OpEdNews » 2008 Voter Suppression Hangs on Supreme Court Decision

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Tag(s): Indiana; Voter Disenfranchisement; Voter Fraud; Voter ID Laws; Voting Integrity; Voting Laws Federal HAVA
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November 20, 2007 at 23:14:03

Headlined on 11/20/07:
2008 Voter Suppression Hangs on Supreme Court Decision

by Project Vote Page 1 of 3 page(s)

www.opednews.com

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Weekly Voting Rights News Update

By Erin Ferns

In the new year, a case that will determine the state of American voting rights will be considered by the Supreme Court. Called “the most important voting rights case since Bush v. Gore” by the Brennan Center for Justice, Indiana's voter ID case (Crawford v. Marion County Elections Board) may throw a monkey wrench into getting eligible voters to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election. The constitutionality of the nation’s most restrictive voter identification law is under scrutiny by the country’s highest court and more than two dozen scholars, advocates, and voting rights organizations have filed amicus briefs challenging the law in the hopes of expanding access to the ballot while still maintaining election integrity.

Powered by unfounded allegations of voter fraud – an issue often conflated with election administration issues, such as list maintenance problems and voter caging efforts – voter ID laws like the one being challenged, are a solution in search of a problem. They end up effectively inhibiting voters rather than encouraging them.

For example, a recent study by the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race noted, “Institutional burdens to participating have long been established to have the largest impact on individuals who have fewer resources, less education, smaller social networks and are more institutionally isolated”.

“Increasing barriers to voting are likely to have the largest impact on these groups, and we find strong evidence to support our thesis that strict voter identification laws would substantially effect these groups negatively.”

Last Tuesday, the 24 filers challenging the voter ID law (including Project Vote) put forth several arguments that ultimately assert that Indiana's law hurts more voters than it helps. The following are some points from the amicus briefs:

Voter fraud is exceedingly rare (Current and Former Secretaries of State; Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, et al.; Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now; Brennan Center, et al.)

Indiana's voter ID law is an unnecessary response to the unlikely threat of polling place fraud, the Brennan Center, Project Vote and other organizations wrote. None of the examples cited by the court of appeals indicate genuine voter fraud, the brief said.

Voter ID puts a burden on voters (League of Women Voters; Rock the Vote, et al.; Current and Former Secretaries of State; Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law et al.; R. Michael Alvarez, et al.; Rep. Keith Ellison; Asian American Legal Defense; and NAACP Legal Defense Fund)

- Several briefs emphasized the impact of voter ID on minority voters: “A large percentage of Indiana’s African-American voters are included in the more than 2.5 million Indiana households that do not own a motor vehicle, and they most likely will not have the requisite photo ID for voting purposes,” wrote Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who recently introduced legislation banning voter ID laws. “A 6-point gap exists in access to valid photo ID with 84.2% of White registered voters reporting proper ID, compared to 78.2% of Black registered voters,” the Washington Institute Study reported.

- Young voters would be “severely” affected, according to the Rock the Vote amicus brief, which cited a study that showed young people are more likely to vote if allowed to register and vote at campus addresses.

- The R. Michael Alvarez amicus brief cited three studies that show the impact of voter ID on the elderly.

Voter ID is an unconstitutional poll tax (Rep. Ellison; Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund)

-“The striking similarities between voter identification laws and the poll taxes this Court rejected less than half a century ago demonstrate that identification requirements are unconstitutional regardless of the level of scrutiny the Court applies. Nevertheless, voter identification requirements should be subject to the same searching scrutiny this Court historically has applied to statutes that target the franchise,” MALDEF wrote.

- Voter ID laws like Indiana's have been rejected by Congress for unconstitutionality, Ellison wrote. “Indeed, the Senate Conference Report on HAVA highlights this concern: [A]s with the other methods of disenfranchisement in American history, such as literacy tests and poll taxes, the photo identification requirement would present barriers to voting and have a chilling effect on voter participation. There are voters who simply do not have identification and requiring them to purchase photo identification would be tantamount to requiring them to pay a poll tax.”
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www.projectvote.org

Project Vote is the leading technical assistance and direct service provider to the civic participation community. Since its founding in 1982, Project Vote has provided professional training, management, evaluation and technical services on a broad continuum of key issues related to voter engagement and participation in low-income and minority communities.

