The GOP war on voting - Page 111 - Politics and Economics

I read most of the decision and basically the legislature asked for the racial make up of various voting issues like early voting, same day registration, etc etc and in every case wherever African Americans were predominant it got cut.

When asked what problems the cuts to early voting, eliminating same day registration, etc would be beneficial the defense couldn't give an adequate answer.

07-29-2016 , 05:11 PM

#2752

CPHoya

Warden of Taipan Island

Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 73,265

Quote:

Originally Posted by CPHoya

It is at this time that we point out how absurd it is for a 'conservative' to argue about Supreme Court Justices, or any Judge, "just applying the law," or just "calling balls and strikes." You can't institutionalize gerrymandered voting districts, voter ID, and racial voter suppression without corrupted Federalist Society racist activists like Scalia and Alito being retrograde activists from the bench.

This is another point about American politics that it is annoying to have to reprise over and over and over and over again.

It's actually insane that the "activist" Warren Court is viewed to be the Court that did not apply the law accurately, given that those Justices were enforcing fundamental Constitutional principles of fairness in order to root out legally unConstitutional bigotry and oppression, while Scalia spent the majority of his career carving out fake Constitutional exceptions to approve and enshrine in law any form of traditional anglo bigotry that crossed his desk.

Perhaps this belongs in another thread, with a longer argument, but this stuff gets me GOING.

07-29-2016 , 05:14 PM

#2753

Loki

binary duo

Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 12,772

Quote:

The photo ID requirement, which applies only to in-person voting and not to absentee voting, is too narrow to combat fraud. On the one hand, the State has failed to identify even a single individual who has ever been charged with committing in-person voter fraud in North Carolina. On the other, the General Assembly did have evidence of alleged cases of mail- in absentee voter fraud. Notably, the legislature also had evidence that absentee voting was not disproportionately used by African Americans; indeed, whites disproportionately used absentee voting. The General Assembly then exempted absentee voting from the photo ID requirement.

Just crazy.

07-29-2016 , 05:26 PM

#2754

Riverman

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Does any issue more perfectly capture the modern GOP?

07-29-2016 , 09:47 PM

#2755

master3004

Revisionist Historian

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 56,460

Quote:

Originally Posted by Noodle Wazlib

Just crazy.

Holy ****.

Can anybody reasonably support voter id after this? Honestly?

07-30-2016 , 07:31 AM

#2756

einbert

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Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,911

Quote:

Originally Posted by master3004

Holy ****.

Can anybody reasonably support voter id after this? Honestly?

Mat Sklansky is currently carrying water for Voter ID policies in the Tragic Death thread, claiming they are "just common sense". Of course they are still going to support Voter ID. Conservative channels probably won't cover this ruling very much, and conservatives will just continue to claim exactly the same lies they've claimed all along about Voter ID. They are already defending the overturned policy and it hasn't even been a full day!

07-30-2016 , 08:15 AM

#2757

Csaba

veteran

Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 3,131

The GOP's stance on voter ID is one of those things that seems perfectly reasonable at face value. As soon as you look into the specifics it is obvious that it is a complete and utter **** show.

07-30-2016 , 08:26 AM

#2758

Loki

binary duo

Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 12,772

I had to argue with a guy on Twitter for a half hour before he would even read an article about the case. One lady simply refused to read it. Just kept saying "point to the explicit racism in the law itself!"

These die-hards have it tied up in their identities that they could never support something "racist", and they support voter ID, ergo voter ID simply cannot be racist. It's basic math.

07-30-2016 , 02:42 PM

#2759

simplicitus

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Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 10,841

Quote:

Originally Posted by Csaba

The GOP's stance on voter ID is one of those things that seems perfectly reasonable at face value. As soon as you look into the specifics it is obvious that it is a complete and utter **** show.

Unless you specifically want to disenfranchise people, it's a pretty good proxy for "low information voter." It's the sort of "commonsense" solution to a nonexistent problem that just happens to get GOP politicians elected.

Really pleased that more and more courts are giving the old "but nah" to the efforts, sometimes without pulling punches.

07-30-2016 , 02:46 PM

#2760

iron81

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Parts of Wisconsin voter ID law also tossed: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepo...388708211.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by District Judge James Peterson

"I reach this conclusion because I am persuaded that this law was specifically targeted to curtail voting in Milwaukee without any other legitimate purpose.

"The Legislature's immediate goal was to achieve a partisan objective, but the means of achieving that objective was to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee's African-Americans."

07-30-2016 , 03:24 PM

#2761

master3004

Revisionist Historian

Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 56,460

Burn em all down baby. One by one.

07-31-2016 , 03:14 AM

#2762

RainierWolfcastle

adept

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,151

So what I've learned from analyzing the dregs of the internet is that this proves liberals are the real racists because they think blacks are too stupid to get proper ID or vote on the allowed days.

08-01-2016 , 12:14 PM

#2763

Huehuecoyotl

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Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 29,296

Quote:

Originally Posted by RainierWolfcastle

So what I've learned from analyzing the dregs of the internet is that this proves liberals are the real racists because they think blacks are too stupid to get proper ID or vote on the allowed days.

