From the
report "A reversal in progress: Restricting voting rights for electoral gain"
Yes, Democrats are taking the war on voting seriously. On Thursday, Democrats launched a national voter protection program, pushing back on the new laws introduced and passed by Republican legislatures in dozens of states to disenfranchise key Democratic constituencies. A new Web site,
Protecting the Vote, will help activists and would-be voters stay connected with voting rights efforts and learn how to register to vote. The site also features a
report [pdf] from the Voting Rights Institute detailing infringements on voter rights. In it's foreward, Donna Brazile writes
While I was serving as the manager of Vice President Al Gore’s campaign, my sister, a Florida resident, was a target of voter suppression. When she went to vote, poll workers asked her—unnecessarily and illegally—for multiple forms of ID and proof of residency. That winter, after the Supreme Court decided our election, many of us vowed never to see such injustice repeated.
As we enter the 2012 election year, I fear we are dangerously close to going back on that promise. As the Voting Rights Institute of the Democratic National Committee demonstrates in the following report, a systematic, widespread and unjustified denial of the right to vote is underway in the United States. This year alone, 40 states have passed or promoted legislation that will make it harder for eligible Americans to exercise their most basic civil right. The right to vote is one for which countless Americans have struggled, fought, and even died. Nearly 50 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act—that landmark piece of civil rights legislation—Republicans are turning back the clock.
You can learn more, and find out how to volunteer in your state to protect the vote at Protecting the Vote.
In other news:
- The House of Representatives struck two blows against fair elections this week, voting along party lines to end public financing of presidential campaigns (what little there is of it), and to disband the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which was set up to ensure that states meet certain voting standards, including having functioning voting equipment and accessible polling places.
The EAC has disbursed more than $3 billion in “requirements” payments to states to update voting machines and enhance election administration.
"There is no doubt that a voter suppression effort is underway in this nation," Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) charged on the House floor. "Abolishing the Election Assistance Commission, an agency charged with ensuring that the vote of each American counts, is just another step in the voter suppression effort and would completely remove oversight of the most important process in our democracy."
Republicans say it's to save money, a paltry $33 million over the next five years. Meanwhile, the House has yet to pass a real jobs bill. This bill, thankfully, is unlikely to get anywhere near the Senate floor.
- More media attention is being paid to the all-out assault on voting, as evidenced by a detailed POLITICO report on how photo ID requirements are suppressing the student vote highlighted this week by Meteor Blades.
Today, and for several decades, Republican politicians (and a few Democrats) have sought in various ways to hamstring the right of 18-year-olds to vote, including employing scare tactics about student financial aid and voter fraud. College students living in communities other than where their parents live have been a particular target. The general view is that college students vote more for liberals than do older voters. That was certainly true in 1971, the first year in which 18-year-olds could vote. In some university-dominated towns such as Boulder, Colo., and Berkeley, Calif., local elections saw liberal candidates who rarely had a chance previously to get elected win public office. Subsequently, efforts have been made in many places to curtail that vote and its impact on local politics.
- Congress isn't the only battleground in voting rights.
States all over the country are bringing or joining lawsuits that claim the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Against this backdrop, redistricting battles in states that are tinged with racial and ethnic overtones are beginning to spill into federal territory. There can no longer be any doubt: As the 2012 election season rolls around, the constitutional fate of the Voting Rights Act will have a considerable impact on the political playing field.
- Finally, some good words from Rep. Hank Johnson, (D-GA) in an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
In a democracy that considers 50 percent an excellent turnout, shouldn’t we be making the ballot more accessible? It seems unreasonable to require people who are the least mobile and with the least means to bear the burden. [...]
Nothing is more fundamental in our democracy than the right to vote. We must reject any attempts to curb citizens’ access to the ballot. It’s not right, it’s not fair, and it’s un-American.
