-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
There are two ways to increase your chances of winning an election, get more voters to cast their ballots for you, or get fewer voters to cast their ballots for your opponent. The GOP had decided to pursue the latter option.
There is nothing more sacred in a democracy that the right to vote, so an attack on voting rights is an attack on democracy. That is exactly what is happening in many states across our land. Republican governors and legislatures are passing laws making it extremely difficult for certain Americans to vote.
The Republicans use the illusion of voter fraud to mask their contempt of the Constitution. A report from the Brennan Center for Justice found the incidence of voter fraud at rates such as 0.0003 percent in Missouri and 0.000009 percent in New York. Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center said “Voter impersonation is an illusion.” The Brennan report also states:
We are not aware of any documented cases in which individual noncitizens have either intentionally registered to vote or voted while knowing that they were ineligible.
Kris Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas and longtime conservative activist, has led the voter ID drive in his state. Kobach explained that between 1997 and 2010, Kansas has experienced “221 cases of reported voter fraud.” A dubious claim since not a single criminal conviction has resulted. Over the same period of time, Kansans cast 10 million votes. Even if everyone of the claimed cases of voter fraud were accurate, the rate of fraud would be miniscule.
Numerous surveys show that blacks, Hispanics, the elderly, and the young are less likely like to possess a form of government-issued identification. Except for the elderly, the other demographics are more likely to vote Democratic. The elderly are more likely to vote Republican. In a shameless display of the falsity of their voter fraud motivations, Republicans in Texas simply exempted the elderly from the new voter ID law.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, after signing a voter ID law requiring voters to have a photo ID, then closed DMV offices in Democratic areas and expanded DMV operating hours in Republican areas. South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said she “will go take them to the DMV myself and help them get that picture ID.” Even with carpooling, it would take 7 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 5 days to take the 178,000 voters to the DMV. That assumes good traffic conditions.
H/T: WaPo, Bloomberg, E.J. Dionne, Think Progress, Daily Kos.
We have been fighting this republican tactic for years in Ohio
Diebold: A Name to Trust
See Who’s Editing Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign
By John Borland 08.14.07
http://www.wired.com/politics/onlinerights/news/2007/08/wiki_tracker
Dredd, the most egregious problem I have seen are the electronic voting machines. I am dumfounded that Diebold has such a “problem” providing voters a paper receipt for verification of the vote. When I use a Diebold ATM, it not only gives me a paper receipt, but my banker tells me there is a duplicate copy inside the machine in case of a failure of the electronic components. But then, that is the bank. They get what they want to get.
Yes but suppressing the votes of the weak is the minor league.
Corruption of entire election systems is the major league.
The puppeteers behind the republicans and democrats have a goal, which is to render elections insignificant in terms of causing beneficial change by way of voting the bums out.
There are two fronts, one is to provide candidates who will say anything during the campaign, but then when elected let their strings be pulled to do the work of the wartocracy. The other front is the manipulation of the election system on a large scale (corporate funding of elections; faith based election machines replacing hand counted paper ballots).
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/29/democrats_decry_voter_id_laws
Maybe, AY, if they are not stopped from voting in Wisconsin. Walker’s laws are said to be the most restrictive.
From yesterday:
“eniobob
1, July 30, 2011 at 6:14 pm
DOJ,here’s something that you are being asked to take a look at:
FRIDAY, JUL 29, 2011 14:30 ET
WAR ROOM
The new Jim Crow?
http://www.salon.com/news/department_of_justice/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/07/29/democrats_decry_voter_id_laws:
SWM,
I saw a 14 year old kid this weekend that basically is from the heartland of WI…I had to stop him as his T-Shirt had “Obama and Hope”…..I think anyone but the GOP will win seats in WI at present…..They are so pissed at what the GOP has brought them….I think 2 years ago the T-Shirt would not be as welcome….and Obama was hated….I think they are seeing that the GOP brings other what they pay for….
Elaine, moving to Scotland is looking better and better.
Otteray,
Maybe they’ll pray for the “reign” of Perry.
If there is a President Perry, we are doomed.
The Republicants better be careful what they pray for, they may get it.
President Scerry… I don’t even want to imagine it. Such good news this Sunday morning…
Good post, nal. The democrats have to carry Wisconsin and Ohio.This could lead to President Perry.
culheath, they are so blatant because they know no one in Washington or the DoJ is going to call them on it. If some people were to start going to jail for violating Constitutional protections, it might stop. I agree with AY’s comment above. We are still reaping the fallout from Lee Atwater’s dirty tricks.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/392598/july-20-2011/voter-id-laws
The use of voter suppression by the GOP is just more example that even THEY realize they cannot win elections honestly. What’s astounding is the level of their desperation indicated by how blatantly they are pursuing the matter this time around.
Nal,
The Days of LBJ and Voting are becoming a day of the past…..It is a sad state of affairs chiefly engineered by Lee Atwater….
So a group exists that has no ID to buy liquor or cigarettes, drive, fly, work, cash a check, rent an apartment, or even get a marriage license… and they are queued up in line to vote?
More voters are disenfranchised by the Republicrat duopoly’s absurd rules that keep third party candidates off ballots. If this were a serious effort to advance democratic debate that’s where the focus would be. It isn’t.
I have been watching this story for some times, and each week brings a new outrage. I recall the bad old days in the south, where people of color were threatened with death if they tried to register to vote. Reforms did away with the poll tax and certain states had to clear any new voting laws with the Feds before they could implement them. Maybe those laws ought to be expanded to nationwide. Fat chance of that passing, though, in the current toxic climate in Congress.
This is voter caging, pure and simple. The only real voter fraud we have seen so far has been by the Republicans, not Democrats.
Nal,
Thanks for posting about this important story. This all goes back to Paul Weyrich. I found the following video when I was doing some reading on the subject: