Voter Suppression

D_Hugh_G_Nutz

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There is shenanigans on both sides of the aisle. If you do not believe that, perhaps a look at politics in Chicago throughout history might be convincing.
 

Meniscus

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From their actions.

Did not read very much did you?
Second link
» Dem Clerk Who Disenfranchised 1300 Military Voters Has a History of Voter Suppression - Big Government
Democrat in title.
(An odd story since he has tried to disenfranchise African Americans)

Actually, I did. These are the actions of one clerk, who happens to be a Democrat, not evidence that Democrats, as a group, are trying to disenfranchise military voters. Place the blame where it belongs: on this one person, not the Party to which he belongs.

Military Voter Protection Project
Justice Dept. (Headed by Eric Holder - Democrat - Obama Appointee)
Not enforcing MOVE Act - requiring states to mail out ballots so military can return them on time.
Many of the states not complying are Democrat controlled

Again, failure to enforce the law (which I think is reprehensible) by the Justice Department or in blue states is not the same as a concerted effort to pass legislation that disenfranchises voters.
 

B_enzia35

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Can't have it both ways bub. If a small small fraction Tea Party members are "racist", and you think this reflects on the whole movement, then it would be logical to think that this one person's action would be representative of the whole Democrat party.
 

Meniscus

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Can't have it both ways bub. If a small small fraction Tea Party members are "racist", and you think this reflects on the whole movement, then it would be logical to think that this one person's action would be representative of the whole Democrat party.

You're right. It's a logical fallacy to conclude that an attribute of a part is an attribute of the whole.

But in the case of the Tea Party, we don't just have one racist in the movement. We have a group of people who hold a set of beliefs and values that are consistent with those of white nationalists, as explained by David Duke, an infamous former leader of the KKK:

David Duke defends the Tea Parties from charges of racism: Why, they're just like him. | Crooks and Liars
 

B_patrickmcc

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If you think there isnt voter fraud, on a wide scale, then you are either naive or merely ignorant. I am a college student, consider myself independent, but vote Democratic fairly consistently. I am registered in my home state, and for the past two years, have been actively recruited to register to vote at my college address. The town where I go to school is relatively small, with close to 10,000 students in 2 universities. It is also a very conservative town. When I told a recruiter that I was already registered in my home state, I was told that didnt matter, that they didnt check for out of state registrations, and that a lot of people voted here, and by absentee ballot at home. When I questioned the morality of that, I was told it was more moral to keep the "bastards" out, than voting twice. Actually makes me sick that this town could actually have its mayor decided by a bunch of students that will not be here for the majority of the term, whether I agree with his/her agenda or not.
 
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Mensch1351

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HAHA this just proves our point. If it were not for the low-life, drug addicted losers that depend on government handouts, who dont have a driver's license, then the democrats fear that they would never win another elections. I can see why the liberals are screaming about this one, fucking disgraceful losers.

Thanks Menschy, that's what us conservatives have been arguing all along.

hmmmmm. I kinda agree with Michael Moore on this one: (loosely quoted) "If the Republicans truly felt they were right about their issues, they would be doing everything they could to get huge numbers out to the polls. But my suspicion that even they don't think they're in touch with what America is thinking on many of their issues, means that they want as many people as possible to stay away from the polls. A smaller turnout improves their chances of victory!"

Hey -- let's all re-read the constitution one more time -- just for fun! (because I strongly suspect that the kinds of maneuvering being done in states with heavily dominated Republican legislatures are hell bent on making sure we have people who CAN'T exercise their right to vote -- all in the name of the phantom fraudulent voter.) Republican Democracy in Action -- we'll make SURE the vote goes OUR way!!
 

Mensch1351

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I just KNEW this issue was going to come to the forefront sooner or later. Eric Holder is now looking into the whole business of voter supression in States where Republican Legislatures have changed the requirements making it more difficult for seniors, young people etc. to vote.

First of all one of the commentators on MSNBC said, "If you are constantly running for election, why would you want to pay attention to those at the bottom of the economic scale? Why would you FIGHT for the rights of those who will rarely be able to contribute to your campaign?"

I thought this tied the whole issue of economic justice to the Democratic RIGHT of each person to cast their vote for the person they choose.

When the "process" to vote is intentionally designed to exclude millions, you are "fiddling" with the Constitutional right of EACH American to have a voice in their government.

The Statistic I heard was that of the 70 million who DIDN'T vote in the last election, 60 million were not registered!

We've come a very long way in this country from the days when ONLY white, male, property holders were entitled to vote, and in MHO being "registered" to vote is an archaic system for a nation of 300 million!

