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Voter Suppression? - Yes it does exist From: Mother Mags This week the Arizona legislature will open hearings into the clusterf*ck that took place in Maricopa County last Tuesday, usually referred to as the Arizona primary, although technically ours is not a primary—it’s the Presidential Preference Election. Protesters will also gather at the capitol (signs are posted downtown), demanding an end to Republican-led voter suppression. There’s a reason Arizona was subject to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, along with a handful of mostly racist southern states. Old-timers will remember a young Phoenix lawyer named William Rehnquist, who hung out at the polls and questioned people of color. There’s a history here and it’s coming back. Since 2013, when the Supremes gutted Section 5, Arizona’s extremist legislature, run by bigots, fundamentalists and the chamber of commerce, has only acted to make voting harder, never to make the right easier. Only more discrimination, never less. nstead of getting easier, it is getting harder and harder to participate on election day. What for previous generations was a celebration of democracy has devolved into drudgery that erodes confidence in the outcome. In addition to last week’s shit sandwich, Gov. Ducey just signed a bill that outlaws ballot harvesting, a practice that tends to help Democrats, minority districts, the poor and disabled. Republicans gripe about voter fraud, but there’s never been a verified case of wrongdoing. Sure, there’s a lot of GOP-planted suspicion and rumor, mostly about (surprise!) young brown people collecting ballots. During debate on the bill Republicans admitted there’s no fraud, but said the law is still necessary because people think there might be fraud. Okaaaaay. Others said the practice, being legal, invites fraud. That’s a whole other diary right there. Sometimes I think these bozos are too stupid to insult. |
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3/29/2016 9:52 am |
In Canada we have always tried, for the most part, to get as many people as possible out to vote. The Conservatives, when they were in power, changed the rules to make it more difficult for people to get to the polls. The target demographic of these changes was, of course, those less inclined to vote Conservative. The Cons also used phone calls to misdirect people to the polls.
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