Associated Press
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) has called her voter-ID law one of her signature accomplishments in public office. The voter-suppression measure, intended to eliminate fraud that appears to exist only in Republicans' imaginations, was intended to go into effect this year.
The Justice Department had other ideas. Using the Voting Rights Act, federal officials intervened and blocked the controversial law from being implemented in 2012.
Haley, however, still thinks her law has a shot.
Gov. Nikki Haley's administration will push ahead with the state's controversial voter ID law for the Nov. 6 general election if it wins federal approval to do so anytime before the polls open.
The decision, revealed in new federal court filings, comes despite disagreement and uncertainty about how the measure would be implemented. [...]
S.C. Deputy Attorney General Robert Cook said in a June 29 opinion that the law would take immediate effect upon approval by a three-judge panel hearing the case in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Here's the deal: the Justice Department blocked the voter-ID law, which led to litigation in the federal courts. Haley's administration believes it can win the case and then immediately try to implement the law.
The problem -- well, one of the problems -- is that the decision isn't expected until September. For those mindful of the calendar, this means South Carolina, if it wins in court, intends to put a new, dubious voting law into effect less than two months before Election Day.
Will there be time to educate voters about the strict requirements? No. Will there be time to train staffers at individual precincts? No. Will there be time to clarify logistical questions? No. But Haley doesn't care. She wants her law, gosh darn it, and she wants it now.
The state deputy attorney general said those who try to cast a vote without ID can cite the circumstances as a "reasonable impediment," but (a) they'll have to jump through additional hoops, cast a "provisional" ballot, and sign affidavits; (b) there's widespread confusion about the legal definition of "reasonable"; and (c) this doesn't speak to the possible chilling effect of voters who won't show up because they assume they're ineligible.
If I didn't know better, I might think Haley and her allies are less concerned with the integrity of the voting process, and more concerned with keeping voters they don't like from participating in their own democracy.
Leave a Comment:
These voter law's are like passing law's that say people ca'nt walk their Dinosaur's in public park's.How often does it happen?
Somebody needs to learn how to use apostrophes. They're used in contractions and to indicate possession. For example: "That's my brother's mistress and kids." Not, "Thats my brothers mistres's and kid's."
(Although I agree with your sentiment.)
FixItAgainTony, wtf are you an English and Grammar policeman? One does not need to be fluent in English Grammar and punctuation to post on these sites....why does it bother you so much? Not everyone has your education, do they?
Knowing how to use apostrophes takes a third-grade education. Not using them properly makes the writer look like an ignoramus. Clear?
actually, mike, one DOES need to be able to speak and write to be understood. want to know why people here get pissy when you abuse the language? go to the fox discussion boards....
It'll be a cold day in hell before I listen to FAUX NEWS. If you do, then you're an idiot too!
sikchimp, Can you not understand what joca41 is saying? I can and it really isn't that hard to comprehend!!! And it really doesn't bother me that correct punctuation is used or not used. I get the POINT.
Obviously FixIt and Mike-1817409 don't tweet or text on cell phones at all because then they would have to shorten every word they write and that would drive them crazy. I think their shorts are just too tight and maybe on backwards, or else they are part of the VIP set who feel they are superior to everyone.
The point of all this "grammar" discussion is that it should come automatically; since we learn it in our childhood & should continue to use proper forms. It should be ingrained in literate people.............
A larger question is will they be able to dissuade voters from going to the polls based on the pure thought that they won't be able to vote?
Dems need to, MUST, make sure they put out the word in these jurisdictions that people CAN vote. And they need to have people at every polling place to help anyone who is turned away. Every case has to be documented thoroughly.
this woman is too ridiculous for words
We 'uns of the south resent that remark. You fail to understand the importance of being able to laugh at those who think they were elected to lead. It is far more fun to takle the quarterback than to watch a reiever outrun everybody. See we learn things in public football--er school.
The lady is a perfect example of Pinckney's comment in 1861: "South Carolina, too small for a republic, too large for an insane asylum."
It was actually Petigru who said that, though the point is well taken.