It is simply "UN-American" totally UN-American to insist that the RIGHT to vote should be limited only to: those who work (excluding students who can die for their country, but wouldn't be able to vote for those who send them -- and the elderly who are retired; those who pay taxes (once again excluding millions of those over 80 who pay no taxes or those making less than $25,000 per year and pay little or no tax!); only those who drive or fly (by registering at DMV locations, etc).

I don't think the Republicans have really counted on the outrage being generated by those 99% ers who have not only felt excluded from the economic upward mobility the nation USED to promise -- but NOW -- the attitude towards them that says, "And we're gonna make sure your VOICE is suppressed through Voter obstacles and hoops!"

Solution??? I think EVERY American over the age of 18 identified by the Census Bureau as a citizen should automatically be registered into the voting process. Your social Security/Medicare card should be the FIRST proof of who you are in order to vote. Details, details, details!!

Secondly -- National Election Days should be a holiday. People should not have to take off work in order to vote. Companies should be REQUIRED to allow their employees time off to cast their vote.

The polls out east should open at 10 AM, Midwest 9 AM, Mountain time 8 AM and West Coast 7AM. They should also close 12 hours later in the same manner. All polls open at one time, all close at one time. As we grow as a nation, let the elections take place over 2 days instead of just one in order to accomodate the larger population!

Do AWAY with the damned Electoral College! The people in California, Texas, Florida and New York should have NO MORE say in who should govern us than the people in Wyoming, and Montana where the cattle probably outnumber the humans. One person -- one vote -- period. Most votes wins. It's much HARDER to fix a national election!

Paper trail? Absolutely! Machine, & computer error should ALWAYS be re-checkable through an actual hand countable method. Laborious?? Absolutely -- but given the close-ness of so many recent elections in so many locales, it makes sense to be CAPABLE of re-checking votes to make sure we get accurate totals.

My point is really quite simple ---- when this nation loses faith in how the system is supposed to be FAIR and work EQUALLY for all AND that it is supposed to be above all HONEST ---- we are going to find ourselves a nation so divided that our downfall will come swiftly. For too long we will have had many reasons to see ourselves segmented into regional, socio-economic, cultural enclaves. Finding a COMMON basis to co-exist will become almost impossible if we believe large elements of our population can have their basic rights and freedoms diminished and blindly believe there will be no dire consequences!
One voice -- one vote! Period!
 

vince

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The Republican party knows that the long term demographic trends in the US are not going their way. But their base is not part of those trends. They have no choice but to pander to that hard right base, because if they don't, third parties will form and that would be an even bigger disaster. So, they must find other means to control elections such as gerrymandering and restricting voter's rights. It may work short term, but in the long run they are dead and they know it.

The Democrats would do the same if the shoe were on the other foot.
 
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vince

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What are you doing in Switzerland Vince?
Actually I'm not. I was visiting a friend in Lucerne and we went to Engelberg. I'm back in İstanbul since Monday and on my way to Canada/USA tomorrow. Merry Christmas
 
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midlifebear

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I bought a couple of short sales in Las Vegas this last summer. After I had closed and transferred title of the first property into my name (instead of the name of my LLC) I received an absentee voter ballot from the nice folks at the Elko County Administration office at what they assumed was going to be my "new" residence. They always send me an absentee ballot because, if I'm not in Spain or Argentina, I still live in Elko County so far away from a township that they don't expect me to make a 150 mile round trip into town just to vote. Instead I just need to let them know if I'm in the USA or abroad and they send me an absentee ballot to a PO Box in Wells, NV, (the nearest ZIP codeand only a 50 mile round trip from the ranch) or I receive an "express" envelope from Nevada to Barcelona or Buenos Aires.

I thought it was amusing -- and thoughtful -- that the nice clerks at the Elko County Administration Office had decided to send me an absentee ballot for a county-wide school board vote (one issue: which one of two people running for school board to vote for. I check the appropriate box (voted for the person who was against putting Huckleberry Finn on a list of censored books), pulled the wax paper strip from the self-adhesive envelope, folded it, taped it and dropped it in the mail.

A few days later I called and talked with a clerk in the Elko office to verify that my PO Box was still my "official" mailing address in Elko County, verified the physical location of my ranch in Elko County which is too far for them to deliver mail, asked how the weather was in Elko, said "Thank you", and turned off my cell phone. Two weeks ago I received my voter registration card in my mail in Barcelona. Nice folks, those county employees in Elko.

