The Latest Voter Suppression Fad: Two Tiers

[highplainsdem]

Source: Talking Points Memo

Remember this phrase: two-tier voting. You may be hearing more about it.

Officials in Arizona and Kansas are making preparations for elections with two categories of voters. There will be those who provided proof of citizenship when they registered to vote, and will therefore be able to vote in all local, state, and federal elections. And then there will be those who did not provide proof of citizenship when they registered. Those people will only be able to vote in federal contests -- if at all.

-snip-

Some context: state law in Kansas allows any qualified voter to register using either the state's voter registration form or the national mail registration form, known as the "federal form." All 50 states and the District of Columbia have state-specific instructions on the federal form. But Kansas has not been able to get the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the agency which maintains the federal form, to change the Kansas-specific instructions to include proof-of-citizenship language. (More on the EAC issue later.) As a result, because Kansas can't just ignore the federal forms, a Kansan who uses the federal form to register without a citizenship document will be allowed to vote in federal elections. (Kansas' secretary of state's office was unable to provide TPM with the statewide number of voters who have registered using a federal form, but Bryant's July email states that "few" had been submitted to county officers over the years.)

Kansas officials have envisioned four registration scenarios: 1) Individuals who use the Kansas form and submit a citizenship document (eligible to vote in all elections); 2) Individuals who use the Kansas form and do not submit a citizenship document (not eligible to vote in any elections); 3) Individuals who use the federal form and submit a citizenship document (eligible to vote in all elections); and 4) Individuals who use the federal form and do not submit a citizenship document (eligible to vote only in federal elections.)

-snip-

Compared to Kanas, Arizona's two-tier system appears to be a few steps behind. On Monday, state Attorney General Tom Horne (R) sent a 16-page opinion to Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R). In it, Horne concluded that individuals who do not submit a citizenship document when registering to vote using the federal form are not eligible to vote for state and local races. Horne also stated that Arizona law allows the issuance of federal-races-only ballots to voters who registered using the federal form. According to Horne, Arizona law does not require a single ballot containing local, state, and federal races together, and the court's have not barred a two-tier voting system.

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Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/voter-iders-in-kanas-arizona-moving-to-two-tier-voting-systems

[KamaAina]

1. Got Jim Crow?

[heaven05]

2. go jim crow

[Posteritatis]

3. That's not just tiered voting, it's tiered citizenship. (nt)

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Which is precisely what the 1% is after.

[greiner3]

4. I'm confused;

What's a citizenship document?

Is that just a government issued ID?

So there is sort of a de facto 2nd tier voting going on here in OH.

I worked the polls and if a voter did not have ID they could only vote a Provisional ballot.

A Provisional ballot would not count until the voter appeared with said ID to the county's voting office.

If the voter did not show, the ballot was destroyed, unopened.

If you mean they have to show their passport, a lot of people better get their passports as I've read that number is maybe 10%.

[daybranch]

7. voter ID requirements and long line are minor problems

compared to Gerrymandering here in Ohio. Approximately same number of republicans and democrats, and yet we have 12 republicans in the US House and only 4 democrats. The gerrymandering in Ohio is a national problem. Not just an Ohio problem. Can you imagine just 6 more dems and 6 less republicans- that is a very sihgnificant reduction of the difference and control of the House. Add a few more states with gerrymandering and the democrats regain control. But our purpose should not be to elect democrats, our purpose should be to make the government a true democracy- ie run by and for the people.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. Your papers, please.

[happyslug]

8. Actually papers would be an improvement

In the case of "Papers" as that was used in old movies, was the presentation of papers ISSUED by the Government. Everyone had them, they were your ID. It would be as if everyone had the same ID, obtained the same way.

In the USA of today, we have no single ID that is ID by itself. We use Passports, Driver's licensees, Collage ID, Military ID etc. What "Papers" would do is reduce this to just one form of ID, that would be issued to EVERYONE and acceptable on its face as ID. The far right does NOT want that for it means providing such ID to everyone, including that 10% of the population that do NOT have such a passport, a driver's license, collage or school ID, military ID etc.

Thus "Papers" would be an improvement over the present system, an improvement the far right do NOT want for such "Papers" would not make it harder for lower income people (the people most likely NOT to have ID today) to vote. It is VOTING that this demand for ID is being demanded

[gopiscrap]

9. Holy shit the DOJ needs to act on this