Now if HB2 Would just be shut down.
6
At the concession stand, the Yankees require one to show a valid, government-issued photo ID to prove that he is above the legal drinking age of 21 to buy a beer. Need I say more?
7
Even as I was sending money to Bernie I was very impressed that the Clinton campaign was taking some of these restrictive voter laws to court.
It could be we are witnessing the rising of a (small d) democratic phoenix rising from the ashes of the quasi fascist state the republican party has been leaning toward, and taking the country with them, the last several decades.
Republicans really cannot win a national election, or even so many state wide elections, with their ideas and messages. Therefor they must resort to trickery and out right theft.
I am heartened by these rulings from the courts.
It could be we are witnessing the rising of a (small d) democratic phoenix rising from the ashes of the quasi fascist state the republican party has been leaning toward, and taking the country with them, the last several decades.
Republicans really cannot win a national election, or even so many state wide elections, with their ideas and messages. Therefor they must resort to trickery and out right theft.
I am heartened by these rulings from the courts.
29
How stupid are you people? Being asked to identify yourself with a valid acceptable photo identification card is part of or should be part of everyone's life these days. TSA- Adult passengers 18 and over must show valid identification at the airport checkpoint in order to travel.
•Driver's licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent)
•U.S. passport
•U.S. passport card
•DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
•U.S. military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents, and DoD civilians)
•Permanent resident card
•Border crossing card
•DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
•Airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
•Federally recognized, tribal-issued photo ID
•HSPD-12 PIV card
•Foreign government-issued passport
•Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
•Transportation worker identification credential
•Immigration and Naturalization Service Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
Also, try cashing a check or doing business at a bank and see what happens if you don't have a valid photo ID. Try getting into a Federal Building or Federal Court House without a valid photo ID.
•Driver's licenses or other state photo identity cards issued by Department of Motor Vehicles (or equivalent)
•U.S. passport
•U.S. passport card
•DHS trusted traveler cards (Global Entry, NEXUS, SENTRI, FAST)
•U.S. military ID (active duty or retired military and their dependents, and DoD civilians)
•Permanent resident card
•Border crossing card
•DHS-designated enhanced driver's license
•Airline or airport-issued ID (if issued under a TSA-approved security plan)
•Federally recognized, tribal-issued photo ID
•HSPD-12 PIV card
•Foreign government-issued passport
•Canadian provincial driver's license or Indian and Northern Affairs Canada card
•Transportation worker identification credential
•Immigration and Naturalization Service Employment Authorization Card (I-766)
Also, try cashing a check or doing business at a bank and see what happens if you don't have a valid photo ID. Try getting into a Federal Building or Federal Court House without a valid photo ID.
20
One can only hope the various appeals reach the court in the next term or two and we may just see a restoration of the Voting Rights Act, so long as we elect Hillary Clinton.
14
I just simply don't understand why someone cannot retain proper state id as us citizen? That person may be poor, but isn't it necessary to prove Us citizenship of the person if she/he tries to be on welfare system?
7
Both parties play games with bogus issues like voter fraud. Few to none fraudulently cast votes and few to none who wish to vote are unable to due to any ID laws.
This empty distraction of a debate and those that passionately partake remind me of little kids fighting over plastic toys.
The silver lining might be the cycles that are spent debating nothing. Given how immaturely this topic is handled, I'd rather the populace engage in juvenile debate here than with something important like the economy.
This empty distraction of a debate and those that passionately partake remind me of little kids fighting over plastic toys.
The silver lining might be the cycles that are spent debating nothing. Given how immaturely this topic is handled, I'd rather the populace engage in juvenile debate here than with something important like the economy.
2
This would have been a good occasion to note the strength of the courts.
5
The simplest answer, which would most certainly satisfy any legislator concerned about 'electoral fraud', would be a national identity document, as tamper-proof as a passport. Only citizens would possess them. This would do away with the ridiculous and byzantine hodge-podge of state and local legislation, and would provide equal access for all our citizens.
The lunatic right wing, of course, tends to lose control of its collective bladder when one mentions 'national identity document'.
The lunatic right wing, of course, tends to lose control of its collective bladder when one mentions 'national identity document'.
18
This is what Reagan forgot to do in the last amnesty. National ID systems deter future illegal immigration.
