Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
It seems that almost everywhere you look, some State is trying to reduce the number of early voting days, purging the voting rolls and making it harder for citizens to cast their votes. The State of Florida has recently attempted to remove legitimate voters off its voter rolls and the State of Georgia recently attempted to restrict the time when a military absentee ballot can be counted as I wrote about earlier on this blog. Georgia Now, we have some hard evidence of just who is getting removed or impacted by the various State’s attempts to cure the imagined Voter fraud problem!
“Their data suggests that beyond the wide variation in purge rates across states, there is significant variation within states:
In many states, certain parts of the state electorate, both geographically and demographically, are much more likely to be dropped off of the voter rolls than others. More specifically, some general trends that we see are focused on:
a. Urbanity – cities are getting disproportionately purged
b. Race – minorities are getting disproportionately purged
c. Marital Status – unmarried people are getting disproportionately purged
d. Age – younger (< 40 years old) and older (> 65 years old) voters are purged more frequently than middle-aged voters
e. County effects – there are big differences across county lines, pointing to sharp discontinuities based on arbitrary political boundaries that do not correspond with inherent behavioral differences
Catalist notes that more than 2.7 million living people who voted in 2008 have since been purged from the voter rolls. Among those, African American voters are “1.5 times more likely to be purged than Caucasian voters, nationally.” ‘ Think Progress
It appears from the data above that Minorities are the big “winners” when it comes to the voter purge gambit. The young and the old seem to be the runners-up in the race to see which demographic gets the worst of the attempts to prevent legal voters from being able to vote. What could be behind this attempt to prevent minorities and the young and those older than 65 from voting? It couldn’t be politics, could it??!
What are these States afraid of? It cannot be voter fraud since the actual number of voter fraud incidents is infinitesimal. “In fact there were only nine instances of possible in-person voter fraud between 2000 and 2007, and it is more likely that an individual will get struck by lightning than they will commit voter fraud. In the lawsuit brought by the ACLU against Pennsylvania’s voter ID law, the state formally acknowledged that no in-person voter fraud has occurred in Pennsylvania and they don’t expect any to occur in November.” Think Progress
Let see if I understand this. One side is claiming that voter purges and stricter voter ID laws are needed to prevent or stop a problem that at least in the case of the State of Pennsylvania, was not a problem in the past or likely in the future.
If there is no legitimate voter fraud problem now or in the near past, should these voter purges and voter ID laws be considered Voter Fraud? If so, why and if not, why not?
Additional sources: The Brennan Center
“Unless voting ID is made easily accessible and free, it should be illegal to make such a requirement.” (Bonnie)
The simple truth of that statement stands without the need of any crutch.
Just curious what happened to the we are the 99%, another farce.
Virginia election officials decided Monday to not take action against a D.C. group that sent voter registration cards to dead people, children and pets and prompted calls for an investigation from Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
The Virginia Board of Elections said it was already working with the Voter Participation Center to improve the group’s registration practices so ineligible voters would not be targeted in the future.
Romney’s campaign recently called for an investigation of the group, which targeted minorities and young voters when it sent out 200,000 registration cards. The campaign said it was satisfied with the board’s decision.
“The Voter Participation Center has already admitted its misconduct, and we are glad that the State Board of Elections quickly convened a meeting on the issue,” said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg. “Even in the absence of a formal investigation, we are heartened that the group is being forced to stop mailing misleading, [partially completed] voter registration forms in Virginia.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/va.-wont-further-probe-charges-of-illegal-voter-registration/article/2504120
bRON,
yOU SHOULD ALSO BE MORE CAREFUL WITH YOUR shift KEY… 😉
Bron,
It is fine to come to conclusions about the children you see with cotton candy on the basis of your observations, but observations regarding the children you don’t see (i.e. why they are not at the fair with cotton candy) have no basis.
Michael J. Marsalek,
Prof. Turley did not write this article. You do need to read a little more about theOhio lawsuit. Your talking points are not accurate.
sLARTI:
If there are a couple of hundred people at the DMV who looked like they were tradesmen, I think I can make some conclusions about their ability to take off work to get a drivers license. I might be wrong but it certainly isnt fallacious reasoning.
I suppose when I go to a county fair and see a bunch of children with cotton candy I cannot come to any conclusions either?
If the comments here are typical of average Americans, it’s easy to foresee
how right-wingers will be able to sell flat taxes, no estate taxes (aka help support an even larger class of aristocrats than we already have), an endless war economy, and all the rest
I’m appalled, and fully expect to be subjected to derision (even by self-righteous, self-described liberals). here.
