Unstuffing the Ballot Box
In the 2004 election, 126 million Americans voted, up a staggering 15 million from 2000, and voter registration soared to 72 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Call it the silver lining in the divisive Bush presidency, a tribute to registration and get-out-the-vote campaigns by political parties and ideological groups ranging from progressives to evangelical conservatives.
But since then, the right has sought to consolidate its gains and cripple the left’s successes at the ballot box. The chief vehicle is state-by-state legislation to stiffen photo ID requirements for registration and voting—supposedly to reduce fraud that even proponents allow is minimal, while fundamentally erecting a huge barrier for millions of voters who don’t drive or have recently moved: people in urban areas, seniors, minorities, and the disabled. Not surprisingly, those groups are among the electorate’s most progressive.
Thanks to John Kerry’s quick concession, 2004’s troubles were swept away like so many fallen chads. But that election was rife with problems that could well be repeated in this fall’s midterm elections and in 2008:
•In Ohio—2004’s Florida—voters in poorer areas found far too few voting machines, subjecting them to the “three-hour poll tax” and discouraging unknown numbers from voting. No federal legislation exists to mandate a minimum ratio of reliable machines to registered voters, and state minimums are often inadequate to handle large voter turnout.
Read more: http://www.utne.com/Politics/Unstuffing-The-Ballot-Box-Voters-Rights-Movements.aspx#ixzz1mSxgIFxP
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Edwards, McAullife, the DNC get off scotch free. 
