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( B b g e r U C t ________________________ Page9 November21,2012____________________________£ J’1 GOP Voter Suppression Backfires seniors) from voting. One GOP offi cial in Ohio said early voting cuts were necessary to check the power of "the urban — read African-Ameri can - voter-turnout machine." A leader of the Tea Party group "True the Vote" said he wanted to make the experience of voting "like driving and seeing the police fol lowing you." The Republican House speaker in New Hampshire said re strictions on college students vot ing were needed because "voting as a lib eral... that's what kids do." To reduce turnout among these groups, Republican officials de ployed a variety of tactics. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted and Florida Gov. Rick Scott slashed the amount of time available for early voting, which is dispropor tionately utilized by m inority and low-incom e voters. GOP legisla tors in Pennsylvania enacted a photo ID law, and then failed to establish adequate procedures for allowing more than 700,000 Penn sylvanians who lacked photo ID to obtain one. Voter purges attempted by Gov. Scott and Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler targeted thou sands of lawfully registered vot ers. "True the Vote" — surely a Marching to polls as never before D onna B razile and W ill C rossley For more than two years Repub licans have campaigned and legis lated against the right of certain groups of people to vote. On Elec tion Day, Republicans suffered the consequences. The very groups the GOP tar geted - among them African Ameri cans, Latinos, and young people -- turned out in record numbers, pro pelling to victory the president and Democrats across the country. The Republicans' strategy failed be cause it awakened the most power ful force in a democracy: the deter mination of the voters themselves. Republican lawmakers and con servative activists undertook a con certed effort to keep minorities, stu dents and those with lower or fixed incomes (including many of our by le a d in g c a n d id a te fo r th e Newspeak Award - challenged m inority voter registrations on an unprecedented scale. T he O bam a cam p aig n , the Dem ocratic National Com m ittee, and other voting rights advo- ‘ cates responded by challenging many of these restrictionsin court. The courts blocked many o f the w o rst m e a s u re s , in c lu d in g Pennsylvania's photo ID law and the bulk o f Florida's voter purge. The O bam a cam paign and the DNC successfully litigated to re store the final three days o f early voting for all Ohioans, and de fended this right all the way to the Supreme Court. Yet the untold story o f the 2012 election is not the efforts o f law yers or activists, but the unyield ing determ ination o f everyday ordinary citizens determ ined to cast their ballots. They won on Tuesday. Here's why. When Secretary Husted tried to change election rules last year, Ohioans responded by gathering 300,000 signatures toward a refer endum that successfully suspended the law. After we successfully re stored access for the last three days of early voting, the African-Ameri can com m unity participated in record numbers, aided by a massive turnout for Souls to the Polls on the Sunday before Election Day. Over all, the African-American share Of the Ohio electorate was more than in 2008. In Florida, 150 black pastors organized "Operation Lemonade" — named for the "lemon" they were handed when Gov. Scott cut early voting. A lthough the state re duced the num ber o f early voting days from 14 to eight, and elim i nated voting on the Sunday be fore Election Day, nearly as many voters — 2.4 m illion in all — voted early as in 2008. On Election Day, voters stood with determination in unconsciona bly long lines, some that stretched for up to seven hours. Though some voters were elderly, frail, missing work, or simply exhausted, they re fused, undeterred by the line and in fact galvanized by the bad intent. Voters and activists used social media to stand in solidarity as the hashtag #StayInLine quickly began trending on Twitter. People were so determined to vote that many poll ing places ran out of provisional ballots. When the dust settled, the very Ending the Partisan Gridlock by M arc M orial You might ex pect that one of the longest and most intense presiden tial campaigns in American history should be followed by a period of rest and celebration. We cannot afford that luxury at this time. While we congratulate President Obama and Vice President Biden on their decisive victory last week, we believe that urgent issues like the approaching fiscal cliff, the educa tion of our children, continuing high unemployment and a still sluggish economic recovery require immedi- ate action. The American people not only voted to make President Obama a two-term president, they voted for the end of partisan gridlock in Washington and a government that gets things done. That is why on the day after the election I sent a letter addressed to President Obama, Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Speaker John Boehner, urging them to immediately get to work on four critical priorities for the next four years: A comprehensive jobs program executed through a partnership among government, the private sec tor and the nation's non-profit com munity. **’* jportlani) tObseruer Established 1970 Charles H. Washington EDiroR.Michael L eighton A ssistant to P ublisher , P ubuc R elations : M ark W ashington C reative D irector : P aul N e u feld t A ssistant to P ublisher , O ffice M anager /C lassifieds : Lucinda Baldwin A ssistant P ublisher : Leonard Latin A dvertising M anager , P ublic R elations : Tony Washington S taff W riter /P hotographer : Can Hachmann E ditor - in -C hief , P ublisher : An intense focus on children and youth, with a national policy to move the nation toward universal early childhood education, an expansion of the effort to make post-second ary education affordable, and an emphasis on job training and skills retraining for those who did not finish high school on time. A comprehensive new approach to community safety and crime re duction, with a stronger enforce ment of existing gun laws, re-enact ment of the assault weapons ban and a thoughtful examination of dis parities in the criminal justice sys tem. And finally, a fair and sensible deficit reduction plan that includes ----------------- Donna Brazile is vice chair woman and Will Crossly is voter protection director for the Demo cratic National Committee. American people want to get things done one dollar in revenue enhance ments for every dollar in spending cuts. In my letter I emphasized that the devastation of Superstorm Sandy exposed the desperately slim mar gin to which our most vulnerable citizens cling. Even before the storm hit, African American and Latino unemployment had been over 10 percent for the past four years. It currently registers at 13.8 percent and 9.7 percent respectively. In addition, if Congress and the President fail to reach an agreement by New Year’s Day, $ 1.2 trillion in automatic across-the-board cuts will be made to domestic and de fense programs, including draco USPS 959-680 --------------------- groups targeted for suppression and intimidation had voted in record numbers. Compared to 2008, Afri can Am ericans, Hispanics, and people under age 29 all represented a greater share of the national elec torate. In September, Georgia congress man and civil rights icon John Lewis told the Democratic National Con vention: I've seen this before. I lived this before. Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it pos sible for every American to exercise their right to vote. And we have come too far together to ever turn back... [WJe must not be silent. We must stand up, speak up, and speak out. We must march to the polls like never, ever before. On Election Day, we marched to the polls, and persevered lines as long as necessary to cast our bal lots. We marched and stood for many reasons—not least among them, the refusal to let others trample on our hard-won rights. Those seek ing to do so would be wise to heed this lesson in the years to come. nian cuts to education, nutrition programs for women, infants and children and low-income heating assistance. Avoiding the so-called “fiscal c liff’ of sequestration and reducing the deficit in a way that is fair must be the first order of business. The National Urban League will soon convene an Urban Ideas Fo rum with policy and program ex perts, private sector executives and analysts to elevate the discussion of income inequality, disparities in education and workforce invest ment. Marc Morial is president and chief executive officer o f the Na tional Urban League. 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE KIRT LAND OBSERVER. 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