Please don't go to sleep on the massive attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION IN FLORIDA

hat tips-The Reid Report, DailyKos

I've been writing about the numerous attempts at VOTER SUPPRESSION by the GOP just in time for the 2012 election. No state is more obvious about it than FLORIDA.

There is absolutely a concerted effort by the new GOP thug Governor and GOP-led legislature to pretty much LEGISLATE THE VOTER SUPPRESSION OF DEMOCRATIC PARTY VOTERS.

Rachel Maddow gives you a great background on Florida and what happened between 2004, when George Bush won the state, and 2008, when Barack Obama won the state handily. And, all the legal maneuvers of the GOP to undo/block every method the Democratic Party used in 2008 to get Democratic Party voters to the polls. Maddow has been doing a yoeman's job, almost single-handedly pointing out the attempts at Voter Suppression spread over a multi-state strategy. It's a very instructive piece; I wonder if those in the DNC are paying attention:

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I wrote in a previous post how the new Criminal who happens to be Governor in Florida reversed what former Governor Charlie Crist had done with regards to restoring voting rights for ex-felons. He stripped those ex-felons of their voting rights. Considering that the prison population in Florida looks like the prison population in the rest of the country, what color of voters do you think this recent reversal mostly affects?





From the SunSentinel:

Lawmakers push voting laws revamp

The legislation, HB 1355, makes it harder to change your address at a polling place, changes third party voter registration rules and alters the ballot initiative process, among other changes. A companion Senate measure, which has yet to make it to the Senate floor, also reduces the period of early voting.

“Our greatest responsibility is to protect the integrity of this process so the result has credibility and if we fail to do that we disenfranchise every person that participates in that process,” said House sponsor Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.

The changes could have a major impact on the 2012 presidential election. Many college students who may previously register at their parents’ home can currently change their address on Election Day at the polls, and many do, election supervisors have said. But under the change proposed in the House bill, Floridians would only be able to do that if their initial registration was within the same county as the college or university they attend.

Democrats have been united against the bill and attacked Republicans for proposing legislation that they said will make it harder for people to vote.

Lawmakers debated for several hours and considered more than 40 amendments to change the bill. Proposals by Democrats, which were all shot down by the Republican majority, included a requirement that the Secretary of State investigate all instances of attempts to disenfranchise voters, bans members of the Legislature or Cabinet from soliciting or accepting campaign contributions for federal office during a legislative session and allow college students and military families to change registration at the polls regardless of county.

So, ex-felons, college students, and EVEN THE MILITARY. They don't even respect the right of the votes of Military Men and Women.

From the Miami Herald

Between them, the House and Senate bills would cut early voting from two weeks to one; force people who need to update their name or address on Election Day (say, due to marriage or divorce or a move by a military family) to vote on provisional ballots; and impose onerous restrictions on groups registering people to vote.

In the most extreme case, Republicans hope to pack the Supreme Court to undermine the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts Amendments voted through by a public who actually thought the authoritarians in Tallahassee would let a little thing like the Constitution come between them and their stranglehold on power.

And in an especially creative flourish, Rick Scott and his Cabinet have revived the spirit of Jim Crow by re-imposing restrictions on voting rights restoration that had been brought into the 21st Century by former Gov. Charlie Crist.

Florida’s two-week early voting period was among the reforms meant to prevent embarrassments like the 2000 election. It was a hard-won victory for working people who sometimes can’t get to the polls if they work odd hours, or run out of time to resolve a problem at the polls.

Arguably, it also contributed to Obama’s Florida win in 2008, as black churches and college students took full advantage of the extra time (and the history-making opportunity).

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Held harmless by the “reformers” will be absentee voting, which happens to be the method used most effectively by Republicans.

How important was Early Voting in 2008?

ONE-THIRD of all Ballots cast in 2008 were done so during the period of Early Voting.

ONE OUT OF EVERY THREE VOTES.

And now, they want to cut that time allowed to Early Vote, in half, so when Election Day comes, guess what, we'll have what usually occurs in precincts where the voters HAVE MELANIN ----older voting machines, fewer voting machines, voting machines that break down ----thus causing longer lines, and of course, who has hours upon hours to wait to vote? Surely not a large working class population. Just another form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.
Provisional ballots are crock. It's the easiest way to discount someone's vote is to give them a provisional. If one thing goes wrong with a provisional ballot, it is rejected. GUESS WHICH GROUPS are given a higher percentage of Provisional ballots than other groups? IF you guessed those with melanin, you would be correct. It's another form of VOTER SUPPRESSION.

