Voter ID laws get a new look after high black turnout in Alabama

[DonViejo]

David Nather 29 mins ago

The enthusiastic turnout among African-American voters in Alabama’s Senate election is prompting a new look at the impact of voter ID laws like the one in that state, per the New York Times. Opponents say the laws disenfranchise minority voters, but after Doug Jones’ victory, researchers are trying to figure out whether that means the impact of the laws is overstated or whether African-American voters in Alabama were so motivated that the laws didn’t matter.

The bottom line: The Alabama outcome isn’t going to end the debate over voter ID laws, but it may help put the laws in perspective. "There are real, live instances where positions are taken to keep eligible people from showing up at the polls or to make it needlessly harder to vote,” Justin Levitt, a former voting rights official in the Obama administration Justice Department, told the Times. "But it's not nationwide, and it's not all the time."

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https://www.axios.com/voter-id-laws-get-a-new-look-after-high-black-turnout-in-alabama-2519890456.html

[dalton99a]

1. "If you put a rock on my foot and I beat you in the race,

that still doesn’t make it O.K. that you put a rock on my foot."

Republicans are experts at cheating and lying and stealing, and they will cheat and lie and steal at every election.

[uponit7771]

4. +1

[duforsure]

2. Their next big problem

How do they redistrict, or prevent Republicans who've realized trump and the gop are a fraud, keep them from voting too? At this point there's too many of them aligning with anyone else but with trump and the gop. Social Security taken away, the tax scam, their meager deductions gone, all the lies, their health care destroyed, Medicaid and Medicare destroyed, their clean water and air destroyed, their collusion with the russians and putin, their mistreatment of women, and on and on. They've set themselves up this time , and good, and their base is shrinking already then add to that trump and the gop policies have caught up with them now, as Mitch now claims he wants to work with the Democrats. They'd be crazy to do that, they cannot be trusted right now for anything, especially trump, ryan , and mitch. Let them suffer their own consequences now.

[Hoyt]

3. Surprisingly, Alabama actually offers mobile home visits to provide a Voter-ID, they

provide group Voter-ID sessions where they'll send a mobile unit, the public health department provides free birth certificates if needed for a voter-ID, etc. The IDs are available at the country registrar office. You don't need a birth certificate as there are a number of identifications they'll accept.

I was surprised how far they go in trying to make it easy to get one. I don't think Voter-IDs -- at least in Alabama -- are much of a deterrent for voting. It's just getting out the vote, like happened there, that matters.

For sure, these laws were originally written to keep certain people from voting -- although I suspect it also affects meth addicts too -- but activists have been successful in making them all but irrelevant in some areas.

[Sneederbunk]

5. Simple: Get Democrats registered and to the polls.

[JI7]

8. That's what they did and why they want these restrictions

[Blue_true]

6. People can overcome those laws with planning.

Life can always be tilted against you by people that are willing to stoop low. You counter their efforts by simply out working and outsmarting them.

[Gothmog]

7. The GOP is the party of voter suppression and relies on voter suppression to win races

[pnwmom]

9. Uh, no. As high as the African American turnout was, that only counted registered voters.

There would have been more votes, and a larger margin against Moore, if more African Americans were registered voters -- which would be the case without the voter ID laws and other forms of suppression.

[L. Coyote]

10. kick for visibility

[Hugin]

11. I knew they were going to pull this crap.

Oh, look! There is no impact from Gerrymandering and draconian voter ID laws.

To these claims, I respond... Jones only won with 1.5%. After a massive GOTV effort by the Democrats while facing the most corrupt Republican candidate I've ever seen. (Maybe, more so than Trump. The jury is still out on that, tho.)

So, no. There is still more to be done to ensure free and fair elections in the United States. Don't be fooled by the pulp and misdirection that is sure to be put forward concerning this one event.