Bron,
Oh, so I guess it’s just corporations that you feel have the right to pollute your natural resources.
I didn’t make any sort of statement about the size of any group—I merely pointed out that you relayed an observation about one group and used it to make a statement about the size of another group, which was fallacious reasoning.
Slarti:
you dont know how many people didnt show up, nor do you know how many could not come due to work restrictions. My observation is no more or less fallacious than yours.
Going to the doctor, staying home with a sick child, getting a drivers license, going to the bank, appearing in court are things we all have to do. That is how life works unless you are Donald Trump.
As far as arsenic in the water, it is already there in many areas of the country and is naturally occurring. But no, I do not think I have a right to pollute your well. If I do I should be punished.
Turley – It’s mostly the people who want to improve the integrity and reliability of the electoral process that benefit from voter ID laws. The candidates who have organizations in place to manipulate election outcomes with fraud are squealing the loudest. Right now, “O” has filed suit over Ohio’s early voting accommodation to the military. The Dems tried unsuccessfully to suppress the abscentee votes for 1500 members of the military in the 2000 Florida general election. Now comes confirmed reports that the White House instructed Erik Holder to stand down in the case of voter intimidation by members of the New Black Panthers. All eligible voters are guaranteed the right to vote. As with most worthwhile endeavors, voting may take some effort; otherwise ineligible candidates might get elected by ineligible voters such as: cats, dogs, convicted felons, dead people and illegal aliens.
Slarti, he also neglected to observe the working people there may have been giving up two or three hours–or more–of wages for being there–not to mention that some supervisor might give them a hard time for taking off work when they got back.
OS,
I wonder if it was hard work not to see all of that… but Bron has always been good at ignoring the logical consequences of his arguments. According to him, I’ve got the right to put arsenic in his water supply.
Bron,
The question is not how many people were able to be there–the question is how many people weren’t able to be there. Something you couldn’t possibly know, therefore your assertion is fallacious. Do you think that people should be deprived of their rights based on fallacious reasoning?
SLARTI:
there were plenty of people who did laboring jobs in the line ahead of me, so they did not have a hard time either.
Bron, you can tie yourself into all the logical knots you want. The issue still is the fact the real voter fraud is the caging and outright voter suppression being conducted systematically and deliberately by the Republican party everywhere they have the power to do so.
What is wrong, for example, with an expired photo ID? My daughter will never drive again, but she has her driver’s license with her current address and photo on it. So what if it expired a year or two ago? My granddaughter will be able to vote for the first time—maybe. She does not have a driver’s license and her permit has expired. She does have a valid passport, but the election people want a State issue ID in order to let her vote. She and my daughter are both progressives who are far more likely to vote Democratic than Republican. That does not pass the smell test.
Bron
1, August 6, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Otteray Scribe:
I am not sure an hour wait or even a 2 hour wait is a big deal. In the mall where our DMV is located, I have waited that long on numerous occasions.
Seeing as how you have your own business, I’m guessing that you didn’t have any problem getting your boss to let you off or a problem making up lost wages–an additional “poll tax”–and remember that a 2 hour wait probably means at least a half day off work (an entire day if there is any significant travel time). I thought you believed in the rights of individuals–don’t you think that the right to vote is one of the most important of those, or do you only extend it to those who will vote like you do?
I’m going to blame my child, who was sitting on my lap while I typed on my phone for the Democratic error 😉
I actually live in a rural area, I am 15 miles from town. Our BMV does not have 1-2 hr wait times, it is not as busy as the ones in the bigger cities. And you can still get free rides to the rural BMV’S for these ID’s.
They will have two employees working to only do State ID’s. It takes about 15 min per person. I think the program runs for a week prior to voting. And you can renew it online before it expires too.
Otteray Scribe:
I am not sure an hour wait or even a 2 hour wait is a big deal. In the mall where our DMV is located, I have waited that long on numerous occasions.
rafflaw:
I dont have any friends in the republican party, they think I am too liberal.
Sally, good for you and your community. BTW, you left a “tell.” It is Democratic, not Democrat.
Now, how about our semi rural area where there is no public transportation, and some people only come in to town once or twice a month to get staples at the grocery and hardware store? The average wait time at the single DMV office in the county runs between one and two hours on an average day. I know this because I am next door to the DMV. Our situation here is the rule and not the exception across much of the country with the exception of affluent (make that mostly Republican) suburbs.
Otteray Scribe
1, August 6, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Sally, good for you and your community. BTW, you left a “tell.” It is Democratic, not Democrat.
Nice catch!