#Voice Your Vote: The Black Vote – All Eyes on Ohio

Here we go again. The Buckeye State must really love all this attention every four years, because that state is up to it again. While the black vote is not a “swing” vote, because Ohio officials have gone out of their way to disrupt voting for minorities, the Ohio Black vote is being fought over like never before.Read the rest here.

In Voter Suppression News, Judge UPHOLDS Pennsylvania Voter ID Law

hat tips-djchefron and RobM

From TPM.com:

TPMMuckraker

Judge Won’t Block Pennsylvania’s Voter ID Law

Ryan J. Reilly- August 15, 2012, 9:10 AM

A state judge on Wednesday refused to block Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson’s 70-page order ruled that opponents of the law failed to establish “that disenfranchisement was immediate or inevitable.”

Simpson did not rule on the case’s merits, only on whether it could be enjoined. Opponents of the law are expected to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.

“We’re not done, it’s not over,” Witold J. Walczak, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who helped argue the case, told the Associated Press. “It’s why they make appeals courts.”

Simpson ruled that the law “does not expressly disenfranchise or burden any qualified elector or group of electors. The statute simply gives poll workers another tool to verify that the person voting is who they claim to be.”

He said that opponents of the law “did an excellent job of ‘putting a face’ to those burdened by the voter ID requirement.”

“At the end of the day, however, I do not have the luxury of deciding this issued based on my sympathy for the witnesses or my esteem for counsel,” Simpson ruled. “Rather, I must analyze the law, and apply it to evidence of facial unconstitutionality brought forth in the courtroom, tested by our adversarial system.”

So, the people putting the law into effect couldn't come up with ANY voter fraud, yet this law, which can disenfranchise AT LEAST 10 PERCENT OF CURRENT VOTERS, was upheld.

Uh huh.

The latest in GOP 2012 Voter Suppression: Michigan Edition

I had to read this twice to believe it:

From Politicususa.com:



         
       Michigan Defunding Presidential Election in Predominantly Democratic Detroit

By: Sarah JonesApril 19, 2012


If Republicans took over the country with the White House and a majority in the House and merely maintaining filibuster ability in Senate, Michigan could be a blue print for what is in store for us.

Detroit is facing a crisis. It may not be able to conduct a Presidential election due to lack of funding in the budget. Detroit spent $1.49 million on the 2008 Presidential election, and this year requested $1.2 million but was only granted $737,000.

After Detroit Mayor Dave Bing (D) cut the budget for the Presidential election in half and cut the Department of Elections by 25%, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey said there is no way they can conduct the 2012 Presidential election due to their inability to comply with federal law under the severe budget constraints. The Mayor tried to pass this off as shared sacrifices, but sacrificing the root of democracy itself is not exactly the same thing as cutting salaries.

The Detroit Free Press reported the clerk as saying, “You can’t do it. You just can’t do it. We’re mandated by law to do certain things, to have certain things in place, to have a certain number of poll workers. There’s no way we can conduct a presidential election.”

In Detroit, one out of two eligible voters turned out to vote for President Obama in 2008. Detroit is a big city in a state where a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Romney should have a home state advantage in Michigan, with his father being a former Governor as well as being a Presidential candidate. But Romney’s stand against the auto bailouts have hurt him in Michigan. His exact quote was “Let Detroit go bankrupt.” Now, he and his Republicans are doing just that. The thinking seems to be that if the voters are going to punish you for your positions, you can just render them powerless to vote.

USliberals reports:

In the 2008 election, Democrat Obama was the victor among every age group of Michigan voter, but was particularly popular among voters under 30 years old (68% representing 20% of voters) and African-Americans (97% representing 12% of voters.)

