The GOP’s 2012 Secrete Weapon – Voter Suppression

[Pistarkle]

Isn’t it ironic that a political party that prides itself on SPINS related to adherence to the Constitution, morality and values surrounds itself with elected officials who are suppressing American citizens’ Constitutional right to vote? This post is aimed at spreading awareness regarding Republican-led voter suppression actions; exposing the implications of voter suppression as it pertains to specific populations, and sharing ideas on how to deal with it.

OHIO: Republican-led state legislators passed an election-law overhaul that lets poll workers REFUSE to help people find where to vote. The law now states, “It is the duty of the individual casting the ballot” to ensure they’re in the right place, and no one else – not even taxpayer-funded election officials – are required to help them.

WISCONSIN: Republican-led state legislators have slashed early voting days and require LIMITED types of government-issued photo identification to vote. College students’ current state university IDs will NOT suffice.

FLORIDA: Republican Governor Rick Scott signed a bill that sabotages the early voting process, penalizes voters who move between registration and Election Day, and seeks to intimidate voter registration volunteers who make registration more accessible to seniors, low-income people and people of color.

TEXAS: Republican-led state legislators passed a law to REJECT college student ID’s and ACCEPT hand gun license ID’s.

The above examples are only the tip of the iceberg, 30 states have passed laws to REJECT college student ID’s, but will ACCEPT hand gun license ID’s, and 29 states will only accept government issued ID’s.

When I conducted a web search regarding the NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS surrounding the voter ID suppression issue, I came across a fascinating piece on the Demos – Ideas & Action website. In March, 2011, Toya Andrea Wang (nationally recognized election reform, voting rights, political participation expert and Senior Democracy Fellow at Demos) appeared before the Ohio House State Government and Election Committee to present a speech entitled “Implications of the HB 159 Voter ID Bill for the State of Ohio”. Ms Wang’s speech was, specifically, aimed at discussing the fiscal costs of implementing photo ID provisions for voting in Ohio – not national voter suppression per say. However, what fascinated me were the national figures presented in her speech:

1. “Eleven percent of the U.S population does not have the type of identification required by these laws. As many as 887,000 may lack a government-issued photo ID to vote.”
2. “Young people and students are particularly harmed by photo ID requirements.”
3. “African Americans, Latinos and new American citizens are far less likely to have identification.”
4. “Low income Americans are disenfranchised. A national survey by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University reflects that Americans earning less than $35,000 were twice as likely to lack ID as Americans who earned more than that. “


November, 2012 may seem far away, but it’s within a ‘blink of the eye’ when it comes to protecting your voting rights from now. Start or participate in GRASS ROOTS VOTER EDUCATION CAMPAIGNS. Begin by conducting a web search. Here are a few keywords you can use in your search:

• (fill in your state) voting requirements
• (fill in your state) voter registration
• (fill in your state) board of elections
• (fill in your state) voter education campaigns
• (fill in your state) voter education
• (fill in your state) voter education and information
• (fill in your state) voter education grass roots organizations
• national voter education organizations


Most importantly, SHARE the information you find with your family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, neighbors, professional colleagues, fellow college students, the blogosphere, You Tube, Twitter and/or Facebook “friends”.

Spread the word. Everybody’s right to vote, LITERALLY, depends on it!

[mzteris]

1. GOP's secret weapon

is DEMOCRATS who didn't get their gd ponies.

Who don't comprehend the realities of how the governmental process works in Washington.

Who absolutely have no comprehension that - as maddening as it may be - POLITICS play a huge role in what can and cannot be accomplished.

NOT voting for the Democrats WILL blow up in their face.

I live in Wisconsin. I know whereof I speak.

[Edweird]

2. Republican secretions... ew

[Zywiec]

3. se·crete 1 (s-krt)

To generate and separate (a substance) from cells or bodily fluids: secrete digestive juices.

[Edweird]

4. See: Santorum

[Zywiec]

6. LOL

:rofl:

[0rganism]

5. properly responding to this requires boots-on-the-ground volunteerism

which in turn requires enthusiasm.

which our dear POTUS seems quite determined to throw out the window in 2012.

[CakeGrrl]

7. You may be onto something. For example, look who's stirring up parts of the Left:

(courtesy of The Obama Diary)

Glenn Greenwald: A Libertarian, a supporter of GOP/Libertarian 2012 candidate Gary Johnson (who wants to end child labor laws and reckons President Obama’s election signaled the end of racism in America), also a paid Cato Institute contributor, his checks quite possibly signed by Cato’s co-founder Charles Koch.

Jane Hamsher: Her CommonSense Media company works with Republicans in their efforts to defeat Democrats, and did online advertising for BP in the aftermath the Gulf oil disaster.

Arianna Huffington: A hardcore supporter of conservative causes such as Newt Gingrich’s ‘Republican Revolution’ and Bob Dole’s 1996 candidacy for president.

Ed Shultz: A former Republican, he admitted to being “far right” until the late 1990s, the ‘homeless’ often the target of his right-wing rage.

John Aravosis: A leading gay rights campaigner and scathing critic of President Obama’s record on gay rights, Aravosis worked as a foreign policy adviser for corrupt Alaskan Republican senator Ted Stevens (who voted for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and against a bill adding sexual orientation to the definition of hate crimes).

Cenk Uygur: A former Republican, and self-confessed Reagan fan, he admitted to voting for the first George Bush and …. Bob Dole. “I was so conservative judicially I went to Federalist Society meetings.” He dismissed President Obama’s Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which guaranteed equal pay for women, as “a minor bill”.

Markos Moulitsas: A former member of the Republican Party. During the 1988 presidential election, he served as a Republican precinct captain and assisted with the re-election campaign of Illinois Congressman Henry Hyde – the same Henry Hyde who, as a member of the congressional panel investigating the Iran-Contra affair, vigorously defended the Reagan administration, and a number of the participants who had been accused of various crimes, particularly Oliver North.

***


I wonder...why do so many of the "Professional Left" have underpinnings from the Republican Party?

Look at all the anger they've built up for the President from the Left.

Working like a charm so far.

[socialist_n_TN]

9. Very impressive. I knew about some of these, but not all

Now, let me ask you a question. If they're so successful building up anger for the President from the Left, why is that? Are us lefties that gullible? Does Obama deserve ANY blame? What could he do to ameliorate anger from the left?

[CakeGrrl]

10. I think it's a combination of things...gullibility (nay, maybe "vulnerability") among them

It's easy to do: Scan some blogs; get in with the in-crowd and see what's pushing people's buttons, and sensationalize it.

"They're just laughing at us!"

"They're telling us we're idiots!"

"They're telling us to sit down and shut up!"

And when times are tough and people are on edge already because they're anxious about financial, social, or medical situations, it's a powder keg.

Look at the ugliness directed at President Obama based on SPECULATION that SS and/or Medicare could be impacted. It was immediately whipped up into "the death of The Dream", a ripping up of the social contract, all because of that "weak", "spineless" "son of a bitch".

Really? There's a point where civil discourse breaks down. And this was over something that hasn't even occurred and IMO will NOT occur as people are led to believe.

But that's a recent and prime example of playing to people's angers and fears and getting a result that only the ACTUAL Republicans could love.

[elocs]

8. Voter suppression is the goal of the GOP and it is no secret. n/t

[BeFree]

11. How did Obama get elected?

Because of the massively large record setting historic turnout.

Democrats always win when the turnout is huge.

Now then, we see every effort being made to make sure turnout is low.