Rachel Maddow: Voter Suppression in 2011

Republicans all over the country have introduced bills that would reduce voter turnout in over 40 states.

-The Rachel Maddow Show, July 15, 2011

*More info about voter ID laws:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/politics/29vote.html
http://www.democrats.org/the-real-cost-of-photo-id-laws

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[josephc28]

What is so hard about going to get a state issued ID? You go down to the DMV, stand in line, and have your picture taken. As long as the state or federal issued ID has your name and address, what's so hard about that?

[ccg711]

@Faboba requirements no matter what party. Dems aren't the only ones to procrastinate. You call it suspicious, i call it paranoia. Proving residency is the point, assuming it's a repub attack on dems because of the suggestion it will hurt late registering dems is simply a matter of unintended consequences. wanna call it an attack on dems because repubs are trying to eliminate voter fraud then that's a different conversation, cause that's what the repubs will say. belief what you want.

[ccg711]

@Faboba i'm not even doubting chl's lean conservative, but so does an overwhelming majority of the states voting districts. my point is she provides no proof to her point and works on pure biased assumption that isn't hidden. she doesn' t truly connect any of the dots, she just expects the liberal (assumption on my part based on my experience) viewers of her channel to agree with her. and they do without any thought. also it's the voters responsibility to ensure they meet registration.......

[Faboba]

@ccg711 ...wildly different from the rest of the country (though I appreciate there's likely an urban/rural skew there). I reiterate that I think it seems a reasonable assumption to make that CHL will be heavily skewed towards Republicans and Independents and therefore not unreasonable to remark on in passing on the show and if you don't agree we'll just have to politely differ.

[Faboba]

@ccg711 Okay, I've had a look. There's definitely no data on CHL vs party affiliation in Texas. Most gun vs party data I can find is national. It's possibly that there'll be data on NRA membership vs party affiliation by state somewhere but I've not found it in a couple of minutes checking. The best I can offer is the NRA's rating of Texas Dem House reps, only one of was given an A and most an F, which I take to be an indication the TX attitudes to gun control by party affiliation aren't...

[Faboba]

@ccg711 ...it's absurd for Maddow to think otherwise. As far as (b) goes the argument is straightforward enough; not everyone is informed about the changes in time and not everyone who is informed bothers to do anything before the application deadlines (procrastination etc). We already know this, from the popularity of late voter registration. The fact that Republicans are pushing for regulations with will disproportionately affect demographics who vote DEM is suspicious to put it mildly.

[Faboba]

@ccg711 Okay, I'm confused because you seem to be claiming two things. a) That Maddow/I don't know the voting habits of those with concealed carry permits in Texas (true, I don't /know/ but I'd be willing to bet money Texas isn't so different from the rest of the US in that regard) and b) that demanding forms of voter ID doesn't restrict the franchise. I won't argue (a) - if you honestly believe holders of concealed permits in Texas aren't mostly GOP voters that's your call, but I don't think...

[ccg711]

@Faboba see i'm commenting on texas only because that's where i live, i wouldn't presume to speak of other areas. the problem is you have no idea the area or the values of the people and neither does she. a lot of our democrats are not as liberal. she does not cite any source as to the political makeup of texas chl holders so the argument is based on her beliefs and is flawed from the get go. CHL proves residency, as required by the other voting laws. How is proof of residency restricting??

[Faboba]

@ccg711 The point is that people with concealed gun licenses are likely overwhelmingly Republican voters. That state Republican parties are selecting voting rules which foreseeably have a disproportionately negative impact on groups likely to vote Democrat is her narrative, so if Texas is including an exemption for a group of likely Republican voters I don't see how that's not consistent with it.

[BlackRepublican2010]

"Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights — that’s suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don’t; I’ve heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I’ve been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results." Artur Davis, Black Democrat Congressman who admits voter ID is needed.