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Showing posts with label voter suppression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter suppression. Show all posts
Republicans across the country have been pushing voter ID laws claiming that they would make voting more secure. But the truth is, all they do is make voting more difficult while doing nothing to improve the integrity of our elections. In fact, the problem they say they are trying to fix – voter impersonation – is incredibly rare with a recent analysis revealing only 31 credible instances since the year 2000. These laws are part of a cynical GOP strategy to keep people from the ballot box. Today’s Republican Party is so out of touch with the American people that they know their best path to victory is if fewer voices are heard, if fewer Americans exercise one of their most basic constitutional rights.
'Villagers' know that our country is stronger when more voices are heard. Don't we want to live in a country committed to expanding rights not taking them away – we want to empower people, to break down barriers and to expand opportunity for all Americans. And one of the best ways to do that is to make sure they have all the facts. So take a look at this video to learn the truth about some of the most common GOP myths on voter ID laws. The current unrest in Ferguson, Missouri is a clear example of the truism, 'Elections Have Consequences'. The Black community in that city had single-digit turnout to vote ... and as a result the town's political power structure doesn't have many Black participants.
The 1% in our country are so disconnected with reality that they feel that they can espouse anything that comes to their minds in public forum. Diarrhea of the mouth. The most recent example is billionaire Tom Perkins. He thinks that only the gentry in our nation should vote. Specifically, he suggested that only taxpayers should have the right to vote -- and that wealthy Americans who pay more in taxes should get more votes.
Ordinarily when you turn on the lights the roaches in the room begin to run for the exists. That isn't the case with the folks trying to steal the 2012 presidential election. This week the roaches responsible for an outrageous voter suppression scheme in communities of color in Ohio and Wisconsin. The roaches this time around are trying to say anonymous as they have paid for devious billboards designed to scare Black and Hispanic people away from voting.
Melissa Harris-Perry and Ohio state Senator Nina Turner were on the case about this issue yesterday.
With less than a month to go ... an anonymous advertiser tries to create an atmosphere of fear around voting just as the early voting period begins in Ohio and Wisconsin. I encourage all 'villagers' to sign an online petition demanding that demanding that Clear Channel immediately take down these offensive and dangerous billboards:
These billboards are clearly designed to intimidate voters, and they're part of a coordinated right-wing attack on the voting rights of people of color. The billboards are hosted by Clear Channel, a media conglomerate owned by Bain Capital — the same company that Mitt Romney co-founded. Clear Channel has tried to avoid any responsibility for the ads, saying that the group who paid for them is responsible for the content. But Clear Channel has rejected billboard ads at leastthree timesin the past.
The myth of widespread "voter fraud" has been used to justify voter suppression efforts again and again. As a result, we've seen new restrictions on voting and voter registration, including discriminatory voter ID laws and voter roll purges. The fact is that voter fraud rarely occurs. In fact, voter fraud happens as infrequently as death by lightning.
Clear Channel syndicates some of our country’s most conservative commentators like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, and now it is allowing the myth of voter fraud to intimidate Black and Latino voters. Please join us in demanding that Clear Channel immediately remove the billboards, it only takes a moment.
State SenatorNina Turner (D-OH) is a rock star. She ain't no Aunt Jemima! The Republican effort to suppress the vote in Ohio is the "biggest story in this presidential race," according to Ed Schultz. And in a fiery appearance on Ed's show, Turner pulled no punches in describing what's happening.
The GOP has shortened voting hours in all 88 counties since 2008 when 47% of voters — predominantly African Americans — took advantage of extended hours to cast their ballots.
Nina Turner became one of my political favorites last night! She is obviously an outspoken advocate of the disenfranchised and under-represented and I hope she runs for statewide office in the near future!
I am writing to ask for your support for the Cost of Freedom Voter ID App, a user-friendly app that will cut through the confusion and help voters get an official photo ID.
As you know, the Justice Department blocked South Carolina from implementing its voter ID law; rulings on Texas and Mississippi are pending. As of this writing, strict photo ID requirements will be in effect in Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. There’s a 50-50 chance that Pennsylvania, a battleground state, will enact a voter ID law this year.
In 2000, we didn't know about the butterfly ballot design or clogged punch-card voting machines. Today, we know millions of citizens do not have government-issued photo ID. In Wisconsin, a swing state, 55% of African American men and 46% of Latino men do not have a driver’s license. Similarly, 49% of Black women and 59% of Latino women lack an official photo ID.
Among African Americans aged 18-24, 78% of Black men and 66% of Black women do not have a driver’s license. If the Wisconsin election is close, photo IDs could affect the outcome.
Casting a provisional ballot is not a solution. In 2008, 1,000 voters in Indiana were turned away because they did not have government-issued photo ID. That may not sound like a lot but George W. Bush won Florida by 537 votes.
Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson told MSNBC: "All of a sudden after the 2008 election, these (voter ID laws) miraculously appear. Why? Because we have a Black president in the White House and it is to stop all of the people of color from … coming out to vote."
The Cost of Freedom Voter ID App will quickly give users information on how to get a voter ID. With the rollback of hours at the DMV and bureaucratic delays in processing requests for birth certificates, voters cannot wait until September to get ready. They need to be educated about their state’s photo ID requirements and provided assistance now.
