Republicans’ Voter Suppression Project Grinds On

By Jonathan Alter 2012-06-21T23:30:00Z


Mitt Romney was in Michigan this week trying to make it competitive in the presidential election. It’s a steep climb for the native Michigander because President Barack Obama’s auto bailout, which Romney opposed, has helped bring the state’s unemployment rate down by 5.7 points since 2009.

But Romney has a strong ally there: legislation being pushed this month by his fellow Republicans aimed at preventing the nonpartisan League of Women Voters from undertaking the voter-registration drives it has sponsored for nearly a century.

Across the country, the Republicans’ carefully orchestrated plan to make voting harder -- let’s call it the Voter Suppression Project -- may keep just enough young people and minorities from the polls that Republicans will soon be in charge of all three branches of the federal government.

Yes, both sides try to change voting laws to favor their team. The 1993 “motor voter” law that made voting more convenient by extending registration to the Department of Motor Vehicles helped mostly Democrats. That was at least in the long American tradition of expanding the franchise.

The Republican effort to restrict voting isn’t just anti- Democrat, it’s anti-democratic. No fair-minded person believes the tall tales of voters pretending they were someone else, which have been debunked by the Brennan Center for Justice and others. What fool would risk prison or deportation to cast a single vote?

Rigging System

This isn’t about stopping vote-stealing and other corruption, for which there are already plenty of laws on the books. It’s about rigging the system to keep power.

First we saw the efforts during the George W. Bush administration by Karl Rove and Justice Department officials to get rid of U.S. attorneys who refused to pursue bogus voter- fraud cases. When Republican prosecutors complained, Rove and company ran for cover.

Then came Crawford v. Marion County, the 2008 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory photo-identification laws were constitutional on the basis of ballot protection. The evidence presented included not a single case of in-person impersonation fraud -- the only fraud that photo ID laws can prevent. And the millions of Americans -- mostly less-affluent seniors -- without driver’s licenses? Good luck.

The big Republican victory in the 2010 election was essential to the Voter Suppression Project. With the help of ALEC -- a conservative lobbying outfit that spreads cookie- cutter bills to state legislatures -- Republicans moved with lightning speed to implement their scheme. Since 2011, 18 states have enacted voter-suppression bills, with similar ones pending in 12 more.

In the presidential race, it’s hand-to-hand legal combat, with almost every battleground state embroiled in a struggle over voter eligibility.

Michigan’s bills attack the League of Women Voters by requiring some volunteers to attend state-approved training sessions before they can register voters. The catch is that the bill makes no provisions for such sessions. Ha! It does threaten them with penalties for registration offenses that aren’t specified.

The bill is modeled on Florida’s, parts of which a federal judge invalidated May 31 because he said they had “no purpose other than to discourage” constitutionally protected activity.

Witch’s Broomstick

In Ohio, the Obama campaign helped collect enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot repealing restrictions on absentee voting. Preferring not to face the voters directly on voter suppression, the Republican-controlled legislature repealed its own law, although it left intact a related measure that prohibits early voting on the three days before an election. That’s designed to discourage the tradition in black communities of busing worshippers from church to the polling place.

Several battleground states have new photo-ID requirements. Pennsylvania’s law allows valid student ID, but with a number of restrictions. Same in Wisconsin, which attached a series of bring-me-the-witch’s-broomstick demands for students looking to use a school ID. Fortunately, a state judge ruled against the Wisconsin law, although it’s being appealed.

Virginia’s legislation allows multiple forms of photo ID but restricts registering for an absentee ballot in person. A New Hampshire bill that required those without photo ID to fill out an onerous affidavit was thankfully just vetoed by Governor John Lynch.

The Obama campaign is obviously concerned about these ballot-access issues for political reasons. But even those with no dog in this fight should recognize that a great democracy doesn’t sully itself by suppressing the precious right to vote.

Jonathan Alter is a Bloomberg View columnist and the author of “The Promise: President Obama, Year One.” The opinions expressed are his own.

lol are you serious? the way they scam the elections is deplorable, but again- oh look the evil Republican party is suppressing voting!

So gay.

Shut the fuck up, the proof is in the fucking pudding you mouthbreathing cocksucker.

Originally posted by: Man is Truth

lol are you serious? the way they scam the elections is deplorable, but again- oh look the evil Republican party is suppressing voting!

So gay.

Because, of course.. no matter what, no matter what the reality of the situation is... both parties are always exactly the same in every way and what one does the other must automatically be doing in the exact same amount.

What do the shades of red on the map signify?

I assume various tactics under discussion. Minnesota republicans are aiming for stricter ID laws, so maybe that's what the pink is for.

fuck this gay ass earth.

Because, of course.. no matter what, no matter what the reality of the situation is... both parties are always exactly the same in every way and what one does the other must automatically be doing in the exact same amount.

yes exactly. Both are collections of power-seeking sociopaths who will say and do anything to avoid having to enter free, competitive production. Some of them have to lie about a socialist utopia, or the people that they are shamelessly pandering to will not believe in them. Some of them have to lie about a roman war-machine circle jerk, or the people that they are shamelessly pandering to will not believe in them. The liars themselves believe only in the power of their deceit and the renumerations of their power. Also no doubt, as they represent the shittiest human beings on the planet earth, their power games are filled with petty rivalries and obnoxious little personal games (that utterly disregard partisan politics)

Sad moose- are you now going to sit here and claim that because a professional liar, whose main contributors were powerful and near invisible front groups, special interests, foundations, corporations, and charlatan reverends, would treat an election MORE FAIRLY because a (D) appears near his name when he manages to get on TV? Is that really how you see the world still? That shit is dumb for teenagers even. I can literally ask 10 sixteen year olds about which party is "better" and 7 or so would tell me something colorful like, "they both suck dick." And that is without tens of thousands of posts of argument.

