requirement. Low income people already have the lowest voting rates. They very rightly percieve that voting doesn't make a whole lot of difference in their lives. This last election was a little different in that things had gotten so bad for the least among us economically that most everyone I talked to was planning on voting. Reality is I don't know if they did but I had to try. The GOP and some liberal elites often say that the people who clearly do not have their shit together, and lets face it many of the poor clearly do not have it together in a way that makes sense to middle-income people (no ID, no checking account, using the check cashing place)perhaps shouldn't be voting. Dems are historically against ID requirements for voting for 2 reasons. First and foremost it is a solution to a nonexistent problem. Voting fraudulently requires thinking of a name of a person who is registered and you better be sure that they haven't already voted and then having to forge that person's signature while a poll worker watches. And for what, a sticker that says I voted? I absolutely have no problem with signature, last 4 digits of social and birthdate as identification. The second reason dems are against photo or other intrusive ID requirements is because they know that the people who have no photo ID are likely democratic voters. So yes, the homeless people at the Drop In Center, the dems jumped through hoops to get them registered and encouraged them to vote regardless of their mental status. And I don't feel guilty about that because it is the GOP that will cut the programs that help these people.
If photo ID pases in your state what is an acceptable number to have disenfranchised? 100? 1000? 10,000, 100,000? The estimate for Ohio is that it will disenfranchise 100,000.
When George Bush had only 537 more votes than Gore after Jeb & Katherine Harris kicked 40,000 African Americans off the voting roles using questionable data for the sole purpose of disenfranchising likely democratic voters you can see why the GOP supports these so called voter integrity programs.
Read it and weep:
Republican Voter Suppression Tactics and Techniques
The GOP's Shameful Vote Strategy
Time was when Republicans were at least embarrassed by their efforts to keep African Americans from the polls. Today's Republicans have elevated vote suppression from a dirty secret to a public norm.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A707-2004Oct26.htmlThe New Poll Tax
Republican-sponsored ballot-security measures are being used to keep minorities from voting
One of the recurring scandals in American politics since passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is the discriminatory use of so-called "ballot security" programs. These programs are invariably presented as good government measures necessary to prevent voter fraud, but far too often they are actually designed to suppress minority voting -- and for nakedly partisan purposes.
http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/print/V13/23/mcdonald-l.htmlNow They're Registered, Now They're Not
Election Officials Express Dismay at Extent of Misinformation, Variety of Tricks Targeting Voters
Students find their party changed, while residents of several cities report bogus phone calls telling voters their polling location has been changed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12514-2004Oct30.htmlDemocrats call on Blackwell to resign
By limiting where people can cast a ballot on Election Day and confusing county boards of election about the thickness of voter registration forms, Blackwell is creating barriers to eligible voters. Senate Democrats called for the resignation of Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, accusing him of trying to suppress the vote in Ohio.
http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20041001/localnews/1338143.html Voters report fake calls
Instructions to change polling place don’t come from board of elections
Franklin County, Ohio residents report suspicious phone calls detailing false precinct changes and absentee ballot requests.
http://www.dispatch.com/election/election-local.php?story=dispatch/2004/10/22/20041022-A1-00.html NAACP, election officials caution voters of bogus letter
South Carolina officials warn of bogus letter on NAACP letterhead says voters must have a credit check, provide two forms of photo identification, a Social Security card, a voter registration card as well as a handwriting sample.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/politics/10050609.htm?1c Franklin County Elections Board Targeted Heavily Democratic Precincts
Analysis shows that the distribution of voting machines to precincts was not random but rather was severely discriminating against Democratic precincts, with nearly one out of three Democratic precincts had less voting machines in 2004 than in 2000
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/12/1708672.phpPushing to Be Counted in Fla. Groups Say That Blacks May Not Be Heard at Polls
Black leaders said the scene at the supervisor's office last week was reminiscent of a blocked schoolhouse door at the height of desegregation. They charge that GOP officials are deliberately using the law to keep black people off the rolls and hinder them from voting.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28107-2004Oct12.htmlTV Reveals New Florida Vote Scandal
Republican "Caging List"
GOP denies "caging list" is a plan to disrupt voting in the state's African-American voting districts.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=385&row=0BBCSomething rotten in the state of Florida
Pregnant chads, vanishing voters... the election fiasco of 2000 made the Sunshine State a laughing stock. More importantly, it put George Bush in the White House. You'd think they'd want to get it right this time. But no, as Andrew Gumbel discovers, the democratic process is more flawed than ever.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=566688 Grand jury to reconvene in phone-jamming case
A federal prosecutor said he will reconvene a grand jury in a case involving the jamming of Democratic phone lines in 2002, raising the question of whether more Republicans could be accused.
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D8C6VEF80-236.shtml Florida scraps flawed felon voting list
The purge of felons from voter rolls has been a thorny issue since the 2000 presidential election. A private company hired to identify ineligible voters before the election produced a list with scores of errors, and elections supervisors used it to remove voters without verifying its accuracy.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-07-10-felons-vote-fla_x.htm?POE=click-refer Peeling back the mandate
Voting rights are once more at the forefront of the civil rights movement
The civil rights movement is regrouping, just as racism is regrouping, and voting rights are still at the forefront. Peel back George Bush’s grinning “mandate” from November and what you find is a shadow world of widespread anti-democratic maneuvering, harassment and deceit, blatantly targeting African-American and other primarily Democratic voting blocs.
http://www.commonwonders.com/archives/col285.htmJim Crow returns to the voting booth
Does America have apartheid vote counting system?
The challenge to the vote count is over, but the matter of how the United States counts votes, or fails to count them, remains. The ballots left uncounted, and that will never be counted, are so-called spoiled or rejected ballots -- votes cast by citizens, but never tallied are overwhelmingly from African American precincts. This is the dark little secret of U.S. democracy.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=411&row=0