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7 comments

Charlie Levenson is a writer and activist in Portland, Oregon. In addition to serving as the Manager of Electronic Communications for a social/athletic club in Portland, he instructs in Digital Media at Portland State University, consults on communications strategy, and occasionally writes/directs videos.
Charlie LCharlie Levenson is a writer and activist in Portland, Oregon. In addition to serving as the Manager of Electronic Communications for a social/athletic club in Portland, he instructs in Digital Media at Portland State University, consults on communications strategy, and occasionally writes/directs videos.

It is a foregone conclusion

There's really no question that this court will vote 5-4 in favor of any state law that limits or decreases voter participation in elections.

After all, voters that are impacted by these types of laws are almost always predominantly minority, poor, and NON-RETHUGLICAN (that is, Independents and/or Democrats), and the Rethuglican block on the Supreme Court cares much, much more about the survival of their PARTY and their IDEOLOGY than they do about anything else in our country, and definitely more than anything like the Constitution.

by Charlie L (2 articles, 3 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 674 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 10:13:12 AM

In 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Rady AnandaIn 2004, Rady Ananda joined the growing community of citizen journalists. Focused mainly on elections, her blogs also address religious, gender, sexual and racial equality, as well as environmental issues; and are sprinkled with book and film reviews on various topics. She spent most of her working life as a legal investigator for private lawyers, and five years as an editor. She currently serves as a senior editor at OpEdNews.

All material offered here is the property of Rady A...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Seize the Polls

Parody by Mark E. Smith and Rady Ananda, Nov. 2007 (Pirate Radio Song by David Rovics)http://www.diymedia.net/audio/mp3drovics.htm (with much apology to David Rovics)

This is how it started; it's not hard to understand
From coast to coast they're lying at a CEO's command
From vendors to officials, all across the whole country,
They’re spewing fake results from their high-tech wizardry.

Signature counts in Franklin, missing votes in FloridaRigging recounts on the lake - the Courts just let them offSan Diego learned the hard way that Congress picks the winnersAnd New York is in a battle to stop these Big Gov sinners (Chorus)
Seize the precincts; Seize the polls
Counting votes in secret will never reach our goals
When it's all owned by corporations, and theirs is the only word
We will seize the precincts - Count ballots and be heard

Someone got pens and paper, a popular defection
Then the idea spread - We'll have our own election
Like the land and water, elections must be free
So let us shout together, "Fuck the EAC"

(Chorus)

And we'll do it all together, in a grassroots style
We’ll hand count the votes, all on election night
It's the new Town Meeting. It's the way things ought to be.
The rulers call it chaos. We say it's democracy

So it comes election time and you've had it with this shit
Republicrats and Democans makes you want to have a fit
They're all a bunch of liars and it's all the same old game
Let's have our own elections. Ignite our freedom's flame

(Chorus)

by Rady Ananda (109 articles, 262 quicklinks, 27 diaries, 872 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 11:13:26 AM

Currently I'm a cartoonist and contributing writer for The New Orleans Levee. For those wishing to view my work you can see my latest at: nolvee.com
Mr MCurrently I'm a cartoonist and contributing writer for The New Orleans Levee. For those wishing to view my work you can see my latest at: nolvee.com

If voting could change things ...

...they'd make it illegal.

After the 2000 sham of an election one would have thought that a massive effort would be made to have a uniform, verifiable (paper receipt) election process.

Not only did that not happen, more obstacles were put into place instead. Not even simple things like moving the election day to Saturday, and eliminating the antiquated Electoral College were taken.

I wish I had some hope left for this country but whatever hope I had was pounded into the ground a long time ago. So forgive me if I don't get to excited expecting to see a SC that is even worse than the one that put these treasonous bastards in office in the first place coming to the rescue this time.

by Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1421 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 11:50:16 AM

Anthony Signorelli is an author, speaker, and expert on American democracy, political diversity, political dialog, and the Free and Fair Elections Amendment to the Constitution, which he proposed. His penetrating insight springs loose surprising ideas and delightful notions. Expertise developed writing Call to Liberty includes finding common ground between liberals, conservatives, and moderates, unitary executive, Rule of Law, the Bill of Rights, corporate structure and the liberal economy, and ...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Anthony SignorelliAnthony Signorelli is an author, speaker, and expert on American democracy, political diversity, political dialog, and the Free and Fair Elections Amendment to the Constitution, which he proposed. His penetrating insight springs loose surprising ideas and delightful notions. Expertise developed writing Call to Liberty includes finding common ground between liberals, conservatives, and moderates, unitary executive, Rule of Law, the Bill of Rights, corporate structure and the liberal economy, and ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Here's a proposal

Consider the possibility of a Free and Fair Elections Amendment to the Constitution. It's a proposal to open the debate at a new level and consider providing Constitutinal grounds for these decisions. At a minimum, the court would have to squirm harder to get around it. Try the language at www.freeandfairelections.org.

by Anthony Signorelli (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 2:31:33 PM

Politically, I lean Libertarian. When discussing issues, I will slam Dems and/or Republicans.

