The Suppression Six: Voting ID laws in the 2011 NV Legislature

A rogue’s gallery of the members of the Nevada Legislature who sponsored vote suppressing voter identification bills in the 2011 session.

None of these ALEC inspired bills passed.  Interesting… they all seem to have been sponsored by white Republicans…

Then and Now: Voter Intimidation

Compare to 2012:

“True the Vote’s founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, has said “we see again with this administration . . . it’s just stunning the assault on our elections that we’re watching gain steam with every passing day, so we found ourselves to be unwittingly on the front lines of an issue that I think will be the inflection point for this election.”

A reporter attending True the Vote’s Colorado State Summit described how one speaker told the crowd that “they should enjoy bullying liberals because they were doing God’s work. ‘Your opposition are cartoon characters. They are. They are fun to beat up. They are fun to humiliate,’ he intoned. ‘You are on the side of the angels. And these people are just frauds, charlatans and liars.’”  [Demos]

Inflection point? More like over the line back to the bad old days of voter intimidation and harassment.  Fun to beat up?  One could wonder if anyone was “having fun” during the following tragedies?

May 7, 1955 · Belzoni, Mississippi
Rev. George Lee, one of the first black people registered to vote in Humphreys County, used his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. White officials offered Lee protection on the condition he end his voter registration efforts, but Lee refused and was murdered.

August 13, 1955 · Brookhaven, Mississippi
Lamar Smith was shot dead on the courthouse lawn by a white man in broad daylight while dozens of people watched. The killer was never indicted because no one would admit they saw a white man shoot a black man. Smith had organized blacks to vote in a recent election.

September 25, 1961 · Liberty, Mississippi
Herbert Lee, who worked with civil rights leader Bob Moses to help register black voters, was killed by a state legislator who claimed self-defense and was never arrested. Louis Allen, a black man who witnessed the murder, was later also killed.

June 12, 1963 · Jackson, Mississippi
Medgar Evers, who directed NAACP operations in Mississippi, was leading a campaign for integration in Jackson when he was shot and killed by a sniper at his home.

September 15, 1963 · Birmingham, Alabama
Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley were getting ready for church services when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing all four of the school-age girls. The church had been a center for civil rights meetings and marches.

January 10, 1966 · Hattiesburg, Mississippi
Vernon Ferdinand Dahmer, a wealthy businessman, offered to pay poll taxes for those who couldn’t afford the fee required to vote. The night after a radio station broadcasted Dahmer’s offer, his home was firebombed. Dahmer died later from severe burns.

April 4, 1968 · Memphis, Tennessee
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, was a major architect of the Civil Rights Movement. He led and inspired major non-violent desegregation campaigns, including those in Montgomery and Birmingham. He won the Nobel peace prize. He was assassinated as he prepared to lead a demonstration in Memphis.
Sadly, there are many more listed here.

Some people don’t want to take their country back, they really want to take it backwards.

 

A Vote Supressed Is An Election Stolen

What makes this country truly exceptional, more exceptional than all the jingoistic, flag waving, bombastic rhetoric in any stump speech, is very simple. Americans have the RIGHT to vote.  Voting isn’t a privilege earned, it is a right protected.  There is no other way to maintain a republic than to protect voting rights.

There is nothing less “American” than seeking to suppress the votes of others.  We no longer tolerate abuses like the nefarious Poll Taxes of recent memory. We no longer tolerate night riders “warning off” individuals who might want to exercise their voting rights.  We no longer tolerate the fraudulent “literacy tests” for voting in which African Americans were asked exceedingly complicated questions on fine points of Constitutional law and failed for misspelling a word or misapplying punctuation.   The night riders, poll taxes, and literacy tests might be part of the recent past, but there are now new ways to accomplish the same insidious ends.

The List Purge Fraud

Florida leads the nation in this vestige of racism and elitism.  “Oh, they said, “We must purge our voter rolls of individuals who might not be eligible to vote in our elections, lest the votes of ‘real voters’ be diminished.”   Really?

The Orlando Sentinel reported that of 37,000,000 votes cast there were only 178 allegations of voting fraud. [link]  Do the math. The percentage of questionable votes?  0.0005%.   That’s precious little diminishment using anyone’s calculator.

