A Republican strategy Richard Nixon would love.
Ari Berman has another
must-read article on the systematic effort of the GOP to disenfranchise millions, focusing in this installment on redistricing—and resegregation—in the South.
In virtually every state in the South, at the Congressional and state level, Republicans—to protect and expand their gains in 2010—have increased the number of minority voters in majority-minority districts represented overwhelmingly by black Democrats while diluting the minority vote in swing or crossover districts held by white Democrats. “What’s uniform across the South is that Republicans are using race as a central basis in drawing districts for partisan advantage,” says Anita Earls, a prominent civil rights lawyer and executive director of the Durham-based Southern Coalition for Social Justice. “The bigger picture is to ultimately make the Democratic Party in the South be represented only by people of color.” The GOP’s long-term goal is to enshrine a system of racially polarized voting that will make it harder for Democrats to win races on local, state, federal and presidential levels. Four years after the election of Barack Obama, which offered the promise of a new day of postracial politics in states like North Carolina, Republicans are once again employing a Southern Strategy that would make Richard Nixon and Lee Atwater proud.
If there ever was a strong argument for a 50-state strategy for Democrats, in which strong parties are fostered and competitive in every single state, this is it. The GOP is hell-bent on cheating its way to a permanent majority, whether by voter suppression or a return to segregation. And it's largely happening because of the concerted effort by Republicans in the last 30 years to begin working at the local level, dominating local politics and creating a strong infrastructure to take over first state legislatures, then governorships, secretaries of state, and federal offices.
The fight is in the courts, too, with no fewer than five suits currently pending against Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Section 5 is the provision that requires states covered by the act to receive pre-clearance from the Justice Department or a three-judge District Court in Washington for any election law changes that affect minority voters. One of these challenges could well make it to the Supreme Court, where its fate is at best uncertain.
For more of the week's news, make the jump below the fold.
In other news:
- Early voting in Shannon County, South Dakota, home to the Pine Ridge Reservation and the second poorest county in the nation, is in the headlines. Voter suppression here is a perennial battle for these often-ignored voters. Tribal members are suing now, ahead of the June primary, to attempt to secure adequate early voting for the primary and general election in November.
The plaintiffs have accused the defendants of "abusing their power" by not providing 46 days of early voting on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation during the 2012 primary and general election.
By failing to provide the early voting, the plaintiffs claim violations of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection under the law and violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Florida's voter registration numbers are decreasing, and one elections expert attributes that decline to the state's new, punitive laws restricting third-parties, like the League of Women Voters.
- The Virginia House of Delegates passed a voter ID bill, requiring that voters who cannot produce valid ID have to vote with provisional ballots, which will only be counted if the voter's identity can be verified. Democratic state senators are unified against the legislation. The Virginia Senate is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, but the Republican lieutenant governor is empowered to break tie votes it that body.
- There's widespread and organized opposition to a proposed constitutional amendment in Minnesota that would require voters to show a photo ID.
More than 30 people spoke at the Local Government and Elections committee hearing, some speaking personally and many representing interest groups such as AARP, ACLU of Minnesota, and the League of Women Voters. They argued that students, the elderly, the disabled and minorities all could run into difficulty complying with such a law. [...]
Beth Fraser, director of governmental affairs for the Secretary of State's Office, testified against the proposal. She said a check of state records showed that 215,000 registered voters in Minnesota don't have a valid or current ID.
- Not voting in a few consecutive elections could get you kicked off the voting rolls in Utah, if legislation passed this week by the House makes it through the Senate. The federal Voting Rights Act actually prohibits states from deactivating a registration merely because of failure to vote. The bill's sponsor says he's found a way around that prohibition, but keep an eye on further developments here.
- And, finally, good news from Maine.
Republicans in the Legislature today sidestepped a potentially explosive fight over voting rights. GOP members of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee agreed to drop language in a bill requiring voters to produce state-approved photo identification at the polls.