Maddow Blog -- Making voting harder

[LongTomH]

Rachel Maddow's Blog for this morning has a post about Red states that are making voting harder for some citizens (Guess Who?):

Since Republicans gained control of so many state legislatures in 2010, they've been working to pass laws that make voting harder. We've been asking on the show whether they've made voting hard enough, in enough places, to change the landscape in 2012.

Now, from the Brennan Center for Justice, comes the beginning of an answer:

The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.

In those states, minority, student and poor voters are most likely to feel the pinch from the new rules. As many as one in four African-Americans don't have the kind of photo ID needed to vote. In Maine, after finding almost no evidence of voter fraud, the Secretary of State sent college students a letter saying they might be in violation of the law. And in Wisconsin, you can get a free photo ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles -- if you know to ask for it.

Here are some quotes from the Executive Summary of the Brennan Center Report:

State governments across the country enacted an array of new laws making it harder to register or to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Two states reversed earlier reforms and once again disenfranchised millions who have past criminal convictions but who are now taxpaying members of the community. Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite for voting.

These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. Based on the Brennan Center’s analysis of the 19 laws and two executive actions that passed in 14 states, it is clear that:

• These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.
  
• The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
  
• Of the 12 likely battleground states, as assessed by an August Los Angeles Times analysis of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.

Edited to add: The writing has been on the wall for years: the GOP wants to make this a one-party state, like the old Soviet Union, Red China or Germany under the Reich. While our young people are putting their bodies on the line to restore democracy, Republican strategists are working under the radar to destroy it!

[JustAnotherGen]

1. I've seen this a few times

I'm thinking now - what can be done? Is there time to take it to the SCOTUS?

[LongTomH]

2. There are legal challenges underway in some states.

Rachel and Ed Schultz have both reported on this. There are challenges in some states;but, the other side has very deep pockets to 'lawyer up' for the coming fight.