Further, what’s  alleged and what’s prosecutable are two different things:

“David Iglesias, the Republican U.S. attorney for New Mexico who was fired by the Bush administration, said that he looked at over 100 claims of alleged voter fraud but found not a single prosecutable case. “We cannot prosecute on rumor and innuendo,” Iglesias told the Albuquerque Journal (3/15/07). (His refusal to prosecute cases that he felt were bogus was a central feature in his firing, as it was in the cases of nearly half of the 12 U.S. attorneys ousted by the administration—Washington Post, 5/14/07.) Iglesias’ findings are consistent with national data. Federal records “show that only 24 people were convicted or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005” (Project Vote, 3/5/07).   [Bybee]

The Bush Administration’s study should have been the end of the fraudulent allegations of “fraud:”

“You are more likely to be struck by lightning than to find a prosecutable case of voter fraud. An extensive analysis of data from all fifty states by the U.S. Justice Department under President Bush found that incidents of voter fraud are exceedingly rare and would not be solved by state photo ID. It is a solution without a problem.”  [TAProj]

The Problem is that Republicans believe that they aren’t getting elected because of “voter fraud.”  It has become an article of faith.  It has become a clarion call for outrage and action, all predicated upon the simple fears of gullible people.   Study after study has found that the newest incarnation of the Poll Tax-Literacy Test voting suppression tactics — the voter ID laws — primarily prevent members of ethnic minorities and the elderly from voting.

And the GOP response: “Better to deny a few women in black the right to vote than to let hundreds of illegals swarm the voting booths and assert their “rights” in America.  You liberals need an attitude adjustment.” [TFL]

There it is, the article of faith, faith that “illegals” will “swarm” into voting booths.  Note that the commenter doesn’t say that this has happened, there’s far too much proof to the contrary.  The commenter fears this “will” happen. It is a blind, irrational, unsubstantiated fear, but for the average xenophobic bigot it is part of their self constructed ‘reality.’

Members of ethnic minority communities have long been the targets of vote suppression, but why target the elderly?   Although it has been argued that the elderly are more likely to support popular programs like Social Security and Medicare and are therefore a target of vote suppression activities, they may also be unintended victims.   Blithe promises to “get everyone an ID” are hollow when the offices at which the identification cards can be obtained are far from an elderly non-driver’s home, or are not open when an elderly person could get transportation.  The promises are even more ludicrous when the forms of identification necessary are impossible or expensive for elderly persons to obtain.

Those who still might remain unconvinced that after elderly nuns being denied their voting rights, and an 86 year old World War II veteran was denied his vote,  a former four term member of Congress was denied voting, and an elderly widow in Kansas couldn’t get a voting ID, there isn’t a calculated effort to deliberately restrict voting for partisan advantage, then why not take the word of those doing the suppressing?

There’s Jim Greer, former head of the Florida Republican Party:

“Greer talked about how he was invited into many discussions as the head of the GOP in Florida, so he knows where some particularly rotten bodies are buried. There were discussions that early voting was going against Republicans, and so they should shorten it to prevent African American churches from organizing to bring out the vote for early voting. Greer had even given sworn deposition that there were discussions on suppression, but never once in his 3 1/2 years as GOP Chair of Florida had he seen a meeting on voter fraud; he went so far as to call it a “marketing tool of radical Republicans” in state government.” [HuffPo]

There’s Rep. Mike Turzai in Pennsylvania:

In June, Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai listed off a number of legislative accomplishments. “Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania: Done,” Turzai said. [DemN] [YouTube]

What To Do?

Stay Informed.  ALEC and its Republican allies rushed voter identification bills through state legislatures in preparation for the 2012 elections.  However, grass roots organization defeated some onerous measures in New Hampshire and Maine [YDA] and nothing so diminishes the possibility of passing vote suppression bills like a bit of daylight.

Be Prepared.  Know what the voting laws are in your state, and be prepared to vote.  Bookmark Project Vote for updated information.   If you are already registered to vote check your registration status with local election officials.   In the immortal words of the flight attendant: Put your own oxygen mask on first (check on your own voting status) and then be prepared to help others around you.

Be Aware: Of what constitutes voter intimidation.   Of what constitutes voter caging.  Of what is involved in No Match No Vote schemes.

Be Helpful. Check with elderly voters to see if they need assistance gathering the documentation necessary to vote, or who might need transportation to a registration office or polling station.   Check on disabled people you know who may have difficulty registering, or might need assistance getting to polling stations.  Find out what a disabled person who can no long write well enough for a signature match should do in your election district.  Check with young people you know who need information about voting, especially if it is their first time.

We are, indeed, in danger of having elections stolen in this country. However, the danger doesn’t come from imaginary waves of hypothetical swarming aliens all seeking to desecrate our polling stations with fraudulent votes.  The danger comes from the bigoted, the fearful, and the ignorant who have drunk the Kool-Aid and accept the right wing talking points as gospel, and who seek to influence elections by insuring that people unlike themselves are denied the RIGHT to vote.

*Previous -  post on this subject here, and here.

