Six states, all of them southern and all with a past history of institutional racism against African-Americans, among others, are moving forward with plans to restrict and make difficult the ability of minorities and the poor to vote. Among those states are Mississippi and Alabama, two southern states with the worst historical records on racial issues. The federal government had a vested interest to stay involved with how these traditionally racist states treated their minorities. With the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, these states can do whatever they wish to make voting more difficult for whomever they please.
"...six states have already started moving on restrictions, many of which have adverse effects on the abilities of minorities, young people, and the poor to exercise their right to vote:
Texas: The Lone Star State saw its strict voter ID law and redistricting plan blocked by the DOJ and federal courts last year. Just two hours after Tuesday’s decision came down, the state’s attorney general issued a statement suggesting both laws may go into effect immediately. On Wednesday, Gov. Rick Perry (R) signed slightly modified congressional maps into law, apparently deciding not to veto them and reinstate the more blatantly discriminatory maps blocked by the court. These new maps will not be screened by the DOJ. And Thursday morning, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated two federal court decisions that had relied upon the VRA in blocking the voter ID law and redistricting plan.
Mississippi: The state legislature approved a voter ID scheme in 2012, but it has not received DOJ clearance. Despite the restrictions, Mississippi’s secretary of state said Tuesday they would proceed with implementing the voter ID law and that “We’re not the same old Mississippi that our fathers’ fathers were.“
Alabama: In 2011, the state passed a law requiring photo ID to vote, but never cleared it with the DOJ. Both the attorney general and the secretary of state said Tuesday they believed their plans could now be implemented in time for the 2014 elections.
Arkansas: In April, the Arkansas legislature overrode Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto to pass their voter ID legislation. With preclearance out of the way, the state law can now be implemented without DOJ review.
South Carolina: The Palmetto State passed a similar voter ID law in 2012, but DOJ at least succeeded in delaying its implementation. South Carolina’s attorney general issued a statement following the decision, lauding the Court for allowing the preclearance states to “to implement reasonable election reforms, such as voter ID laws similar to South Carolina’s.”
Virginia: Unlike several of the other states, Virginia’s voter ID plan was not scheduled to be implemented until July 2014 anyway. But unless Congress replaces the preclearance formula before then, Virginia will also likely be able to move forward with its plan.
From the Miami Herald on the gutting of the VRA:
"Of this there should be no doubt: The impact of the ruling will be to weaken the rights of voters at a time when politically driven efforts to suppress voter registration and turnout have increased in GOP-leaning states all across the country.
Voter ID laws, restrictions on early voting (which led to embarrassingly long lines in Florida last year), extreme gerrymandering of congressional districts — all these tactics and more have become more evident in recent elections. The court’s ruling means there’s no cop on the beat to prevent these malicious actions, encouraging those intent on curtailing voting rights to do as they please."
10 comments:
Remember right after the election when the Repubs did an "autopsy" to find out went wrong and what they'd need to change going forward? This is one of those changes... although it is really just more of the same: disenfranchise as many people who may vote Democratic as possible... The difference is that now they can turbocharge the suppression. And, as you point out, they are doing just that in 6 of the 9 states that needed preclearance under Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act.
Try and appeal to students, minorities or women? No way! Barack Obama's tagline in 2008 was "Hope and Change". Should the Republican tagline for the 2014 midterms (and forward) be "White Power"? I say yes.
Double standard?
http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/06/voting-marriage-rulings-impact-spreads/
From Incog's link:
"The constitutional fate of voting rights laws in nine states and a number of local governments around the nation has been put in deep doubt by the Court’s Shelby County ruling. That decision nullified the 1965 federal law’s formula for determining which states and local governments must go through the unusual procedure of getting official approval in Washington before they may put into effect any new law or procedure on voting or elections. The decision left the preclearance requirement formally intact, but in peril because of the lack of a formula for which jurisdictions must obey it.
With that formula (under the 1965 law’s Section 4) now legally dead, and with uncertainty about whether Congress will replace it with a new version, the duty of state and local governments already covered by the preclearance requirement (under the law’s Section 5) is open to serious question.
