The GOP Attack on Voting Rights

July 01, 2011 at 8:15 AM

By Richard Calkins 

African Americans, Latinos, and the young turned out in large numbers in 2008 to elect the first African American as President.  Now GOP governors, sensing the same result in 2012, are seeking to disenfranchise these groups, knowing they can’t win in a fair election.  Republicans site “widespread” voter fraud as the reason for instituting new ID laws, abolishing early voting periods, ending same-day registration, and slashing pre-election registration periods. 

The non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice indicates that documented cases of voter fraud are virtually non-existent, with overall rates ranging from 0.0003 percent in Missouri to 0.000009 percent in New York.  Nationwide about 11 percent of citizens report not having an ID, most of which are seniors, young people, or low income earners who can’t afford the fees charged and the paperwork required for photo IDs.  

The GOP won several statehouses in 2010, and now seeks to change the laws to benefit themselves, reshaping the electorates through voter suppression. The effect is to diminish participation, with most disenfranchised voters likely to be Democrats.  Tens of millions will potentially lose their constitutional right to vote to avoid a handful of fraud allegations.

Voter IDs inflict harm on our democracy, and are a poll tax (prohibited by the 24^th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act) by another name.  Perhaps we’re witnessing a subtle return to the Jim Crow laws.  In a nation that already fails to turn out a majority of it eligible voters, requiring IDs and abolishing early voting will have a chilling effect. 

Please add a comment

Leave a Reply

Name:

Email:
(Your email will not be publicly displayed.)

Please type the letters and numbers shown in the image.