Unsolicited Questions for the Press Corps

There was a post like this a while back, but after listening to the President’s remarks this morning and then sitting through some rather inane inquiries from the White House Press Gaggle — how about this:  We put a moratorium on questions that begin, “Mr. President… The _____ are saying that ____ and how would you respond?“

First, this makes the person asking the question sound lazy.  The easiest question in the world is something someone else writes for you.  A right wing bloviator of some infamy writes — “The president had control of both houses of Congress during his first two years, and the economy didn’t bounce back.” And, then the intrepid reporter asks, “How do you respond?”

Step two, now the reporter sounds uninformed.  The President’s party had control of the House, and titular control of the Senate.  A majority is sufficient to establish Committee appointments in the Senate, BUT it is insufficient to overcome 137 Republican filibusters.  [Senate]   The question also indicates that somehow we were supposed to rebound enthusiastically from the worse Crash since 1929, all while some $50 trillion of global wealth was erased by the Wall Street casino.  Not to mention the $7 trillion lost in U.S. equity wealth, and another $6 trillion lost in the housing debacle. [CBS]

Thus, in the interest of assisting a more energetic, more informed, Fourth Estate, here’s a humble offering of possible questions:

#1.  Background: In 2006 JPMorganChase hired a trading manager who rescinded the company’s guidance that traders exit any position in which there were $20 million in losses, and in February 2012 the firm adopted an index comprised of 125 credit default swaps on investment grade entities.   By April 5, 2012 the London Whale was involved in position so large that he was moving prices in the $10 trillion credit market.  As of May 18, 2012 JPMorgan’s losses were calculated at $3 billion and rising.

Question:  What actions have the SEC, CFTC and other regulators taken which might control the gambling in credit markets exemplified by JPMorgan? And, are U.S. capital requirements sufficient to protect American investors from fall out?

Question: What progress has been made by the CFTC and other regulators to assure the investing public that credit default swaps (and the indices based thereon) are transparent enough so that risk can be properly assessed and debacles like the one at JPMorgan avoided?

#2. Background:  From the Bureau of Economic Analysis, “the output of goods and services produced by labor and property located in the United States — increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the first quarter of 2012 (that is, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter), according to the “second” estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the fourth quarter of 2011, real GDP increased 3.0 percent. ” (May 31, 2012)

Question: If public sector hiring has decreased of late, and the Department of Labor is predicting, “Slower population growth and a decreasing overall labor force participation rate are expected to lead to slower civilian labor force growth from 2010 to 2020: 0.7 percent annually, compared with 0.8 percent for 2000-10, and 1.3 percent for 1990-2000. The projected 0.7 percent growth rate will lead to a civilian labor force increase of 10.5 million by 2020. (See table 1.)” Then, what role does public sector hiring play in the full recovery of our consumer based economy?

Question: If private sector worker compensation costs (wages and benefits) increased by 2.1% YOY, and public sector worker compensation costs increased 1.5% YOY,  [DoL] and if this trend continues will this constitute a drag on consumer spending?

#3. Background:  As of January 2007, the GAO reported that our national transportation infrastructure were at risk in terms of financing and capacity, and that funding sources were eroding  just as investment was needed to expand capacity.

Question:  What inroads into this imbalance might have been made by ARRA projects?  What employment advances might be made if funding was available for contracts to improve air traffic and transportation facilities? For highway improvements?

Question: In terms of our national parks, the GAO reported in 2006:  “Each of the 12 park units reported their daily operations allocations were not sufficient to address increases in operating costs, such as salaries and new Park Service requirements. In response, officials reported that they either eliminated or reduced services, or relied on other authorized sources to pay operating expenses that have historically been paid with allocations for daily operations.”   What should Congress and the Administration do to prevent this trend from continuing, and what might the economic benefits be in the private sector if sufficient funding were available for the operation of our national parks?

#4. Background: “During the 2011 legislative sessions, states across the country passed measures to make it harder for Americans – particularly African-Americans, the elderly, students and people with disabilities – to exercise their fundamental right to cast a ballot. Over thirty states considered laws that would require voters to present government-issued photo ID in order to vote. Studies suggest that up to 11 percent of American citizens lack such ID, and would be required to navigate the administrative burdens to obtain it or forego the right to vote entirely.” [ACLU]

Question:  What actions are currently being taken by the Department of Justice to confirm every eligible American citizen’s right to vote?

Thank you.  You’re welcome.

Coffee and the Papers: From the Ridiculous to the Whatever

** Nevada politics is nothing if not highly entertaining.  Consider this pithy summation of the Nevada GOP’s leadership issue:

“The Republicans, pounded by Democrats in critical races the last two cycles, have a reasonable chance to win the state for Mitt Romney, hold onto John Ensign’s Senate seat and take over the Legislature’s upper house. And the glue holding that all together — the man charged with raising money, attacking Democrats and articulating GOP principles — is a Laughlin constable and former strip club lobbyist found guilty of ethics transgressions by two tribunals and whose odiferous city land deal has revolted everyone (except the folks at Roundheels Central on Stewart Avenue), including a conservative think tank on Tuesday.  Come on, folks. This must be a joke.”  [full story Las Vegas Sun]

Well, let’s see now, there seems to be a bit of history.

