Pennsylvania’s Voter Photo ID Law is being litigated in court as we speak. We really ought to use a very basic test on this. Would the law cause even one eligible person to be unable to vote and would it prevent even one person from committing in-person voter fraud? From a statistical point of view, in-person voter fraud doesn’t exist. And it is already a crime. But, think about it. What is the problem with in-person voter fraud? Isn’t it that you get to cast two votes instead of one? How about when you cast zero votes instead of one? Isn’t that equally distorting to the outcome of an election? Passing and enforcing a law that causes people not to vote should be a crime with a punishment just a strong as the punishment for fraud.
Rather than debating the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania Jim Crow law, we ought to be putting Republican officials on notice that they will be arrested if their law disenfranchises even one eligible voter. Officials like Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, who famously said that the Voter ID law was going to allow Mitt Romney to win the state. Or Pennsylvania GOP party chairman Rob Gleason, who asserted last week that the Voter ID law, which wasn’t even in full effect, probably helped hold down Obama’s numbers.
The GOP talks about minority outreach, but minorities are twice as likely as whites to lack the state-mandated photo identification that the law requires. And they are fully aware of the intent of these Voter Photo ID laws.
The elderly are also likely to lack state-mandated ID if experience in Georgia is a gauge of these laws. And some elderly in Southern states were born before birth certificates were instituted so they lack that proof of identity too. Guess who will automatically get waivers at the DMV or clerk’s office or other locations for processing voter IDs.
Follow the first link and you will see that Pennsylvania discussed the possibility of doing the same thing before rejecting the idea.
The idea of republican legislators taking the perp walk for this made my morning.
North Carolina Republicans Push Extreme Voter Suppression Measures
Ari Berman on July 23, 2013 – 9:35 AM ET
This week, the North Carolina legislature will almost certainly pass a strict new voter ID law that could disenfranchise 318,000 registered voters who don’t have the narrow forms of accepted state-issued ID. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bill has since been amended by Republicans to include a slew of appalling voter suppression measures. They include cutting a week of early voting, ending same-day registration during the early voting period and making it easier for vigilante poll-watchers to challenge eligible voters. The bill is being debated this afternoon in the Senate Rules Committee. Here are the details, via North Carolina State Senator Josh Stein (D-Wake County):
If anyone had any doubt about the bill’s intent to suppress voters, all he/she has to do is read it. The bill now does the following:
*shortens early voting by 1 week,
*eliminates same day registration and provisional voting if at wrong precinct,
*prevents counties from offering voting on last Saturday before the election beyond 1 pm,
*prevents counties from extending poll hours by one hour on election day in extraordinary circumstances (like lengthy lines),
*eliminates state supported voter registration drives and preregistration for 16/17 year olds,
*repeals voter owned judicial elections and straight party voting,
*increases number of people who can challenge voters inside the precinct, and
*purges voter rolls more often.
Meanwhile, it floods the democratic process with more money. The bill makes it easier for outside groups to spend on electioneering and reduces disclosure of the sources. It also raises the contribution limits to $5k per person per election from $4k and indexes to amount to rise with inflation.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/175395/north-carolina-republicans-push-extreme-voter-suppression-measu
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While you have made the case that they are wrong, have you demonstrated how they are backfiring, now with the Voting Rights Act gutted and all.
Inequalities as I speak 😐 http://linkapp.me/J8fTs
The reactionary majority of the U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled on Voter ID by upholding Indiana’s restrictive law. I don’t see that changing no time soon. I like the backlash and welcome the hatred and voter motivation it engenders. Please proceed, GOP.