Now, when it comes to really irritating me, just make an unfounded charge; I will call out whomever makes the charge if there are no facts to back it up! Another version of this is when I see something that is just plainly silly/ridiculous.

An example could be something stated which could be very easily disproved. Another example, and I see this frequently: Rather tha...

to see more of bio, click on member name
steve scheetzPolitically, I lean Libertarian. When discussing issues, I will slam Dems and/or Republicans.

Now, when it comes to really irritating me, just make an unfounded charge; I will call out whomever makes the charge if there are no facts to back it up! Another version of this is when I see something that is just plainly silly/ridiculous.

An example could be something stated which could be very easily disproved. Another example, and I see this frequently: Rather tha...

to see more of bio, click on member name

About 46,000 people, are illegally registered to vote in New York City and in Florida - - New York Daily News

Completely unfounded..

sort of reminds me of the movie Casablanca

" I am Shocked, SHOCKED to learn that GAMBLING is going on here!"

"your winnings, Sir"

"Oh, Thank you very much!"

You talk about voter suppression? People can't obtain an ID card? in their $120 nikes? PLEASE!

If you want to discuss voter Disenfranchisement, maybe we should discuss the fact that the two "PARTIES" do everything they can to keep real choice from being offered on the ballots!

They tell us who we are "ALLOWED" to vote for... Suppression? OF WHAT? a rigged election where the two candidates are EXACTLY THE SAME?

Bush vs Gore... Bush enacted the EXACT SAME POLICIES Gore campaigned to enact in the first 100 days! WAKE UP, man! We are being tossed BS issues to keep us all too occupied to think about what is REALLY happening... Corporate America RUNS the Dems and the Repubs, and we, the people, get the shaft.

Ciao, CZ

by steve scheetz (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 587 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 12:08:49 PM

Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government (www.delusionaldemocracy.com). His current political writings have been greatly influenced by working as a senior staffer for the U.S. Congress and for the National Governors Association. He advocates a Second American Revolution, beginning with an Article V Convention to propose constitutional amendments. He is Chair of the Independent Party of Maryland.
Joel S. HirschhornJoel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government (www.delusionaldemocracy.com). His current political writings have been greatly influenced by working as a senior staffer for the U.S. Congress and for the National Governors Association. He advocates a Second American Revolution, beginning with an Article V Convention to propose constitutional amendments. He is Chair of the Independent Party of Maryland.

Just another reason to

join a boycott on voting for federal offices in 2008; not only are the major candidates not worth voting for, but the whole election/voting system is a disgrace; first a boycott and then deep political reforms to fix our democracy

by Joel S. Hirschhorn (126 articles, 31 quicklinks, 58 diaries, 508 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 12:14:30 PM

*****************************************************

Thomas Bonsell is a former newspaper editor (in Oregon, New York and Colorado) United States Air Force cryptanalyst and National Security Agency intelligence agent. He became one of American journalism's leading constitutional experts through years of study at Georgetown University Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C., and tries (without much success) to be patient with people who argue endlessly on su...

to see more of bio, click on member name
tabonsell*****************************************************

Thomas Bonsell is a former newspaper editor (in Oregon, New York and Colorado) United States Air Force cryptanalyst and National Security Agency intelligence agent. He became one of American journalism's leading constitutional experts through years of study at Georgetown University Graduate School of Government in Washington, D.C., and tries (without much success) to be patient with people who argue endlessly on su...

to see more of bio, click on member name

LEFT UNSAID

In all the arguments opposing this "voter ID" the most-important one was not stated. That is Article I, Section 8, paragraph 18, that states all law must be "necessary and proper" to carry into fruition the powers the Constitution places with government.

Since there is no evidence of "voter fraud" (maybe beyond some mistakes) the law is not necessary. And, if the law disenfranchised otherwise legal voters, it isn't proper. It should be easy to declare it unconstitutional.

But, with this right-wing court, constitutionality has nothing to do with anything.

by tabonsell (29 articles, 0 quicklinks, 22 diaries, 249 comments) on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 5:51:07 PM