Welcome to the return of our war on voting series, a joint project by Meteor Blades and Joan McCarter.
Meteor Blades had the big story in the War on Voting on Monday.
Michael Wines and Manny Fernandez report that former Texas Rep. Pete Gallego, who lost his 2014 mid-term re-election bid by 2,422 votes in the sprawling 23rd Congressional District, has made a change in his campaign this year. As his campaign team canvasses a district geographically bigger than any state east of the Mississippi: “We’re asking people if they have a driver’s license. We’re having those basic conversations about IDs at the front end, right at our first meeting with voters,” Gallego says.
They’re doing so for a simple reason. A study has shown that while few people are actually turned away for not having the proper ID, many do not show up at the polls out of confusion over the law.
Researchers at the Baker Institute and the University of Houston’s Hobby Center for Public Policy asked 400 registered voters in Gallego’s district the reasons they didn’t vote in 2014. Too busy was the main reason given by a quarter of them. Lacking a proper photo ID was the main reason for 5.8 percent, with another 7 percent citing it as one reason. But the researchers found that most of those who said they didn’t vote because they didn’t have the right ID actually did have one. So Gallego’s team is taking a smart approach.
Absolutely as intended, admits Jim DeMint, the president of the conservative Heritage Foundation and former senator from South Carolina. "It's something we’re working on all over the country, because in the states where they do have voter ID laws you’ve seen, actually, elections begin to change towards more conservative candidates,” he said.
Have we made progress in this fight when Republicans have just given up the ghost of "voter fraud," and are flat out admitting they're doing this just to win elections?
Below, you'll find some more briefs detailing what's happened this week in the war on voting.
- Want to help fight voter suppression? Election Protection, a coalition of advocacy organizations, is where to start. Go to their website, ourvote.org, to find out what's happening in your state, to volunteer for election protection, or to donate to their efforts.
- The worst person in the world, the king of voter suppression Kris Kobach in Kansas, netted his fourth "fraudulent" voter this week. That's like eight whole votes that have been cast since 2010, swaying absolutely no election results and costing the state of Kansas lord knows how much that it can't afford in order to prosecute. This week's "criminal" is 77-year old Ron Weems, whose lawyer says "inadvertently" voted in both Colorado and Kansas. So far all of Kobach's victims have been over age 60. The man is a monster.
- In Louisiana a 174-year old law is blocking naturalized citizens from voting, and this week "attorneys from the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Fair Elections Legal Network are seeking a court order blocking enforcement" of it. Seriously. Louisiana has been enforcing this ancient law which "requires naturalized citizens to provide documents proving their citizenship when they register to vote, while other residents simply must swear that they are citizens on the voter registration application."
- Lawmakers in Missouri once again passed a voter ID bill, and once again it will probably be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. But this time there are enough votes to override his veto. It's not the worst of the voter ID laws.
the state would be required to provide free photo IDs and any underlying documents necessary to obtain them, such as birth certificates and Social Security cards. Additionally, voters who are unable to get the required ID for whatever reason would be able to sign a legally-binding affidavit promising they are who they say they are, and could then vote with regular ballots.
But it's still an impediment to voting.
- The Voting Rights Institute has asked the Department of Justice to investigate a Texas sheriff for "intimidating Latino voters from exercising their federally protected right to vote."
The Texas Observer recently reported that in 2014, Edwards County, Texas Sheriff Pamela Elliott attempted to lead an “angry mob” outside of a meeting of Latino voters, held at the home of a local community activist and former Rocksprings mayor Rachel Gallegos. The meeting was held on private property and was of a county Democratic Party Executive Committee. According to the report, the meeting was held by those who supported a candidate who was opposed by one of Elliott’s allies.
Elliott is on the ballot this year, raising concerns that she'll be back at it to ensure her own re-election.