Vice President Joe Biden has said, "This is not your grandfather's Republican party." He has not (yet) added, "and this will not be an election you learned in elementary school was the underpinning of democracy."
As the new right-wing voter suppression laws now stand, 3-5 million people will be denied the right to vote on Nov. 6, 2012.
That will include millions who have voted in elections for many years.
The very existence of those laws, plus dirty tricks like Governor Scott Walker's (R-WI) decision to close down government facilities "to save money" in areas where Democrats who do not currently have IDs would be likely to go to get them, is suppressing the vote every day including now.
Florida Republicans passed a law requiring registration forms be turned in within 48 hours, or the organization registering voters could be fined $50/form. As a result, groups such as the League of Women Voters that Republicans consider radicals have stopped registering new voters. Cute, huh?
Right-wing voter intimidation activities will escalate even beyond their usual levels. As in the past calls will be made to likely Democratic voters warning them that they may be arrested if they come to the polls and they are behind on their utility bills or rent, and/or they are told election day is really another day (a suggestion of man-of-god Mike Huckabee, as well) and/or they will be given the wrong polling place information and/or they will be told they may be subjected to violence.
Consider the additional opportunities for intimidation this time -- "if you arrive at the polling station without proper ID, you may be arrested for voter fraud that carries penalties of fines and up to 15 years in jail." The calls will be untraceable, and so no one will be held accountable.
When the dust settles, with so many millions disenfranchised, and with House, Senate and the presidential race skewed by these tactics, what will Nov. 7th be like?
Please reflect, and go to the comments section with your analysis. While you are at it, comment on what election day itself will be like -- millions of people going to the polls, standing on lines, and being denied their right to vote, tweeting like the Iranian opposition?
Will the Supreme Court again decide the outcome of the election, not just the presidential election, but for control of the House and Senate as well? If they had already invalidated, by a 5-4 decision, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will they have an ounce of credibility left to do that? The same Court that decided the 2000 election in an opinion so embarrassing to them that it was unsigned and declared not to be used as precedent?
In answer to a lady's question, "What have you given us?" Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said, "a republic, madam, if you can keep it."
Can we?
Will November 7, 2012 be business-as-usual? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
Follow Paul Abrams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pabrams2001
In order to get federal or state benefits, cash a check, get a library card, buy alcohol, go to school, get on a plane, take scuba lessons or pick up a prescription at a pharmacy--not to mention thousands of other things--you must have a picture ID. Is this discrimination?
If students want to vote all they have to do is register where they legally reside. If they are away from their polling place while at school they can vote absentee.
The only problem comes with the elderly who may have been born at home before birth certificates were issued in such cases. Every state, certainly South Carolina where I live, has agencies ready to help these people get IDs for free.
If there ever was a non-issue, this is it.
She wanted to make sure she could vote in 2012 so she applied to the state agency which helps get identification for people with no birth certificate. They sent her forms to fill out which included requiring her to get affidavits from relatives and list where she went to school.
Two weeks later a letter and certificate came in the mail which she took to the DMV and got a photo ID--free.
How, you ask could she get state and federal benefits without an ID? Well, she said she never needed them because her children and grandchildren always took care of her, and her doctor had never charged her a cent. The last time she was in the hospital was when her fourth child was born in 1957.
I have had the privilege of meeting this lady, and she is sharp as a tack. She also took the initiative to get the proper ID for voting because she wants to make sure her vote is counted. That is a perfect example of good citizenship.
Well I do take issue with this statement. I have NEVER IN 67 YEARS ever had to show a Photo ID to pick up my prescriptions, not even in a new pharmacy I had never used, NEVER!. When I used to drink many years ago I NEVER EVER had to show a Photo ID to buy BOOZE, NEVER!. The rest of your statement seems right on but those two things I think you are mistaken on, at least where I lived and shopped you never had show ID for either of those two things.
A Big Lie...
You creating a Big Lie. Why do I say that? Because the new rules for voter identification will prevent the Obama operatives from busing in people across state lines or transport undocumented citizens to the voting polls...
I do not expect you to allow this to be posted. I am sure that you will send this to the trash to prevent others from reading it..
Warm regards,
Michael Winters
Thank you for your insight. You made the point better than I did.
Thank you for responding. But you know that there was a problem in 2008 There were reports of voter fraud by key supporters of Obama in 2008. Here are a few and you tell me what you think..
The New York Post reported that ACORN submitted a voter registration card for a 7-year-old Bridgeport girl. Another 8,000 cards from the same city will be scrutinized for possible fraud
11 ACORN workers were accused of forging voter registration applications in Miami-Dade County during the last election. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the state attorney’s office scoured hundreds of suspicious applications provided by ACORN and found 197 of 260 contained personal ID information that did not match any living person.
Election officials in Indiana have thrown out more than 4,000 ACORN-submitted voter registrations after finding they had identical handwriting and included the names of many deceased Indianans, and even the name of a fast food restaurant
The Detroit Free Press reported that “overzealous or unscrupulous campaign workers in several Michigan counties are under investigation for voter-registration fraud, suspected of attempting to register nonexistent people or forging applications for already-registered voters.” ACORN-affiliate Project Vote was one of two groups suspected of turning in the documents.
There are many more and you know it
An ACORN employee in West Reading, PA, was sentenced to up to 23 months in prison for identity theft and tampering with records. A second ACORN worker pleaded not guilty to the same charges and is free on $10,000 bail.
Seven ACORN workers in the Pittsburgh area were indicted for submitting falsified voter registration forms. Six of the seven were also indicted for registering voters under an illegal quota system
ACORN activists gave Ohio residents cash and cigarettes in exchange for filling out voter registration card, according to the New York Post. Some voters claim to have registered dozens of times, and one man says he signed up on 72 cards
B.S. Anyone who fails to satisfy the voting criteria has DISENFRANCHISED THEMSELVES.
If you're grown-up enough to vote, you're grown-up enough to get ID.
The very same voters whose votes republican governors have been working to suppress.
How, exactly does the GOP expect to increaase their share of a voting block whose votes are actively beign suppressed???
Are they going to allow Hispanics to vote only if they promise to cast a vote in the republican column????
At the very least it should be required that you show your registration card at the polls.
Get it?
And if you're still not holding an ID in November, you've just plain failed in your civic duty. How 'bout we ask voters to take elections seriously, for a change?
"If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator,"
George W. Bush....................CNN December 18, 2000
/snark off
To answer your question, I would be filled with rage.
Get it?
a) Not driver's license, but ID
b) Now they do; why isn't voting a sufficient reason?
I'm not sure I want to be an election judge here in MN if the Voter ID Amendment passes. They would need to have police present.