Republicans have a long history of gaining electoral advantage by schemes to deprive people likely to vote for Democrats of the right to vote. Methods used include caging, choosing challenge based on race, electronic vote theft (ES&S and Diebold), preventing voter registration campaigns, placing too few polling places districts with high concentrations of minority voters, and now, voter ID laws. Their excuse is the straw man, voter fraud. The actual problem is virtually nonexistent, and what few cases there have been are mostly Republican fraud.
Less than 18 months before the next presidential election, Republican-controlled statehouses around the country are rewriting voting laws to require photo identification at the polls, reduce the number of days of early voting or tighten registration rules.
Republican legislators say the new rules, which have advanced in 13 states in the past two months, offer a practical way to weed out fraudulent votes and preserve the integrity of the ballot box. Democrats say the changes have little to do with fraud prevention and more to do with placing obstacles in the way of possible Democratic voters, including young people and minorities.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas signed laws last week that would require each voter to show an official, valid photo ID to cast a ballot, joining Kansas and South Carolina.
In Florida, which already had a photo law, Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill this month to tighten restrictions on third-party voter registration organizations — prompting the League of Women Voters to say it would cease registering voters in the state — and to shorten the number of early voting days. Twelve states now require photo identification to vote.
The battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are among those moving ahead on voter ID bills, part of a trend that seems likely to intensify the kind of pitched partisan jousting over voting that has cropped up in recent presidential races.
When voters in predominantly black neighborhoods in Florida saw their votes challenged in the contested Bush-Gore election of 2000, Democrats made charges of disenfranchisement. In 2008 Acorn, a group organizing minority and low-income communities, became a particular target, with Republicans asserting that Acorn was trying to steal the election with large voter-registration drives, some of which were found to be seriously flawed.
Democrats, who point to scant evidence of voter-impersonation fraud, say the unified Republican push for photo identification cards carries echoes of the Jim Crow laws — with their poll taxes and literacy tests — that inhibited black voters in the South from Reconstruction through the 1960s. Election experts say minorities, poor people and students — who tend to skew Democratic — are among those least likely to have valid driver’s licenses, the most prevalent form of identification. Older people, another group less likely to have licenses, are swing voters… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Think back to the aftermath of the 2000 elections when Republican operatives, many Congressional Aides from DC, descended on Florida and physically assaulted election workers to prevent them from recounting the votes. Understand that there is nothing Republicans won’t do to steal an election. We can expect no large voter registration drives. The Republicans have managed to scare off that Muslim, Commie, Socialist, Nazi activist organization, the League of Women Voters. The only way I see to counter this is with thousands of individual voter registration drives. We can obtain voter registration cards ourselves and talk to everyone we know. Help them fill out the cards, mail the cards for them. And tell them that Republicans will NOT represent their interests.
24 Responses to “Republicans Work to Disenfranchise Voters”
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The last time I voted in 2010, I had to show ID here in IL. I asked the election official why and he said they passed a law saying that you had to have an ID. Now, I don’t mind having to show an ID because I have one, but what about all those older people who no longer drive? I think this will hurt the repubs worse than the Dems.
I am an “older” person at age 74 and my wife, age 71 is unable to drive because of her eyesight. The state issued a valid ID free. Valid because she can use like a driver’s license for identification, voting, cashing checks and all the other things a drivers license is used for.
Thus, your comment is totally disconnected from the real world and belongs to a pretend world that the anti ID people have flummoxed you with.
Welcome Bob. That may true in Florida now, but I’m not sure it will be after Scott’s voter ID goes into effect. Also, your wife is fortunate in that she had you to drive her to get her free ID. Millions of seniors are not so fortunate. Have voter ID people really “flummoxed” us, or are you just demonstrating the total lack of compassion for those less fortunate, so typical of Republicans?
Thanks for pointing that out Tomcat. Bob probably doesn’t notice what you said about the elderly poor and those without assistance, or simply does not care. Maybe he is a Republican voter and does not value a vote from everyone, like the article says, and he doesn’t realize he is making the point the author made. Also note his nutty condemnations of you not living in the real world.
Welcome Joebob. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words. As for his condemnation of me, when Republicans lack facts, they attack people. This is the case far more often than not.
Lisa, it would have before, but now that Republicans are going after Social Security and Medicare with a passion, elderly voters are turning off to them.
Older voters who have no drivers license have photo ID cards that are issued through the DMV
No surprises here. They’ve effectively deleted thousands of voters in many states beginning in 2000 and they will not stop. What’s missing here is a counter movement by Democrats and liberals. Where are they?
That’s exactly the problem I’m addressing, Blue.
Funny how these bills have hit over 13 States at the same time. Some include saying that people who go to school in a State that they were not born in, cannot vot, even though they are residents of the State they are attending school.
This is why Republicans did not want to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Some of these bills say the State will pay for an ID if people don’t have one. Costing millions.
They cite voter fraud and a cleaner voting process. BS.
This is all about supressing the liberal vote.
It’s been a while since I have said it, you have an excellent blog.
Exactly, Tom. And thank you. You would not believe the time I need to spend doing research.
This will be a very important matter for us Liberals to address in the coming elections. Daily Kos has a worthwhile Recommended Diary on the nuts and bolts of GOTR – “Get Out the Registration” – with nitty-gritty detail (at least at this point in time) on thwarting the repubicans’ efforts to take away our voice at the Ballot Box:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/29/980313/-GOTR?via=siderec
Excellent, nameless. See my comment below.
Everyone. The link Nameless left in Comment #4 is one everyone should click.
Do not believe anyone is trying to take away our voice at the ballot box. This is an issue to keep people who are not United States citizens from voting. State issued photo ID is the logical solution.
Welcome Sandy. State issued photo ID is a perfectly rational solution. What is not is that the laws in Republican control States are engineered to make that ID difficult for poor and/or elderly voters to get.
and just what would you expect from Republicans, drives to actually increase voter participation? Ha!
Got me there.
Whenever the Respugnuts get control of all branches of a government what you see is a concerted effort to disenfranchise as many as possible who will vote against them, be it voter identification rules, redistricting, poll operations problems such as few booths, intimidations, ellectrical interruptions, and packing the courts with political hacks as judges. If the Democrats can get back control there has to be just as much effort to weaken the Republicans’ ability to vote such as very few booth and electrical problems, and anything else to create problems. This needs to be done in order to prevent them from carrying out their disenfranchising. They make it necessary to do so however much we would prefer to do otherwise.
Welcome MS. 🙂
I agree with everything , except the idea that we would prefer to do otherwise. Why would we? Open, fair elections give us a distinct advantage.
Although at my advanced age (74) I still have a DL—- I was very surprised to have to show it when I voted –(IL) I don’t think it is going to affect older people that much as I do think it will effectively disenfranchise minorities , poorer people– students ; It is a return to Jim Crow laws–
The way it may affect older voters is that many will not realize what is up– and what “they” are doing. If this takes away the right of ONE person to vote– it is too many— all of us need to become informed and inform others–
Phyllis, by giving people a limited window in which to comply, and by not publicizing it (to save budget dollars, of course (NOT!)) people who were not aware lose their votes.
I guess all the hard work our fore fathers did for us to have voting rights is for naught with this new breed of Republicans. They would just as soon see all elderly and poor people die by the roadside.
Welcome, Rose. 🙂
Sadly, Republicans would prefer all elderly and poor people to die far enough of the roadside for Republicans to evade the cleanup.