The Court might have at least started to answer that question had it granted full review of either one of the Texas cases — the voter ID case, Texas v. Holder (12-1028), or the redistricting case, Texas v. United States (12-496) — but it did not do that. Instead, it vacated separate rulings by three-judge U.S. District Courts in Washington, D.C., and told those courts to look again at federal challenges to those laws. In the redistricting case, the lower court was also told to consider a suggestion that the case is now legally dead (“moot”), because in recent days the Texas legislature has replaced all of the specific election maps that were at issue."
Shaw Kenawe,
I understand your position on this issue. But it is my opinion that the same oversight (now dead, apparently) should extend to every state in the Union. Voter fraud of any kind undermines the integrity of the People. I think that voter ID is a must in every state.
Incog, have you looked into the stats on "voter fraud?" It is miniscule to the point of almost non-existence in a population of about 100 million voters. It's been a trumped-up problem in the minds of the GOP, and its purpose, IMO, is to impede those large populations that traditionally vote Democratic.
Some Voter Fraud Statistics in US history:
In Missouri in 2000, for example, the Secretary of State claimed that 79 voters were registered with addresses at vacant lots, but subsequent investigation revealed that the lots in question actually housed valid and legitimate residences.
2004 election in Ohio revealed a voter fraud rate of 0.00004%.
2004 gubernatorial election in Washington State actually reveals just the opposite: though voter fraud does happen, it happens approximately 0.0009%
A 1995 investigation into votes allegedly cast in Baltimore by deceased voters and those with disenfranchising felony convictions revealed that the voters in question were both alive and felony-free.
Many of the inaccurate claims result from lists of voters compared to other lists - of deceased individuals, persons with felony convictions, voters in other states, etc.
In Florida in 2000, a list of purged voters later became notorious when it was discovered that the “matching” process captured eligible voters with names similar to - but decidedly different from - the names of persons with felony convictions, sometimes in other states entirely.
A 2005 attempt to identify supposed double voters in New Jersey mistakenly accused people with similar names but whose middle names or suffixes were clearly different, such as “J.T. Kearns, Jr.” and “J.T. Kearns, Sr.,” of being the same person. Even when names and birth dates match across lists, that does not mean there was voter fraud.
it is more likely than not that among just 23 individuals, two will share a birthday. Similar statistics show that for most reasonably common names, it is extremely likely that at least two people with the same name in a state will share the same date of birth.
Other allegations of fraudulent voting often turn out to be the result of common clerical errors, incomplete information, or faulty assumptions. Most allegations of voter fraud simply evaporate when more rigorous analysis is conducted.
There is nothing wrong with voter ID being required, unless the qualifications for that ID make it impossible for people to meet before the election, thus losing their vote.
Regarding the 2012 elections: all the claims listed in a blast email about voter fraud are demonstrably false: SEE HERE.
The link goes to Snopes, which, not surprisingly, more than a few conservatives do not believe is neutral, just as they do not believe anything from FactCheck.org or PolitiFact, because the information on those sites usually call B.S. on the false information the conservative noise machine distributes or because the facts get in the way of their closed minds.
And that Shaw, is the issue...
Many conservatives on the fringes, albeit a growing fringe, have determined that any "fact" that does not line up with their worldview is suspect.
They start from a premise that everything government does is bad, corrupt, wasteful and inefficient. Then, if anything confronts that viewpoint, it has to be viewed as suspect.
Anyone who supports the big bad government, is to viewed as anti-American.
The only facts they accept, are the ones they believe, any others are opinion.
Voter fraud is one of those issues. I had a few commenters tell me they did not care what numbers any secretary of state had, even if they were Republicans during the last election, because they knew there was fraud, it just was covered up by everyone.
Anon... do you have any thoughts on people not being allowed to register with a school or veterans ID, but allowed to do so with a concealed weapons permit? Why would Texas make such a distinction?
Dave,
"The only facts they [fringe conservatives] accept, are the ones they believe, any others are opinion."
That's true all along the political spectrum.
Today, political views in America are set in stone across the board. What has been lost sight of is this: "What will benefit the whole of America without oppressing other factions?"
Calling dissenters "fringe conservatives" will not win anyone over. Think about it.
Besides, everyone starts from some basic premise. What's yours?
Shaw Kenawe,
Thank you for not ignoring me. I appreciate it.
I don't know that voter fraud is "miniscule." Fraud, by its very nature, is clandestine.
As far as I'm concerned, the two-party system is a catastrophe.
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