Even if you have a card, In Georgia the courts will really make sure the information on it is correct. In the service of policing voter fraud of course.

Quote:

Last week, for instance, a U.S. appeals court struck down a North Carolina voter ID law that it said was specifically designed to lower turnout among black voters. And now the New York Times is reporting that a town in Georgia is using its police department to challenge the rights of its black residents to vote.

Specifically, the Times reports that the Hancock County Board of Elections and Registration has been “systematically questioning the registrations of more than 180” black residents in Sparta, Georgia “by dispatching deputies with summonses commanding them to appear in person to prove their residence or lose their voting rights.”

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/08/a-ge...ezZsN0.twitter

I'm just glad the Supreme Court could peer across the land and determine the age of racism was over and the Voter Rights Act was from a bygone age.

08-08-2016 , 12:27 PM

#2764

suzzer99

Save the Cheerleader, Save the World

Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 100,193

JFC exchange with dude who runs the political mailing list i'm on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-SigmaNeoconTurnedTrumpfan

I think any American who believes the USA is a special place because of and not in spite of the Constitution, and who is cautious about any interpretation or expansion of the constitution will be hard pressed to vote for Hillary when they get their head inside the ballot box. I read some of the text of the court rullings overturning Texas and NC voter ID law this weekend...Jesus Christ. Those are full on activist progressive rulings, not rooted in evidence or scholarly jurisprudence, but just in pure partisan political orthodoxy. I was actually shocked at the blatant disregard for facts in the case AND past court rulings (including Supreme Court ruling on the matter a few years back). Matt and Mark were cheerleading about these cases because they fit an ideology. But these were blatant acts of judicial legislation. You honestly have to dislike America to want Hillary to put 2 more liberal judges on the SCOTUS bench.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzzer

Please list specific examples of judicial activism in those rulings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-SigmaNeoconTurnedTrumpfan

I'll give you three.

1. In both NC and Texas, there was no evidence, implied or otherwise, that the voter ID laws were motivated by racial prejudice. Yet that was the reason they were overturned. I get it that blacks were (allegedly) disproportionately affected, but that in itself does not constitute evidence of discrimination.

2. In both cases, the court ignored factual evidence that African American voter registration increased at higher rates than other demographic voter blocs after the laws were put in place. Why would they not take that data into consideration?

3. The court in the NC case disregarded the 2005 SCOTUS precedent set in Indiana, which allowed states to determine how to regulate voting requirements provided they aren't restricting access. Since voter ID laws around the country have actually led to increased voter turnout in most cases, it isn't clear that the NC law restricted access.

At the very least, these cases were very gray. I'm no legal scholar but I would prefer that courts leave legislation in the hands of democratically elected bodies except where overwhelming evidence suggests unconstitutionality. I have repeatedly stated that most of these laws were enacted for partisan GOP reasons, but partisanship alone does not signify that something is unlawful (not that it isn't practical). If states can ask people to show IDs to attain a marriage or gun license, it stands to reason they can ask the same for voting. Even if you don't like these laws, you should be concerned by courts taking such an active role in deciding to what degree states can legislate themselves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzzer

#1. Ah the old standard of "Unless you use the N-word or specifically claim you are doing something for racial ends, we must give you the benefit of the doubt to levels which strain credulity". Come on son. They asked for information about how black people were likely to register and vote, and then on day 1 when freed from the Voting Rights Act implemented laws aimed squarely at every instance they found which were likely to be use by more blacks than not.

The judges noted that Republican leaders had drafted their restrictions on voting only after receiving data indicating that African-Americans would be the voters most significantly affected by them.

A federal appeals court decisively struck down North Carolina’s voter identification law on Friday, saying its provisions deliberately “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision” in an effort to depress black turnout at the polls.

#2 If I put a law in place that is so discriminatory it motivates the target of my discrimination to fight back, does that make it somehow not discriminatory? Also how about the factual evidence that in-person voter fraud doesn't exist? I'm no legal expert but isn't there a concept in law that you must show actual harm before enacting a law to solve said harm (an imaginary problem in this case.

#3 They are restricting access. That's the whole point. They've shut down DMV offices, made licenses harder to get, deliberately only allowed ID white people are likely to have, etc. They're also solving a non-existent problem. Who cares how many people support them. You're basically arguing that poll tax and literacy tests should also be legal.

Lol at the idea I should be concerned about courts doing the right thing, but be ok Republican legislatures obviously working hard to suppress a certain section of the vote.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3-SigmaNeoconTurnedTrumpfan

Also add to my list of very clear examples where the courts went wrong the fact that clear majorities support voter ID laws. I understand your logic to the contrary, but don't agree with it. So again, one can reasonably take either side, meaning leaving it to the state's discretion is the best option in these cases. Thankfully the Texas and Wisconsin laws will remain with some changes. The NC law will likely depend on SCOTUS, I.e. Trump winning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suzzer

Dude - majorities in the south would probably support poll tax and literacy tests. That doesn't make them ok according to the courts. The court should never rule according to majority rule.

