How to get the Fed out of your life, GOP style (Part 1)

Let’s take a look at how the GOP is bound and determined to get the Fed out of your life.

Requiring State approved photo I.D’s.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 31 states require all voters to show ID before voting at the polls. In 15 of these, the ID must include a photo of the voter; in the remaining 16, non-photo forms of ID are acceptable. Voter ID laws can be broken down into the three following categories

Strict Photo ID (8 states): Voters must show a photo ID in order to vote. Voters who are unable to show photo ID at the polls are permitted to vote a provisional ballot, which is counted only if the voter returns to election officials within several days after the election to show a photo ID.

Photo ID (7 states): Voters are asked to show a photo ID in order to vote. Voters who are unable to show photo ID are still allowed to vote if they can meet certain other critieria. In some states, a voter with ID can vouch for a voter without. Other states ask a voter without ID to provide personal information such as a birth date, or sign an affidavit swearing to his or her identity.

Non-Photo ID (16 states): All voters must show ID at the polls. The list of acceptable IDs is varied and includes options that do not have a photo, such as a utility bill or bank statement with the voter’s name and address.

Why, you ask? Massive voter fraud. You know all those ________ (insert illegal Hispanics, Gays, African Americans, convicts, unidentified flying objects, men from mars, Smerfs here) who got President Obama elected. The thing is, the facts don’t jibe with the rhetoric. From 2002 thru 2005, all of 38 cases of voter fraud were prosecuted by the Justice Department. Of those 38, 14 were dismissed or acquitted, the remaining 23 plead out or resulting in guilty verdicts.

In response to a report issued by the NAACP, which details what it considers to be suppression attempts that could adversely impact millions of black voters, the Republican National Lawyers Association issued a document outlining what they say are voter fraud prosecutions and convictions in 46 states. “In just a limited study by one staffer, RNLA was able to find vote fraud convictions and prosecutions in 46 states,” crowed David Norcross, the RNLA’s chair. “Yet, groups like the NAACP and the so-called ‘non-partisan’ Brennan Center continue to deny vote fraud.” Just one problem. The NAACP’s report doesn’t say voter fraud is non-existent. It says “the risk of voter fraud appears to be little more than an after-the-fact rationalization for discriminatory laws” and asserts that “instances of in-person voter fraud are extraordinarily rare.” For example, out of 9 MILLION votes cast in Ohio during the 2004 and 2008 election cycles, 4 instances of voter fraud were found.
More recently, the NRLA cites a single instance of voter fraud in the recent New Hampshire Republican primary as “proof” of massive voter fraud. The thing is, that one instance of alleged voter fraud was set up and coordinated by none other than James O’Keefe, who told the Daily Caller “There’s no misrepresentation in these videos if you watch them — we didn’t lie about who we were”. Only in retardland is representing yourself as a dead person not lying, James.

Purging Voter rolls

In 2008, The Brennan Center for Justice released a report which found the purging process to be “secretive, prone to error, and vulnerable to manipulation. Voters are rarely informed that they are being removed from the rolls, and often states rely on poor matching criteria to determine if a voter is eligible. Without specific guidelines for or limitations on the authority of election officials conducting purges, eligible voters are regularly made unnecessarily vulnerable”.

From the great State of Florida comes an excellent example of the poor criteria used:

Folks were purged from voter rolls if 80% (you heard right folks, 80%, not 100%) of the letters in their last names were the same as convicted criminals. One glaring examples of this in the Brennan Report is the purging of Reverend Willie D. Whiting Jr., who was considered the same person as Willie J. Whiting.

Elimination of 3rd Party Registration Programs

Once again, the great State of Florida is in the vanguard of voter suppression. The passage of HB 1355 imposes strict tight submission deadlines of voter registration forms as well as fines and penalties for delays or mistakes.
Both, Rock the Vote and the League of Women’s Voters have suspended voter drives in the State.

For more on Florida’s voter suppression law read:

http://floridaindependent.com/60603/dawn-quarles-pam-bondi

http://floridaindependent.com/61139/aclu-of-florida-league-of-women-voters-voter-registration

For the best overview of nationwide voter suppression read:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830?page=2

With the exception of James O’Keefe and his stupid attempt to prove voter fraud in the New Hampshire Republican Primary this year just who is creating fraud on the American People?

Yours truly,

political ole lady