9
I've watched this legislature turn to the extreme right over the last 8 years.
Nasty frightened people who have yet to fully let go of their resentment toward the Northern mentality they strongly resist; the Civil War still continues in their mind, especially in many of the rural areas of this beautiful geological state.
Nasty frightened people who have yet to fully let go of their resentment toward the Northern mentality they strongly resist; the Civil War still continues in their mind, especially in many of the rural areas of this beautiful geological state.
19
The GOP NC Lege and governor are trying in every unfair way possible to cement themselves into office. Here is one example. But there are more pernicious ones.
This state is gerrymandered using districts whose borders are so fractal their Hausdorff dimension is nearly two. Compare the voting in the last legislative election to the numbers of legislators in each party. You will see a yawning disparity.
Our lege loves gerrymandering so much it tried to redraw the Wake County School District's voting districts to favor Republicans. This, after the GOP got a bunch of Archie Bunkers elected to the Wake County School Board who were subsequently turned out in the next election by Democrats because they outraged the families whose kids were attending the schools. The courts threw this out. A similar shenanigan was pulled in Greensboro, with the GOP gerrymandering city council districts.
Do we see a common theme here? No other industrialized country allows politicians in power to choose their voters for the next decade. Gerrymandering renders politicians unaccountable and undermines democracy. It fosters voter apathy because most elections wind up being uncontested. It is time, at the national level, to put this evil practice to an end.
This state is gerrymandered using districts whose borders are so fractal their Hausdorff dimension is nearly two. Compare the voting in the last legislative election to the numbers of legislators in each party. You will see a yawning disparity.
Our lege loves gerrymandering so much it tried to redraw the Wake County School District's voting districts to favor Republicans. This, after the GOP got a bunch of Archie Bunkers elected to the Wake County School Board who were subsequently turned out in the next election by Democrats because they outraged the families whose kids were attending the schools. The courts threw this out. A similar shenanigan was pulled in Greensboro, with the GOP gerrymandering city council districts.
Do we see a common theme here? No other industrialized country allows politicians in power to choose their voters for the next decade. Gerrymandering renders politicians unaccountable and undermines democracy. It fosters voter apathy because most elections wind up being uncontested. It is time, at the national level, to put this evil practice to an end.
83
HDNY says, "The buck stops at Chief Justice John Roberts' bench. He and the other right wing jihadists on the Supreme Court"
While I agree with the obvious outrage about these laws, please ladies and gentlemen let's not have this kind of ramped up rhetoric. I call them radical religionists because they put their religious beliefs ahead of Separation of Church and State that our Constitution and Amendment call for. Fortunately, our laws can be challenged and changed because we live in a democracy. That is the beautiful, unique reason America is so successful. Let's get back to civility and reason in our actions and thinking.
While I agree with the obvious outrage about these laws, please ladies and gentlemen let's not have this kind of ramped up rhetoric. I call them radical religionists because they put their religious beliefs ahead of Separation of Church and State that our Constitution and Amendment call for. Fortunately, our laws can be challenged and changed because we live in a democracy. That is the beautiful, unique reason America is so successful. Let's get back to civility and reason in our actions and thinking.
3
They demonstrate their oaths taken on Bibles to be worse than worthless.
It seems to me that the law cannot even be pinned-down in the US.
It seems to me that the law cannot even be pinned-down in the US.
2
I think my fave comment here was from the guy who seems to live in Greenwich, CT, and cheerfully announces that HE has to show ID to get onto the town beach, so what's the big deal about ID?
It's my fave because of how many times Greenwich has been busted for the most blatant kinds of discrimination since the 1930s, having been barring everybody from Jews to black folks from jobs, housing, beaches and the right to drive through town.
I find the nasty stuff about people "who are too lazy and stupid," or "too shiftless," to get IDs a lot less hilarious, though they are of course every bit as ugly.
Oh, and by the way? A lot of the people NC barred from voting for no decent reason happen to be white: these laws typically go after college students, the poor, the rural, the elderly.
Also by the way: don't blame ALL of the 2014 elections on this sort of blatant discrimination. A lot of the prob was lazy libs and lefties who didn't show up.
