They Want to Make Voting Harder? (NYT editorial 5 June)

[struggle4progress]

Editorial
They Want to Make Voting Harder?
Published: June 5, 2011

One of the most promising recent trends in expanding political participation has been allowing people to vote in the weeks before Election Day, either in person or by mail. Early voting, which enables people to skip long lines and vote at more convenient times, has been increasingly popular over the last 15 years. It skyrocketed to a third of the vote in 2008, rising particularly in the South and among black voters supporting Barack Obama.

And that, of course, is why Republican lawmakers in the South are trying desperately to cut it back. Two states in the region have already reduced early-voting periods, and lawmakers in others are considering doing so. It is the latest element of a well-coordinated effort by Republican state legislators across the country to disenfranchise voters who tend to support Democrats, particularly minorities and young people ...

Mr. Obama won North Carolina, for example, by less than 15,000 votes. That state has had early voting since 2000, and in 2008, more ballots were cast before Election Day than on it. Mr. Obama won those early votes by a comfortable margin. So it is no coincidence that the North Carolina House passed a measure — along party lines — that would cut the early voting period by a week, reducing it to a week and a half before the election. The Senate is preparing a similar bill, which we hope Gov. Beverly Perdue, a Democrat, will veto if it reaches her.

Republicans said the measure would save money, a claim as phony as saying widespread fraud necessitates ID cards. The North Carolina elections board, and many county boards, said it would actually cost more money, because they would have to open more voting sites and have less flexibility allocating staff members. Black lawmakers called it what it is: a modern whiff of Jim Crow ...

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/opinion/06mon1.html?_r=1

[liberal N proud]

1. Why would one party always be trying to obstruct voters?

Why would that same part time after time practice voter disenfranchising techniques?

Why do they always oppose any activities that register more voters?


There is only one reason I can think of, they know that if everyone who was eligible to vote (not to be confused with registered voters) would vote, the GOP would be out on their fat asses.

Then they couldn't pander to the rich and the corporate masters.