Comments on: Voter Suppression Rages On

Voter Suppression Rages On

gracedepapel — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:12:43 -0800

The history of voter's rights in America is treacherous. In this upcoming election, voter suppression continues and as before, it is racialized, and targets traditionally marginalized & left-leaning individuals. The ACLU's Laura Murphy on voter suppression this year. The NAACP and Project South both have a hand in the fight to be counted.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 09:46:15 -0800

Absent is the part where the Democratic Party led the necessary reforms following the election of President Obama.

By: Jernau

Jernau — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:01:20 -0800

The conservative argument has for a long time been that they are trying to prevent voter fraud but absent from this argument is any discussion of mail in voter fraud which is probably far more common and seems to likely benefit the conservative cause more disproportionally.

By: Talez

Talez — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:13:34 -0800

Having spent all my life in a country that forces you to vote with threat of a fine, it's like stepping into the Twilight Zone watching the fight to disenfranchise people. I miss the Australian Electoral Commission. Maybe they should outsource the entire US election process to them.

By: Currer Belfry

Currer Belfry — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:18:48 -0800

I made sure to renew my 85-year-old mom's Pennsylvania photo ID this year because of this. Turns out she won't need it, at least not this year. Meanwhile, last time I voted (in Massachusetts), I got asked for photo ID. I wasn't prepared for the question so I just coughed it up. Won't do the same this time around.

By: magstheaxe

magstheaxe — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:49:06 -0800

I've posted it before, and I will post it again: Please, please, please familiarize yourself with Election Protection. They are a nonpartisan coalition formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. They have hotlines in the US to assist you with advice and information if you run into a problem at the polls: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (administered by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law) 1-888-Ve-Y-Vota (administered by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Education Fund) They also have a mobile app for smartphones. The app allows voters to: • Verify their registration; • Register to vote; • Look up their polling place; • Review key voting rules and regulations for their state; • See what type of machine they vote on; and • Contact Election Protection via phone or email to report a problem or get answers to their questions. When you go to vote, take their toll free #/mobile app with you! Voters concerned that they're being targeted by deceptive election practices, in addition to alerting local authorities, should immediately contact 1-866-OUR-VOTE for advice, assistance, and to report voter suppression so it can be tracked!

By: Gungho

Gungho — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:02:27 -0800

It really is very simple. If you want a voter ID then fund the process. I find it hard to believe that people who live and breath in this country don't have some form of ID that would work to vote. You need an ID to cash a check, to buy liquor, to buy cigaretts, heck you need an ID to buy Sudafed. So for those few who don't have an ID, provide the funds to the states to have the DMV make them.

By: homunculus

homunculus — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:24:08 -0800

Sarah Silverman: Let My People Vote

By: Round Square Cupola

Round Square Cupola — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 00:12:06 -0800

To *replace* an ID from scratch (in NC) you will need: Proof of Date of Birth & Social Security, and also $10-ish. NC waives the fee for homeless folks and folks over 70 (if you can prove it!). If you are seeking ID in the state where you went to school, the district can give you school records to prove DOB. For a fee ($5ish). Or you can go to a hospital and try to get sealed medical records. Thing is, hospital and district will want you to prove who you are somehow. Oops! At least Social Security can be proved if you have a W2 (downside to workin' under the table) Things really get interesting if you have never had an ID from the state you're in now. Too bad you moved to try and find a job! THEN your new home state DMV will want the Birth Certificate from where you were born (no copies!) and a Social Security Card. No school record/W2 funny business. This is where things really get fun. Check out these instructions to get a Birth Certificate: SC, GA, MS, and TN Yep, the usual dealbreaker. Birth Certificate will run you at least another $12. Up to $25 (Ohio!). AND if you can't show a copy of a photo ID (what you're trying to get), you might have to get some kind of testimony from your parents. If they're alive and you're speaking to them. So the key is, don't move, don't lose or destroy tiny slips of paper, have $50 to burn, and have the supernatural ability and wherewithal to figure out what all these siloed bureaucratic institutions want from you by election day or onset of your Alzheimers, whichever comes first.