It's my fave because of how many times Greenwich has been busted for the most blatant kinds of discrimination since the 1930s, having been barring everybody from Jews to black folks from jobs, housing, beaches and the right to drive through town.
I find the nasty stuff about people "who are too lazy and stupid," or "too shiftless," to get IDs a lot less hilarious, though they are of course every bit as ugly.
Oh, and by the way? A lot of the people NC barred from voting for no decent reason happen to be white: these laws typically go after college students, the poor, the rural, the elderly.
Also by the way: don't blame ALL of the 2014 elections on this sort of blatant discrimination. A lot of the prob was lazy libs and lefties who didn't show up.
22
If I need a photo ID to drive and for many other types of identification and if a photo ID would help national security and protect voting rights.... Why can't the government issue every American a photo ID either a national or a state ID every 10 years like a driver's license if a person does not drive? We spend trillions on wars....how much could such a program cost anyway? Let the Post Office do it and fund it to help them stay afloat. Then Republican state governments would not be able to use this excuse to deny US citizens the right to vote.
10
What baloney. You, like others, miss the point completely (intentionally?). This isn't about IDs, it's about illegal, naked discrimination. There was direct, incontrovertible proof that the law was passed to make it harder for African-Americans to vote. It's too late to pretend there was any other reason, however rational-sounding, for this law. The legislature didn't even investigate actual voter fraud (there's nothing to investigate anyway), only racial voting patterns. The legislature broke the law. They broke the law.
24
Lots of comments suggest fraud would be easy without strict id laws. The way it works at my voting station is this: 1) you tell them who you are and they check to verify that your name is on their list, 2) you sign the list next to your name, 3) you vote. Fraud would be quite hard. You don't get to vote if your name isn't on the list (maybe provisionally) - I.e. illegal aliens can't just show up and vote. I guess you could pretend you're someone else if you know the name and address of someone on the list, but the fraud would be detected as soon as that person tried to vote. As far as I know that has never happened around here. The only voter fraud I've heard of was the supreme Court decision in Bush v Gore.
35
So if the voter fraud started with a person not eligible to vote registering to vote (though a voter registration drive trying to register as many people as possible) how would this be detected, when no ID is checked when registering or when voting?
Except for the case when a poll worker coincidently personally knew the person was using a false name or was not eligible to vote and objects, this improper voting will not be detected.
Concluding voter fraud is extremely rare, when the risk of being discovered is extremely low is a conclusion without justification.
Except for the case when a poll worker coincidently personally knew the person was using a false name or was not eligible to vote and objects, this improper voting will not be detected.
Concluding voter fraud is extremely rare, when the risk of being discovered is extremely low is a conclusion without justification.
2
Here's an idea: how about actually getting a photo ID? A radical idea, I know.
10
So let me get this straight black folk are incapable of obtaining a photo id? Why are they so limited in their abilities?
10
No you don't have it straight. If a person doesn't drive or travel internationally, they are much less likely to have a photo ID. The legislature, instead of trying to fix that problem, preferred to exclude those people from voting.
17
No. If you actually want a real answer there are multiple articles out there that analyze why minorities and poor people are disadvantaged by voter ID laws.
9
Many of these laws are accompanied by closing offices that issue suitable IDs in poor areas, making it necessary to drive hindreds of miles to bet the ID..
12
The fact that many should not be permitted anywhere near a ballot is proven by the election of BO not once but twice.
1
Any state that quickly passed voter suppression laws right after SCOTUS ignorantly overturned part of the Voting Rights Act had racist intentions. That simply cannot be argued and it seems the federal courts are leveling a good bit of scrutiny now because of those overt and obvious actions by states with deeply racist histories.
20
To be clear: the GOP, which claims a fundamental understanding of the constitution, keeps passing unconstitutional laws; while the Democratic party, which keeps being accused of passing unconstitutional laws by the GOP, consistently has their laws upheld by the courts.
19
Blocking of these discriminatory voter registration laws and naming them for what they are. Whether you call them racist or merely opportunistic and against the law, they are designed to maximize one party's electoral prospects in a landscape of altered demographics -- so this is a huge victory for democracy, for americans and our way of life. And, yes, for the Constitution we profess to love.
