Republican Voter Suppression Laws: Political Artifice At Its Most Shameful
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On Sept. 12, Elisabeth MacNamara, president of the League of Women Voters, presented powerful evidence to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary voter suppression has become the new tool for winning elections in this country. MacNamara’s testimony is a call to arms for anyone who truly cares about our American way of life and our system of democracy.
With less than 50 days to go before one of the most important elections in our country’s history, the right of millions of Americans to express their will is in jeopardy.
Under the guise of providing electoral integrity, 41 states have introduced at least 180 voter restriction bills, including 34 with photo identification provisions since 2011. Why are small-government, conservative Republicans crafting these unnecessary, intrusive voting laws?
The answer is dangerously simple — voter restriction laws disproportionately impact young people, the elderly, the poor, and especially people of color — all of whom vote predominately for Democrats.
A study by the Brennan Center For Justice demonstrates a staggering 5 million eligible voters could be disenfranchised this election season because of these newly-enacted state laws.
In Wisconsin, court documents indicate more than 300,000 registered voters do not have a driver’s license or state ID; the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation estimates 750,000 registered voters do not have the required photo ID; courtroom testimony in Texas suggests as many as 2 million registered voters could be disenfranchised if the state’s voter ID law goes into effect; in South Carolina 217,000 voters do not have the required ID necessary to vote.
Several states have employed other suppression techniques. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia have eliminated or reduced early voting periods popular with African Americans, other ethnic groups, and retired voters. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Wisconsin have made it more difficult for groups such as the League of Women Voters to register new voters.
There is no justification for these draconian laws. The Carnegie Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism recently completed an analysis of voter fraud since 2008 and found a total of about 2,000 cases in all the millions of ballots cast and stated unequivocally voter impersonation fraud is virtually nonexistent.
For more than 200 years American history has chronicled the expansion of voting rights from a nation where only white male land owners could vote to one giving all citizens, aged 18 and older, the right to vote. Those gains came gradually and were hard earned, sometimes in blood. We fought a civil war to recognize African Americans as citizens and then amended the Constitution to ensure voting rights for all men, black and white. After 70 years of struggle, the 19th Amendment was ratified, giving women the right to vote. The 24th Amendment abolished the poll tax. The 26th Amendment extended voting rights to citizens 18 years of age or older. Voting rights were also a core value of the Civil Rights movement of the 50's and 60's. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, The National Voter Registration Act, and the Help America Vote Act helped make voting the most accessible to generations of Americans.
Our system of democracy, our freedom to vote is a source of pride to all Americans. Who among us then would vote "Yes" to changing that and going back to a privileged-only electorate? Why then are we allowing it to happen?
I admire MacNamara and The League of Women Voters for taking this important battle to Congress and into courtrooms around the country. I also implore all of you reading this article to vote on Nov. 6th.
Our vote is the single best way to fight back against Republican extremists who are terrified of losing their power in this country.
WC
12:43 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Great point John, I went to the Democratic Convention last month (I got a last minute ticket from a friend) but unfortunately I left my wallet and ID in the hotel room. They would not allow me to enter the convention - with a ticket - unless I had my ID. Strange.
So I went back to the hotel room and watched the same people wretch about laws intended to counter voter fraud. Still dont know what to make of it.
Smooth
10:04 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Voting is a right. Going to the convention is not. Nice try
montclairgurl
2:37 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
There is no comparison. The convention is a private political event trying to avoid crashers. (And lunatics and that's why the pro-gun Republicans made sure there were no weapons allowed in or around the perimeter of the convention hall).
If voter fraud were a large scale issue, both parties would be clamoring for ID laws, instead of just one side clearly trying to make it more difficult for certain segments of the population. And those segments almost overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. It's not easy for the old and the poor - those without easy access to automobiles and the ability to pay for duplicate documents - to get copies of documents they are not likely to have in their possession and then also drive to a state authorized facility, which could be hundreds of miles away, to get an I.D. It's the equivalent of a poll tax.
