Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

In the aftermath of the presidential primaries, stories of unprecedented voter registration and turnout are drifting to the back burner. But with an exceedingly imbalanced electorate, the fight to create access to the voting rolls and enforce the voting rights of all Americans continues. With historic voter registration drives underway and a preview of the types of problems that could occur in November, the focus of the media is beginning to shift towards the less sexy, but crucial elements that work to maximize voter participation while ensuring eligible voters can cast their ballots and have them counted. In Project Vote’s view, this is a welcome development since many of the potential issues require more time to sort out than is available if problems are noted only weeks in advance of the election. This week, election officials, advocates and a presidential candidate worked to assist in or restore voting rights for hospitalized veterans in Connecticut, minority citizens in Georgia, and former felons in Tennessee.

    Sometimes writing these essays are a chore and seem demanding, then there are other times when they seem to write themselves, this is one of the latter. I have written extensively about America’s war on drugs and all the ills and problems that it has caused. First of all let me state that I am not a conspiracy theorist. I do not believe that racism is involved in every aspect of life in America, at least it hasn’t been in my life. However, there are times when it plays a major role in how we interact with one another. The war on drugs and the death penalty are probably two of the most egregious ways in which racism does play a role in America. The recent results of a couple of studies highlight the disparity in our criminal justice system that can not be explained by any other means.

I haven't spent much time in Ohio, even less in Pennsylvania.  But I can't imagine things there are all that much different than places where I have spent quite a bit of time, Fort Wayne and Lake County Indiana, Kenosha/Racine, Wisconsin, and most recently, Rockford, Illinois.

Economic depression. We lack an equatable and just society, so we are depressed.

Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

America’s Democratic Promise
The history of democracy in the United States is one marked by the steady, though intensely contested, expansion of the right to vote. Where once only male landowners were permitted the right to choose their representatives, the United States now proudly extends that right to all adult citizens. The most recent expansion of the franchise were the result of years of struggle through the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam War movement. The seminal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the 26th Amendment ratified in 1971 created enforcement mechanisms to protect minority voting rights and extended the right to vote to 18 year olds.

(This issue was touched on in a diary posted 2 days ago)

A lot of people have covered how in Texas and Mississippi the results were skewed "Limbaugh Liberals", Republicans who crossed over to vote Democrat with the specific intent of messing with the Democrat primary and keeping Clinton in the race. Now, I personally don't think we have any moral ground to stand on and criticize them, thanks to the push during the Michigan primaries for Democrats to vote on the Republican side and keep Romney in the race. That's largely why I didn't think it was a very good idea at the time, I had a sneaking suspicion it would bite us in the ass later on.

But something that hasn't got a lot of play (largely because we attributed Clinton's wins in Ohio to older women and blue collar Democrats) is the "Limbaugh Liberals" that were gaming the Democrat primary in this state, and it turns out that they may have broken Ohio election law.

You know how Pelosi and Reid seem to fall over themselves in piss-their-pants terror at the thought of being called weak on national security?  The way they cave at the mere whiff of a Republican Senate filibuster?  The fact that it's taken endless prodding from the Netroots to get them to even appear to have a spine of their own?  Well, it's probably because they've had lots of practice.

Back in the good old days, before Al-Qaeda became a household name, there was still fear.

Before Democrats were soft on terrorists or weak on national security we were soft on crime.  

Presenting: Scare Tactics 101, or: Fear Mongering Before 9-11.

More below the fold...

With Edwards out of the race, I am finding myself having some difficulty picking a candidate to support.  I had previously assumed that it wouldn't much matter what my opinion was, since these things are usually decided pretty early on, but it seems that this year it's not the case.

So I think my best function at this time is to bring up some issues important to me that are rarely (read: never) addressed in election campaigns.  I have one issue that falls into this category that is very, very important to me, and very personal: the treatment of ex-cons.

Hilary and Obama have been pushed into some very populist stances.  They both speak about "invisible Americans" - usually meaning the poor.  However, ex-cons are, perhaps, the most invisible of all Americans.  