In the last four presidential elections, Michigan voted as follows:
• 2008 – 57% for Democrat Obama, 41% for Republican McCain
• 2004 – 51% for Democrat Kerry, 48% for Republican Bush
• 2000 – 51% for Democrat Gore, 46% for Republican Bush
• 1996 – 52% for Democrat Clinton, 39% for Republican Dole, 9% for Other


The data for registered voters in Michigan shows Wayne County (Detroit is a large portion of Wayne County) with a total of 1,347,245 voters. Consider the impact if those voters can’t vote, in a state with a TOTAL of 7,286,556 registered voters. These numbers indicate that 18% of Michigan voters are in Wayne County. (Wayne County is bigger than Detroit, but Detroit is the major city within the County). McCain lost Michigan by 16% in 2008. Ostensibly, if Detroit couldn’t vote, it would be fair to say assume that it would create a huge opportunity for a Republican Presidential candidate to take the state, as well as assisting with down ticket votes.

Read the rest of the article at the link above.


More about Michigan from Rachel Maddow.

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Keeping you up to speed on Voter Suppression 2012

These videos are all about GOP Voter Suppression.

From PoliticusUSA:

Keith Olbermann Tears ‘Fascist Bastard’ Scott Walker A New One

On his Worst Persons segment, Keith Olbermann called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker a “fascist bastard” for suppressing the vote of citizens of his state under the guise of fighting voter fraud

Olbermann told the story of 84 year old Ruthelle Frank who won’t be able to vote for the first time since 1948 due to Scott Walker’s voter ID law. Olbermann said, “So even though Miss Frank has a certificate of baptism and her Social Security card, she cannot get one of those new state issued IDs that was foisted on Wisconsin by that fascist bastard Scott Walker, and the criminal gang put in control of the state by the blood money of the Kochs. The register of deeds in Wisconsin does have a record of her birth, but her maiden name was misspelled by the doctor in 1927. So to get an actual birth certificate so she can her Walker approved identity papers, she has to petition the court to get the mistake made in 1927 corrected in 2011. Total cost could easily exceed two hundred dollars. To prevent the almost non-existent crime of voting when you’re not supposed to, two hundred dollars to get an ID for a woman who has voted in every election since 1948. And before you say well, that’s asinine, but that’s just one woman, one study estimates that there are 177,399 residents 65 and older who don’t not have state ID in Wisconsin alone.”

Rev. Al has spent the week on voter suppression.

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Rev. Al speaks with the head of the League of Women Voters in Florida, which has suspended voter registration in that state because of the new Voter Suppression laws enacted there.

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Read more »

Yesterday Was Election Day, and Some Positive Signs

hat tip-The Obama Diary


Well, yesterday was voting day. Here are the results:

From OHIO:







From TPM.Com

TPMDC
Ohio Voters Emphatically Reject Kasich’s Anti-Union Law

Eric Kleefeld November 8, 2011, 9:21 PM

Ohio Democrats, who got absolutely creamed in the 2010 elections, have now won a major victory over Republican Gov. John Kasich — massively winning a referendum to repeal Kasich’s anti-public employee union law.

With 19% of precincts reporting — which includes a significant chunk of the total ballots, due to early-votes being counted quickly — the bill known as SB 5 is losing by a margin of 63%-37%, and the “No” position has been projected as the winner by the Associated Press.

Pre-election polling showed the No campaign winning by over 20 points — and it seemed possible at time of writing that the final margin might even surpass this.

As TPM has documented, SB 5 has become a political poster child for Democrats pushing against Republicans, following the 2010 GOP wave, with the Dems and labor unions mobilizing while at the same time Kasich’s popularity tanked in the polls.

From Maine - this is good news against Voter Suppression 2012

1-08-2011 9:44 PM
AP: Maine Voters Say Yes To Same Day Registration

Voters in Maine have approved a ballot measure on allowing same day voter registration. The state had previously moved to require voters register no later than two days before an election. It was defeated 59 - 41 %.The state Republican Party had run ads urging the issue’s defeat, by suggesting that pro-gay rights groups supported it.

Read more »

Latest in 2012 Voter Suppression: Colorado Edition

The latest from 2012 VOTER SUPPRESSION. Today's edition is from Colorado.

From CBS.com

Secretary Of State Sues City Of Denver Over Mail-In Ballots

Colorado’s Secretary of State is suing the City and County of Denver over mail-in ballots.

