Tag: voter suppression

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Biden, Karofsky Win As Wisconsin (Finally) Counts Primary Vote

A week after Wisconsin voters were forced to choose between staying safe from the COVID-19 threat and voting in their state’s election, the results are finally being tabulated. First, former Vice President Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the Democratic primary there. With 63 percent of the vote counted, he currently has 64 percent of the vote versus Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) with 31 percent. Republican lawmakers in the state forced the elections last week and refused to extend any mail-in vote deadlines primarily because a state Supreme Court seat was being decided and the GOPers know lower turnout favors their side. But not in this instance. Even though polling sites in Milwaukee (a Democratic stronghold) were cut from 180 to only 5, the voters did turn out, they stood in line, and they chose the liberal in the race, Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky. Her victory marks the first time in a dozen years a Supreme Court challenger beat an incumbent.

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Wisconsin Voters Head To The Polls Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Long lines for voters in Wisconsin today after GOP lawmakers were able to stop a proposed postponement of the state primary due to COVID-19. Wisconsin is the first state to proceed with in-person voting since most states enacted stay-at-home orders. Wisconsin Democrats wanted to extend absentee voting and even postpone the election altogether, but state Republicans fought to block both in legal wrangling. Democratic turnout is expected to be low due to the virus and today’s deadline for mail-in ballots. From the Washington Post:

Hundreds of voters stood in lines that stretched for blocks in several Wisconsin cities Tuesday morning to cast their ballots amid fears about the spread of the coronavirus, a chaotic start to elections in the state that went forward only after a last-minute legal battle.

Morning scenes at the polls across Milwaukee — which was able to open only five polling locations, down from 180 — underscored the near-unprecedented challenge facing election administrators one day after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers sought to suspend in-person voting in light of the covid-19 pandemic, an order that was quickly reversed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The decision was a victory for the state’s GOP-controlled legislature, which had declined to postpone the election and filed a legal challenge to Evers’s order, arguing it exceeded the governor’s constitutional authority.

No results will be released until Monday as so many mail-in ballots (which have to be postmarked by today) are in play. According to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, there were 1,273,374 absentee ballots mailed out and 864,750 were returned which already exceeds the record 830,763 absentee ballots received in the 2016 general election. The New York Times reports there are voters waiting in line for up to two hours in Milwaukee where there are only five polling stations open instead of the usual 180 polling sites.

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Study Shows Wisconsin’s New, Stricter Voter-ID Laws Suppressed 200,000 2016 Votes

Hillary Clinton’s loss in the 2016 election has been described as “death by a thousand cuts.”

Clinton herself has admitted mistakes on behalf of her campaign, but it’s also impossible to not point to FBI Director James Comey’s announcement reviving the issue of Hillary’s emails just 11 days before the election, plus the Wikileaks constant drip of DNC emails.

Add another component to her loss as The Nation shares the results of a study that shows Wisconsin’s new strict voter-ID laws caused a drop of 200,000 fewer votes than in 2012.

Trump won Wisconsin by 22,748 votes.

Those lost votes tended to skew more Democratic and more African-American.

According to the study, states that did not implement stricter voting-ID laws saw participation increase by 1.3%. The states that did add tougher ID restrictions saw 3.3% less voters at the polls.

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North Carolina GOP Boasts About Suppressing African-American Vote

The North Carolina Republican Party sent out a stunning press release today that literally bragged about it’s success in depressing the black vote this election cycle.

African American Early Voting is down 8.5% from this time in 2012.

A big part of the vote suppression was limiting the early voting methods used most often by African Americans — including eliminating “Souls to the Polls Sunday” and reducing the number of early voting locations.

Check the text of the press release below via Ari Berman:

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US Supreme Court Allows Controversial Texas Voter ID Law

The US Supreme Court has ruled that Texas can use its controversial new voter identification law for the upcoming November election.

Opponents of the law maintain that with no real examples of voter fraud, the law is actually framed to suppress voter turnout in Democratic districts.

From Talking Points Memo:

A majority of the justices rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring voters to produce certain forms of photo identification in order to cast ballots. Three justices dissented.

The law was struck down by a federal judge last week, but a federal appeals court had put that ruling on hold. The judge found that roughly 600,000 voters, many of them black or Latino, could be turned away at the polls because they lack acceptable identification. Early voting in Texas begins Monday.

“The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters,” Ginsburg wrote in dissent.

The law sets out seven forms of approved ID — a list that includes concealed handgun licenses but not college student IDs, which are accepted in other states with similar measures.

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The Daily Show Public Service Announcement – “Voting Makes You Gay”

At the end of The Daily Show’s report on the very serious issue of voter suppression in North Carolina, the Comedy Central team added just a bit of snark to drive its point home.

After an interview where a North Carolina official admitted to engaging in voter suppression tactics, several out actors thought they’d give right-wingers a taste of their own medicine.

Jane Lynch, Neil Patrick Harris, and Ellen DeGeneres all demand that you “Vote,” in the 12-second clip below. And in doing so, they claim “voting makes you gay.”

“That’s right, Republicans,” says Quinto. “Voting makes you gay.”

(via Advocate)

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PA GOP – “Voter ID laws are gonna allow Gov. Romney to win”

This weekend, Pennsylvania Republican House Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) finally admitted what so many have speculated: Voter identification efforts are meant to suppress Democratic votes in this year’s election.

At the Republican State Committee meeting, Turzai took the stage and let slip the truth about why Republicans are so insistent on voter identification efforts — it will win Romney the election, he said:

“We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years,” said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.
“Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Voter identification efforts disproportionately affect low-income voters of color, a typically Democratic demographic. Despite insistence by Republicans that the efforts are needed to prevent misconduct on election day, voter fraud is less likely than being hit by lighting.

(via ThinkProgress)