Jim Greer
Minorities and young people are far more likely to vote for liberals and other Democrats. Voter advocates have long claimed that Republicans work diligently to suppress the clout of these demographic voting blocs by suppressing their presence at the polls. Republicans, naturally, object vociferously to these accusations. But Jim Greer, the former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, has confirmed that, at least in his state, it's true. He has a reason to go after the party since he is on trial for corruption, specifically, diverting party funds to personal uses. Indeed, it is in his 630-page deposition in that trial where he "
unloaded a litany of charges against the 'whack-a-do, right-wing crazies' in his party, including the effort to suppress the black vote," writes Alex Seitz-Wald. But even if he is guilty of corruption, that doesn't make his accusations against the party false.
In the deposition, released to the press [Thursday], Greer mentioned a December 2009 meeting with party officials. “I was upset because the political consultants and staff were talking about voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting,” he said, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
He also said party officials "talked about not letting blacks vote … minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party,"
according to the AP.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been inquiring into the practices of Florida Gov. Rick Scott, another Republican, in purging the state's voter rolls. Critics say minorities and Democrats are bearing the brunt of this disfranchisement.
(For more of this week's news, continue reading below the fold).
In other news:
- In Pennsylvania, an inspector of elections in the borough of Colwyn says he will not ask for a photo ID before allowing someone to vote:
Christopher L. Broach, a Democratic inspector of elections in the tiny borough of Colwyn, said he would not ask voters to prove who they are on Election Day.
"To ask me to enforce something that violates civil rights is ludicrous and absolutely something I am not willing to do," Broach said Thursday in an interview. [...]
The talk isn't all from Democrats. In Radnor Township, Jane Golas, a Republican inspector of elections, said she wondered how she could ask anyone for identification when she will have to count ballots of absentee voters who are not held to the same standards.
"This is a move by people to suppress the vote in the city of Philadelphia," Golas said. "We never had an issue with people coming in to fraudulently vote."
The voter ID requirement began its court scrutiny this week in a case brought by the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union. On the second day in court Thursday, opposing lawyers disputed each other's assessments of how many voters would be affected by the new law. The case will continue to be heard next week. The judge says he will not rule until Aug. 13 at the earliest.
- In addition to all the other issues Pennsyvlanians need to be aware of—including making sure the ID they're planning to present when they vote has not expired—there is the problem of address mismatch. Kay at Balloon Juice points out someone whose voter address doesn't match their driver's license address (a common-enough problem), the new law requires that difference to be fixed before election day. The change can be made online, but it must be made.
- Nate Silver dug deep into academic studies to assess whether voter ID requirements might have a measurable impact on the margin of votes between Democrats and Republicans. His conclusion: Yes. It's a smaller increase than some critics claim, but it's significant:
Pennsylvania, for instance, went from having no voter ID laws to a strict photo ID requirement. Based on the academic studies, I estimate that this will reduce turnout by about 2.4 percent as a share of registered voters. And based on my formula to convert changes in turnout to changes in the popular vote, I estimate that this would reduce President Obama’s margin against Mitt Romney by a net of 1.2 percentage points.
The table shows the other probable consequences in a few states:
- The folks who benefit most from new voter ID laws are bellyaching about the U.S. Department of Justice fighting voter ID laws. Rep. Trent Franks, Republican of Arizona, told Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, that "is seeking headlines opposing voter ID laws that an overwhelming majority of Americans support." He also complained that the rights of active military to vote aren't being protected. Perez disagreed on both counts. The DOJ has been intervening because some of the voter ID laws threaten to disfranchise minority voters, he said. And the department has sued four states this year over non-compliance with the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act of 2009.
- Washington Post columnist Harold Meyerson wondered if GOP voter suppression will work. It might, he said, because of the skewed impact it has on Democratic voters.
The laws’ intent, however, is entirely political: By creating restrictions that disproportionately impact minorities, they’re supposed to bolster Republican prospects. Ticking off Republican achievements in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives, their legislative leader, Mike Turzai, extolled in a talk last month that “voter ID . . . is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” [...]
The pattern is similar in every state that has enacted these restrictions. Attorney General Eric Holder has said that 8 percent of whites in Texas lack the kind of identification required by that state’s law; the percentage among blacks is three times that. [...]
The course on which Republicans have embarked isn’t politics as usual. We don’t rig elections by race in America, not anymore, and anyone who does should not be rewarded with uncontested power.
- In an MSNBC interview, former Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida blasted Rick Scott, his successor as governor, for "shameless" efforts to suppress the vote by requiring photo IDs, keeping felons away from the polls and purging citizens from the registration rolls:
“The concern really is on sort of a closing the door on democracy,” Crist told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “For example, they’ve already changed the policy as it relates to former, non-violent felons. We had established a policy where they would have their rights automatically restored, give them the opportunity to vote once they had served their time and paid their debt to society. … That has now been changed under the new administration.”
“In addition, they’ve also said that early voting — which is a great tradition is Florida — has been reduced from a 14-day period before the elections to eight days before, making it again more difficult for legal citizens to have their right to vote be heard.”
- Garry Trudeau weighs in on voter suppression with some Doonesbury comic strips.