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.