Voter-Suppression Plans Backfiring

[struggle4progress]

By Ari Berman
TODAY 11:48 AM

On June 28, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the vice chair of Donald Trump’s presidential commission on “election integrity,” sent a letter to all 50 states requesting sweeping voter data, including Social Security numbers, party affiliation, criminal backgrounds, and military history.

At first, only a few states, like California, Kentucky, and Virginia, said no, denouncing the commission as “a waste of taxpayer money and a distraction from the real threats to the integrity of our elections today.” But over the holiday weekend, opposition to Kobach’s request dramatically increased from both red and blue states. As of Wednesday afternoon, 45 states have refused to turn over private voter data to Trump’s commission. “I’ve been studying America’s election administration since 2000, and I’ve rarely seen a firestorm like this,” wrote MIT political scientist Charles Stewart III ...

https://www.thenation.com/article/the-trump-administrations-voter-suppression-plans-are-backfiring-badly/

[virtualobserver]

1. this overreach might be the thing that saves us

shines a little light on the subject.

[Wounded Bear]

2. True, but the problem is that in states where this has alread happened...

and continues to happen, the only current remedies are lawsuits and the brute force strategy getting people out to register and vote. Lawsuits can be a crapshoot in red states and those who have to go out and re-register because their state kicked them off the roles might be a bit discouraged. Plus, of course, where is the protection that getting people registered actually gets them the right to vote come election day.

We really need a re-enactment of the VRZ, that has safeguards for voters, not just punishments for barely existant crimes and loopholes for the vote deniers to exploit.

[virtualobserver]

5. I'm not finding too many people who agree with me, but....

I think that we should run attack ads in the states where vote suppression is happening.

Make the Republicans pay a political price for what they are doing.

[Wounded Bear]

6. I agree with that...

It definitely should be part of our message.

Unfortunately, it might have the typical "push back" effect in motivating Repub voters scared by the idea of "all those darkies voting illegally." Kind of how so many people voted because they were "afraid" of Hillary.

We definitely need to motivate voters to the polls in support of Dems.

[sharp_stick]

3. Elections are in the realm of the States

and if there is one thing that State's (red and blue) don't like it's the feds trying to muscle in and take something over.

[Gothmog]

4. Yeah

[diva77]

7. If the SOS's were really concerned, they'd shut down CROSSCHECK

If the SOS's had integrity, they would

1) REFUSE to give data to CROSSCHECK:

see post by Amaryllis:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029281198

also:

2Tthey would reject electronic voting & tabulation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voting_by_country
Germany ended electronic voting in 2009, with the German Federal Constitutional Court finding that the inability to have meaningful public scrutiny meant that electronic voting was unconstitutional.