Please visit the Cost of Freedom Voter ID App campaign today and make a pledge. The civil rights generation fought for the right to vote. As voter ID laws proliferate across the country, it’s now our responsibility to remove impediments to the ballot box.
My favorite era in American history was known as 'Reconstruction'. This was the era after the end of slavery when our nation had more African Americans in congress, Senate, state legislatures and statehouses than any other time in our nation's history. Of course, the white power structure couldn't stand to see people of color doing so well in politics ... so they began to find ways to 'block the vote'. Poll taxes. Counting jellybeans in a jar. White sheets and hoods. The era of 'Jim Crow' came into fruition and Blacks were driven out of congress, Senate, state legislatures and state houses.
Fast forward to 2008. The first election of an African American to the presidency. An unprecedented number of Black and Latino voters. The white power structure couldn't stand to see people of color doing so well in politics ... so they again began to seek out ways to 'block the vote'. Several states have passed laws requiring voters to present specific types of photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote; creating new rules for voter registration drives; reducing early voting days and voter registration periods; and further preventing ex-felons from voting. 'James Crow, Esquire' hopes to drive President Obama out of the White House.
There are 14 states who have passed such laws this year: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
The NAACP collected this information about early voting advocacy by Black churches in Florida, hoping to convince the Justice Department to strike down a slew of new state voting laws it claims are intended to thwart growing minority participation at the polls ahead of next year’s presidential election.
NAACP President Ben Jealous said the NAACP wants to diligently document how the laws affect African Americans and Latinos, and provide the attorney general ample evidence for finding the laws unconstitutional.
"In some ways, these tactics are not Jim Crow. They do not feature Night Riders and sheets … This is in fact, James Crow, Esq.,” said the Rev. William Barber, NAACP North Carolina president and a pastor. ”...Jim Crow used blunt tools. James Crow, Esq. uses surgical tools, consultants, high paid consultants and lawyers to cut out the heart of Black political power."
For example, a law passed in Florida reduced its early voting period from 14 to 8 days, including the last Sunday before Election Day.
In 2008, 54 percent of Black voters in Florida cast their ballots early, and Blacks comprised 32 percent of the entire statewide turnout on the last Sunday before the election, said Ryan Haygood, director of political participation for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.
"It’s widely known in Florida that Black churches would organize what they called ‘Get Your Souls to the Polls’ where they urged their members, after fulfilling their spiritual duties on Sundays to discharge their civic ones by voting," Haygood said.
Florida’s Black and Latino populations grew during the past decade, inching it closer to being a majority-minority state.
Supporters of the new laws, including at least one group funded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, have said the new laws are designed to prevent voter fraud. Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said voter ID laws have wide support, including in the Black community.
“It’s hard for me to believe a serious group like the NAACP would come out to say there’s some grand conspiracy to deny people the right to vote,” von Spakovsky said.
Actually, the only person in the Black community that I know who is supporting these 'voter suppression' efforts is Artur Davis. Anyhow, the NAACP has planned a protest march and rally that will start at the Koch brothers’ offices in New York on Saturday. This blog encourages all 'villagers' in the New York area to participate in this protest march.
I hope that villagers are taking a close look at the voter suppression efforts that have been implemented by GOP governors and legislators around the nation lately. A new report from the Brennan Center for Justice shines the spotlight on a range of new state laws that make it more difficult to vote, particularly for poor and voters of color.
These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, low-income voters, African Americans, Hispanics as well as on voters with disabilities. These new laws are part of a well-orchestrated campaign to hurt the chances of Democrats to retake control of Congress or retake the White House during the 2012 election.
These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.
The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
Of the 12 likely battleground states in 2012 -- five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.
I encourage you to read the report and come to your own conclusions. One thing that is obvious ... the Republicans are pulling out all of the stops to defeat President Obama in the 2012 elections. The question for us ... will we allow voter suppression strategy to work? Or will we register and vote in numbers that exceed expectations?
We continue to see voter photo ID laws and other suppressive legislation being brought forward by Republican governors and legislators. These proposed laws threaten to roll back many efforts that have increased voter registration and turnout over the past few election cycles.
Restrictive voter ID laws are truly a "solution in search of a problem," since the issue they purport to address - impersonation of voters at the polls - is practically nonexistent. Therefore, these newly enacted voter photo ID requirements serve only to remove eligible voters from our democracy and are NOT needed to stop potential impersonation voter fraud. So why are these laws being enacted? It is obvious that other, more sinister motivations are at play here.
It seems obvious to most of us that these are thinly-veiled efforts to keep young people, senior citizens, poor people and people of color away from the voter booth in the 2012 election cycle.
This blog seeks to remind you that our right to vote is too important to allow these cynical plans by the Republican Party to continue unabated.
The Republican Party is trying to suppress the votes of African Americans, elderly and students. Chris Matthews talks about voter suppression on his show recently.
The best way to combat these voter suppression efforts is to learn the new rules and follow them. Voting is our right ... and elections have consequences.
Soulclap to Mirror on America for pointing us to this interview with Melissa Harris-Perry, professor of political science at Tulane University. Dr. Harris-Perry talks with Rachel Maddow about a national effort by state Republican leaders to reconfigure voting rules, independent of principle and to bias the electoral system against President Obama's re-election.
There is some detailed information about how these voter suppression efforts are taking place in Nebraska and Pennsylvania.