WC
5:50 pm on Monday, September 24, 2012
Oh, ok then. i understand, I guess I overstated the problem. At least there haven't been any proven examples of massive voter fraud in heavy urban (Democratic) districts. Oh wait, there have been
Smooth
10:18 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
So what your saying is there are no cases of fraud in Republican district? If this was such a problem why wasn't it addressed in 2000 or 2004. Why didn't Repub put these same restrictions during their primaries? Why did Pennsylvania GOP House majority leader Mike Turzai say "voter ID which is going to allow Gov. Romney to win the state of Penn. done!" One other thing. Repub governors in swing states are also limiting what districts can maintain early voting and the districts that are targeted appear to be "urban districts" as you put it. Please continue to keep the blinders on, it's better that way.
Jon
9:12 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Republicans are scared of losing their power over this country? You know the Democrats had the white house, senate and house for two years right? And now they have the white house and senate...
If showing an ID is such a horrible thing they why is it required to get food stamps, medicare, medicaid, to drive, to hunt, to get a gun, to buy a plane ticket, to get seen by a doctor!! (Obamacare is racist because it requires everyone to show ID at the doctors office!). And I couldn't take out a book at the local library because I didn't have an ID.
And by the way John, this was tried in Georgia, requiring an ID to vote, and guess what... voter turn out went up! Stop with the far left scare tactics John!
Jake Smith
10:51 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
You Dems are completely shameless! Didn't you see the video where someone went in and asked if they had Eric Holder's voter registration and they were ready, willing and able to allow him to vote as Eric Holder??
Voter ID laws are about protecting the integrity of our vote - by making sure only living, registered voters actually vote. Not frauds coming in and voting for people who died or moved.
If it wasn't for voter fraud you Dems would have a real hard time winning.
Try winning fair and square with actual, living, breathing voters.
stewart resmer
11:21 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Republican U.S. House Staffers Indicted for Felony Election Fraud as GOP Fraud Epidemic Continues
MI prosecutors: 'Blatant', 'disgraceful' aides 'lost moral compass', were 'completely indifferent to requirements of law'
ALSO: 10+ recent cases of voter fraud by very high-profile GOPers...
By Brad Friedman on 8/10/2012, 3:10pm PT
Given disenfranchising polling place Photo ID restriction laws Republicans have enacted in nearly a dozen states over the past year, you'd think there was an epidemic of Democratic "voter fraud" in this nation. That's certainly the way the GOP has framed it, fooled the corporate mainstream media into reporting it, and even scammed the White House and Congressional Democrats into going along with it when they signed legislation that defunded ACORN, a four-decade old community organization never found to have committed voter fraud, or even helped to see a single fraudulent vote cast in any election anywhere.
Pete Mock
6:24 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Yeah Jake, because someone made a video of something that may have happened once, that wasn't actually in-person voter fraud, you have all the proof you need to say that it happens all the time and that dead people are voting, etc. The rest of us need a bit more than that.
Feel free to post some actual evidence of actual crimes that are related to in-person voter fraud. I'll stay tuned, but I won't hold my breath.
Wayne Parent
11:28 am on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-look-voter-fraud-little-172327169--election.html
What we have here is a Solution searching for a Problem. All of these efforts have amounted to nothing. This widespread fraud they were searching for couldnt be found. And still, the GOP wants us to believe that this isnt aimed at discouraging minorities and recent immigrants from getting out to vote.
Dan Grant
2:15 pm on Tuesday, September 25, 2012
The Right wing screamed about a couple of Black Panthers in front of a Polling Place and wanted a Federal investigation on what they claimed was voter supression of white voters and now the same people are systematically trying to exclude and intimidate minority voters and the poor from voting by using their political powers gained in certain States. You can't defend this. It is politics at it's worst and racially motivated. This is nothing more then trying to cut down on the 47 percent that Rmoney perceives won't vote for him. It is the same as saying, "You can go to school, you just can't go to our school." or You can ride on the Bus, just not up front with me." " You can be an American, You just can't vote for our leadership."
