Associated Press
Long voting lines were common nationwide last month.
There was a widely held fear after Election Day that systemic voting restrictions would soon be forgotten. The outrage over voter-suppression tactics was real -- unnecessary voter-ID laws, closed early voting windows, ridiculously long lines and waiting times -- but once the election came and went, would the political world's short attention span forget the fiascos?
Fortunately, no -- or at least, not yet. Several Democratic members of Congress have already unveiled modest-but-helpful election reforms, and in the Obama administration, Attorney General Eric Holder continues to take the issue very seriously.
In a speech at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Holder slammed "our antiquated registration system" as the "single largest barrier" to American voters, specifically criticizing long voting lines and complicated registration rules during the 2012 election.
Holder suggested an "automatic, portable" registration system that allows election officials to use government databases to register voters automatically and keep their registration current when they move. He also said reforms could include longer voting hours and weekend voting, same-day registration and a new method of redistricting "that can't be abused to protect incumbents and undercut electoral competition."
It's extremely unlikely that congressional Republicans would consider federal legislation to improve voter access or correct the flaws that plagued so many areas last month. But Holder's remarks are welcome anyway, in part because they offer worthwhile reforms that deserve to be part of the public debate, and in part because they keep the issue alive, resisting institutional inertia that pulls the focus away from elections once they're over.
Over the last two years, Republicans imposed the most sweeping voting restrictions since the Jim Crow era, and though the tactics failed to produce the electoral results they wanted, the GOP's efforts made it more difficult for many Americans to participate in their own democracy. Indeed, looking ahead, many Republican officials still hope to make matters worse, as we'll discuss in more detail a little later this morning.
It's why it's heartening for the Attorney General to keep the issue on the front burner -- the more attention this gets, the better.
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The good news is that even the most insidious and aggressive vote-suppression machine in operation since the days of Jim Crow cannot steal an election on its own. The bad news is that the Republican Party is showing no interest in the outcome of that election, and is pushing through all sorts of far-right agenda items at breakneck speed. We will see even more attacks on the right to vote in time for 2014 and 2016, and more people will be disenfranchised and treated like slaves while white GOP voters are protected by their own. We must see prosecutions and jail sentences for the masterminds of the conservative suppression machine. - progressive
They need to keep this discussion going, they need to send a clear message, to the GOP. The era of the Corrupt Tea Party is over, The Democrats have a newer version "The Beer Party". Now they're in trouble, move over rover and let Jimmy take over.
What's wrong with voter ID? Our elections need to be protected from illegal voters, voters who actually are dead, and on and on. Picture voter ID would eliminate any voter fraud, but dems really don't want it. Those who scream about voter ID laws evidently want the ability of fraud to be committed. It seems that republicans who welcome voter ID would be the ones who want legitimate elections.
Our elections need to be protected from illegal voters, voters who actually are dead
Really you silly twit ?
Why don't you start by ...oh I don't know by bringing actual cases of voter fraud into the discussion .
Dead people don't vote , Who is going to risk jail-time for a fraudulent vote?
A solution in search of a problem.
Do you know how many incidents of in person voter fraud there have been in like the last 10 years?
7
Yupp You just defended laws that are deliberately designed to affect poor and minority voters, Your countrymen by the way, and your doing it for 7 incidents of fraud
That's like padlocking the fridge because you kid got a cookie before dinner
"Director Shwedo's research has revealed evidence that over 900 deceased people appear to have 'voted' in recent elections in South Carolina," said Wilson.
A state audit indicates that dead people and prisoners are shown as having voted in Michigan between late 2008 and mid-2011. The review found more than 1,300 deceased people were recorded as having voted during the audit period. The review also appears to indicate roughly 100 people were listed as having voted during the same time period they were listed as being behind bars.
2,068 alleged cases of election fraud since 2000.
ONE case of voter fraud is ENOUGH.
Even 1 case of voter fraud shows a need to protect our electoral process. Why are you afraid of Voter ID and how does that suppress the vote? You have to have ID everywhere else for things much less important than the vote. Our state has voter ID and we haven't had any complaints. There is no difference in our voting process now than before. Everything runs quite smoothly. There is no comparison between Jim Crow and voter ID. Very poor analogy. Maybe there are some states that need to refine their election day process.
