Tweet
Ever since Republicans won a big wave election in 2010 they have been putting in place all over the country new laws supposedly meant to address the essentially non-existent “problem” of in-person voter fraud. These new laws not only include photo ID requirements to vote but sometimes tough new restrictions on how you can run a voter registration drive; they may reduce early voting hours. While they will probably do almost nothing to stop a non-existent problem, they will make it hard for some young people, college students, people with low incomes, senior citizens and people who live in urban environments to vote.
A new USA Today/Suffolk University poll shows why these laws could have such a huge impact on the election’s outcome. Among Americans that are eligible to vote but are unlikely to vote in this election, President Obama holds a greater than 2-1 lead over Mitt Romney. According to the poll 43 percent of these unlikely but potential voters would prefer Obama while just 18 percent would support Romney. While these potential voters are clearly not excited by either candidate, if they made it the voting booths in decent numbers they could swing the election for Obama.
Obviously the Obama campaign wants to repeat what it did in 2008. It wants to increase turnout to get as many of these unlikely voters to decide to vote, knowing it would significantly help Obama. Given that these people are already not very interested in voting this year, every new barrier and hurdle created by GOP “anti-voter fraud” laws will significantly reduce the chances these people will vote. In addition to making it more difficult for Obama core groups to vote, these new Republicans laws also assure turnout among infrequent voters will be down as well.
24 Comments
And that’s the crime of all of this. As it is every four years, this is a significant election, regardless of which side one favors.
We, as a nation, are all over the news of the purple-ink finger in Iraq and all the other ‘newly-formed’ democracies when they hold their first public elections not influenced by a ruling party.
But when it comes to voting here in America, it suddenly becomes something to be done only when there’s no reality show on TV, or there’s no kids’ sporting event to attend, or when there’s no sale at Kohl’s that demands one’s utmost attention.
Voter turn-out, I suggest, will probably be in the high 30%’s and I think I’m being overly optimistic.
All bets are off if there are numerous referenda on gays, guns and abortion. Maybe then we might see 40% (and a landslide GOP win because nobody gave a damn to exercise a right that other nations’ citizens have died for to achieve).
The Pa Voter ID law was upheld today on the grounds that PA has the right to enact the law. No ruling on the constitutionality of the law. This will now move to the PA Supreme court.
Question is if Romney wins because of these laws, will he be considered a legitimate President? Not that it will make much difference. The Republicans will try to push through every right wing wet dream that they ever had claiming a mandate. We’ll get to see if the congressional Democrats have the spine to stop them.
Maybe, what we need are international observers of our elections. For all the screaming we do about fair elections in other countries, we seem not to care much about our own.
The Intelligent Left needs to stop playing defense all the time, when it comes to VOTER ID LAWS.
When one views a Tea Party member, one does not see a bunch of Albert Eisteins.
The GOP is full of low inform voters, I mean full of them.
Dems need to seek ways to make it very hard for low inform GOP voters to vote and find the polls
Yet again this is an action, that will backfire on the GOP.
the GOP can not afford Seniors to be hurt by Voter ID laws, and this group is very vulnerable to these new laws.
For instance a college student that wants to vote has the energy and time to make it happen. Seniors not so much.
Dems need to study these new voter ID laws and raise the bar on low inform GOP voters, make the GOP wish, they never went down this road.
Some of these laws are going to make it hard for these GOP low inform voters to vote.
By the way, the current economy has put a lot of people in urban enviornments.
Small town USA is dying rapidly, thanks to Romney
Look at North Carolina, if the major metro area of Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Asheville, Wilmington, come out to vote, rural NC does not really matter
when is last time you seen a textile mill in the USA? there are none in NC any more.
I know its a bad short term attitude but… (1) The people (brainwashed dumbshits) really don’t have a choice on the ballet with the Uniparty. (2) I want to see Obama lose by any means necessary.
The Republiscum and DemocRats (Uniparty) already conspire to keep third parties off the ballet for many races. Plus, most places don’t have a cool voting option like: “I vote to have both Uniparty candidates on the ballot shot” (aka, I am not represented by your shithole government choices).
And, of course, the Uniparty will keep any non-Uniparty candidates out of any debate even if the third party has more votes than the difference in votes between the two Uniparties.
