You gotta love Republicans. The Grand Old Party has traditionally been in the minority in America (current figures have the GOP a slight underdog) but has learned how to make the most of opportunities when they arise. Republican lawmakers have used every trick in the Karl Rove, Tom DeLay handbook to: redraw congressional boundaries, hire politically motivated prosecutors and pass any law possible to ensure their continued political dominance. In states like Texas, the Republicans have gerrymandered congressional districts to the point that the congressional Texas map looks like it was painted by Picasso at age five. Note: It's not like the Democrats are new to redrawing districts to maximize political advantage. Perish the thought. The GOP is only singled out for their shamelessness.
This brings us to 2010 and the unfortunate election results that put several state governments in the hands of some very mean-spirited Republicans. These guys grew up in the Bush-Cheney "take no prisoners" school of politics. Having taken over in 2011, they set right to work determining who voted for Barack Obama and how to keep them out of the polls in 2012. First on the list were those smelly poor people and those who live on society's margins. Next were minorities, especially those black citizens who turned out in record numbers to vote Democratic. But how do you disenfranchise entire voting blocks without violating that pesky Voting Rights Act?
Hey wait! How about if all the GOP governors take to Fox News and gin up a crisis about voter fraud? That will give the state legislatures cover to demand that voters show picture ID's before voting. After all, voter fraud is rampant in the land (we're certain because we heard it on Fox). And before you could say Jim Crow, Republican state houses passed laws requiring voters to present official photo ID cards before voting. So far, these laws have passed in Texas (big surprise), Nebraska, Wisconsin (thank you Scott Walker), Tennessee, South Carolina (where all the really evil laws are born), Georgia, Mississippi, Indiana and, most contentiously, Pennsylvania. No one gives a God damn who votes in Nebraska or who they vote for.
A judge in Pennsylvania has just ruled that the voter ID law in that state is legal and he is probably right. The interesting aspect of this case is that prior to argument, the Defendants, in the person of the State AG, had already thrown in the towel. In a "stipulation agreement" filed before the trial began, the State has acknowledged that it has no evidence that the new law would prevent fraud at the polling place. Further, the State cannot point to one case of in-person fraud at any voting facility in the State. So, in short, a law that was supposedly written to stop in-person voter fraud, will not stop voter fraud, but that's OK because there is no voter fraud to stop. But if there were fraud, by God we stopped it. Pennsylvania is about to entertain a law prohibiting hunters from shooting unicorns with a crossbow.
To be clear, these laws would not stop dead people from voting in Chicago. They would not stop ACORN-type registrations (ACORN committed no voter fraud or ever broke any election law. Their offense was coming to the attention of a has-been named Glenn Beck.) There is a famous story regarding the Senate campaign of Lyndon Johnson in Texas in 1948 where, during the Democratic primary, a precinct turned in election results showing that the citizens of the area voted in alphabetical order. True or not, and it's a great story, the new voter laws would not prevent alphabetical voting. Face it, the net effect of these laws is that fewer legitimate voters will get to vote. America has been electing presidents since G. Washington and no one has ever thought it necessary to show a photo (during the 1880's maybe a daguerreotype or a lithograph).
If you really want to investigate voter fraud (which no one in the GOP wants to do), take a look at absentee ballots. Reports of ballots being "mislaid" are rampant.
It's not like anyone believed that these laws were anything but an attempt to keep poor and old people from voting but it's nice to see the State of Pennsylvania admit it. Pennsylvania's House Majority Leader Mike Turzai proclaimed that "this law will allow Mitt Romney to win the State of Pennsylvania". WOW! I might expect that from Rick Perry or Nikki Haley but Pennsylvania is a light blue moderate state.
But just in case you think that voter suppression is a "southern" thing, consider the inventive policies of the Attorney General of Ohio. Under the supervision of AG Mike DeWine, Ohio is attempting to stifle early voting. Some clever dick in the GOP noticed that the lines of early voters outside polling places in 2008 had an inordinate number of, let's say, people of color. The Secretary of State has actually tried to limit voting hours in districts that vote Democratic. The Republicans are especially interested in keeping the polls closed on the weekend before election day when an estimated 93,000 voters hit the polls in 2008. The thinking goes that if lower income workers are unable to get time off to vote on Tuesday Romney has a better shot. Sharpies in the Secretary of State's office have said that only military personnel can vote on the weekend so attempts to change that statute are framed as anti-soldier. This cesspool of an idea has caused even the Governor to hold his nose. Plans are in the works to make this transparent tactic look less like stacking the deck. Good luck with that. I understand that Oklahoma is thinking of having black and Latino voters cast ballots on a moving bus.
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