Jason, West Columbia, SC
Nikki Haley is the most obnoxious pos governor that SC has ever had! I don't feel sorry for the South Carolinians, hell they voted her into office now they've gotta live with the bitch! She is taking SC back to the dark ages and no mention of a recall or other action against her...what gives South Carolina...kick her ass out! She is detrimental to your health and liberties...
Hey I feel sorry for those who did not vote for her but have to live with her idiocy anyway. I did not vote for Rick Snyder in Michigan nor any of the Republicans in the legislature but I am not just going to run away from the state I call home. I will continue to do what ever I can to end Snyders term at one. To lump all SC residents into one box is a bit careless on your part.
Thank you, METhree! From one of those South Carolina residents that did NOT vote for Nikki Haley. As far as I know, South Carolina does not have a recall policy for elected officials. Even if we did, the likelihood of a successful recall is nonexistent
.
Say we go by an assumption that if there are X stories on a given topic, then the well informed voters will hear all X, and the lower level of interest a voter has in a particular topic, the lower the percentage of information they're likely to hear about that topic.
I know that voter id laws are very important, but how many people do we really think are reading these stories and staying up to date on the day to day occurrences on these events?
Part of me wonders if the people who this law (these laws across multiple states) affects the most are mainly the ones who will only be getting part of the story, most notably the wrong parts due to incomplete information.
I mean, we saw/see the same thing with the health care law and people accepting all or most of its individual parts, but rejecting the law due mainly to lies and just not reading all the stories.
It appears as if Haley doesn't care what the courts say - she is going to implement the Voter ID law anyway. All Republican states are trying to implement voter ID law to keep older black people from voting in an effort to help boost Mitt Romney to a win. She is doing an extreme disservice to our many voters who have voted for years and now she is trying to stop the.
Don't stop these people from voting - stop Nikki Haley!!
Recall that South Carolina has a long history of treason - of course she's going to go for nullification, probably the next will be secession. These products of too much in-breeding never learn.
I kinda wish the damn backward state would secede!!!!! Yipppeee...go for it...
Yes, she's an idiot, but inbred? Spare me. Her parents are Indian immigrants.
We can't afford another war in a backward country right now.
All this is immaterial, if -IF - Democrats on a local level make sure that every other Democrat has an ID.
And if they don't, then shame on the party!
No.... that is ridiculous!
We have a representative democracy where (sadly) too few people take the time to learn the issues and then vote. But the incidence of voter fraud is so small, perhaps not even in the "dozens" in number.
But if someone suddenly passes a law that will basically disenfranchises TENS OF THOUSANDS of people from voting without taking much extra time and money, that's indefensible. If a democrat even suggested such a thing, they would be walloped with an avalanche of crap from the wingnuts!
Thousands of these people have been voting for decades, carrying their torn and tattered voter registration cards into the precinct every other year for so very long. They will be told no, you can't vote; or be made to jump through unnecessary hoops to get their vote to count.
This is so clearly an attempt to suppress voting, it needs to be fought at every turn.
Lie, cheat, and steal the elections by any means necessary - that's the GOTP motto! Wake up DEMOCRATS!!
Oh, trust me. South Carolina Republicans, above all states in the Union (granted, South Carolina has historically had some difficulty with that whole "in the Union" concept) know perfectly well how to implement this law at the precinct level without any silly ol' instructions or supervision or training.
I am sure they do. No picture ID no vote simple.
Its a Tanya Harding thing. Don't think you can win? Try to cripple your opponent. Can we start calling her Nikki Harding?
Too much Tea,too little Ginko?
Purging eligible voters is reprehensible and profane! ALEC inspired laws and their sponsors are a pox on our nation and the surgery needed is a vote for President Obama and all the down-ballot democratic candidates in November.
Save our democracy, punish the Republicans at the polls in 2012! -Kevo
I've said it before and I'm getting tired of saying it: Nikki Haley makes Sarah Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar.
That is so true billiecat, but the South Carolinians don't seem to give a crap. They are letting this idiot Haley get away with voter fraud and not even putting up a fight against her...they must think she is doing right or why wouldn't they recall her sorry ass. Go ahead SC, secede please!!!
Why would you say such a mean thing about the Republican's next VP candidate?
If voter supression is going to be her signature accomplishment then she has had one sorry ass term as Governor...
Oh I beg to differ, she seems to think that the more underhanded she is, the better her term as governor...like I said, she is a total and complete MORON!
