It is the second Tuesday in November and I would hope that we all get out and do our civic duty by voting today. It is not just about electing a President every four years but about participating in your local community as well.
I work the polls (not to be confused with poles) near my home in Boston. Yesterday we elected a new Mayor for the first time in 20 years. You would have thought the turnout would have been in record numbers, NOT! I think it's absolutely disgraceful that people with canes, crutches and wheelchairs can make it to the polls while perfectly able people choose not to show up. These are the people who bitch the loudest and always have something to moan about the government. I have said it before and it bears repeating, IF YOU DON'T VOTE YOU CAN'T COMPLAIN........
I think both sides may be putting too much emphasis on the Voter ID laws.
First, the Republicans seem to have convinced themselves that they're losing elections because too many illegal aliens and dead people are voting. As rjzip points out, this is for the most part a nonexistant problem. Now, I'm not so naive as to think that vote rigging doesn't happen, but it's not done this way. Elections seem to be rigged at either the vote gathering/counting stage, or by rigging mail-in ballots in close elections. Or by having the Supreme Court on your team :)
Anyway, the GOPers are quite dishonest when they deny voter suppression is the goal of these laws. Of course they're hoping they deter as many poor/minority/elderly people as possible.
However, and this is where the Dems are overwrought, there is so far no evidence to suggest that this particular GOP voter-suppression tactic actually works. If people want to vote, they have so far been going to the trouble to make arrangements to do so. But let's see what happens in a general election before we're sure these are ineffectual.
Just got back from voting in our local election. I'm happy to live in a state where voter supression tactics are pretty minimal. However, the Republican Secretary of State spent over $200,000 in funds that were intended to widen the voting possibilities for citizens, but instead he spent it searching the roles of legal voters in search of illegal votes. He found only two potential problems of voters who weren't legal to vote. So, in essence, he spent $100,000 per illegal vote to root out this NONEXISTENT PROBLEM. The whole idea of voter fraud was cooked up by the GOP to gain a reason to eliminate as many blacks, Latinos, young college students and the elderly as possible. I see it as a war on democracy itself. Voting is THE right without which all the other rights are meaningless. I hope the court cases across the nation against voter supression laws will set a course for striking down these laws. To the GOP or anyone supporting these laws I say: "If you can't win elections on the merits of your positions, at least respect the system enough not to undermine the democratic processes that make this country great."
First, the Republicans seem to have convinced themselves that they're losing elections because too many illegal aliens and dead people are voting. As rjzip points out, this is for the most part a nonexistant problem. Now, I'm not so naive as to think that vote rigging doesn't happen, but it's not done this way. Elections seem to be rigged at either the vote gathering/counting stage, or by rigging mail-in ballots in close elections. Or by having the Supreme Court on your team :)
Anyway, the GOPers are quite dishonest when they deny voter suppression is the goal of these laws. Of course they're hoping they deter as many poor/minority/elderly people as possible.
However, and this is where the Dems are overwrought, there is so far no evidence to suggest that this particular GOP voter-suppression tactic actually works. If people want to vote, they have so far been going to the trouble to make arrangements to do so. But let's see what happens in a general election before we're sure these are ineffectual.