By: rollbiz

rollbiz — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:48:55 -0800

You need an ID to cash a check, to buy liquor, to buy cigaretts, heck you need an ID to buy Sudafed. Could you tell me which of these things is a constitutional right?

By: homunculus

homunculus — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:57:38 -0800

Republican Party Training 'Poll Challengers' In Illegal Voter Suppression

By: cashman

cashman — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:25:49 -0800

Jon Husted (Ohio Secretary of State) forbids boards of elections from calling/emailing voters about absentee ballot mistakes

Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted issued a new, mind boggling directive on Thursday that adds even more confusion and potential slow-down to the process of handling absentee ballots. According to newly-issued Directive 2012-48, Boards of Election wishing to notify a voter of mistakes on his/her absentee ballot can only do so "in writing by first class mail". "Notification may not be made via telephone, email, facsimile" or any other means. This is a stark change from the policy under SOS Jennifer Brunner, who issued a directive in 2008 advising boards to "simultaneously use both email and first class mail" and which allowed telephone communication when other means were "impracticable or impossible"

By: Gungho

Gungho — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:59:15 -0800

Could you tell me which of these things is a constitutional right? posted by rollbiz 5 days ago [+] None, merely pointing out how utterly ridiculous the argument is that poor people, sorry, Democrats, don't have IDs is.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:35:07 -0800

How To Fix America From Below

Election reformers tend to shudder at the patchwork inconsistency with which the United States approaches its national elections, and they regard the process as a woefully disorganized mess. Yale Law School professor Heather Gerken takes a different view. When she looks at all the ways in which Americans vote, she sees a national conversation about how best to hold an election—one that shouldn't be squelched, but harnessed to improve voting for everyone.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 06:19:51 -0800

Of Republicans and Race Cards: Why I Used To Believe Voter ID Laws Were Really Just Common Sense

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 02:30:46 -0800

The Voter Fraud Myth

True the Vote, which was founded in 2009 and is based in Houston, describes itself as a nonprofit organization, created "by citizens for citizens," that aims to protect "the rights of legitimate voters, regardless of their political party." Although the group has a spontaneous grassroots aura, it was founded by a local Tea Party activist, Catherine Engelbrecht, and from the start it has received guidance from intensely partisan election lawyers and political operatives, who have spent years stoking fear about election fraud. This cohort—which Roll Call has called the "voter fraud brain trust"—has filed lawsuits, released studies, testified before Congress, and written op-ed columns and books. Since 2011, the effort has spurred legislative initiatives in thirty-seven states to require photo identification to vote.

By: the man of twists and turns

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:18:48 -0800

Paper Prophets: Why E-voting Is On The Decline In The United States

By: cashman

cashman — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:08:20 -0800

As election nears, efforts intensify to misinform, pressure voters

By Deborah Charles WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:22pm EDT (Reuters) - In Florida, Virginia and Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them there was no need to cast a ballot in person on Election Day because they could vote by phone. In Ohio and Wisconsin, billboards in mostly low-income and minority neighborhoods showed prisoners behind bars and warned of criminal penalties for voter fraud - an effort that voting rights groups say was designed to intimidate minority voters. And across the nation, some employers - notably David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who help fund the conservative group Americans for Prosperity - are urging their workers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney for president. Two weeks before what could be one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history, efforts to mislead, intimidate or pressure voters are an increasingly prominent part of the political landscape.

By: Gungho

Gungho — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 06:34:48 -0800

And across the nation, some employers - notably David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who help fund the conservative group Americans for Prosperity - are urging their workers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney for president. Any different than unions being pressured to support the local and National D, paid to show up, and penalized if they don't?. Watch the last video clip for Warren reading from script and avoiding the question by repeating herself over and over and over and over...