So, let's get this straight: The right wingnuts who refuse to register their guns because then they could be identified by a fascist government, the right frootloops who are terrified of national identity cards because it sounds too much like the mark of "666," - these are the people who are DEMANDING that everyone get a state issued identity card????
History is going to treat the 21st century Republican Party the same way it treats the Dixiecrats, with scorn, derision and disbelief that any group of humans could be so craven and so evil.
Frankly, is anyone really surprised? The entire purpose of the GOP now is to win elections as an end in itself. They have no desire and no plan for how to actually serve when the time comes. The point is just to win - and then be able to say "Na, na, na, naaa, na!"
The purpose of any political party is to win elections, that is the problem with liberals, they would rather be right than win.
It's not if you win, but how you win, that differentiates us from them.
No matter how ridiculous these activities are, Democratic efforts must include helping people - those deemed unlikely to vote - to get the required identification and get them excited about the need for their vote.
If the Obama Administration seriously wanted to fight state voter suppression efforts all they had to do was issue an executive order making free Federal Photo Identification Cards available at all Federal facilities, almost every county has one. Then the dems would only have to deliver folks to and from the facilities without rethug interference.
But the do nothing congress will vote against funding it so it wouldn't get done....
Indeed. Get that legislation past Bohner.
The only redeeming thing about Haley's law (not some of the others, like in PA) is that President Obama has a snowball's chance of winning in SC even if every Dem in the state voted. It might affect some down-ballot races, though.
Of course that still doesn't excuse these jerks' attempts to suppress voting rights.
Gingerpie, Who gives a @!$%# whether Obama wins SC? We don't need your backward votes to win this one.
Excuse me? I don't live in SC so I won't be voting there. Also, try a little reading comprehension. I'm an Obama supporter. I'm just saying that, except for the principle of voter suppression (admittedly a very great principle), this law really makes no difference to the outcome of the presidential election in this particular state since SC is the reddest of red states. The same cannot be said for voter suppression laws in states like PA, where they could very well affect the election outcome.
I pledge to volunteer to help the Democratic party with calling the voters affected by this disgrace. I worked with the SC Democratic party before the 2010 election. I personally spoke with hundreds of voters that were on the call lists to encourage them to vote. The number of elderly voters is quite high in my district. We also have a college with many out of state students in our district. Considering the fact that South Carolina is a red state, unfortunately, it is pretty much a moot point.
Aren't they even a little afraid that they might be turning away some Repubs?
Or is the assumption, that all republicans will be able to access and afford a picture ID.
They'll have a little back room available to Republicans only, where photo IDs will be made on the spot.
Why don't the Republicans just introduce the voter law they want - Only white men over age 50 with more than $1 million in assets will be allowed to vote, won't need any photo id's then.
You know, there are certain really nasty words that you want to use now and then to describe someone. Do we all know what those words are? Yes? Good. That's what I think of you Haley. Turd! (I had to slip one of the more benign ones in there).
In other words, if she was being assigned a letter grade, it would be a "C–"?
South Carolina created the first secession crisis when Andy Jackson was President, then they started the civil war, then they became the the cradle of segregation and jim crow, now they are just a place for haters to congregate. Personally, I think its time to turn their tactics and methods against them. Remove all Federal subsidies from the state and its citizens for crimes against humanity. Let them wallow in their own hatred.
Republicans want to replace the (non-existent) voter fraud and replace it with (very much existent) election fraud. It has nothing to do with wanting to keep that one person who is ineligible from voting... it has everything to do with rigging elections!
Until I read in the NYT that GOP candidates are literally holding voters at gunpoint at the polling booth then I will assume that Americans want to rid themselves of freedom and democratic choices. Voters are making plutocracy a leisurely no-brainer for the GOP.How feckless and sad is that?
It's not just Haley or South Carolina, this is the new Republican strategy: keep anyone who will vote against your guy from voting at all. It came directly from A.L.E.C. Rather than get angry about it, though, I think the best counter-strategy is ridicule. There is no defense against it. It sounds like this. "These poor, pathetic Republicans have such weak candidates that they know their only chance of winning is vote suppression. How sad is that?" And keep saying it.