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G_j

(40,366 posts) Mon Jul 30, 2012, 01:21 PM Jul 2012

Voter ID Could Swing Swing States

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/30/voter_id_could_swing_swing_states/

Monday, Jul 30, 2012 08:36 AM EDT

Voter ID could swing swing states

Voter ID laws could affect 5 million people; the dark money universe grows; and other top Monday stories
By Alex Seitz-Wald

Voter ID laws could swing swing states: Politico finally accepts what progressive critics have long argued — new Republican-backed voter ID laws, ostensibly meant to combat voter fraud, could disenfranchise millions of voters and potentially sway the election. The beltway paper reports: “At least 5 million voters, predominantly young and from minority groups sympathetic to President Barack Obama, could be affected by an unprecedented flurry of new legislation by Republican governors and GOP-led legislatures to change or restrict voting rights by Election Day 2012.” Voter ID laws have been implemented in many swing states and could tip a very close election in these states by shaving off a few tenths of a percent or more from Democratic-leaning demographics. “To the extent that it’s a political tactic to try and game the system,” said Wendy Weiser of the Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks these laws, “It does make sense that that [swing states] is where we see a lot of that because that is where it could make a difference to the outcome.” The Obama campaign is fighting some states’ laws with legal challenges, but the vast majority are likely to survive through November.

Florida’s former Republican Party chairman recently said in a sworn deposition that party officials had met to discuss “voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting.” Still, for the moment at least, Obama has an overall edge in the 12 swing states, The Hill reports today.
Dark matter universe: Astronomers say dark matter makes up a huge portion of our universe, even though we know almost nothing about it, and the same goes for dark money in the universe of campaign finance. The Huffington Post’s Paul Blumenthal reports that dark money — spending from outside political groups that don’t have to disclose their donors or much else to the public — has made up almost half of all spending thus far: ”Through July 26, politically involved groups that do not disclose their donors have spent at least $172 million on campaigns that include television, radio and Internet advertising…Total spending by these groups is likely far greater, since they are required to report only a fraction of their spending to the FEC. Politically involved independent groups that publicly disclose their donors, including super PACs, have spent $174 million so far this election cycle.”

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