Voter Suppression is Simply Un-American. Grow up GOP.

All the soldiers and brave Americans that have fought and died for our right to vote throughout history must be rolling in their graves watching the GOP's tactics. Shame! Shame! Shame! If you don't like Democracy, you know where the door is.

Jim Greer, Ex-Florida GOP Chair, Claims Republican Voting Laws Focused On Suppression, Racism
The Huffington Post | By Ian Gray

Jim Greer, the former head of the Florida Republican Party, recently claimed that a law shortening the early voting period in the state was deliberately designed to suppress voting among groups that tend to support Democratic candidates, the Palm Beach Post reports.

“The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates,” Greer told the Post. “It’s done for one reason and one reason only...‘We’ve got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us.’"

The HB 1355 law, which was passed by Florida's Republican legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) in Nov. 2011, cut the number of early voting days from 14 to eight. It was publicly sold as an effort to reduce voter fraud and to save money, but Greer says that this was simply a "marketing ploy."

Greer served as Florida's GOP chairman from 2006 until 2010 when he was forced to resign after allegedly stealing money from the party. He was arrested and his case is pending.

Scott's predecessor, Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist, resisted efforts from Republicans to shorten the state's early voting period, citing reasons that mesh with Greer's claims.

In an interview with The Huffington Post earlier this month, Crist said the new law is clearly aimed at curbing turnout among Democrats.

"The only thing that makes any sense as to why this is happening and being done is voter suppression," he said.


Crist added, "People have fought and died for our right to vote, and unfortunately our legislature and this governor have decided they want to make early voting less available to Floridians rather than more available ... It's hard for me as an American to comprehend why you don't make democracy as easy as possible to exercise for the people of our state. It's frankly unconscionable."

Greer also acknowledged that the effort to restrict early voting would directly affect turnout among Florida's African Americans, a demographic that consistently supports Democrats.

“The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,” he told the Post.

Greer went on to suggest that there was "absolutely nothing" state Republicans wouldn't do in following their "absolute obsession with retaining power."

Parts of HB 1355 were overturned by a panel of federal judges in August, partially due to its anticipated impact on minority turnout. The three judge panel ruled that a "dramatic reduction in the form of voting that is disproportionately used by African-Americans would make it materially more difficult for some minority voters to cast a ballot than under the benchmark law.”

The court's ruling, however, only affected five of Florida's 67 counties -- those covered by the section of the Voting Rights Act cited by the court in its ruling. The vast majority of Florida voters were subject to the shortened voting period.

Despite lines as long as nine hours on Election Day in Florida, Scott said he stands by the new law. "Well I'm very comfortable that the right thing happened," he told WKMG Orlando after the election. He later promised to order a review of electoral issues.

 

Truthfully, voting is probably one of the things that should be legislated and regulated by the Federal Government (and I don't say that about a lot of things). The rules, times, requirements, days, etc should be the same from state to state. Not gonna happen because the whole process is so political but it probably should.

 

The problem is that the States are both in charge of the process and the problem with the process. You don't see problems that even approach the disasters you have in Republican controlled states in the states controlled by Democrats. Clearly, there are some shenanigans going on when you have the GOP in charge of the process. If anyone serious doubts that there is a concerted effort to suppress certain types of voters, Democrats, then they are living with blinders of their own making. Voting should be a month long and it should be mandatory.

 

Democrats should take a page out of the Republican handbook and pledge to never seriously consider listening to Republicans again.

Let's vote on it lol

 

I don't agree with mandatory voting but I do agree that a month is a good time frame for voting. There should also be standard rules for ballot access, debate access and positive voter identification.

 

If not mandatory, then there needs to be one hell of an incentive to vote other than the slate of losers we get to pick from every election cycle. How about a state lottery where every voter chips in a buck and one lucky voter from each state gets to be a millionaire when all of the votes are counted? Think about 50 new millionaires every 4 years. You don't have to chip in the buck but you have the option if you want a shot at the prize. This nation seems to have no problem running lotteries but we can't seem to run a clean election.

 

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David, that picture was so good I'd like to repeat it here, too:

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Actually, it was so good I'd like to repeat it one more time:

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We call that the Fox method of learning...well not learning but beating in a narrative anyway.

 

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day and most likely die of starvation soon after.

Give a man religion, and he'll starve to death praying for a fish.

Give a man science and he'll raise his own damn fish.

Make a man watch Fox News and he'll starve to death wondering what a fish is.

 

They fail to consider another point: If they keep "taking away" people's "fish", eventually some of those "hungry" people will get violent. Enough people get violent and you get civil unrest.

 

Yes.

Believe it or not people can only take so much abuse before they snap.

 

Now remember. This guy is a Republican.

 

That's what I like to see, clembo...honesty from a staunch Republican. It's rare, but appears to be on the rise. Not sure that bodes well for Democrats, but I'd rather that both can sit down and be honest to each other than what passes for conversations on the Hill today.

 

A guy like this is why I started the Romney Lost What's Next thread IQ.

Two strong parties (or more) would be fine by me. I've said it too many times but here goes again. I HAVE voted Republican and would again but their current view of centrist is so freaking far right it makes me ill.

I think Colonel Wilkerson actually gives a damn about this country. It's very refreshing for sure.

 

Bad form quoting myself but I should have also said that, when both sides sit down and have an honest discussion about real issues (unlike the "I love America!" votes or whatever and what-not), real solutions can be found that both can be relatively happy with.

Today, all I see are Republicans on the Hill intentionally refusing to do that in order to keep the Democrats from having any real success themselves. That is dysfunctional and causes harm to everyone, including themselves. They'd rather have the country self-destruct than cooperate or compromise with Democrats, and that's why I can't stand them.

Edited: "That's ONE reason..."

 

By taking away one's fish are you referring to taxes?

 

Not quite. You promote the idea of self-reliance, the idea of personal responsibility, both I can agree with, but not as you see them. The "fish" reference is obviously from your post, denouncing the socialist policies (as you see it) of Democrats. So the "fish" is what you would consider handouts to people who don't deserve them.