    The thing that makes the war on drugs so insidious to me as a black man is not the fact that it has increased the number black felons or that it has turned our neighborhoods into war zones. No to me the one factor that has caused the most damage to us as a people is how it has removed us from the process of democracy. I think that this was its original intent and it has not failed to deliver. The United States is the only democracy in the world that does not allow its citizens the right to vote after they have served their sentences. In America, it is once a criminal always a criminal. To understand the racist nature of these laws all one has to do is to examine their historic beginnings.

Especially if you are an attorney, but even if you are not.

In a number of states, including California, there are charges that can be felonies or misdemeanors, depending on how the prosecutor chooses to file the case. And even then, in some instances, the charge may be reduced by the judge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

What difference does this make ? A HUGE ONE !

Follow me for the explanation.

I want to clarify what I want all Democratic candidates to say to the public.  I want to define what I mean when I say we are, or should be, and can be, the Big Tent Party.  I want all our candidates, including those running for President, to stand up for all those the Republicans hate and vilify.  Because when you stop and think about it, every voter, or nearly every voter, either is one of 'those people' or has close friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors who are some of 'those people.'

So, instead of treating them like second class citizens, or someone who is kept hidden in the attic, let us announce to the whole world, shout from the rooftops, that these are the people we want to represent, along with those who seem more 'normal.'

Although, when you really take a close look at each person, you soon realize that 'normal' is just a setting on your washing machine.

So, let us go down the list of those the Republicans treat like second class citizens, and who I want to bring into our Big Tent:

For approximately a year prior to his brother's 2000 Presidential Election, Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris spent five-million Florida taxpayer dollars to purchase a phoney felons voter purge list from DBT Technologies/Choicepoint Software.

Weekly Voting Rights News Roundup

This an entry in a series of blogs to keep people informed on current election reform and voting rights issues in the news.

Featured Stories of the Week:

Md.’s ex-felons register to vote: New law allows those who served their sentences to cast a ballot – The Baltimore Sun

Judge may hear ACLU voting rights suit by fall, lawyer says – Associated Press, Sun Herald

A growing civil rights trend in several parts of the country is the restoration of voting rights to former felons, a population historically left to be "'just a ghost to democracy'" upon release. This week, two states made contrasting news with one granting voting rights all to ex-felons for the first time and another having its strict state law challenged and possibly heard by a judge this fall.

Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

This an entry in a series of blogs to keep people informed on current election reform and voting rights issues in the news.

Featured Story of the Week:

Despite the recent upsurge of news reports uncloaking the phantom issue of voter fraud, Wisconsin's Assembly is still determined to fight it.

Florida and several other states are taking steps to right a historic wrong by restoring voting and other rights to former felons. Florida felons make up some 20% of the more than 5 million people in the United States who cannot vote because of  current laws disenfranchise them. Because of the economically and racially discriminatory history of disenfranchisement laws and their current disproportionate impact on marginalized and underrepresented populations, these laws should be reformed.

Voting Rights & Election News Roundup: April 6, 2007 Edition

By Erin Ferns

This an entry in a series of blogs to keep people informed on current election reform and voting rights issues in the news.

Featured Stories of the Week:

Clemency board votes to automatically restore felons' rights – Associated Press

Flawed voter ID ruling – The Journal Gazette

This week, we focus on two separate but equally important issues affecting voting rights: felon re-enfranchisement and voter ID. Thursday, an Associated Press story published in the St. Petersburg Times reported a movement to re-enfranchise ex-felons in Florida and an editorial in Monday's printing of Fort Wayne Newspapers' Journal Gazette examined "Draconian" ID requirements upheld in Indiana with a focus on a recent academic paper discussing why ID requirements have a severe impact on historically marginalized voters.

Usually, this runs on Friday mornings.  Next Friday it will be back.  But I can't do it tomorrow, so here it is.

The last couple weeks have been themed diaries, so this one isn't.  Just a list of what I'm reading (and why) below the fold.

And lists of what YOU'RE reading, in the comments

Florida is one of several states that denies voting rights to felons who have completed their jail and parole terms. According to The Sentencing Project, about 5.3 million American citizens are denied the right to vote because of felony convictions. Florida was one of a few states with unusually strict laws making it all but impossible to regain voting rights under normal circumstances.