Sunday, April 3, 2011

Dems Can't Win If Minorities Can't Vote

Steve Benen has an excellent post on how changing demographics favor Democratic candidates for the foreseeable future.

But the conclusion he draws - that to save themselves as a viable political party the republicans are going to have start appealing to minorities - only applies to people capable of rational thought.

Repugs are pure Id and criminal corporate greed. So of course they will not let up at all on their attacks against non-white, non-Xian, non-males. They will double down, as they always have.

Think Progress:

Thursday, ThinkProgress reported that the Ohio House had approved the most restrictive voter id law in the nation — a bill that would exclude 890,000 Ohioans from voting. Earlier this week Texas lawmakers passed a similar bill, and voter id legislation — which would make it significantly more difficult for seniors, students and minorities to vote — is now under consideration in more than 22 states across the country

Conservatives have said voter id laws are necessary to combat mass voter fraud. Yet according to the Brennan Center for Justice, Americans are more likely to be killed by a bolt of lightning than commit voter fraud. And the Bush administration’s five-year national “war on voter fraud” resulted in only 86 convictions of illegal voting out of more than 196 million votes cast. Instead conservatives are employing an old tactic: using the specter of false voting to restrict the voting rights of minorities and the poor.

Below, ThinkProgress examines the history of conservatives anti-voter agenda:
Read the whole thing.

Don't be fooled: every single law, regulation, rule and practice that makes voting more difficult, inconvenient, annoying, costly or even dangerous is nothing but a way to stop Democratic voters from voting. It's nothing but cheating so repugs can force their way into office.

There is no such thing as "voter fraud." There is, however, widespread election fraud. Election fraud is perpetrated by and for republicans, and depends heavily on voter ID and other restrictions to stop Democratic voters from voting Democratic.

Stop wasting time on helping minorities and the elderly get ID cards so they can follow repug rules. Invest time in overturning voting restrictions and making it easy, convenient and fun for everybody to vote. Start with these:

  • Same-day registration. Show up at the polls with something that shows where you live - a recent electric bill - and register and vote at the same time.
  • Election Day national holiday. People who vote Democratic work for a living, which means Tuesday election day is a work day. If they can't get the day off, which most low-income workers cannot, they can't vote. Make election day a national holiday, and require businesses to give time off to workers to vote.
  • Allow early voting for everyone, not just those who won't be around on Election Day.

Make it easy for everyone to vote.

When Everybody Votes, Democrats Win.

Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

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