Suppress the vote

This is an extension of my blog from Thursday, April 19th, "Shameful tactics," about the so-called "voter fraud" laws.  That's a misnomer.   They are actually voter suppression laws, because the covert motivation to solve this non-existent problem is an attempt to reduce the number of people who will vote for Democratic candidates and more liberal laws.

Actually, it's a brilliant, diabolical idea -- because it sounds so reasonable.   Don't we all want voting to be limited to those who are eligible?   These laws don't actually disenfranchise anyone, but they discourage and make it difficult for certain groups -- so that they're less likely to vote.   And these are select groups (young, elderly, low-income, hourly wage workers) who are much more likely to vote Democratic -- when they vote.

Here are some facts being publicized by Craig Newmark, the founder of Craig's List.

1.  Between 2001 and 2007, there were:

       352 deaths caused by lightning

        9 instances of possible voter impersonation

2.  Does it really matter?

        The quick answer is that the significance of the "problem" they purportedly are solving is non-existent.   On the other hand, the number of people adversely affected by the laws will be huge.

        5 million voter-age citizens will likely be affected by these laws

        70% of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency will come from states that have already passed these laws

        5 out of the 11 battleground states will have, or are considering, these laws

3.   Who does not have a driver's license or similar photo ID?

        20+ million voting-age citizens
        20% of 18-29 year olds (college student ID's do not qualify)
        10% of Latinos
        25% of blacks
        20% of Asian-Americans
          8% of whites

        202,000 new voters were registered by registration drives for the 2008 election.  Such registration drives are now much more difficult or impossible under the new laws.

Maria Teresa Kumar, of Voto Latino, said:

"The problem is not that ineligible voters are voting;  
it's that eligible voters are not voting."

This is almost exclusively the doings of Republican controlled state legislatures and Republican governors.  Isn't it pathetic that this is the only way they think they can win elections?   The problem is that it works, unless we can get the laws overturned, as is happening in some state courts.

Ralph