Rightwing state legislatures are pushing laws that seek to restrict
voter access. It's an alarming trend, and Democrats will lose out
Amy Goodman
Wednesday December 28 2011
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/dec/28/republicans-voter-rights-suppression
All eyes are on Iowa this week, as the hodgepodge field of Republican
contenders gallivants across that farm state seeking a win, or at
least "momentum," in the campaign for the party's presidential
nomination. But behind the scenes, a battle is being waged by
Republicans - not against each other, but against American voters.
Across the country, state legislatures and governors are pushing laws
that seek to restrict access to the voting booth, laws that will
disproportionately harm people of color, low-income people, and young
and elderly voters.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund have just released a
comprehensive report on the crisis, "Defending Democracy: Confronting
Modern Barriers to Voting Rights in America." In it, they write: "The
heart of the modern block-the-vote campaign is a wave of restrictive
government-issued photo identification requirements. In a co-ordinated
effort, legislators in 34 states introduced bills imposing such
requirements. Many of these bills were modeled on legislation drafted
by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) ? a conservative
advocacy group whose founder explained: 'Our leverage in the elections
quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.'"
It is interesting that the right wing, long an opponent of any type of
national identification card, is very keen to impose photo
identification requirements at the state level. Why? Ben Jealous,
president of the NAACP, calls the voter ID laws "a solution without a
problem ... it's not going to make the vote more secure. What it is
going to do is put the first financial barrier between people and
their ballot box since we got rid of the poll tax."
You don't have to look far for people impacted by this new wave of
voter-purging laws. Darwin Spinks, an 86-year-old world war two
veteran from Murfreesboro, Tennesee, went to the Department of Motor
Vehicles to get a photo ID for voting purposes, since drivers over 60
there are issued driver's licenses without photos. After waiting in
two lines, he was told he had to pay $8. Requiring a voter to pay a
fee to vote has been unconstitutional since the poll tax was outlawed
in 1964.
Over in Nashville, 93-year-old Thelma Mitchell had a state-issued ID ?
the one she used as a cleaner at the state capitol building for more
than 30 years. The ID had granted her access to the governor's office
for decades, but now, she was told, it wasn't good enough to get her
into the voting booth. She and her family are considering a lawsuit,
an unfortunate turn of events for a woman who is older than the right
of women to vote in this country.
It is not just the elderly being given the disenfranchisement
runaround. The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University
School of Law points to "bills making voter registration drives
extremely difficult and risky for volunteer groups, bills requiring
voters to provide specific photo ID or citizenship documents ? bills
cutting back on early and absentee voting, bills making it hard for
students and active-duty members of the military to register to vote
locally, and more."
US attorney general Eric Holder recently spoke on this alarming trend.
He said: "Our efforts honor the generations of Americans who have
taken extraordinary risks, and willingly confronted hatred, bias and
ignorance ? as well as billy clubs and fire hoses, bullets and bombs ?
to ensure that their children, and all American citizens, would have
the chance to participate in the work of their government. The right
to vote is not only the cornerstone of our system of government ? it
is the lifeblood of our democracy."
Just this week, the Justice Department blocked South Carolina's new
law requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls, saying data
submitted by South Carolina showed that minority voters were about 20%
more likely to lack acceptable photo ID required at polling places.
By some estimates, the overall population who may be disenfranchised
by this wave of legislation is upward of 5 million voters, most of
whom would be expected to vote with the Democratic party. The efforts
to quash voter participation are not genuine, grassroots movements.
Rather, they rely on funding from people like the Koch brothers, David
and Charles. That is why thousands of people, led by the NAACP,
marched on the New York headquarters of Koch Industries two weeks ago
en route to a rally for voting rights at the United Nations.
Despite the media attention showered on the Iowa caucuses, the real
election outcomes in 2012 will likely hinge more on the contest
between billionaire political funders like the Kochs and the thousands
of people in the streets, demanding one person, one vote.
- Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
- 2011 Amy Goodman; distributed by King Features Syndicate
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2011
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