Anderson Issues

Today I read a Rolling Stone article by Ari Berman entitled “The GOP War on Voting” and I thought it would spark some debate.  Obviously this article is not a glowing portrayal of the Republican Party.  Nonetheless, this issue is effecting a significant amount of voters throughout the country.  And considering that the issue often has consequences for university students, many of y’all will be impacted as you head-off to college.

Basically, the article discusses the many avenues by which the Republican Party is attempting to disenfranchise voters.  Republican activists claim that their recent legislative maneuvering is an attempt to prevent voter fraud, whilst liberals claim that the actual likelihood of voter fraud is so miniscule that these new laws can be seen in no other manner than as  ruthless effort at denying both young and poor Americans the right the vote (a group that just so happens to predominantly cast their ballots in favor of Democrats).

The article examines 4 areas designed to disenfranchise Democrats (these are quickly written summaries – read the article to be fully apprised of the argument):

1. Barriers to Registration: new laws have been established that make registering voters more difficult.  Organizations that often run voter registration drives, such as the League of Women Voters and MTV’s Rock the Vote, have been forced to close-up shop in Florida, for fear that their volunteers might face prosecution for not abiding by more stringent voter registration standards.  Among these standards is a felony prosecution for not submitting newly registered voter forms within 48 hours of their completion.  As a former Voter Registrar myself, I must say that I would have difficulty doing such.
2. Cuts to Early Voting: According to the Rolling Stone article: “…both Florida and Ohio – which now have conservative Republican governors – have dramatically curtailed early voting for 2012. Next year, early voting will be cut from 14 to eight days in Florida and from 35 to 11 days in Ohio, with limited hours on weekends. In addition, both states banned voting on the Sunday before the election – a day when black churches historically mobilize their constituents. Once again, there appears to be nothing to justify the changes other than pure politics.”
3. Photo IDs: Here’s the one that might effect y’all the most.  Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, and Texas have passed laws requiring voters to display a government-issued, photo ID when voting.  Previously all one has had to produce in Texas is a voter registration card.  Not any more: “In Texas, under “emergency” legislation passed by the GOP-dominated legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Perry, a concealed-weapon permit is considered an acceptable ID but a student ID is not. Republicans in Wisconsin, meanwhile, mandated that students can only vote if their IDs include a current address, birth date, signature and two-year expiration date – requirements that no college or university ID in the state currently meets. As a result, 242,000 students in Wisconsin may lack the documentation required to vote next year.   What’s the big deal about getting an ID?  It’s cost-prohibitive.  For example: “One of the most restrictive laws requiring voter IDs was passed in South Carolina. To obtain the free state ID now required to vote, the 178,000 South Carolinians who currently lack one must pay for a passport or a birth certificate. “It’s the stepsister of the poll tax,” says Browne-Dianis of the Advancement Project. Under the new law, many elderly black residents – who were born at home in the segregated South and never had a birth certificate – must now go to family court to prove their identity.“
4. Denial of Ex-Felons: This one is fairly obvious.  Once felons are released from prison they are denied the right to vote.  This issue helps Republicans as African-Americans are disproportionately imprisoned when compared to whites, and African-Americans vote decidedly Democratic.

Many of the above measures may seem fairly innocuous, but the crux of the Rolling Stone article lies in the whether ot not one believes that voter fraud is an actual threat, or merely an exaggerated fear created as a guise for political gain:

To hear Republicans tell it, they are waging a virtuous campaign to crack down on rampant voter fraud – a curious position for a party that managed to seize control of the White House in 2000 despite having lost the popular vote. After taking power, the Bush administration declared war on voter fraud, making it a “top priority” for federal prosecutors. In 2006, the Justice Department fired two U.S. attorneys who refused to pursue trumped-up cases of voter fraud in New Mexico and Washington, and Karl Rove called illegal voting “an enormous and growing problem.” In parts of America, he told the Republican National Lawyers Association, “we are beginning to look like we have elections like those run in countries where the guys in charge are colonels in mirrored sunglasses.” According to the GOP, community organizers like ACORN were actively recruiting armies of fake voters to misrepresent themselves at the polls and cast illegal ballots for the Democrats.Even at the time, there was no evidence to back up such outlandish claims. A major probe by the Justice Department between 2002 and 2007 failed to prosecute a single person for going to the polls and impersonating an eligible voter, which the anti-fraud laws are supposedly designed to stop. Out of the 300 million votes cast in that period, federal prosecutors convicted only 86 people for voter fraud – and many of the cases involved immigrants and former felons who were simply unaware of their ineligibility. A much-hyped investigation in Wisconsin, meanwhile, led to the prosecution of only .0007 percent of the local electorate for alleged voter fraud. “Our democracy is under siege from an enemy so small it could be hiding anywhere,” joked Stephen Colbert. A 2007 report by the Brennan Center for Justice, a leading advocate for voting rights at the New York University School of Law, quantified the problem in stark terms. “It is more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning,” the report calculated, “than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.”

So what do y’all think?  Let’s get a debate going!  Bring on the fireworks!