you live in a bubble world... many many examples of GOP induced voter suppression, and citizens united helped unleash dark money... all thanks to the conservative SCOTUS... but I'm sure you will try to spin it as untrue
North Carolina GOP Brags Racist Voter Suppression Is Working—and They’re Right
Early-voting data confirms that blacks in the swing state aren’t voting as much as in 2012—not for a lack of enthusiasm or effort, but because of rules designed to stop them.
As we reported last February, North Carolina’s new voter restrictions were the strictest in the nation, except perhaps Texas, which is not yet a swing state. And the patterns are easy to discern.
First, the ban on early voting hit Democrats more than Republicans: In 2012, 48 percent of North Carolina’s early voters were registered Democrats and 32 percent were registered Republicans, an edge of 140,000 Democratic voters. The restrictions in the 17 affected counties are sure to have a similar impact.
Second, voter-ID laws hit people of color disproportionately. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that 25 percent of black Americans lack a government-issued photo ID, compared to just 8 percent of whites. Low-income and elderly voters are also disproportionately affected.
Third, there’s the timing. Dale Ho, director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, told The Daily Beast that “Ten years ago there were zero states with a strict voter-ID law, and no states cutting back on early voting. All these laws started after the 2008 election, which saw record numbers of young voters and record participation by people of color. And then, as if by coincidence, we have all these laws passed—25 in 2011-12 alone—that disproportionately impact young people, people of color, and poor people. That is, to put it mildly, suspicious.”
Finally, the restrictions are chasing a “voter fraud” epidemic that—like Donald Trump’s claim that the entire election is rigged against him—simply has no evidence to support it. A detailed study by a Loyola University law professor found that between 2000 and 2014, there were indeed 31 reported instances of voter impersonation out of more than 1 billion ballots cast. In other words, the odds of voter fraud are 1 in 32 million. By way of comparison, your odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 134,906.
In short, challenging voter registrations, requiring IDs, ending early voting, and other voter suppression methods don’t stop fraud—they stop voting, particularly by people of color. |