February 12, 2012:  “Early last fall, when Florida Republicans defied the national party and moved their presidential primary to January, Nevada Republican Chairwoman Amy Tarkanian issued a defiant statement.  “No matter what, we will not allow this disruption to interfere with our goal of creating a presidential caucus that will be the pride of the Western states,” Tarkanian said. “This situation gives Nevadans the opportunity to showcase our ability to adapt and establish our state as a major player in national politics.”  [Las Vegas Sun]

February 5, 2012: “Unable to control how its county parties count and report results, state Republicans were scrambling Sunday to explain why, almost 24 hours after most caucuses ended, the votes still have not been counted. [Politico]

January 5, 2012: “The head of the Nevada Republican Party, Amy Tarkanian has announced her resignation.  Thursday, Tarkanian sent a statement announcing her resignation since her husband is considering a run for Congressional District 4.” [News2]

April 24, 2010:  Sue Lowden proposes “chickens for checkups” health reform plan. [C&L]

November 16, 2009: “Dr. Chris Comfort replaces Sue Lowden, who resigned Sept. 30 to launch her campaign for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination and try to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in next year’s election.”  [NNV]

And so it goes.

**  The Political Animal notes the activities of ALEC, right wing legislators, and national Republican leaders to enact vote suppressing laws, but “…a less well-known phenomenon might be called “bankrupting the vote,” as states and localities (particular cities with heavily Democratic electorates) struggling with fiscal crises simply can’t afford to adequately staff and administer elections. “  Read the full report here from Reuters.

** Heaven Forefend we’d actually pass a transportation bill wherein states and construction contractors would have a realistic expectation of long term infrastructure improvement projects.  “Also look for the House and Senate to start reconciling their differences over federal highway funding. Last week, the House passed an extension of highway programs through the end of the fiscal year, HR 4348. In March, the Senate approved a two-year extension, S 1813.“  [NRDC]

** There’s a report from the VA’s Inspector General that isn’t getting half as much publicity as it deserves.   “The Department of Veterans Affairs’ mental-health care system suffers from a culture where managers give more importance to meeting meaningless performance goals than helping veterans, according to testimony before a Senate committee Wednesday.”  [WaPo]

“Contrary to VA claims that 95 percent of first-time patients seeking mental-health care in 2011 received an evaluation within the department’s goal of 14 days, just under half were seen in that time frame, the report found. A majority waited about 50 days on average for a full evaluation.”  [WaPo]

From the report summary:

“VHA does not have a reliable and accurate method of determining whether they are providing patients timely access to mental health care services. VHA did not provide first-time patients with timely mental health evaluations and existing patients often waited more than 14 days past their desired date of care for their treatment appointment. As a result, performance measures used to report patient’s access to mental health care do not depict the true picture of a patient’s waiting time to see a mental health provider.”

The full report is available in PDF format here.

** It’s really very hard to get beyond House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) comment that a “good” way to finance the reduction in student loan interest rates would be to take the money from the Affordable Care Act’s provisions for cancer screenings for men and women, wellness education programs, and immunizations for children, which he said was a “Slush Fund.”   HHS Secretary Sebelius has more to say here.

**  Did we know that when Nevada Representatives Amodei  (R-NV2) and Heck (R-NV3) voted for the Ryan Budget that they voted in favor of locking in the doubled interest rate for student loans?  We do now.

** Thus much for “Listening to the Generals.”  The GOP controlled House of Representatives rejected the Pentagon proposal for the next round of BRAC (base realignment and closure) Commission recommendations. [The Hill]

**  One of the more interesting characterizations of the upcoming presidential race from the President’s interview with Rolling Stone:

“I think the general election will be as sharp a contrast between the two parties as we’ve seen in a generation. You have a Republican Party, and a presumptive Republican nominee, that believes in drastically rolling back environmental regulations, that believes in drastically rolling back collective-bargaining rights, that believes in an approach to deficit reduction in which taxes are cut further for the wealthiest Americans, and spending cuts are entirely borne by things like education or basic research or care for the vulnerable. All this will be presumably written into their platform and reflected in their convention. I don’t think that their nominee is going to be able to suddenly say, “Everything I’ve said for the last six months, I didn’t mean.” I’m assuming that he meant it. When you’re running for president, people are paying attention to what you’re saying.”