However, I still had to give the ACLU a couple hundred bucks in guilt money because I don't live in the USA full-time and therefore unable to go door to door canvassing against changes in Nevada's voter laws. We're a "lavender" or "magenta" State and Sharon of the Bangles has been surreptitiously pushing for changes that wound disenfranchise lots of legal residents of the State of Nevada. In Nevada, if you don't have a birth certificate because your town hall burned down in 1950, all you need is one person to attest that you are who you are before the voting registrar. It's been that way since the State attained Statehood. There hasn't been any problem with sneaky welfare mothers from Iceland (or Mexico, Central, and South 'Mericuh) trying to sneak into a voting booth and vote illegally because they aren't a citizen of the USA. And this really pisses the Republicans off. Note, this need to change a law that works just fine and isn't broken is being pushed exclusively by the local mouth pieces of the Republican Parhtay. Fortunately, Nevada has a new (and hispanic) Republican Governor who isn't so easily persuaded to act like a rabid ass hole. He's on record to fight the proposed changes in the current voter laws, unless it's a change to make voting MORE accessible.

Yup. Sharron Angle. And I'd hoped we'd never hear her name ever again.

And remember folks, I was raised to be a die hard Republican. I was even a great champion of Barry Goldwater, working as "a young Republican for Goldwater" in 1964. Say what you will, but the GOP has been caught too many times entangled in major illegal public scandals since Warren Harding. The Democrats are as clean as Clorox, but in my opinion getting a blow job in the Oval Office is a lot to do about nothing compared to creating lies about weapons of mass destruction just so your pals' stock in Halliburton, Bechtel, and Martin/Marietta performs through the roof. Although before the South became Republican it was steadfastly Democratic for at least half a century or more -- especially during the Jim Crow era. And it's still the same assholes. They just changed party affiliation for convenience. Yesterday's Southern Democrat keeping the disenfranchised away from the poll booths are simply called Southern Republicans these days. Still the same assholes.

Anyone paying attention to what Carl Rove (or is that Karl?) is up to these days?
 
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kayman

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The Republican party knows that the long term demographic trends in the US are not going their way. But their base is not part of those trends. They have no choice but to pander to that hard right base, because if they don't, third parties will form and that would be an even bigger disaster. So, they must find other means to control elections such as gerrymandering and restricting voter's rights. It may work short term, but in the long run they are dead and they know it.

The Democrats would do the same if the shoe were on the other foot.

I have no doubt that Democrats would do the same if it was flipped, partisanship is the way of politics and the only way to win is to control it when you are in declining side. The Republican only chances to survive to socially moderate and learn that people aren't to be so damn accepting of blatant bigotry and aversive racial bias in policy and decision making. However, they can continue down this path at their own peril and ultimate demise...
 

kayman

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I bought a couple of short sales in Las Vegas this last summer. After I had closed and transferred title of the first property into my name (instead of the name of my LLC) I received an absentee voter ballot from the nice folks at the Elko County Administration office at what they assumed was going to be my "new" residence. They always send me an absentee ballot because, if I'm not in Spain or Argentina, I still live in Elko County so far away from a township that they don't expect me to make a 150 mile round trip into town just to vote. Instead I just need to let them know if I'm in the USA or abroad and they send me an absentee ballot to a PO Box in Wells, NV, (the nearest ZIP codeand only a 50 mile round trip from the ranch) or I receive an "express" envelope from Nevada to Barcelona or Buenos Aires.

I thought it was amusing -- and thoughtful -- that the nice clerks at the Elko County Administration Office had decided to send me an absentee ballot for a county-wide school board vote (one issue: which one of two people running for school board to vote for. I check the appropriate box (voted for the person who was against putting Huckleberry Finn on a list of censored books), pulled the wax paper strip from the self-adhesive envelope, folded it, taped it and dropped it in the mail.

A few days later I called and talked with a clerk in the Elko office to verify that my PO Box was still my "official" mailing address in Elko County, verified the physical location of my ranch in Elko County which is too far for them to deliver mail, asked how the weather was in Elko, said "Thank you", and turned off my cell phone. Two weeks ago I received my voter registration card in my mail in Barcelona. Nice folks, those county employees in Elko.

However, I still had to give the ACLU a couple hundred bucks in guilt money because I don't live in the USA full-time and therefore unable to go door to door canvassing against changes in Nevada's voter laws. We're a "lavender" or "magenta" State and Sharon of the Bangles has been surreptitiously pushing for changes that wound disenfranchise lots of legal residents of the State of Nevada. In Nevada, if you don't have a birth certificate because your town hall burned down in 1950, all you need is one person to attest that you are who you are before the voting registrar. It's been that way since the State attained Statehood. There hasn't been any problem with sneaky welfare mothers from Iceland (or Mexico, Central, and South 'Mericuh) trying to sneak into a voting booth and vote illegally because they aren't a citizen of the USA. And this really pisses the Republicans off. Note, this need to change a law that works just fine and isn't broken is being pushed exclusively by the local mouth pieces of the Republican Parhtay. Fortunately, Nevada has a new (and hispanic) Republican Governor who isn't so easily persuaded to act like a rabid ass hole. He's on record to fight the proposed changes in the current voter laws, unless it's a change to make voting MORE accessible.

