My friend and colleague Ari Berman along with Voting Rights Watch, The Nation’s collaborative project with Colorlines, have been offering Nation.com readers regular and extensive coverage of voter suppression efforts nationwide.
This list distills some essential points that their in-depth coverage has documented. Please share it with your friends, family and your Facebook and Twitter communities.
1. These are not bipartisan efforts. They are initiated by Republicans, passed by Republicans, and signed into law by Republicans.
2. The voters most likely to be burdened by these new voting restrictions lean heavily Democratic.
3. Restrictions on voting, like poll taxes and “literacy” tests, have a long history. They are used by one party to prevent supporters of another party from voting.
4. If someone were trying to steal an election, in-person voter fraud, where a voter pretends to be someone they are not, is highly inefficient. Absentee ballot stuffing is much easier. But the rolls show that more Republicans vote by absentee ballot, so no new restrictions on absentee voting have been proposed.
5. The Brennan Center has estimated that as many as 3.2 million citizens could find it harder to vote because of new voter ID laws.
Check out this website to see the state-by-state impact of any possible new voting laws where you live and find out exactly what you need to know in order to exercise your franchise this November.
