Sunday, November 11, 2012
Arkansas Politics Voter ID, the Republican suppression tactic, comes to Arkansas
Posted by Max Brantley on Sun, Nov 11, 2012 at 8:26 AM
Rational arguments about the perils of this legislation won't deter the Republicans. They will have no proof that Voter ID is necessary to combat fraud of any meaningful sort. (No, absentee vote buying doesn't count. Voter ID laws don't address that.)
It would be nice if the angry Rep. Bryan King would at least be as honest as the famous Pennsylvania Republican leader shown above. Voter ID laws are intended to make it harder to vote and easier to elect Republicans. Tight early voting laws are also intended to make it harder to vote. Fewer polling places, particularly in major urban areas, are intended to make it harder to vote. Vote obstacles Such as IDs for people who've never had a driver's license; limited early voting; harder access hit poor people hardest. Poor people tend to lean Democratic. They also tend to be disproportionately minority group members, who lean even more dramatically Democratic.
So at least be honest about your aim, Rep. King.
If we must have voter ID, could we move toward more mail-in voting? Could we guarantee easy access to IDs? Could we guarantee there'll be no cost in obtaining these new IDs? And, particularly, can we find ways to avoid the Catch 22 that may disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in Arizona.
Haven't heard about it? Arizona, which is Republican controlled, has voter ID. It has also had some vibrant voter registration drives, particularly among Latino voters. Let the New York Times pick it up, in an article published Saturday:
Three days after the election, the outcome of several races remained a mystery in Arizona as officials struggle to count a record number of early and provisional ballots, many of them cast by voters who believed they had registered but whose names were not on the voter rolls at the polling place.On Thursday, Secretary of State Ken Bennett revealed the magnitude of the situation: 631,274 votes remained uncounted, he said, more than in any presidential election in memory and enough to anger voting- and immigrant-rights advocates, who have called on the Justice Department to investigate. (By Friday, there were 524,633 uncounted ballots. There are 3.1 million registered voters in the state.)
Legally registered voters signed up to get ballots by mail, but never got them. People who were supposed to be on the rolls, having registered in time, didn't appear there. People who didn't have IDs at the polls must make another trip before the deadline to county offices to prove themselves or their vote won't be counted.
It's a scandal. Except that all these obstacles are working exactly as Republicans intended. The denial of the franchise seems likely to affect minorities most. With a 78,000-vote lead for the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, you can see why it's vital for Republicans to be sure, to the extent possible, that only people like them vote.
This is coming to Arkansas. The only hope and it's rooted in experience is that Republicans will overreach with voter legislation so punitive it will provide room for a lawsuit. Even Republican judges all over the country have seen through many of these ruses as efforts at vote suppression. It will be interesting to see if there's a single Republican Arkansas legislator with a conscience when these bills roll around or if the most punitive path is rubberstamped by every one.
Speaking of Voter ID, Arkansas Republican Party
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GOP observes Juneteenth; claims support for equality despite checkered record
June 19, 2013This just in from the Arkansas Republican Party: Arkansas GOP Chairman Doyle Webb has released the following statement on the celebration of Juneteenth: “Today we celebrate Juneteenth, marking the final abolition of slavery in Texas and the nation in 1865. /more/
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Voter ID, DNA swabs and the implosion of a GOP consulting firm with ties to Huck, Boozman
June 3, 2013Consider this an open line. /more/
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Vote fraud: Myth-busting in Ohio
May 24, 2013This is really important, since the Republican-majority legislature in Arkansas just joined the "vote fraud" brigade with Voter ID legislation designed to depress turnout among traditional Democratic constituencies. /more/
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Republicans hit Pryor on IRS union contribution
May 17, 2013Easy score. Arkansas Republican Party says U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor should return political contributions he's received from the union that represents Treasury Department employees, which include IRS workers. /more/
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The death and taxes open line
May 16, 2013The line is open. Closing out: * THERE THE GOP GOES AGAIN: The Arkansas Republican Party is in all-out assault mode on U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, today pounding him for saying seven years ago that he supported permanent repeal of the estate tax (dishonestly called a "death tax" by the Republicans) but joining in recent bipartisan approval of what is now a dramatically lower estate tax. /more/
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Do Arkansas Republicans have room for a centrist?
May 6, 2013Good article by the AP's Andrew DeMillo on House Speaker Davy Carter's consideration of running for governor. /more/
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Arkansas Republicans hate on Nancy Pelosi, in LR today
May 2, 2013The Arkansas Republican Party is positively thrilled that Nancy Pelosi is speaking in Little Rock today (noon at Statehouse Convention Center to accommodate an expected large crowd). /more/
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Monday morning nut watch
April 22, 2013It's Monday. If we're lucky, we have only 36 more hours of extremist Republican lawmaking (Obamacare approval excepted) at the Arkansas Capitol. /more/
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Republicans mount PR effort on Voter ID bill
April 4, 2013The Arkansas Republican Party, having passed a Voter ID bill developed nationally to depress turnout among traditional Democratic constituencies, mounted a PR effort this morning to show that they really do care about people voting. /more/
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House overrides Beebe veto of voter ID bill
April 1, 2013At 2:20 p.m., the House is hearing arguments from Rep. Stephen Meeks to override Gov. Mike Beebe's veto of the bill to require a photo ID to vote in Arkansas. /more/
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