And as the strip correctly points out (take note Republican readers), a thorough investigation was indeed done by BushCo, and guess what they found:
Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.[...]
Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.
So why are GOP-run states creating laws to solve a problem that doesn’t exist? Oh that’s right, to eliminate (mostly) Democratic voters who would likely cast their ballot for President Obama and other Dems down ticket.
Regular readers know how often I fume about voter suppression, especially in light of the appalling Voter I.D. laws (scroll) popping up all over the country:
Again, new voter registration laws could hurt President Obama. And as I have said over and over again, in many, many posts, the people suffering the worst consequences of the Voter I.D. laws are most often low income voters, the elderly, the ill who can’t leave home, young voters, minorities, and of course, anyone without transportation (or to put it another way, lean Democratic). And to those who say, “Well, there are always absentee ballots,” some states are now requiring Voter I.D. to qualify for those, too.
Access (transportation) to Voter I.D. centers is one reason so many people are unable to get a new picture I.D. Another is that it costs money, including paying for a copy of a birth certificate or other documents one might need to acquire a new I.D. Hence, Attorney General Holder’s reference to a poll tax.
Remember: Voter fraud is rarer than getting struck by lightning. If Republicans are so concerned about it, despite evidence to the contrary, then take steps to provide identification at no expense, physical or monetary.
To repeat, the poor can’t afford to choose between food and other necessities for their families and paying twenty-plus dollars for a picture I.D. (and as much as $200); but if they choose food, they are prevented from voting. Texas’ Voter I.D. law is tantamount to a poll tax that would result in exactly that scenario, so A.G. Holder was spot on.
Florida Republicans conspired to dampen voter turnout among African Americans, according to a former top party official currently battling criminal fraud charges. [...]
Former Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer has filed a lawsuit against his former colleagues, saying he was improperly denied a $130,000 severance package after being forced out his leadership position. In a deposition recorded in late May, Greer described a party that had fallen into disarray and become divided between competing factions. [...]
In addition to saying the Florida Republican had come under the sway of “whack-a-do, right-wing crazies,” he claimed that party leaders met and discussed ways to suppress the black vote.
Now Jim Greer is not exactly Mr. Perfect, but calling them “whack-a-do, right-wing crazies” does have a ring of truth to it, and he said that under oath in a deposition.
His exact words about voter suppression: “They talked about not letting blacks vote” and that party officials believed that “minority outreach programs were not fit for the Republican Party.”
And now, because it’s election season and we’ll be extra busy, we GottaAsk. We do so reluctantly and would love to reach our goal so we can stop asking already!
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And now, because it’s election season and we’ll be extra busy, we GottaAsk. We do so reluctantly and would love to reach our goal so we can stop asking already!
Please note: You can chip in to help TPC using the widget below via PayPal or major credit cards.
And now, because it’s election season and we’ll be extra busy, we GottaAsk. We do so reluctantly and would love to reach our goal so we can stop asking already!
Please note: You can chip in to help TPC using the widget below via PayPal or major credit cards.
His excuse? A handful of incorrect entries appeared on a Virginia voter registration group’s mailing list. A few voter-registration forms were sent to Virginia residents that were addressed to dead relatives, family pets and others.
So what does Willard do? He salivates a lot and immediately notifies Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, asking him to start investigating before that “handful” can throw the entire election (to Obama)! Quick! There’s no time to waste! Call in the troops!
By the way, the group is nonprofit, and has helped register more than 1.5 million people since 2004. Last month they mailed out about 200,000 registration forms, but because their mailing list is from a zillion different sources, a small number were addressed improperly.
So naturally, the GOP is giddy over the prospect of potentially disenfranchising more than 15,000 voters in Virginia.
If someone were to actually register their dog or their dead relative to vote, that would be illegal. If someone were to actually try to impersonate a dog or a dead relative at the polls and cast a ballot, that would also be illegal. [...]
If mailing inadvertent forms were illegal, by that same standard, most political organizations like the Republican National Committee would be committing a “crime” every time they accidentally send out a campaign contribution solicitation to someone who has recently died. After all, it’s illegal for political parties to raise contributions from dead people.
But that doesn’t matter, because now Team Romney is using the mistakes to stop thousands of recently registered Virginians from voting.
By the way, the First Lady is trying to get more people to register, not fewer. Please click on her link and help her do just that:
Saturday, people all across the country will be registering voters and reaching out to their neighbors. Join in: OFA.BO/RFnATJ –mo
And now, because it’s election season and we’ll be extra busy, we GottaAsk. We do so reluctantly and would love to reach our goal so we can stop asking already!
Please note: You can chip in to help TPC using the widget below via PayPal or major credit cards.
And now, because it’s election season and we’ll be extra busy, we GottaAsk. We do so reluctantly and would love to reach our goal so we can stop asking already!
Please note: You can chip in to help TPC using the widget below via PayPal or major credit cards.
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