Blocks to voting: what's happening in your state?

    Today the New York Times lead editorial is about how states are making it harder to vote.  The editorial states in part:

    Florida bullied the League of Women Voters into stopping its voter registration efforts in the state.

    In Washington, a new law prevents people from voting if the secretary of state fails to match the information on their registration form with government databases.

    Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, introduced an amendment to require all voters to present a federally mandated photo ID. Even people who have been voting for years would need to get a new ID to vote in 2008.

   

The editorial ends in stating "The right to vote is fundamental, and Congress and state legislatures should not pass laws that put an unnecessary burden on it. If they do, courts should strike them down."

    If these efforts are going on in other states, Dailykos readers would probably like to hear about them because these efforts are going to affect the outcome of the June 6th election and the November election.

•  At the polls registration

  A big part of why Minnesota and Wisconsin always lead in turnout, and moreso turnoiut among young voters. In '92, my ward hit "112%."

  by ben masel on Tue May 30, 2006 at 01:54:15 PM PDT

•  Janie

  Maybe it would help if you changed your title to something like "Blocks to voting: what's happening in your state?" or something like that to indicate you're trying to get a dialogue going.

  by Thursday Next on Tue May 30, 2006 at 02:06:10 PM PDT

  •  Thanks . . .

    I did just as you suggested.

    by Janie on Tue May 30, 2006 at 04:01:44 PM PDT

•  Missouri is one of those states too

  I heard that we will have the second-most restrictive voter ID requirements in the country, thanks to a bill passed in the just-ended legislative session.  Voters will be required to have a government-issued photo ID.  Who is most likely not to have these? Poor people, urban people - in other words, the key democrat constituency.  One estimate said it could reduce the turnout statewide by as many as 190,000 votes.

  The bill did authorize creation of 4 vans to help provide IDs to people who can't get to, say, a driver's license office. Unfortunately, they neglected to fund the purchase, so they're not going to happen, according to the Post-Dispatch.

  What voters

  by el dorado gal on Tue May 30, 2006 at 02:42:22 PM PDT

•  This serious issue deserves more attention n/t

  by word is bond on Tue May 30, 2006 at 05:15:58 PM PDT

  •  Agree 100%

    However, I haven't figured out how to get the Dailykos to focus on it.

    It's amazing to me that when even the MSM New York Times gets it, the Dailykos doesn't.

    If you can figure out how to get the Dailykos' attention, please--I will do whatever I can to help.

    by Janie on Wed May 31, 2006 at 10:34:02 AM PDT