But, interesting, that, in their search, to ' reform' voting in Florida, they left Absentee voting alone? Guess who votes Absentee higher percentage-wise? If you guessed those without melanin, you would be correct.


More details about how the changes the GOP in Florida want would be adverse to young voters:

Young volunteers who want to register classmates at, for example, college football games or concerts would have to take an in-person oath at local elections offices and be financially liable for completed voter registration forms.
• Young voters who are now able to update their voter registration information, such as their address, at the polls will no longer be able to do that and would be forced to use provisional ballots, which are often not counted.
• Young people with questions at their polling place would not be able to receive legal assistance or other services from non-partisan election protection programs at the polls.

ALL of this is done under the guise of 'preventing voter fraud'. This is an absolute scam. For the GOP, when non-whites and young people, and anyone who doesn't vote Republican steps towards a voting booth- it's voter fraud. They CANNOT win elections based on little ' d'- democracy. They simply can't. They know it. Because nobody but their narrowing portion of the electoral field is voting for them.

They are NOT expanding the pool of voters from which to choose, because nobody wants to JOIN up with them. So, their plan for 2012, is to make sure that the Democrats can't sign up or register their voters, and if they do, to make it difficult for them to actually cast their vote. There is nothing in these bills that has anything to do with voter fraud. It has everything to do with VOTER SUPPRESSION, and it's a time honored tradition like literacy tests and poll taxes. Different tactic, same point. Keep your eyes on Florida.

They want to STEAL THE 2012 ELECTION IN 2011.

More about the GOP's Attempt for 2012 Voter Suppression

You have to be alert. You have to understand the repeated attempts - concerted attempts of the GOP to VOTER SUPPRESS for 2012.

Rachel Maddow is the town crier on this issue, because she's literally the only person on TV who continues to point this out.

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Incoming DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz talks with Rachel about the DNC and what they will do to fight back against the GOP for 2012.

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President Obama Takes It to Ryan and the GOP

The President gave a speech today and he took it to Rep. Paul ' I WANNA KILL MEDICARE AND MEDICAID' Ryan and the GOP. He hung Ryan and his plan around their neck like a noose.





Part of the President's Speech:

It’s a vision that says America can’t afford to keep the promise we’ve made to care for our seniors. It says that ten years from now, if you’re a 65 year old who’s eligible for Medicare, you should have to pay nearly $6,400 more than you would today. It says instead of guaranteed health care, you will get a voucher. And if that voucher isn’t worth enough to buy insurance, tough luck – you’re on your own. Put simply, it ends Medicare as we know it.
This is a vision that says up to 50 million Americans have to lose their health insurance in order for us to reduce the deficit. And who are those 50 million Americans? Many are someone’s grandparents who wouldn’t be able afford nursing home care without Medicaid. Many are poor children. Some are middle-class families who have children with autism or Down’s syndrome. Some are kids with disabilities so severe that they require 24-hour care. These are the Americans we’d be telling to fend for themselves.

Worst of all, this is a vision that says even though America can’t afford to invest in education or clean energy; even though we can’t afford to care for seniors and poor children, we can somehow afford more than $1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy. Think about it. In the last decade, the average income of the bottom 90% of all working Americans actually declined. The top 1% saw their income rise by an average of more than a quarter of a million dollars each. And that’s who needs to pay less taxes? They want to give people like me a two hundred thousand dollar tax cut that’s paid for by asking thirty three seniors to each pay six thousand dollars more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I’m President.

The fact is, their vision is less about reducing the deficit than it is about changing the basic social compact in America.

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The difference with the House Republican plan could not be clearer: their plan lowers the government’s health care bills by asking seniors and poor families to pay them instead. Our approach lowers the government’s health care bills by reducing the cost of health care itself. ... Let me be absolutely clear: I will preserve these health care programs as a promise we make to each other in this society. I will not allow Medicare to become a voucher program that leaves seniors at the mercy of the insurance industry, with a shrinking benefit to pay for rising costs. I will not tell families with children who have disabilities that they have to fend for themselves. We will reform these programs, but we will not abandon the fundamental commitment this country has kept for generations.
That includes, by the way, our commitment to Social Security.

The Democrats need to take the points made by POTUS and run with them. Come on Congresswoman Wasserman-Shultz!!