14
Cheating seems to have become endemic in our traditional political system, which is why I voted for and supported Sanders
2
We must wrest our nation from the GOP. They are he gravest danger we face as a nation. The conservative movement in America is exposed day after day fir what it really is, yet they have lost the capacity for honesty, fairness, and reason. For instance, when the city of Charlotte passed non-discriminatory statutes earlier this year, the Republican dominated legislature immediately convened to strike down their ordinance, and they made it illegal for Charlotte to pass any such laws in the future! Somehow, the legislature refused to recognize the hypocrisy of doing the same thing they accuse the federal government of doing to the states. Typical modern conservatism.
I am firmly convinced the GOP is the most dangerous group since the Confederacy. Blatantly racist and reactionary, even to the point of propping Donald Trump and Paul Manafort up as leaders of our nation. Not a good time for our nation.
I am firmly convinced the GOP is the most dangerous group since the Confederacy. Blatantly racist and reactionary, even to the point of propping Donald Trump and Paul Manafort up as leaders of our nation. Not a good time for our nation.
27
It is a legal fight from scratch to get any new political party on any ballot anywhere in the USA in every election.
Republicans are schizophrenic about minorities. On the one hand, they attempt to suppress racial minorities, while at the same time, they try every trick in the game to further their own political minority.
Republicans don'e seem to understand democracy. Everybody has a voice, everybody has a vote and if you don't like it, instead of cheating to win, come up with more embracing policies.
The problem for the right is, they want to impose their uncompromising vision on the majority.
Republicans don'e seem to understand democracy. Everybody has a voice, everybody has a vote and if you don't like it, instead of cheating to win, come up with more embracing policies.
The problem for the right is, they want to impose their uncompromising vision on the majority.
18
The recent decision by the Federal appeals Court to strike down North Carolina’s Voter ID Laws because they were in fact targeting African American voters and by its many provisions causing their vote to be suppressed is greatly welcomed.
What was also very clear from the decision with its rulings and within the 83 page judicial statement was that it was very clear that the Voter ID Laws had been written not to stamp out voter fraud (as alleged but never shown to have actually occurred) but instead,to specifically make it harder and deny African Americans their Constitutional right to vote. It was shown that Republican lawmakers only acted on revising the Voter ID laws after learning that proposed actions would affect African American voters the most in denying them their right to vote as well as saying its provisions deliberately “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision” in an effort to depress black turnout at the polls.
It seems very clear and evidence provided these Politicians committed a morally reprehensible and racist act, knowingly making laws that denied Citizens their basic rights. It clearly shows corruption and surely a crime?
Can one assume that from these findings that charges will be brought against those responsible for corruption & acts of illegality and if not, why not?
I am amazed that this even needed to go to court and that you have Politicians who can enact these laws. In a real Democracy, they'd be fired and charges be laid.
What was also very clear from the decision with its rulings and within the 83 page judicial statement was that it was very clear that the Voter ID Laws had been written not to stamp out voter fraud (as alleged but never shown to have actually occurred) but instead,to specifically make it harder and deny African Americans their Constitutional right to vote. It was shown that Republican lawmakers only acted on revising the Voter ID laws after learning that proposed actions would affect African American voters the most in denying them their right to vote as well as saying its provisions deliberately “target African-Americans with almost surgical precision” in an effort to depress black turnout at the polls.
It seems very clear and evidence provided these Politicians committed a morally reprehensible and racist act, knowingly making laws that denied Citizens their basic rights. It clearly shows corruption and surely a crime?
Can one assume that from these findings that charges will be brought against those responsible for corruption & acts of illegality and if not, why not?
I am amazed that this even needed to go to court and that you have Politicians who can enact these laws. In a real Democracy, they'd be fired and charges be laid.
8
Film title for the decision, "The Empire is Struck."
FN 7 said it all:
Responding to the outcry over the law after its enactment,
the same witness later said publicly: “If [SL 2013-381] hurts
the whites so be it. If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that
want the government to give them everything, so be it.” See
J.A. 1313-14; Joe Coscarelli, Don Yelton, GOP Precinct Chair,
Delivers Most Baldly Racist Daily Show Interview of All Time,
New York Magazine, Oct. 24, 2013.
