Six States Where GOP Voter Suppression Tactics Could Sway The Outcome

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http://www.alternet.org/election-2014/six-states-where-gop-voter-suppression-tactics-could-sway-outcome



***SNIP

1. Ohio. Last week, one day before early voting was to begin, the U.S. Supreme Court, voted 5-4 along its usual divide to uphold a cut in the early voting pushed by that state’s Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted. While Ohio still has 28 days of early voting, its Republicans have long groused that on the very first weekend of that option Ohians could both register to vote—and cast ballots. That friendly window was closed by Ohio Republicans and locked shut by Supreme Court’s conservative majority, all appointed by Republican presidents.

2. Kansas. As most political junkies know, a half-dozen of 2014’s U.S. Senate races were already nail-biters over whether Democrats would lose their Senate majority before something surprising happened in Kansas. The Democrat in the race, Chad Taylor, dropped out, boosting Independent Greg Orman against incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts. In response, the state’s partisan Republican Secretary of State, Kris Kobach, went to court to force Democrats to name another candidate. A state court told Kobach to back off.

3. North Carolina. This state had some of the South’s most progressive election laws until rightwingers took control of the Legislature and governor’s office and this year rolled back the clock on voting rights. Those moves have been tied up in court, with a federal appeals court suspending two of the more insidious changes: ending same-day voter registration, and not counting ballots turned in at the wrong precinct, which could just be a different table in a high school gym. Late Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Fourth Circuit's decision, meaning the GOP's new and restrictive rules will be in effect this fall.

4. Wisconsin. There are a handful of states where Republicans have used the myth of rampant voter fraud—one person voting many times—to impose tougher statewide ID requirements before getting a polling place ballot. Nevermind that this almost never happens, and if it does, whoever initials a poll book to get a ballot has essentially signed a confession for the cops. This tactic is intended to deter first-time voters, like students and poorer people, from voting, as they're seen by Republicans as supporting Democrats.

[Gothmog]

1. The GOP can only win by cheating