Full text of the President's Speech is HERE

Poll Exams...Poll Taxes...Voter ID....same purpose -VOTER SUPPRESSION...the GOP Plans for 2012

There truly is no difference between Poll Tests, Poll Taxes and the hysteria being whipped up by the GOP about ' Voter Fraud'. Under the guise of 'Voter Fraud', the GOP is doing their best to create all these laws that will limit the Democratic Party's voting base. This is a deliberate and concerted effort. They don't care about 'Voter Fraud', because, for all their yelping about 'Voter Fraud', look at the DOJ Statistics. During the Bush years, they couldn't pull together enough of the so-called ' Voter Fraud' cases to fill a schoolbus.

But, DELIBERATELY went about IGNORING the ACTUAL voter suppression of minorities and young people through voter caging and other GOP schemes- the repeated challenges and attempts to gut the Voting Rights Act.

Think it's not deliberate, take a look:

from ThinkProgress:

REPORT: In 22 Statehouses Across The Country, Conservatives Move To Disenfranchise Voters

In statehouses across the country, Republican lawmakers are raising the specter of “voter fraud” to push through legislation that would dramatically restrict the voting rights of college students, rural voters, senior citizens, the disabled and the homeless. As part of their larger effort to silence Main Street, conservatives are pushing through new photo identification laws that would exclude millions from voting, depress Hispanic voter turnout by as much as 10 percent, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. In the next few months, a new set of election laws could make going to the polls and registering to vote significantly more difficult — in some cases even barring groups of citizens from voting in the communities where they live.



Conservative legislators across the country have said these laws are necessary to combat alleged mass voter fraud. But these fears are completely overblown and states already have tough voting laws on the books: fraudulent voters face felony charges, hefty fines, and even lengthy prison time. In Missouri, for example, voter fraud carries a penalty of no less than 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Yet conservatives have insisted on finding a legislative solution to a non-existent problem. In states like Indiana, where an ID law passed in 2005, both nuns and college students have found themselves turned away from the polls. Similar laws are on the books in eight other states and that number could expand dramatically in coming months. ThinkProgress examined these efforts in eight states:

NEW HAMPSHIRE: In the most egregious example of voter disenfranchisement legislation in the country, state Rep. Gregory Sorg (R) has introduced a bill that would bar thousands of college students and service members from voting in the communities where they live and attend school. According to New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien (R) the legislation is nececessary because there “are kids voting liberal, voting their feelings, with no life experience.” A diverse coalition of young veterans, libertarians, conservatives, and progressives have organized against the bill. Both state politicians and local law professors have said the law is unconstitutional, citing “Newberger v. Peterson — a 1972 federal district court decision that ruled the state cannot bar college students from voting in New Hampshire even if they intend to leave after graduation.” Sorg told a public hearing that he had not read the decision and did not “care” for it.

MINNESOTA: Republican representatives have introduced two separate bills in the statehouse that would require voters to present photo identification at the polls. The more expansive of the bills would end same-day voter registration and create a large electronic database which would scan voter’s IDs. Conservatives have said the bill is necessary to end alleged voter fraud in the state, claims that the Minnesota County Attorneys Association have called “frivolous.” Other groups, including the ACLU and Common Cause, have raised concerns about the bill’s constitutionality, feasibility, and cost. Gov. Mark Dayton (R) has indicated that he will not sign the legislation.

Read the rest of their report. How ridiculous is it? Well, Texas, which has more financial problems than nearly any other state in the country, feels ' voter fraud' is more important than it financial crisis, and one of the first things on Governor Good Hair's list was a Voter ID bill. They are so obvious, they don't even try and hide it. Guess who are the only groups exempt from the more stringent new law: GUN OWNERS AND THE ELDERLY - the folks the GOP believes vote for them. Yes, they actually WROTE these exceptions into the law, but I bet, come 2012, the ELDERLY who ARE NOT WHITE, won't be exempt....I dunno...just my suspicion.

Now, one of the few good things Charlie Crist did as Governor was his restoration of voting rights for former felons.

So, what has the new crook of a Governor done?

Rick Scott Returns Florida to Reconstruction-Era Racist Voting Law

Remember the 2000 election debacle, when Florida became the laughingstock of the nation? It wasn't just punch-card ballots that caused our fair state such embarrassment. It was the wrongful purging of thousands of voters from the rolls because they were misidentified as felons.

