Our US government is literally under a hostile take over attempt. A healthy democracy demands an informed and engaged citizenry. I am borrowing from the DailyKos again because this Trump Administration is playing for keeps and a lot more Americans need to wake up and become familiar with what's going on and I can't help but feel compelled to do my little part. If a lot more people don't start taking all this a lot more seriously our losses will be grave. Following Raven's article I include quotes and links to:
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By Raven | Tuesday Dec 27, 2016
Recently another diary — ironically subtitled “Beware the False Narrative” — sought to explain “why we are losing everywhere but a handful of blue states.” The real, honest-to-gosh truth, as the diarist went on to burble? — “urban areas just turned out less for Hillary Clinton” and “the lower income end fled the Democratic parties banner” and “The real culprit was collapsing support for Clinton” … and commenters gleefully joined in blaming either the voters or the Clinton campaign or the Democratic Party as a whole.
Not until well down the thread (in a comment by Ashes of Roses, thanks!) did anyone mention voter suppression, and that was immediately disputed: the first reply included “… ‘voter suppression’ should have meaning other than just less participation.” Others insisted the reason was “disengagement,” “disgust,” etc., on the part of voters, but not being prevented from voting.
Gosh, nothing before this about voter suppression? disenfranchisement? The GOP’s kicked people off the voter registration lists with Crosscheck (whose architect Kris Kobach is now Trump’s “immigration advisor”), closed 868 polling places in African-American and Latino districts across the South for this election, has been working hard at Voter ID laws nationwide — and boasting about the results!
Trump has won in a number of states by narrow victories, so that small factors would be enough to change the results; but voter ID provided even larger effects than he needed to win.
In Wisconsin alone, where Trump’s margin of victory was just 22,000, voter ID was projected by a US circuit judge to block 300,000 legal registered voters — “disproportionately African-American and Latino voters”. (After a determined GOTV effort, including trying to get voter IDs for voters who had none, the difference between Obama’s 2012 and Clinton’s 2016 totals in Wisconsin was only 231,740, suggesting that over 68,000 voters from that projected drop were regained.)
Oh yeah, that’s all the voters’ fault, or the Clinton campaign’s fault, or the Democrats’ fault, but never ever the GOP’s! Just ignore that elephant standing in the middle of the room, on top of all those voters! It’s not like we have Right-Wing Talking Points being spread here at Daily Kos….
(Let’s also never discuss the effect of gerrymandering on legislative balances!)
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Republicans were wildly successful at suppressing voters in 2016
Three GOP-controlled states demonstrate the effectiveness of disenfranchising the opposition.
Alice Miranda Ollstein and Kira Lerner | November 15, 2016
… there has been relatively little discussion about the millions of people who were eligible to vote but could not do so because they faced an array of newly-enacted barriers to the ballot box.
Their systematic disenfranchisement was intentional and politically motivated.
In the years leading up to 2016, Republican governors and state legislatures implemented new laws restricting when, where, and how people could vote — laws that disproportionately harmed students, the poor, and people of color. In several instances, lawmakers pushing such policies said explicitly that their goal was suppression of voters who favor the Democratic Party.
Three such states serve as case studies for the effectiveness of these voting restrictions: Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida.
All three elected staunchly conservative governors during President Obama’s terms. All three implemented voting restrictions that affect millions of people. President Obama won all three states in 2008, and won all but North Carolina in 2012, while Hillary Clinton lost all three of those states this year. …
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How the Presidential election is rigged: voter suppression
For voters in 13 states, voter suppression looks like this: no early voting AND no no-excuse absentee voting. This “rigs” (privileges) the election towards those who hold white collar jobs where it’s easy to come in late or leave early on Tuesday.
It disenfranchises voters working hourly wage jobs who have little or zero power over setting their schedules.
And which states are these? From the National Conference of State Legislatures (red states were slave states in 1858) and their electoral college votes (total: 138):
1 Alabama (9)
2 Connecticut (7)
3 Delaware (3)
4 Kentucky (8)
5 Michigan (16)
6 Mississippi (6)
7 Missouri (10)
8 New Hampshire (4)
9 New York (29)
10 Pennsylvania (20)
11 Rhode Island (4)
12 South Carolina (9)
13 Virginia (13)
In addition, there are new (since the last presidential election) voting restrictions in at least 16 states, ranging from “strict photo ID requirements to early voting cutbacks to registration restrictions.”
Requiring every voter to show up at the polls on election day does not scale in metropolitan areas or any where polling stations have been cut. …
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SECRETARY OF STATE, LAW ENFORCEMENT INVESTIGATING MISLEADING ROBO-CALLS TO OREGON VOTERS
Oregonians report being told that their ballot will not be counted
SALEM – The Oregon Secretary of State has requested the Oregon Department of Justice and U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate incidents in which Oregon voters are receiving automated calls erroneously telling them that they’re not registered to vote and that their ballot will not be counted. …
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Voter Suppression Is a Much Bigger Problem Than Voter Fraud
Trump’s rigged election lies distract from the real threat to American democracy.
By Ari Berman | October 20, 2016
https://www.thenation.com/article/voter-suppression-is-a-much-bigger-problem-than-voter-fraud/
https://www.thenation.com/article/voter-suppression-is-a-much-bigger-problem-than-voter-fraud/
… This is a dangerous false equivalence. Voter fraud is a very small problem in American politics and voter impersonation, which GOP-backed voter-ID laws are meant to address, is exceedingly rare. As I’ve written over and over, you’re more likely to be struck by lightning than impersonate another voter at the polls.
The real danger to American democracy stems from GOP efforts to make it harder to vote. New voting restrictions—like voter-ID laws, cuts to early voting and barriers to voter registration—that are in place in 14 states for the first time in 2016 will make it harder for millions of eligible voters to cast a ballot. And voters are lacking crucial protections because this is the first presidential election in 50 years without the full provisions of the Voting Rights Act. …
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SPECIAL REPORT: SOMETHING’S ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA
October 26, 2016
Pennsylvania’s Shameful Record of Voter Suppression and the Partisan and Sometimes Racially Charged Motivations of Those Administering Its Elections
In Pennsylvania, political figures—from statewide elected officials and state legislators to county commissioners—have introduced voter suppression policies that make it increasingly difficult for minority voters to exercise their rights to vote. The motivation behind these efforts often has been admittedly partisan with some officials expressing the political benefit of restricting access to the ballot.
The partisan motivations behind efforts in Pennsylvania to suppress the vote received nationwide media attention during the summer leading up to the 2012 presidential election when the state’s then house majority leader Mike Turzai bragged at a Republican meeting that the Keystone State’s new voter ID law was “going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” …
Download The Full Report (PDF)
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Understanding Congressional Gerrymandering: 'It's Moneyball Applied To Politics'
Ratf**ked author David Daley says that Republicans targeted key state legislative races in 2010 in an effort to control state houses, and, eventually, Congressional redistricting.
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Voter Suppression Tactics: Greg Palast and Brad Friedman lay it all out
Broadcast November 21, 2014
Published on Nov 24, 2014
RT-TV The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann.
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