Salon: Voter suppression efforts seen in six states

[kpete]

Salon's shameful six

There was Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Here are the six states where vote suppression could cost voters their voice -- and Democrats the election -- in 2006.

By Art Levine


Eva Steele has a son in the military who is supposed to be fighting for freedom in Iraq, but sitting in a wheelchair in her room in a Mesa, Ariz., assisted-living facility, she wonders why it's so hard for her to realize a basic freedom back here in America: the right to vote.

Arriving in Arizona in January from Kansas City, weakened by four heart attacks and degenerative disk disease, Steele, 57, discovered that without a birth certificate she can't register to vote. Under a draconian new Arizona law that supposedly targets illegal immigrants, she needs proof of citizenship and a state-issued driver's license or photo I.D. to register. But her van and purse were stolen in the first few weeks after she moved to Mesa, and with her disability checks going to rent and medicine, she can't afford the $15 needed to get her birth certificate from Missouri. Her wheelchair makes it hard for her to navigate the bus routes or the bureaucratic maze required to argue with state bureaucrats. She's unable to overcome the hurdles thrown in her way -- and in the way of as many as 500,000 other Arizona residents -- by the state's Republican politicians.

more (after ad)
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/15/states/index_np.html
or
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Salon_Voter_suppression_efforts_seen_in_0815.html

[Land Shark]

1. a relief to see this in salon to balance out Farhad Manjoo's career

in appealing to the market of the willfully naive. But then, Levine interviewed me and Brad Friedman and others, unlike Manjoo.

[mod mom]

5. The same was true with Ohio papers who supported the Manjoo op piece.

They were only interested with interviewing those who supported their point. I wrote to several editors offering to set up times to review the Freepress evidence( much was used as the basis for the Conyers report), as well as interviews with individuals. They have no intention, like Manjoo, of delving into the evidence but are intent on putting forward the misconception that they have had an "exhaustive" investigation.

[bleever]

2. Good for Salon.

My guess is that voter suppression and ballot spoilage will be the top two techniques used the Republic Party to try to maintain their grip on power in this year's elections.

[liam_laddie]

3. K & R - this is damned important

[Nothing Without Hope]

4. K & R - this complements the hacked, crooked machines, the massive

secret voter purges, and all the other methods used to steal elections. We need much more public knowlege and pressure on this. All too many are complacent in their sense that this is a great country, that nothing like this could happen here. Like my own "Democratic" sister in law, who responded to my comment last year that the 2004 election was stolen by laughing in my face and saying "but this is still AMERICA!!! That would have been all over the news and I haven't heard anything." I think that's a typical view and we have to push through it and make these people open their eyes.

[Nothing Without Hope]

6. Raw Story's intro to the Salon article points out that it's four "new"

states, beyond Florida and Ohio, where the analysis breaks important ground:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Salon_Voter_suppression_efforts_seen_in_0815.html
(snip)

But it is in four new states where Salon emphasizes new troubles might break out:

In Arizona, legislation that requires proof of citizenship to vote is taking a toll beyond the illegal immigrants it seeks to keep out of polling places.

In Indiana, difficulties in securing state identification have complicated the ability of many to register to vote.

In California, problems have been identified with electronic voting machines, and the consolidation of statewide voter registration lists is being used to bar voters from the rolls.

In Missouri, rigid ID laws for voters are seen to be targeting minority voters likely to vote against Republicans.

(snip)

Although people active in this topic already know about these issues in the "four new states" (and others), I think it's going to be news to a lot of people who until now haven't realized just how blatant the voter suppression side of the corrupted election process has become. And there are many MORE stories that need to be put out there.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

7. what is the plan to stop this??? 43 % of LA county disqualified

Thanks to KPete for posting this. Ironically this is happening in
alot of states that are paying attention to the voting machines.

Is this just going to happen, or is any remedy in place?

Earlier this year Conny McCormack, the Los Angeles County registrar (and a Democrat), went public with her concerns that 43 percent of all new registered voters in her huge county were being disqualified -- but only after Republican secretary of state Bruce McPherson didn’t respond to her private complaints. "Why does anybody need to be dumped over files that don't match?" she asks -- a view shared by a federal court in Washington state that last week blocked that state from enforcing a similar policy. Following negative publicity and pressure from advocacy groups, McPherson has loosened the matching requirements and may eventually drop them, but 11 percent of L.A. County's newly registered voters have been disqualified so far in 2006 -- and it will get worse in November. A spokesperson for McPherson denies any implication of voter suppression. "We're always looking for ways to improve the process and ensure voter accessibility."

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/15/states/index2.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Salon outlines what is being attempted to handle the problem

Salon outlines inititiatives to handle this, but sound
less than comforted:

What is anybody doing about all of this?

The Democratic National Committee and nonpartisan voting rights organizations,
including Common Cause, have launched an assortment of initiatives to increase voter participation and challenge onerous laws in court. When the Democratic National Committee announced its expanded voter protection program last week, chairman Howard Dean said, "For Republicans, nothing is more important than their partisan interests, not even the American people's most cherished right to vote and have that vote counted."

True enough, perhaps, but outside of filing lawsuits and telling some voters about their rights, it's not at all clear whether progressives are going to offer enough practical help so that the victims of legalized Republican vote-robbing, people like Eva Steele stuck in her room in Mesa, Ariz., can actually have their votes count.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/08/15/states/index3.html

DNC action
http://www.dnc.org/a/2006/08/dnc_announces_e.php

Brennan Center
http://www.brennancenter.org/programs/dem_vr_havastatesresources.html

Common Cause
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=196480