 Pittsburgh 13 02 Pittsburgh 13 19 Pittsburgh 05 04 Pittsburgh 05 05

% of African American Voters in the Targeted Precincts 99.0% 98.7% 98.4% 98.0% 97.7% 97.4% 97.4% 97.3%

Pittsburgh 05 15 Pittsburgh 13 09 Penn Hills 01 05 Pittsburgh 12 14 Pittsburgh 05 16 Pittsburgh 13 14 Pittsburgh 12 15 Wilkinsburg 01 03 Pittsburgh 12 16 Wilkinsburg 01 02 Pittsburgh 12 06 Pittsburgh 03 03 Pittsburgh 12 10 Pittsburgh 03 01 Pittsburgh 13 17 Pittsburgh 05 11 Pittsburgh 05 13 Pittsburgh 12 04 Pittsburgh 13 18 Pittsburgh 12 03 Pittsburgh 13 16 Penn Hills 01 04 Pittsburgh 26 05 Pittsburgh 05 07 Penn Hills 01 03 Pittsburgh 26 06 Pittsburgh 05 08 Wilkinsburg 01 01 Pittsburgh 12 05 Pittsburgh 03 05 Pittsburgh 12 01 Penn Hills 01 02 Penn Hills 01 01 Penn Hills 09 05 Penn Hills 02 02 Pittsburgh 25 02 Pittsburgh 25 06 Pittsburgh 25 03 McKees Rocks 01 01 Pittsburgh 04 18 Swissvale 00 10 Wilkinsburg 01 04 Pittsburgh 25 05 Swissvale 00 02 Swissvale 00 06 Pittsburgh 08 12

97.2% 97.1% 97.0% 96.9% 96.6% 96.5% 96.2% 96.0% 95.5% 95.5% 95.3% 95.1% 95.0% 94.9% 94.9% 94.5% 94.2% 93.8% 93.6% 93.5% 92.5% 91.9% 91.8% 91.5% 90.9% 90.5% 90.4% 90.3% 90.2% 88.8% 88.7% 88.5% 88.4% 82.5% 81.0% 78.9% 77.9% 72.7% 72.7% 71.4% 66.4% 65.4% 64.7% 52.0% 50.6% 45.9%

Pittsburgh 04 06 Swissvale 00 03 McKees Rocks 01 02 Pittsburgh 14 10 Pittsburgh 14 16

43.4% 39.5% 26.2% 2.5% 2.3%