The New York Times is running an article today that's worth reading that shows how right wing politicians are taking away the voting rights of vulnerable Americans. The article, "Stricter Voting Laws Carve Latest Partisan Divide", illustrates how serious this threat is.
What brings this threat home is the story of Eva Charlene Steele, a long-time voter who will be unable to vote in November because she lacks the ID now required in Arizona, the state to which she recently moved:
"I have mixed emotions," said Mrs. Steele, 57, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a small room in an assisted-living center. "I could see where you would want to keep people who don't belong in the country from voting, but there has to be an easier way."
Because of her disabilities and her lack of resources, she is unable to pay for the required identity card and lacks the transportation necessary to get to the government office. To some on the right, maybe people like Eva Charlene Steele are just stupid:
"Democrats believe they represent stupid people who are not smart enough to vote," said Randy Pullen, a Republican national committeeman from Arizona who championed a statewide initiative on the new requirements. "I do not."
Mrs. Steele is challenging the law that imposed the new restrictions:
"It makes me a little angry because my son is fighting now in Iraq for others to have the right to vote, and I can't," said Mrs. Steele, who submitted an affidavit in the suit against the Arizona law.
Asked if she was a Republican or a Democrat, Mrs. Steele said she was neither: "I vote for the best person for the job."
Or, she added, she used to.
The grassroots progressive community must demand that our leaders take this threat seriously and reframe the issue of election integrity. We know that the specter of widespread "Illegal Voters" is nonsense. In the age of electronic voting, there are far easier and more efficient ways to distort electoral results, but conservatives have little to say about these real problems. We must challenge conservatives who are afraid of Americans voting and who take solace in voting processes that are run by private corporations with no public scrutiny.
Late yesterday, The Rockridge Institute posted a piece here called "What Would Real Election Integrity Mean?", which examines these issues. It didn't get much attention, and perhaps the technical problems on the site contributed a bit to that. It's still there, just waiting to be read.
Updated to shorten title. Previously was called, "My son is fighting now in Iraq for others to have the right to vote, and I can't"