As game-changing election bills glide through the state legislatures just before the 2012 elections, accusations of voter suppression tactics in the guise of election reform are continuously unveiled in the media.
USA Today reports on the latest device for limiting voter access, photo ID requirements.
“Proponents say the measures prevent vote fraud. Opponents say they are designed to stifle turnout among students, poor people and minorities, who are more likely to vote for Democrats but might lack government-issued IDs, such as driver’s licenses and passports.
“Buoyed by big Republican gains in the 2010 elections, six states have enacted photo ID laws since January — Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Wisconsin. Bills in New Hampshire and North Carolina await gubernatorial action.”
Last Friday, Missouri Governor Jay Nixon vetoed a contentious photo ID bill that included an advance voting provision, an amendment used in recent years in order to gain bipartisan support of the controversial policy.
Explaining the reason behind his veto, Nixon wrote in a letter than “disenfranchising certain classes of persons is not acceptable.” (Put more obviously, via political commentator Rachel Maddow’s Twitter account, “Missouri governor vetoes law making it harder to vote, because it makes harder to vote.”)
The Pennsylvania House has also been deliberating over a photo ID bill, the Associated Press reports, and it may be decided upon as early as tomorrow.
However, “a leading Senate Republican said earlier this month that, even if the bill passes the House, it’s unlikely to be considered in the Senate before the fall.”
The fear of voter fraud has somehow influenced recent amendments on policies that historically expand voter access, such as early voting and Election Day registration.
But, “some of the new laws, notably those limiting the number of days for early voting, have little plausible connection to battling fraud,” writes E.J. Dionne Jr. at the Washington Post, adding that the new laws primarily come from Republican-controlled states and would target the very groups that “were key to Barack Obama’s victory in 2008.”
“In a democracy, the electorate is supposed to pick the politicians. With these laws, politicians are shaping their electorates.”