Did it change anyone’s mind about POTUS legitimacy when the Supreme Court decided things in 2000? He still did whatever he wanted with little to no opposition. Same thing should happen if repeated with the current voter ID laws. The GOP just decided to try a different route, although quite honestly, they could just have waited it out and gotten a repeat of 2000, given the current SCOTUS composition.
Since it appears that voter ID laws are going to be a problem nationwide this year, what say we work on a solution instead of crying about the problem?
Yes, ACORN was disbanded, and the League of Women Voters has slacked off lately – but why not work on a different solution? Most areas have a government run registration place – mine is at our Village Hall – to register to vote. How about if those of us who want to help, find those potential young, old, poor, etc. voters, and drive them to the places they need to go – to register, or to obtain necessary ID?
If every person I’ve seen complain online (not just here) were to give assistance to just 2 people, I suspect that the problem could be vastly mitigated. This DOES NOT MEAN that I think we should stop trying to block these laws and voter purges. It means that we need to find ways around them until we succeed in overturning.
Hats off to the White supremacists in suits and ties, they won but have lost any claim to morality..
Gerrymandering, private voting machines and voter suppression are so damn unamerican but soooo republican. The big lie is our vote counts !
Flag pin phonies wars for profit republicans won this battle but the war will rage out of control when they go to far.
I saw one article recently where the head of the AFL-CIO, Trumka, says they aren’t going to invest money as much as they are going to invest boots on the ground resources to help folks get registered and help with particularly the elderly and disadvantaged to get the proper papers. If he’s true to his word and this takes off, this is one way to work around the voter ID rules and will defeat the GOP in its tracks.
Republicans can’t win on the issues so they are forced to disenfranchise large segments of the electorate. If the same were happening to baggers they would be on the streets raising hell. “Liberals” just passively and docilely accept whatever crap the Republicans dish up.
Need to try this again……my link didn’t work. Anyway, there’s an article on Salon.com addressing the issue of when voter ID can’t be beaten, the solution is voter identification drives. The substance is quite a few social organizations, like the NAACP, are getting these up and running.
Mitt loses Florida but he picks up Pennsylvania.
Our votes don’t matter so no, voter ID laws aren’t important.
Maybe, but the difference between FL and PA is 6 electoral votes, with PA being the lower of the two. At this point, every EV counts.
The mandarins of the Democratic Party, in their infinite wisdom, seem to be wedded to their “capture the swing vote” strategy rather than registering new voters and making sure they turn out in November. Earlier this year, they pitched a fit at George Soros, who was willing to invest some of his money in registration and GOTV. The mandarins probably wanted Soros to hand them a huge check, which they would distributed to their pet consultants and vendors.
You missed the point, tammanytiger. Why wait for George Soros? Why wait for the Democratic party, or one of its offshoots? Why do we need their money/authorization? Why can’t we take OUR country back by doing something about it OURSELVES, instead of waiting for some organization or billionaire to do it for us?
I’m ok with that, as long as some entity is taking care of the Voter ID issue. Divide and conquer. Do the GOTV along with the Voter ID resolution and maybe there’s a chance to defeat the GOP for the White House.
Look, I have problems with the current administration too, but when I see what the opposition stands for (or gets paid to stand for), my position becomes clearer for me (maybe not for anyone else, but my vote is the only one I can control).
This piece should be called “Why talk of electoral remedies for the masses are merely offensive Pretense”.
Here’s a corollary: if voters should have to provide ID, then so should lobbyists. I mean, lobbyists should have to actually STAND IN THE FRIGGING LOBBY to wait to talk with a legislator, and provide their own ID to do so. They generally DO NOT wait in the lobby, now. They hire random people to wait in line for them.
Yeah, I know. Fat chance.
I think I’ll change my name to “dontgiveashit”
Republicans can win on the issues if the issue is Obama can’t be trusted.
But at this point, Romney has proven he cannot be trusted either, so that’s a wash for most folks.
That’s why I’m staying home on election day. Why bother?
If you live in a state that will go solidly “Romney” or “Obama”, then voting for either of them means nothing. Your vote won’t alter the outcome.
However, if you vote third-party (for whatever third-party represents your views best), you can convey your dissatisfaction with the main-party choices. You won’t affect the choice of “R” or “O”, but you may cause a noticeable uptick in the third-party vote. If your state is solidly “Romney” or “Obama”, there will be no chance of your vote acting as a spoiler.