No there is absolutely no reasonable take to saying that it's ok to a) research ways in which blacks are more likely to vote, then b) implement laws with surgical precision to impede those paths all for the purposes of c) solving a problem that only exists in people's imaginations (in-person voter fraud).

I realize you'd love to paint this as well reasonable people can disagree, but no - this is a test of blind partisanship, period. If the Democrats were doing this I would be just as all over them like I am with pubic sector union excess. It's telling that your side has retreated back to "well there's a legitimate argument at least". That's called FUD.

08-08-2016 , 12:36 PM

#2765

einbert

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Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 14,911

In an apparent response to the Supreme Court Voter ID ruling, a county in North Carolina is implementing a series of new voting restrictions immediately:

http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2016/....dOOOMIbQ.dpuf

Quote:

WHAT: Despite the recent federal court ruling against voting restrictions, the Republican majority on the Guilford County Board of Elections (Greensboro) wants to reduce the 2016 Early Voting plan from what the county offered in 2012.

On Monday, August 8, the Board will take up and likely vote on a plan that would:

cut by nearly half the number of Early Voting sites provided in 2012, including most sites inside Greensboro;
completely eliminate Sunday voting;
cut the popular site in the African-American community at Barber Park; and
eliminate the sites at UNC-Greensboro and NC A&T University.
WHEN: The three-member Guilford County Board of Elections is holding a special meeting on Monday, August 8, at 1 p.m. to consider this plan by the two Republicans, as well as a proposal from the lone Democrat on the Board. A majority vote carries the day.

August 8 is two days after the 51st anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.

These guys never quit. Court rulings that they are violating the Constitution only seem to embolden them.

08-09-2016 , 03:03 PM

#2766

Klingbard

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Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 8,103

I see that Trump continues to have no idea what's going on in the world. What is this nonsense?

08-11-2016 , 05:30 AM

#2767

True North

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Quote:

Originally Posted by iron81

Parts of Wisconsin voter ID law also tossed: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepo...388708211.html

Well, so much for that:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-us...-idUSKCN10L1U5

08-11-2016 , 10:58 AM

#2768

iron81

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 17,730

It looks like there were two different ID cases, the one the 7th Circuit stayed was not the one I initially linked.

08-28-2016 , 07:50 AM

#2769

Huehuecoyotl

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 29,296

If you think North Carolina Republicans would just accept the Supreme Court's decision, you'd be wrong. They simply pushed the state wide policy down to the county level.

Quote:

A memo*uncovered last week*from the state GOP to its county members instructed them to pursue “party line changes to early voting,” including the elimination of Sunday voting — which isheavily used*by African Americans — and early voting sites on college campuses.

“Our Republican Board members should feel empowered to make legal changes to early voting plans,” the memo insisted.

Republican-controlled county boards across the state have been following this advice. Mecklenburg County*voted last week*to offer 238 fewer hours of early voting than they did in 2012. New Hanover County voted to*eliminateSunday voting, even though they provided it during the primary election in March. Cumberland County is*seeking to get rid of*both Sunday voting and a voting site on the campus of Fayetteville State University, a historically black school. Guilford County, the home of Greensboro,*considered but ultimately rejected*a plan to cut Sunday voting and slash the number of early voting locations in half. One of the shuttered sites would have been on the campus of the historically black North Carolina A&T State University.

https://thinkprogress.org/a-judge-bl...b55#.hnr7i1auz

09-28-2016 , 02:37 AM

#2770

Loki

binary duo

Join Date: Nov 2015 Posts: 12,772

http://www.governing.com/topics/elec...ter-purge.html

Quote:

Court: Ohio Illegally Removed Voters From Rolls

Bad news, Trump fans. Voter suppression isn't doing so well across the country.

09-28-2016 , 12:33 PM

#2771

Namath12

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Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 55,849

By Ohio's reasoning in that case, if I haven't driven a car in a few years they should be able to take away my driver's license.

09-30-2016 , 06:31 AM

#2772

florentinopeces

old hand

Join Date: May 2015 Posts: 1,199

The idea that voters shouldn't have to identify themselves is simply stupid in the modern era. The US has its head in the sand. Everyone should have a national ID with a digital certificate in it. It would be easy to issue receipts that could be used to check one's vote had been counted correctly. But morons.

09-30-2016 , 06:34 AM

#2773

tomdemaine

Just tries harder

Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 20,065

Voters do have to identify themselves.

09-30-2016 , 07:48 AM

#2774

zikzak

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Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 22,198

Yes, we do have a pretty robust system that is completely free of in-person voter fraud, but some people want a massive, privacy-destroying big government database anyway, because fear of things that aren't happening is more important than freedom.

09-30-2016 , 09:48 AM

#2775

DVaut1

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 30,005

Plus think of how much the paranoid classes will lose their **** over a government ID with a digital certificate. Well, at least once they find out they wouldn't just be handed out to black people and people with Hispanic heritage.

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