Excellent Post

"Voter Fraud" has a long tradition, one that goes back to the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 and other schemes specifically designed to disenfranchise and suppress voting  by black Americans.  The fact that states adopt and then courts affirm this racist legacy, with the same intent today, shows that we're still  struggling to achieve free and fair elections.  The US Attorney's scandal reflects the hypocrisy.  I can't believe that even one of the current US Attorneys believes that the 6 convictions a year for voter fraud represents even a definable crime.

All they have to do is read their own reports

by Michael Collins (105 articles, 16 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 355 comments) on Sunday, August 5, 2007 at 9:29:23 PM
 

"Democrats keep voter suppression policies alive

Folks, the harder you fight this the more Republicans become convinced that there is some "there" there.  The issue aint going away as long as we keep fighting it.  The louder we yell the more convinced they become.  End result: they keep accusing and we keep defending, meanwhile the status quo continues. 

So ask yourself, how can we turn the issue to our advantage and disarm the Republican argument?  Let them have the damned thing.  Then, organize volunteers to use the next 3 years to get people the documentation that is required and get them the ID.  It ain't rocket science. 

I wonder about the stats released by th Election Assistance Commission concerning a decrease in voter participation.  A 10.9% decrease in Latinos.  Why would that be?  That is not the pattern we have seen in the past.  Naturalized citizens tend to vote in higher numbers (percentage wise) than native born citizens.  Those numbers reinforce the belief that illegal immigrants are voting.   If these Latinos are native born, there is no reason needed documentation cannot be aquired.  If they are not, they certainly needed some documentation to become naturalized citizens and they should have those naturalization documents easily a hand.  Those folks, just like me, are required to produce documentation to aquire a drivers licience, a social security number, and in some states, a birth certificate.  (I had to provide all of that to work as a RN in IN).  I can't tell you how many times I or members of my family have had to produce any or all of those.  So what about this might seem suspicious to someone who is already paranoid about  "voter fraud"?  When we respond that for some people, meeting those requirement is an impossibility, anyone hearing that claim knows very well, it ain" so!  It is not only possible, it is almost an absolutely neccessity to aquire a SS number, a drivers license, a passport, a job.  For the handful of folks for whom it may be true, they can be assisted in the aquisition of them by volunteers.  The same argument applies to the Asian number of an 8.5% decrease.  For blacks,  it seems the biggest handicap is a felony record.  There are still states where it is illegal for a person convicted of a felony to vote.  While we can argue that such a law is wrong, (that is certainly my view) even unconstitutional, it  remains a law and thus it is illegal for those people to vote in those states.  Now ask yourself this: what if Florida had had such a voter ID system in place in 2000?  It would have made the voter scrub lists useless.  Because those who were not felons, and whose names appeared on that list would have had that voter ID and would have gone to the polls armed with an unchallengable legal document to prove they had a right to vote.  

As to the cost involved, it costs about $10.00 to obtain a certified copy of your birth certificate.  A copy of your SS card is free, I know this from personal experience.  Virtually everyone in America has a drivers licence, those who don't can obtain a state issued personal ID at a cost of under $20.00.  Anyone surviving in this country without one or more of the above is so far underground that my guess is, they ain't voting.  So far as the cost of transportation is involved, it's a non-starter.  Are you telling me we need BUSSES to get these folks to the court house?  Are you kidding?  Look, every district has an organized Democratic party headquarters.  There are always folks who are glad to volunteer services.  Those folks have cars, trucks, vans.  So why do we need busses?  You wouldn't want to take more than a few people in at a time anyway.  No way you could get more than a certain number processed at one time anyway.  So a carful a day would surely accomadate the number of people in any single district.  Personal donations would, could, should be able to cover the small costs involved.  If the Democrats can't rally themselves to do this small thing, we no longer deserve to call ourselves a political party! 

So, tell me again why this is an issue.  The art of war is find a way to use something being used against you to your own advantage.  Take the club your opponent is beating you over the head with and use it to knock the SOB out of the game! 

Sometimes I dispair at the lack of sensibility in the party I belong to.  I used to think we were the smartest guys in the room.  Lately, I'm not so sure. 

by bmobley (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 30 comments) on Monday, August 6, 2007 at 11:29:01 AM