Sec. of State Scott Gessler said Denver Clerk and Recorder Debra Johnson is sending ballots to thousands of voters who legally should not get them.

The lawsuit comes just three weeks before ballots are set to be mailed.

“I don’t relish this lawsuit here. I do not relish it,” said Gessler.

“I’m surprised he really went that far,” said Johnson.

Gessler is suing Johnson after she decided to send ballots to every registered voter in Denver. The problem with that, the law states ballots “shall be mailed to all active registered electors.”

Johnson planned to mail to inactive voters as well, about 55,000.

“I think that the law states you shall send to active voters is the minimum standard. You know, at least that. It doesn’t say you cannot send to inactive voters,” said Johnson.

An inactive voter is someone who didn’t vote in the last general election. When the law was passed, the legislature specifically required ballots be sent to inactive voters, too. But it also specified that the provision would sunset this year.


Terrence Carroll, who was Speaker of the House at the time the, said things have changed.

“It was a law that was drafted without any reference or any understanding of mail-in ballot elections,” said Carroll.

Gessler’s critics suggest there are racial implications because many inactive voters live in minority neighborhoods.

Gessler denies that accusation, “I’m disappointed some have played a race card.”

He insists he’s not trying to keep anyone from voting, just trying to keep the process legal.

Johnson said it should also be fair.

“So right now we have our printer on hold until we get some type of decision,” said Johnson.

Pueblo’s clerk and Recorder is also awaiting that decision. Gilbert Ortiz said he wasn’t going to challenge the Secretary of State’s authority, but he disagrees with Gessler.

Gessler said other counties are on board and his intent in enforcing the law is also to make sure elections are uniform throughout the state.

The court is expected to take up the matter by next week. There are more than 500,000 inactive voters in Colorado.

Rachel Maddow, who has done a yoeman's job all year in reporting about VOTER SUPPRESSION 2012, keeps up the good work with a piece on this and its implications.

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Voter Suppression 2012 - Just in case you didn't know about it

Melissa Harris-Perry, professor of political science at Tulane University, talks with Rachel Maddow about a nation-wide effort by state Republican leaders to reconfigure voting rules, independent of principle, to bias the electoral system against President Obama's re-election.

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In Today's Voter Suppression 2012 Chronicles, We Go To North Carolina

From Crooks and Liars:

June 08, 2011 04:00 PM
N. Carolina GOP Pushes Bill That Forbids Voting For Straight Party Lines
By Susie Madrak

See what happens when you turn your back on Republican state legislators? They wreak havoc all over the place.

In a strange way, this is good news. Because the Republicans are admitting that, without tricks, traps and lies, voters are much less likely to vote for Republicans!

But what delicious irony: They voted in a straight party-line vote to prevent voters from doing the same thing.

Yesterday in Raleigh, state Senate lawmakers advanced another bill aimed at making voting harder for North Carolinians who actually make it into the voting booth after clearing the other hurdles the GOP-led legislature has proposed. Reporter Laura Leslie put it succinctly [emphasis mine],

The state Senate voted on straight party lines tonight to forbid NC voters from doing the same thing.Senate Bill 411 would repeal the law that allows voters entering the ballot box to choose to vote for all the candidates in one party or the other. About 40% of voters in NC use this option.

Those mischievous scamps, what will they think of next? That’s SB411, also described as the “Elect Pat McCrory” bill.

Since taking over the North Carolina state legislature, the NCGOP has voted to…

Shorten the early voting period by a week [HB 658 -- passed the House]
Require registered voters to show a photo ID before voting [HB 351 -- passed out of committee in the House, on the House calendar for action today]
Eliminate a voter’s choice to vote a straight ticket [SB 411 -- passed the Senate]

There’s more besides, as lawmakers rush through bills ahead of a key procedural deadline. Passage of a bill through either house by Thursday means they can be considered again next year.

Do you see the consistency of this?

Of the limiting of voting rights?

The same tactics used over and over and over?

The point is obvious - VOTER SUPPRESSION FOR 2012.

WAKE UP.