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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 3, 2011)
opinion Republicans undermining the Right to Vote By lee a. Saunders afSCmE Secretary- Treasurer There is no right more precious in our nation than the right of citizens to cast a ballot on Election Day. That is why generations of Americans have sacrificed and even died in efforts to expand the right to vote. Yet across the country, pow- erful corporate interests and the right-wing politicians who do their bidding are working hard to make it more difficult for citizens to vote. In more than two dozen states this year, bills have been introduced to restrict the right to vote; and in several states where Wall Street-backed Republicans control both houses of the legislature, governors have signed these fundamentally mis- guided measures into law. As a result of these cyn- ical attempts to turn back from the progress America has made in expanding voting rights, millions of voters are in for a surprise when they go to the polls. They will find new requirements that have never before existed, requirements that have been put in place to keep particular voters – students, minorities and senior citizens – from having their voices heard in our democracy. In Ohio, for example, E mPlOYEES f EDEraTION Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-con- Lee Saunders trolled Legi sla - ture pushed through a meas- before Election Day. Voters ure that limits early voting whose jobs, family respon- and places new burdensome sibilities or disabilities requirements on absentee make it difficult for them to ballots. “I think it is very stand in long lines, often for calculated,” said State Sen. many hours, will now find it Nina Turner of Cleveland. harder to exercise their fun- The corporate-backed damental right to vote. Ohio is not alone in enact- restrictions on voting are designed to reduce the abili- ing voter suppression ty of low-income and laws. In Florida, Gov. Rick minority voters to cast a bal- Scott pushed through a vast lot, particularly by forcing set of new and burdensome that are boards of elections to close regulations their doors on the weekend designed to restrict the abil- ity of working middle-class voters to cast a ballot. The period for early voting shrinks dramatically, and voters who have moved to a new county or have mar- ried and changed their names in the months prior to an election will not have their ballots counted on Election Day. Since the 1960s, Florida voters have been able to change their address or name at their precinct during early voting or on Election Day. But now they will only be given provisional ballots which may or may not be counted. In Wisconsin this May, Gov. Scott Walker and his corporate-backed cronies in Madison enacted a law that will require every Page 6 The Portland Skanner august 3, 2011 voter to show a govern- ment-issued identifica- tion card before they are able to cast a vote. Hundreds of thousands of Badger State voters will be denied their right to vote. A study conducted by the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee determined that this change in Wisconsin’s law will have a seri- ous impact, par- ticularly on stu- dents and minorities. More than 50 percent of the African-American men and 49 percent of African- American women in the state do not have a driver’s license or passport. More than three out of every four young African-American males in the state lack such state-issued identification. That shouldn’t surprise us. While most adult Americans have a driver’s license, it is not necessarily true for large groups of Americans. Students, other young people and the work- ing poor living in metropol- itan areas often rely on mass transit, rather than own a car. Senior citizens living in nursing homes or with their families often give up driv- ing. The blind and others with physical disabilities don’t drive. All of them will be affected by these new restrictions. Proponents claim that these changes are necessary to protect against voter fraud, but as a detailed study published by the many of the same states where the wealthy have attacked collective bargain- ing rights, privatized public services and cut programs that serve the working mid- dle class to the bone. They have every reason to fear ‘There has never been in my lifetime – since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting – the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today’ — Former President Bill Clinton Brennan Center for Justice notes: “By any measure, voter fraud is extraordinarily rare.” Former Pres. Bill Clinton got to the heart of the matter in early July when he summed up the efforts made to restrict the right to vote: “There has never been in my lifetime – since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting – the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today.” What these laws are really about is consolidating the power-grab of the billion- aires and Wall Street corpo- rate barons. It is no coinci- dence that these restrictions on voting rights occur in that the Main Street Movement created in the wake of their regressive policies would hold them accountable for their actions on Election Day. That is why they are attacking the right of sen- iors, minorities and workers to cast an unfettered vote. That is why their actions are not only wrong, but a direct assault on our nation’s com- mitment to democracy. Voters have every right to be angry about these cynical efforts. We need to hold accountable the politicians who took these radical steps the next time we vote, before they eliminate our voice at the ballot box com- pletely.