Notice I said "IN PERSON" you know the kind of fraud that voter ID laws would actually prevent.
And No ONE is NOT Enough!
"it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer"
Benjamin Franklin
Not in an election. No one is denied the vote! They just have to have an ID. The world is full of laws and regulations that we must abide by. If voting is important, follow the rules and go vote. That simple! And I haven't heard of any place that doesn't accommodate people in order to help them comply with the law. People just need to plan ahead and be ready for election day.
I live in GA we have Voter ID, and I really do not have a problem with it at all. The problem I do have is the misrepresentation that Voter Fraud is so common and is done in person, when it's not. Almost all of the cases of voter fraud, are through the mail, not in person. So having a Voter ID Law to crack down on a virtually nonexistent problem is retarded.
And Pascoguy65
Stop lying, because even the Election Board from SC said back in Aug 2012. That they could only find a few possible cases of in person voter fraud being committed in the state, since 2000. In person voter fraud is so rare that even the Supreme Court could only recite 1 case of it in 143 years when they upheld Voter Id.
Er um well we would love to know where all the prosecutions of those fraudulent voters are......naming names, where they occurred, dates .
Inquiring minds want to know
The google only gives me the same lame statement from January of 2012....
Your move trolls, I would be delighted to know
The righties are so delusional they see dead people...........................voting.
jes33,
Okay, I'll go along with voter ID. HOWEVER, with that being said, then there is absolutely no reason for people to have to pre-register.
Everyone who wants to vote simply shows up on election day with their IDs and gets to vote.
Work for you?
Jes33
No that doesn't work because not everyone has a drivers licence or an ID and no where is there a law requiring them to have one and there never should be.
Do the words "Your papers please" mean anything to you?
To Calvin- Since fraud is so easily done through the mail, I am not even for that form of voting. There should be NO way to submit a fraudulent vote. And if anyone thinks that voter fraud isn't alive and well they are mistaken. If a person so desires, there are ways to submit fraudulent votes. Our elections must be protected.
jes33,
repubs HATE regulations. unless regulations help them win elections.
this idea of voter fraud is fiction. it is a tactic used by repubs to keep voters from voting.
repubs are the only ones who are committing voter fraud.
Who are we protecting them from? Ourselves? There does need to be voting reform but it needs to be the kind that makes it easier for people to vote not harder. We should be striving toward maximum participation and instead there are people with vested interests in making us go the other way.
To Jess
You cannot just do away with Voting by mail, because some people are just not physically able to go to the polls. Those serving over seas can't just fly home just to vote.
Hey trolls ...... re # 3.8
I'm waiting..........
Your silence speaks volumes
"jes33
Even 1 case of voter fraud shows a need to protect our electoral process."
You don't need an elephant gun to kill a fly except when you are the elephant and want to suppress votes.
It is about time!
We will be deflected, once again, into an ideological dispute over state's rights, and this label will enable GOP vote suppressors to disguise themselves as die-hard defenders of virtue (state's rights, opposing the overreaching federal government). It's like forced birth extremists calling themselves pro-life, and pretending to be compassionate.
Activist is only partially right. They couldn't steal this election, but they haven't given up, and it's not altogether clear that their continued efforts will fail. (I give you Michigan.) Convicting weasels like the Ohio and Pennsylvania Secretaries of State, for civil rights violations, would be legally and politically tricky, though they deserve it. If they were convicted and jailed, they'd go down as martyrs, claiming retaliation for their conservative/patriotic beliefs. It would be a net loss, and they know it.
So we just keep letting them get away with it? That's what they are counting on. Let them spend their dirty money on lawsuits instead of voter suppression. Even if they beat the charges it will keep them busy and out of mischief for a while and keep the stories in the news so people don't forget.
I don't like the implication here that because Congressional Republicans won't go along with it, it's not worth doing. Draft the legislation. Make a big deal of introducing it. Then: Let. Them. Block. It. Then say they blocked it, and run on that in 2014.
It would be nice to see our Attorney General doing something constructive with his time, other than harassing marijuana users, patients and dispensaries in legal states... Mr. Holder and his Deputy AG, James "Fife" Cole, are both dangerously misinformed about (1.) the cannabis plant, (2.) its attendant culture and (3.) *most importantly* its possible medical applications. Given the strides presently being made re: medical research in other countries (Canada, United Kingdom, Israel, Spain, Germany) with studies utilizing extracts from the cannabis in the treatment of various diseases, the Obama administration is poised to embarrass itself by being on the wrong side of history...fast.
