NYT editorial on "The Republican Threat to Voting" puts some of the blame on ALEC

[highplainsdem]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/opinion/27wed1.html

Or go to Google News and search for "republican threat to voting" to get the link there to click through if you've hit the Times paywall -- direct link for that search:

http://news.google.com/news/search?aq=f&pz=1&cf=all&ned=us&hl=en&q=%22republican+threat+to+voting%22

Editorial
The Republican Threat to Voting
Published: April 26, 2011


Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans — groups that typically vote Democratic — to cast a ballot.

-snip-

Eight states already had photo ID laws. Now more than 30 other states are joining the bandwagon of disenfranchisement, as Republicans outdo each other to propose bills with new voting barriers. The Wisconsin bill refuses to recognize college photo ID cards, even if they are issued by a state university, thus cutting off many students at the University of Wisconsin and other campuses. The Texas bill, so vital that Gov. Rick Perry declared it emergency legislation, would also reject student IDs, but would allow anyone with a handgun license to vote.

A Florida bill would curtail early voting periods, which have proved popular and brought in new voters, and would limit address changes at the polls. “I’m going to call this bill for what it is, good-old-fashioned voter suppression,” Ben Wilcox of the League of Women Voters told The Florida Times-Union.

Many of these bills were inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business-backed conservative group, which has circulated voter ID proposals in scores of state legislatures. The Supreme Court, unfortunately, has already upheld Indiana’s voter ID requirement, in a 2008 decision that helped unleash the stampede of new bills. Most of the bills have yet to pass, and many may not meet the various balancing tests required by the Supreme Court. There is still time for voters who care about democracy in their states to speak out against lawmakers who do not.

I'm glad the Times has an editorial on how dangerous this flood of legislation is.

The long compilation topic on the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has more information on this and other harmful legislation from ALEC.

[aquart]

1. Koch creep.

[highplainsdem]

2. kick

[KharmaTrain]

3. This IS The Voting Problem...

You can't mess with an election where people don't vote. The GOTB is making an all-out push to voter supression...making it difficult to register new voters and getting Democratic voters to the polls. This must be fought or we'll see more elections like the ones we did last year. Maybe...just maybe this will wake some people up to what's going on in plain sight...but I'm hearing precious little from the Democratic party. Dare I say: "typical"...