WC
8:37 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Good thing there haven't been any massive voter fraud issues in major Democratic cities over the course of American history...you know like Tammany Hall in NY, Boss Hague in JC, etc. Dems would have you believe that voter fraud is as common in Mayberry as in Chicago.
PS - loved the Eric Holder voter fraud video "I'll be back faster than you can say furious" classic
Jon
8:37 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Dan, what I don't understand is why isn't the left all up in arms over everything else that you need an ID for. Is Obamacare now racist and intimidating to minorities because you need an ID to see a doctor? The left never answers direct questions and I am sure neither will you.
Caldwellres
8:37 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Voter fraud doesn't exist. Full stop.
Kelaker
12:21 pm on Friday, September 28, 2012
It is very simple. voter fraud is someone trying to vote ,who for one reason or another is ineligible to vote.
So it stands to reason that the party who does not want any rules on who should vote ( Democrats ) is the party in favor of voter fraud, And the party ( Republicans) who want to make sure only eligible voters can vote, is against voter fraud.
kelaker
Dan Grant
9:11 am on Saturday, September 29, 2012
They just exposed a Republican Voter Registration group forging voter registrations in Fla. Voter registration problems widening in Florida
September 28, 2012 11:41 AM EST | Associated Press
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Republican Party of Florida is filing an election fraud complaint against a vendor suspected of submitting questionable voter registration forms.
The move comes as counties across Florida are turning over to prosecutors registration forms the vendor collected for the state party.
Election officials in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties on Thursday handed over more than 100 suspect forms to local prosecutors. They did so days after officials in Palm Beach County also alerted prosecutors.
Republicans this week fired the vendor – Strategic Allied Consulting – it had hired to register voters in crucial swing states.
The Florida state party has paid the firm more than $1.3 million so far.
The national Republican Party also used the group for work in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia.
Pete Mock
6:24 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Good article Dan, but again, even this blatant criminal activity has nothing to do with in-person voter fraud, which is what ID laws are supposed to stop. New voter ID laws will not stop this kind of crime.
Pete Mock
6:24 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Kelaker, reading your posts I think the following logic is right up your alley...
God is Love, Love is Blind, and Stevie Wonder is Blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
Jeff Mattingly
8:27 am on Sunday, September 30, 2012
A recent law had to be passed to insure positive, verifiable ID to take the SAT's. Photo ID is required with safe guards and trackable proof of residency. Are our national elections less important then an educational proficiency exam? College entrance boards said it must be done to insure the integrity of the process.
In view of the all powerful and far reaching action committees of both parties there is little doubt that anyone who wants to be registered will be. Access is not a problem, deceit is, from either party or political agenda. Integrity is parramont for the public trust in the process to participate, something that is already a common answer when people are asked 'why they do not vote?' Our lack of trust in our elected officals, both local and national, is glairingly evident in the polling, so why wouldn't we do all we can do to restore confidence?
Pete Mock
6:24 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Jeff, the SAT rules were put in place after several documented incidents of in-person fraud. Not pretend fraud, actual documented evidence of criminal activity... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/nyregion/7-long-island-students-charged-in-sat-fraud-scheme.html
For there to be fraud there needs to be an incentive to commit fraud. The SAT takers incentive for fraud is a better college, a better job, more money. In-person voter fraud has no such incentive. An individual could be paid off to vote a certain way, but a politician has no way of knowing if the person they paid even cast a vote, much less for them. No canididate is going to spend that kind of money without a guaranteed outcome.
And to commit in-person fraud on a scale large enough to sway an election you would have to pay so many people you'd vastly increase your chances of getting caught. That's why in person voter fraud is just not worth the trouble. You would have to spend vast sums of money, hope that none of your operatives got caught or spilled the beans, and you'd still not have a guarantee that you'd get the outcome you wanted. No candidate is going to waste their money on that. It's a fantasy that requires a complete suspension of logic.
Pete Mock
1:58 pm on Thursday, October 4, 2012
Ooh baby, if you want to see some real voter fraud, here you go...
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/05/us/politics/nathan-sproul-a-republican-operative-long-trailed-by-voter-fraud-claims.html?pagewanted=all