There's no need to be afraid, Mr. President...it's just science. And it's time for the political establishment in this country to "come out of the closet" regarding marijuana...
Thank you, TRMS crew, for your attention to this story; it's much more important than it might appear on the surface. And education is VITAL...
and but ANOTHER reason why the GOP hates the Attorney General.
Jail time changes behavior. It is a violation of the Voting Rights Act to prevent folks from voting!
So has no one actually considered that the GOTP really doesn't want "democracy" for every American - "just real Americans" (think: white, GOTP, male)! And while everyone screams "voter ID" laws are just fine - please think back to when Shrub was in office and fired 9 US Attorney Generals that "could not find sufficient evidence of voter fraud" within their states! That was in 2006, do you really believe that in the last 6 years all of a sudden there has been a rash of people voting illegally, really?! Puhlease! This is yet another naked attempt by the GOTP to disenfranchise the poor & minorities that aren't voting for them! The GOTP has even admitted that's exactly what these laws are meant to do; so don't tell me it's about "keeping voting clean, fair, or honest"!
Course it is good to see AG Holder taking up the cause, now can we have a few prosecutions and jail-time, maybe that will be a deterrent. The founders of this nation were prescient enough to know that unchecked power always becomes dictatorial - and it is time that WE the PEOPLE started pushing back on this abusive power-grab and undermining of our democracy!
Indictment. All the talk in the world means nothing without it.
Any elected official, party or public, who likes to see absurdly long voting lines, voter ID laws and general electoral confusion hasn't been raised right!
And, his/her parents, alive or dead, should be embarrassed, ashamed, and generally disappointed in their child, as their child is fully incapable of democratically exercising common sense to let the American people vote!
Plotting to contract the vote is as unAmerican as one could be! -Kevo
Excuse me, but who is this Eric Holder and where was he a month ago when thousands were standing in lines for hours trying to exercise their right to vote? Too late Mr. Attorney General. The elections are over. Maybe you could come back to life over something else, like say, the illegal detention of anyone, including American citizens, just because the President decides they might be a threat to the country.
If these proposed laws were directed to any election of Federal officials would that be any kind of restriction of State's Rights?
As for criticizing the Attorney General for taking this problem up now -- well, I know all about locking the barn door after the horses are stolen, but in this case in two years there will be another barn and more horses . . . stand back and see the big picture.
Trying to fix election issues just prior or during an election would create chaos which is what the GOTP was after already.
In Michigan I was required to sign my name, like always, and they checked my signature against the one in the book, like always.
But they also asked to see ID. If I didn't want to show it, I would have had to sign an affidavit that I did not HAVE a photo ID, and they would have let me vote. (At least that's what it says, but supposedly if you are famous and recognizable like Michael Moore they won't make you do either.)
I don't really have a problem with voter ID laws, as long as it doesn't happen within six months of a federal election, and it doesn't amount to a poll tax (charging in any way for the ID).
We are all issued Social Security cards and numbers at birth. New citizens should be issued the same, if they aren't already. And, we're required by law to update our records when moving, etc. Why can't that data set be all the proof that is required? Why can't states also use this data set? Why have all these levels of bureaucracy all keeping track of the same information... where you live?
Washington State had the highest voter turnout in the US. 87%! How did we do it? NO polls, NO voter restrictions. We all get a ballot in the mail (or pick up) 2 weeks prior to the election. We fill it out when we want, mail it in or drop it off. Simple, easy, EVERYONE can easily vote. What's wrong with Ohio and Florida? The solution is so simple and saves the State tons of money!!
Washington State had the highest voter turnout in the last election 87%! How do we do it? We all get a ballot in the mail (or pick one up) 2 weeks before the election. We fill it out when we want, mail it in or walk it in by election day.
NO voter suppression, NO lines, NO polls that anyone has to man or organize or pay employees for. Simple. That's how we do it. What is wrong with Florida and Ohio?
Look to Washinton State for the simple, cheaper answer!
I wonder if women, who are concerned with "women's issues" as political issues, think male voters (mostly Democrats) increasingly understand those issues as women would want them to.