You are a plant, totally. I think that people who spend more time on this website should move to have you banned

Word.

Who Owns the TV Networks? by Eustace Mullins
(It isn’t just who they are, it’s who they’re also associated with.)
click here for link
Many observers have noticed the striking similarity of the programs offered to the public by the three “independent” television networks. For the first time, we present a detailed study of the directors of the three networks, revealing their interlocking banking and industrial connections, indicating that, instead of three major networks, we actually have only one.

THE WORLD IS CHOKING ON CARTOONISH HYPOCRISY
click here for link
The very ‘humans’ who have gained their immense wealth and power through the centuries from the sweat and toil of others, and who have arranged the world to steal anything they want without lifting a finger, are the same ones who have appointed themselves as the new God’s of the universe. These carnival barkers actually believe they have the final word on who, and how many humans belong on this planet!! Of course, we have yet to see any of them step up and volunteer to be an example to the rest of us in their zealotry to demonize “the earth’s human plague”, and actually help reduce the world’s population!! Any critically thinking person would be looking over their shoulder for the white coats to take us away in straightjackets if WE went around spouting the very same ludicrous nonsense they have come up with.


"Mass sterilization of humans though drugs in the water supply is OK as long as it doesn't harm livestock" - John P Holdren, Obama's science czar click here for link

"Some of them have to lie about a socialist utopia, or the people that they are shamelessly pandering to will not believe in them."

Who in the world is saying anything like that?

"That shit is dumb for teenagers even. I can literally ask 10 sixteen year olds about which party is "better" and 7 or so would tell me something colorful like, "they both suck dick.""

And, of course, who knows more about the world than sixteen year olds.

"are you now going to sit here and claim that because a professional liar, whose main contributors were powerful and near invisible front groups, special interests, foundations, corporations, and charlatan reverends, would treat an election MORE FAIRLY because a (D) appears near his name when he manages to get on TV?"

No, I am going to tell you that the vast majority of voter suppression going on is being done by Repubicans. That is based in facts... not conspiratorial speculation or ideology that doesn't even bother to look at the real world.

No, I am going to tell you that the vast majority of voter suppression going on is being done by Repubicans. (sic) That is based in facts... not conspiratorial speculation or ideology that doesn't even bother to look at the real world.

This statement COMPLETELY ignores EVERYTHING previously discussed. Once again, in true Alinsky fashion, Crunkmoose tries to associate the word "facts" with the word "Republicans," which serves his purpose of attempting once more to frame the debate and bring us all back to the "real world" (the false paradigm of two establishment political parties; the false legitimacy of democracy and voting, etc.)

People who use the phrase "conspiratorial speculation," in the context that Crunkmoose just did, are openly mocking anyone interested in the much bigger picture.

no, i think he was just saying that you're a nutjob and a hack.

Originally posted by: Dwarn

No, I am going to tell you that the vast majority of voter suppression going on is being done by Repubicans. (sic) That is based in facts... not conspiratorial speculation or ideology that doesn't even bother to look at the real world.

This statement COMPLETELY ignores EVERYTHING previously discussed. Once again, in true Alinsky fashion, Crunkmoose tries to associate the word "facts" with the word "Republicans," which serves his purpose of attempting once more to frame the debate and bring us all back to the "real world" (the false paradigm of two establishment political parties; the false legitimacy of democracy and voting, etc.)

People who use the phrase "conspiratorial speculation," in the context that Crunkmoose just did, are openly mocking anyone interested in the much bigger picture.

You are right, Dwarn... why bother with things that actually go on when you can disregard them all for ideology? I'm not arguing that there are no problems with both parties in terms of making our supposed democracy a farce. I'm stating that real voter suppression does occur and is mostly done by one part.. which is not about my devotion to one party or to a two party system, but based in actual fact. You may find all voting to be illegitimate, but at the local and state levels at least, it makes a difference in the lives of people even if it is far from perfect. I would try to explain my position on the incredibly imperfect status quo, but you little loons have already gotten it into your heads... because it is part of your ideology... that I am a plant and that basically everyone who doesn't agree with you in every way is part of the conspiracy and is to be looked down upon and talked down to by "enlightened" nutjob assholes like yourselves.

I'll ask it again, Dwarn... is there ANYTHING that isn't a conspiracy?

everything is a conspiracy, my morning toast was made by majestic 12 and the anciant egyptian reptillians

Originally posted by: Dwarn


This statement COMPLETELY ignores EVERYTHING previously discussed.

I enjoy the way the dwarn believe that because he's said something, that his statements are then entered into the accepted "facts" of a given discussion.


"I don't like the specifics of Obama's healthcare reform ideas"

"This COMPLETELY ignores the fact that he is a REINCARNATED EGYPTIAN DEMIGOD!!!"