Opinion: GOP's voter suppression
Registration assistance: Complicated registration laws are regularly cited as a major reason for the low voter turnout in the United States. Groups like the League of Women Voters of the U.S., the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Democracia USA have long helped voters register. In some states, however, this help will no longer be available. Florida and five other states have adopted onerous filing and other requirements for groups providing this assistance. Florida’s new law imposes such heavy fines for any misstep or delay that the League of Women Voters of the U.S. and Democracia USA have been forced to shut down their assistance operations.
Voting for convicted felons: Today, there are about 5.3 million Americans, a large proportion of whom are nonviolent drug offenders, who cannot vote — a group that is largely made up of minorities.Continue Reading
Most states restore voting rights when a sentence is completed, sometimes after a waiting period of a few years. But not in Iowa and Florida, where the disenfranchisement is for life — unless the governor restores the right.
To temper these harsh laws, in 2007, then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist adopted rules that automatically restored voting rights when nonviolent offenders complete their sentence. In 2005, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack took similar action.
But in March, Scott overturned the Crist rules — and added a five-year waiting period before they can even apply to vote. In Iowa that same month, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad also reinstated the former system.
Photo IDs: Thirty-four states have introduced bills with today’s suppression tactic of choice. The ostensible purpose of these measures is to prevent fraud at the polls, though official and academic studies have consistently shown that the chances of being hit by lightning are greater than the likely incidence of such fraud.
Voter fraud does exist — but not at the polls. It appears in absentee voting, election machine tampering or ballot box stuffing — none of which are affected by in-person photo ID laws.
There is also nothing inherently objectionable in requiring personal identification at the polls — but these new laws accept few forms of ID. In South Carolina, for example, a voter must present a state-issued driver’s license, some other South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles photo ID, a South Carolina voter registration card, valid U.S. military photo ID or a passport. Nothing else is acceptable. Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin have similar laws.
Even before these laws were passed, an estimated 21 million otherwise eligible voters could not get the required IDs without a substantial expenditure of time, money or both — which many can’t afford. That figure is probably far higher now with the new legislation.
Some people will be unable to obtain a photo ID because the necessary supporting papers — like a birth certificate — may not be available or there have been name changes.
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