Yup. Sharron Angle. And I'd hoped we'd never hear her name ever again.

And remember folks, I was raised to be a die hard Republican. I was even a great champion of Barry Goldwater, working as "a young Republican for Goldwater" in 1964. Say what you will, but the GOP has been caught too many times entangled in major illegal public scandals since Warren Harding. The Democrats are as clean as Clorox, but in my opinion getting a blow job in the Oval Office is a lot to do about nothing compared to creating lies about weapons of mass destruction just so your pals' stock in Halliburton, Bechtel, and Martin/Marietta performs through the roof. Although before the South became Republican it was steadfastly Democratic for at least half a century or more -- especially during the Jim Crow era. And it's still the same assholes. They just changed party affiliation for convenience. Yesterday's Southern Democrat keeping the disenfranchised away from the poll booths are simply called Southern Republicans these days. Still the same assholes.

Anyone paying attention to what Carl Rove (or is that Karl?) is up to these days?

Although I'm very busy these days with my career, I still pay very close attention to the foolishness with Southern politicians and Karl Rove's shenanigans.
 
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deleted15807

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Fortunately, Nevada has a new (and hispanic) Republican Governor who isn't so easily persuaded to act like a rabid ass hole. He's on record to fight the proposed changes in the current voter laws, unless it's a change to make voting MORE accessible.

We know the entire point of the new voter id laws is to make voting LESS accessible especially to the folks that don't vote Republican (you know who they are). It's heartening to see a Republican governor take this stance but he is an anomaly. Perhaps is background plays a part.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday blocked a new South Carolina law that would require voters to present photo identification, saying the law would disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible minority voters.

Justice Dept. Cites Race in Halting Law Over Voter ID
 

itsthepopei

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Where did you get the idea that Democrats are trying to disenfranchise voters. I skimmed through several of those articles and I didn't see any claims to that effect. Those articles only indicate that military voters are disenfranchised, not that the Democrats have anything to do with it. An article published by the Heritage Foundation (a conservative think tank) explains that military voters are disenfranchised "both at the state and federal level -- by a voting process that fails to recognize the unique challenges created by a military voter's transitory existence or the delays associated with delivering an absentee ballot to a war zone halfway around the world." But not even the Heritage Foundation blames the Democrats for the problem.

America's Military Voters: Re-enfranchising the Disenfranchised

The disenfranchisement of military voters is not a new problem, and it's not one caused by Democrats. There's no evidence to suggest that Democrats are actively trying to pass laws around the country that would make it more difficult for members of the military to vote.

The Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act amends the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to ensure that absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters are aware of their voting rights and have a genuine opportunity to register to vote and have their absentee ballots cast and counted, and for other purposes. The MOVE Act was sponsored by NY Sen. Charles Schumer (a Democrat) and had 60 co-sponsors in both parties, passed 389-22 with bipartisan support, and was signed into law by President Obama.

BTW cutting back early Voting and reducing the absentee ballet window in many red st8s will stop the military vote in its tracks.
 

kayman

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We know the entire point of the new voter id laws is to make voting LESS accessible especially to the folks that don't vote Republican (you know who they are). It's heartening to see a Republican governor take this stance but he is an anomaly. Perhaps is background plays a part.

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department on Friday blocked a new South Carolina law that would require voters to present photo identification, saying the law would disproportionately suppress turnout among eligible minority voters.

Justice Dept. Cites Race in Halting Law Over Voter ID

And more state laws to attempt to restrict the right and ability vote will be challenged. There are murmurs that other states' laws are being examined and the VRA will be enforced to overturn them as well.
 
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Unanimous this time

It’s become an accepted truth of modern politics that Republican electoral prospects go up as the number of voters goes down. Conservatives have known this for a long time, which helps explain their intensifying efforts to make it harder to vote, or to eliminate large numbers of people from political representation entirely.

On Monday, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected one of the more extreme attempts — a lawsuit from Texas that aimed to reverse longstanding practice and require that only eligible voters be counted in the drawing of state legislative districts.

Republicans and Voter Suppression

'I Don't Want Everybody to Vote' -- The Roots of GOP Voter Suppression