That mishap brought to light the painful fact that Florida had the largest number of disenfranchised felons in the nation -- a disproportionate swath of whom were African-American. This was no accident. And Rick Scott knows it.

Yesterday, Scott and his Cabinet passed an archaic rule requiring nonviolent felons to wait five years after completing their sentences before applying to have their voting rights restored. This
means citizens won't be able to participate in the most basic tenet of our democracy, despite having paid their debt to society. Why such a bizarre punishment? Why, if they are free to move into our neighborhoods, get jobs, and pay taxes, can't they vote?

Quick history lesson, courtesy of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University: Florida's felon disenfranchisement laws were first passed in the years immediately after the Civil War. Legislators, having just freed the slaves, didn't want black men -- nearly half the state's population -- to have too much political power. So lawmakers passed Black Codes, outlawing minor offenses they thought ex-slaves would be likely to commit. Prison camps filled up with black men convicted of petty crimes. Then legislators took away the voting rights of felons.

This was a common disenfranchisement tactic used throughout the South, and it worked. In 2004, about 19 percent of Florida's African-American population could not vote because of the felony restriction.

So, now they're back to the Reconstruction Era in Florida....this is who the GOP IS - they can't win with ONE MAN-ONE VOTE, so they try and make as many laws as possible to cut off the franchise to as many groups as possible.

The shining of the light on the schemes in New Hampshire seems to have resulted in pushback against them.

From the Union Leader:

Voting bills draw public protests
By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
Friday, Feb. 25, 2011

Secretary of State William Gardner came out Thursday against two bills that change state voting laws to eliminate Election Day registrations and that would bar students from voting in the towns where they attend college.

The House Election Law Committee held public hearings that drew close to 200 people, including the League of Women Voters and more than 100 college students who oppose the changes.
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In prepared remarks, Sorg referred to students as "transient inmates . . . with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce." He argued that his bill, HB 176 (click for link to status and text), would end unfair domination of local elections by students. He said the state should revert to laws that were in place in the 1950s, before state and federal court decisions said students living in a town have a right to vote there.

His bill would require students to vote in the towns they lived in before college throughout their academic career, saying that is where their official domicile rightly would be.
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Students, who chanted "Kill the bill" outside the State House at noon, waited for nearly five hours for a chance to testify. Among them was Rhylan Bruss, of Bradford, who plans to attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall. He said the bill would deny him a basic constitutional right.

"This robs us of our ability to affect the country we're living in," he said. "The youth of our country are as diverse and well-informed as anyone in this chamber."

The New Hampshire bills have been shelved - for now.

If you recall in 2008, so much of the success in the Obama Campaign was the campaign's ability to bank votes in Early Voting.

So, what do we see coming out of the battleground state of Ohio?

Ohio Secretary of State Wants to Shorten Period for Mail-In and In-Person Early Voting
By Julie Kent. Published
on 02/28/2011 - 9:48pm

The convenience of mail-in ballots is what helped Barack Obama carry Ohio in the 2008 presidential election. Now, Ohio's new Republican Secretary of State, Jon Husted, is gunning to reduce the period of time that Ohio voters have to vote by mail.

Husted also wants to introduce online voter registration. He calls these reforms "modest but important", and wants them in place before the November 2012 election. Specifically, he'd like the legislation passed by June so that they can do a few "dry runs" in 2012.

Husted said:

"We believe what we have put in place takes into account all of the major issues that have been brought forward to us to make sure that elections run smoothly.

I'm satisfied if these issues are enacted we will in a much better position to have elections that people can have confidence in 2012, than we were in 2008."

Democrats have said that Husted's proposal "limits access" for voters and could discourage voting, especially in large urban counties.

10 other states already offer or will soon be offering online voter registration. Husted's plan would also allow for change of address forms to be submitted online.

Husted also wants to get rid of the five day period between the start of early voting and the voter registration deadline of 30 days efore Election Day. This is a time when people can register to vote and vote on the same day.

Instead of the early voting beginning 35 days before Election Day, Husted wants 21 days by mail and 16 days in-person.

Understand this - all of these measures are anti little 'd' democratic.

But, this is who the GOP is, and who they've always been. They haven't changed since Poll Tests and Poll Taxes...they just come up with new names for their schemes.

They can't win elections fair and square, so they are back to their usual attempts at THIEVERY for 2012. You will have to be on alert.