Archive for voting
No rainbow for the Republicans.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Asian-Americans — who were a key part, if sometimes overlooked, of President Barack Obama’s 2012 electoral coalition — solidly back the Democratic Party, with 57% identifying as or leaning Democratic, compared with 28% identifying as or leaning Republican. Thirteen percent are “pure” independents. However, the data suggest that a substantial portion of Asian-Americans are not entirely wedded to either of the major political parties: 46% first describe themselves as independent or other, and only when asked if they “lean” Republican or Democratic does the Democratic Party garner its majority support within this group.
(snip)
Republicans did not perform well among Asian-Americans in the 2012 election, losing this group by an estimated 72% to 26% margin. Asian-Americans make up a small but growing portion of the total electorate, probably 3% in 2012. While both parties and the media have focused highly after the election on the similarly Democratically skewed Hispanic vote, these data are a reminder that the Republican Party suffers from a competitive problem with this minority bloc as well.
Via Rev. Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation:
New legislation passed by Republicans Tuesday is set to further restrict the list of acceptable documents voters may use to cast ballots in Virginia, changing voting rules in Virginia for the second time in just two years.
Andy Marquis, reporter for RACE22.com, is our guest blogger of the day. He used to consider himself a Republican but not any more. He changed his voter registration to Independent in 2011 and says that’s how it will remain.
Here’s his latest post:
So, a government issued ID is required to vote in Virginia, and was in the last election. President Obama won Virginia, so, now, the Virginia legislature is limiting the forms of government issued identification cards that are acceptable to those with only photo IDs. And they’re even considering another bill that even further limits the forms of acceptable ID.
Now, if we use the logic of the gun idiots about the Constitution prohibiting any and all regulation on gun ownership, the Constitution also prohibits any and all regulation on voting rights and anyone over 18 has an ABSOLUTE right to vote.
If these news laws pass, it will literally be easier to legally buy a firearm in Virginia than it will be to vote.
Amanda Turkel at HuffPo has some hopeful news for people who like to exercise their right to vote without having to stand in endlessly long lines, at the cost of lost time, often money and/or jobs, and even physical discomfort. Some people waited as long as nine hours. And don’t get me started on all the confusion, misleading information about Election Day being on Wednesday, the threatening-but-inaccurate Voter I.D. billboards, and cutting early voting days/hours:
Here’s to hope and change:
The Department of Justice is already exploring ways to “fix” the long lines and confusion voters faced when going to the polls this year…
Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said this at the George Washington University Law Review symposium:
“The Justice Department is considering whether we need to propose concrete solutions, such as a national standards for counting provisional ballots for federal elections, to ensure that voters are not disenfranchised by moves close to an election, by appearing at the wrong polling place, or by simple poll workers’ errors.” [...]
Perez also said it was time for the United States to rethink its system of partisan state and local election administration, which often leads both Democrats and Republicans to question officials’ motives behind election decisions.
He also embraced same-day voter registration and a system where individuals are automatically registered to vote by the government.
Then there’s Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which says, per Turkel’s post, that states and localities with a history of suppressing the rights of minorities must obtain “preclearance” from the Justice Department or a federal court before making changes that affect voting. But never fear, the Supreme Court will soon fix that!
“Section 5 continues to be necessary, and Section 5 is not over inclusive,” Perez said. “And that is why we will continue to vigorously defend Section 5 in the Supreme Court.”
My personal hope is that we the people won’t take much of a post-election breather and will continue to stay organized and pro-active. We simply can’t afford not to.
“In some parts of rural Maine, there were dozens, dozens of black people who came in and voted on Election Day. Everybody has a right to vote, but nobody in town knows anyone who’s black. How did it happen? I don’t know. We’re going to find out. I think it’s a problem.”
You heard that right, the chief Republican poo-bah in Maine finds it odd that mystery “blah people” in rural Maine turned out to vote. Why, those pesky “urban” voters! Who do they think they are, and where do they get off thinking they can cast ballots like white people? How dare they? WHO are they? Where’d they come from?
Dun-dun-dunnn!
Besides, everyone who’s anyone knows that President Obama got black people to vote by giving them all kinds of free “gifts” or they’d never have turned out. He “wooed” them! With free stuff!
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
And whoa Nelly! Justwaitaminutethere! Maine’s not 100% lily white? Why didn’t anyone notify GOP state chairman Charlie Webster?!
GOP state chairman Charlie Webster aims to find those who committed the alleged fraud fraud by sending thank you cards to voters, and seeing if they are returned to sender… [A]nd having a piece of mail bounce back is not proof that voters intentionally lied about their address.
UPDATE via Tagean. Here’s his defense. Oy:
Said Webster: “There’s nothing about me that would be discriminatory. I know black people. I play basketball every Sunday with a black guy. He’s a great friend of mine. Nobody would ever accuse me of suggesting anything.”
Again: Voter I.D. fraud is nearly non-existent, and, of course, the GOP-generated Voter I.D. laws affect mostly Democratic voters.
As I’ve written previously, it’s the Republicans who have tried to suppress the vote in several Republican-run states, and from the reports I’ve seen, it’s Republicans who have been caught committing voter fraud.
Voter I.D. fraud is nearly non-existent, and, of course, the GOP-generated Voter I.D. laws affect mostly Democratic voters.
Yet here is Team Romney’s Wisconsin co-chair, GOP state Sen. Alberta Darling going on about how Willard would have won her state if only those voter ID laws had been, you know, constitutional.
ABC affiliate host:
“Do you think photo ID would have made any difference in the outcome of this election?”
Alberta Darling:
“Absolutely, I think so.”
There is a simple answer to Darling’s question about why voter ID cannot exist in Wisconsin — the state constitution does not allow it. [...]
President Obama currently leads in Wisconsin by more than 200,000 votes. So Darling is suggesting that 200,000 people somehow managed to vote twice without anyone noticing — or perhaps that one person voted 200,001 times.
There’s that abysmal Republican arithmetic again.
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