2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumHow Much of a Difference Did New Voting Restrictions Make in Yesterday's Close Races?
http://www.brennancenter.org/blog/how-much-difference-did-new-voting-restrictions-make-yesterdays-close-racesWhat was the impact this year? We know from the Kansas secretary of state that more than 24,000 Kansans tried to register this year but their registrations were held in suspense because they failed to present the documentary proof of citizenship now required by state law. And while we do not yet have the data regarding the impact of the voter ID requirement this year, a recent study by the independent Government Accountability Office found that Kansass voter ID law reduced turnout by approximately 2 percent in 2012. (GAO also found that Tennessees new law reduced turnout by up to 3 percent.) If the laws effect was similar this year, it would mean that turnout was about 17,000 voters lower than it otherwise would have been. And keep in mind that the number of Americans that dont have government-issued photo IDs that would be accepted under new laws is closer to 11 percent. In short, the margin of victory in Kansas looks perilously close to the margin of disenfranchisement....
Like in Kansas, voters in Virginia faced a strict new photo ID requirement this year. According to the Virginia Board of Elections, 198,000 active Virginia voters did not have acceptable ID this year. While there are no studies yet on the impact on turnout in Virginia, Nate Silver estimates, based on academic studies, that in general such laws reduce turnout by about 2.4 percent. If that were applied to Virginia this year, it would amount to a reduction in turnout by more than 52,000 voters. That far exceeds the margin of victory here....
Florida has passed a host of new voting restrictions over the past few years. Perhaps the most significant for this election was a decision by Scott and his clemency board to make it virtually impossible for the more than 1.3 million Floridians who were formerly convicted of crimes but have done their time and paid their debt to society to have their voting rights restored. Under Floridas law, the harshest in the country, one in three African-American men is essentially permanently disenfranchised. Ironically, Scott had rolled back rights that were expanded under Governor Crist, who had established a path for people with past convictions to more easily get their voting rights restored. Under that process, more than 150,000 citizens had their rights restored before Scott changed the rules. This is part of a pattern this year of candidates benefiting from voting restrictions they helped to pass.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)Independent_Liberal
(4,108 posts)Nope. Something doesn't smell right in regards to Kansas, Illinois, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia. Does anybody else feel this way? I'm sorry, I just don't buy what the media is selling.
rurallib
(62,406 posts)Republicans had a well set up path to victory
Independent_Liberal
(4,108 posts)I understand we weren't expected to do great, but to lose to the extent at which we did was really surprising to me.
MuseRider
(34,105 posts)I have been waiting for some numbers and this is closer than anything I have seen so far.
Real curious because although the Dems did not win and I did not expect they would their numbers were a lot closer than they usually are. Will be interesting to see, not that it will matter at all in the short term. We will be a dead state in the long term but maybe it will save something.
Edit to add I am speaking of Kansas
Independent_Liberal
(4,108 posts)How did Mark Pryor manage to lose and yet the ballot measure for the minimum wage won so big? Doesn't pass the smell test for me.
Independent_Liberal
(4,108 posts)Do they have a lot of these voter restrictions in place? They just can't seem to get rid of Walker no matter what.
Blue Idaho
(5,049 posts)So how you deal with the fact that America is becoming a more progressive, more diverse nation? Make sure that the young and non-whites can't easily vote. Problem solved.
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Always blaming the massive loss on voter suppression or voter fraud or cheating.
Maybe, just maybe, the problem lies with the fact that the American people rejected our message, we ran weak candidates, the American people wanted change?
Until I see positive proof that any of those would have changed the outcome of this election, I reject this message.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)To rule by the corporations and 1%-ers? Srsly?
GGJohn
(9,951 posts)Senate and House?
Oh I know, because it had to be cheating on a massive scale, and because the repukes are soooo good, they left no trace at all.
Why in heavy blue states did things go smoothly? Problem states like Kansas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and next Louisiana are head scrachers with too close to call races turning out to be !5% blowouts? Voter purges are very secretive and takes time to flush out. Why are you so absolutely sure that no shenanigans happened? Are you a multi-dimensional being that was at every single voting place in every single state on election day? Why not leave every single option on the table until the dust settles? I hope your not proposing the repubs are such an upstanding group that no mention of cheating would ever be considered or allowed.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Welcome to DU! You sure picked a fine time to join us.