Operation Eagle Eye (United States)

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Operation Eagle Eye was a Republican Party voter suppression operation in the 1960s in Arizona to challenge minority voters. In modern United States history,^[a] only citizens have been able to vote, and in 1964, only literate citizens could vote, so it was legal to ensure that (1) a potential voter was literate, and (2) a potential voter was a United States Citizen. Through the employment of literacy tests, oral demands to interpret the United States Constitution and detailed questions about a potential voter's origins and how long the potential voter had been in the United States,^[2] Republican workers would challenge minority voters, especially those with broken English. William Rehnquist, later chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, is said to have been the head of a group of lawyers hoping to challenge voters in minority Democratic precincts.^[3] Operation Eagle Eye was a two-year effort, and the laws in Arizona have since made this kind of challenge illegal.^[2]

Launch (1964)[]

The Republican National Committee announced its plan to conduct a nationwide ballot security program entitled "Operation Eagle Eye" in 1964.^{[citation needed]} It was to be employed in the presidential election between Barry Goldwater and President Lyndon B. Johnson.^{[citation needed]} The RNC insisted it was necessary to protect the integrity of the American ballot and against voter fraud.^{[citation needed]} “OEE" became the nation's first large-scale anti-voter fraud campaign where the RNC recruited tens of thousands of volunteers to show up at polling places, mostly in inner-cities, to challenge voter eligibility, in particular, whether the voter was able to read. These poll watchers used a variety of tactics, including asking voters to read a portion of the Constitution,^{[4][dead link]} cameras, two-way radios, and calls to Republican-friendly sheriffs.^[5]

Future Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist allegedly was a poll watcher with direct involvement in challenging voters at the polls as early as 1958.^[5] Years later during Rehnquist's Senate confirmation hearings to become Chief Justice, a US District Attorney in Phoenix at the time testified that he had seen Rehnquist challenging black and hispanic voters at precincts in South Phoenix.^[6] Rehnquist denied any such involvement.^[4] However, his association with OEE remained a stain on his reputation despite being confirmed as Chief Justice in 1986.^[4]

Another key figure in Operation Eagle Eye was Charles Barr, its National Director. He was responsible for employing "100,000 poll-watchers with the objective of challenging over a million voters",^[4] however, he denied any discriminatory practices.

1964 ballot security program initiatives[]

The General Outline of the 1964 Ballot Security Program included the following instructions:^[4]

• Create in each state an effective Ballot Security Organization under leadership of the State Ballot Security Officer.
• Research and study State Election Laws, irregularities and errors, and how to combat and correct.
• Attend national educational conferences for Ballot Security Officers.
• Observe and report pre-election violations.
• Recruit and train poll watchers and challengers, where permitted, to secure each precinct.
• Appoint qualified and true Republicans as election officials in each precinct. Determine that registration is being properly conducted.
• Strive to improve canvassing methods to identify unqualified, non-existent voters and eliminate them from the lists.
• Plan, schedule, supervise and teach training courses designed to eliminate fraud and error for Republican election officials, watchers, and challengers.
• Prepare and distribute materials and check lists for study and reference by precinct officials.
• Focus press attention on the problem and program.
• Secure effective cooperation of law enforcement officials.
• Set up an Election Day security network to advise and act on ballot irregularity matters.
• Collect information in the event of prosecution or other proceedings following an election.
• Determine that ballots and machines are safeguarded after the election.
• Develop new plans and ideas to improve future operations by Ballot Security Officers, considering possible legislative amendments to improve the election laws for future elections.

Operation[]

1. Purging voter lists through vote caging: Typically a method of purging voters lists, voter caging consists of sending mail to addresses on the voter registration polls and counting the number of returned or undelivered pieces of mail. This becomes the basis for purging the voter list. This is unreliable because mail can be returned for any number of reasons. However, in 1964, Eagle Eye supporters challenged 1.8 million voters' eligibility with this tactic.^{[citation needed]}
2. Distribution of deterrent paraphernalia: Eagle Eye supporters also sent misleading or deceptive mailers to the voter lists. Some examples of this voter intimidation were mailers indicating a voter who had committed a traffic violation, etc. would be arrested after voting, or anonymous calls to minority voters telling them they would be harassed at the polls. Others encouraged minority voters to write-in Dr. Martin Luther King's name for president.^[5]
3. Deployment of poll watchers to challenge voters on Election Day: Challenging voters at the polls could happen in a number of ways. They could be asked humiliating questions, demanded to show citizenship papers, or asked to show proof they could read. Voters were challenged if they appeared on the purged voters list.

Psychological deterrence was a significant aspect of the OEE efforts. The Republican strategy attempted to discourage illegitimate voters from committing fraud by simply creating the appearance that they were being watched. It was for this reason that RNC leaders also encouraged poll watchers to bring cameras.^[5]

Political legacy (1970s–present)[]

After Operation Eagle Eye, literacy tests were challenged by the state of Arizona and the federal government instituted a ban on the requirement.^[7]

References[]