What exactly is voter suppression?

[Mollis]

Can anyone help me with this? I know it has to do with not getting votes opposing certain things...but can someone explain it fully to me? Like...how they do it?

Thanks in advance

[frogcycle]

1. ah, let me count the ways...

[wryter2000]

2. Anything that keeps people from voting

Purging "felons" from the rolls is one. Requiring people to provide ID is another. Registering people and then throwing their registrations away is another. Jamming get out the vote phone lines is another. Even doing things like not assigning enough voting machines will do that because not everyone can stand in long, long lines on election day.

Republicans have done all of these. One even went to jail for jamming a phone line.

[DangerDave921]

3. ID is not suppression

I know I'm in the minority here, but requiring ID is a perfectly fine idea. We want to curtial fraud, right? Then show an ID. I show my ID at the bank, I show it at the airport, I show it when I use a credit card at the grocery store. What is so awful about requiring ID when voting?

It is EASY to get a photo ID. You either get a license or you get a photo ID from your state.

[stillcool]

4. The people who don't drive are the elderly..

the young, and city dwellers. You must provide a SS#, or your license #, when you register to vote. That is why fraudulent applications don't make it to the voter rolls. I don't see what the point is. There are very few cases of 'voter fraud', while there are millions of cases of voter suppression. People believe what they want though, without a scintilla of proof, which I guess is why our country is going down the tubes.

[DangerDave921]

7. I disagree

You can't vote until age 18. How many 18 year olds don't have a license?

Elderly people give up their photo ID's? When?

As for city dwellers, yes there are millions who don't drive. But each state has an alternative state ID with photo that is easy to get.

Would it take some initiative to get the photo ID? Sure. But certainly not that much.

[Justitia]

13. Photo IDs cost money, that's a poll tax. It's free to register, post Jim Crow era.

Just another roadblock, intended to impede voting.

Others have already explained how voter registration ALREADY accomplishes identification, without adding continued layers of bureaucratic "requirements".

[stillcool]

16. I got my license when I was 24

but I registered to vote when I was 18. I am 51 and have never had to show ID. Why do I need to now? Say your mother, or your grandmother, is in her 70's, or 80's, maybe living in assisted care, or more importantly has voted at the same place for her entire life. Should she be turned away from the polls because she doesn't have her expired drivers license? What citizen of this country should be prevented from voting? And who, has been prosecuted for 'voter fraud'? Millions of people are purged from the voting rolls, and that is no problem. Yet ID at the polls is a major concern? Perhaps we should go back to 1790 when only white male land owners..no renters, or mortgage holders...were allowed to vote.

[wryter2000]

8. Lots of poor people don't have IDs

And if you've ever gone to the DMV to get an ID with someone who's not very mobile, you'll learn that it's not easy at all.

There's no evidence of any fraud (except for Ann Coulter). Why disenfranchise large numbers of people to fix a problem that doesn't exist?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Because it keeps people from voting.

Duh.

[Warpy]

5. It happened to me yesterday

I am a voter. I voted in 2006 and the primary, yet yesterday when I went to vote, I was told my status had been changed to "inactive."

While I waited for phone calls to be made, I was told by the polling place boss that this had happened to a lot of people within the last month. I remarked, "Looks like they're up to their same old tricks," and she agreed.

I was eventually given a ballot. If I hadn't been, I was prepared to get LOUD and they knew it.

This wasn't a big deal in early voting with a crowd that, while heavy by early voting standards, was extremely light compared to election day. On election day, this is going to be an enormous problem. A ten minute delay multiplied by a couple of thousand people is going to be a very, very big deal.

If you haven't voted and your state has early voting, vote now!

Voter purges are happening all over the country and they might have happened to you. CanIvote.com is unreliable as it only says you're within the system, not if your status has been changed by some REPUBLICAN PIG.

Remember, the GOP does not want you to vote. Ruin a right wing prick's day. Vote early.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. A real ballot or a provisional ballot?

[Warpy]

15. They had the time to call downtown

and verify the fact that I'd voted in the primary.

I got a real ballot.

On election day, multiply that 10 minute phone call by a few thousand.

Please! Vote EARLY!

[On the Road]

6. It's Any Political Tactic

which is intended to reduce the number of votes cast by the group being suppressed.

-One approach is to disqualify legal voters, such as the infamous Florida voter purge in 2000 which removed tens of thousands of legitimate voters from the rolls under the guise of purging felons.

-Another is to keep voters away from the polls, sometimes by spreading misleading information about dates or locations.

-Another is to intimidate voters at the polls themselves, sometimes by challenging legal voters, posting policemen outside the polls (which may unnerve voters with a criminal background), or attempts to slow down and delay the voting process so that fewer votes can be processed.

-Variations are limited only by the evil creativity of the political tricksters.

Here's an article with a long historical view that's broader than simple vote suppression.

Florida's Legacy of Voter Disenfranchisement
(Yes, I know it's from a socialist site, but they often have very good articles.)

[OwnedByFerrets]

11. I know its real easy to throw a question up on DU....

but google is your friend. If you cant find it on google, it doesnt exist. And it saves the servers having to store this stuff.

[Mollis]

12. I did look on google.

I got some info.
But I also wanted the opinions.
And I knew I would get stories. That was part of my point.

[billyoc]

14. Keeping people from voting.

Telling people "It's already Stolen!" is voter suppression.