FN 7 said it all:
Responding to the outcry over the law after its enactment,
the same witness later said publicly: “If [SL 2013-381] hurts
the whites so be it. If it hurts a bunch of lazy blacks that
want the government to give them everything, so be it.” See
J.A. 1313-14; Joe Coscarelli, Don Yelton, GOP Precinct Chair,
Delivers Most Baldly Racist Daily Show Interview of All Time,
New York Magazine, Oct. 24, 2013.
7
Can someone please explain how these Republicans sleep at night? When you "target African-Americans with almost surgical precision," when you try to disenfranchise Americans, any Americans, because you think they may cause you to lose, how is that not evil? Pure evil.
11
What organizations are bringing these legal challenges? The resources involved are huge. Do the organizations have to fundraise to cover the costs, or are they publicly funded? Stamping out these challenges one by one forces progressive organizations to fight the same battles over and over, paying for each one, while all the voter suppression side spends is the time to pass legislation.
13
There are always at least 50 different ways to spin your legal wheels in a country that cannot reach a conclusion even about the most obvious thing in the world: the implacable indifference of nature to all human concerns.
3
Enacting this pre-written legislation spares these legislators the usual constant grubbing for small donations too.
3
The name of this game is "Whack-a-Mole".
1
Having lived in NC it should come as no surprise that the Republican Party is systematically attempting to restrict voters access by minorities and others.
9
What is with minorities? Are they not smart enough to figure out how to get a valid photo ID card? Isn't that an insult to minorities if that is what you are saying?
6
Shame Republicans! You can't win fairly so you cheat. Your programs and platform are so regressive and white. Change your ways if you want to win.
20
Win fairly? You mean like promising the 47% free stuff, paid for with others money.
4
Public spending surely adds to your income too.
1
This is all so eerily similar to the southern white response to black empowerment that brought down Reconstruction and instituted a century of Jim Crow. A black man is elected President of the United States with a majority of whites voting against him. Knowing the threat to white supremacy, the Senate Republican Leader McConnell pledges, "This will never happen again." Those of us who know the code understood immediately what his "This" really meant, and what a portent he intended it to be. It took a more solid 2012 re-election to really rally his posse. The US Supreme Court eviscerated the Voting Rights Act, and as always, white southerners in their oppressive zeal overplayed their hand, and moved to disenfranchise the back voter such that "This" would indeed never happen again. Thank God for the Federal Courts. The black President and the black First Lady embody America's hope and promise that oppression is not everlasting -- striving for fairness, justice, and equality in America is what is never defeated, and it takes us all to ensure it.
28
The good fact is that North Carolina can not hope right now to win a Supreme Court appeal of these lower court rulings. this is the direct result of having a 4 to 4 split between conservative judges who favor Republican causes and more Progressive judges. A split decision means that the lower court decision holds.
The empty space in the Supreme Court is the major reason Clinton needs to be elected as she has pledged to appoint a more liberal justice to replace Antonin Scalia. the overturn of Citizen United, women's reproductive rights as well as these voter suppression laws are at stake. Trump in his attempt to mollify conservatives has declared his intent to appoint conservative justices. Without a Clinton victory the fate of so many progressive causes will be determined by a conservative court.
those in the progressive wing of our party who say they would vote for Trump on the basis of personality or minor differences in policies are fooling themselves and all of us would suffer under a Trump presidency.
The empty space in the Supreme Court is the major reason Clinton needs to be elected as she has pledged to appoint a more liberal justice to replace Antonin Scalia. the overturn of Citizen United, women's reproductive rights as well as these voter suppression laws are at stake. Trump in his attempt to mollify conservatives has declared his intent to appoint conservative justices. Without a Clinton victory the fate of so many progressive causes will be determined by a conservative court.
those in the progressive wing of our party who say they would vote for Trump on the basis of personality or minor differences in policies are fooling themselves and all of us would suffer under a Trump presidency.
20
Trump has already hand-picked a list of stooges to appoint to Supreme Court vacancies.
3
It's good that the Court recognized that blacks are not on the same level as other races, in regards to having the motivation and knowledge to obtain the identification necessary to vote. As a society, we must protect certain groups, who just can't do for themselves, like getting a drivers license or government ID.
The next step in the process should be to strike down the requirement that workers fill out the I-9 form, which verifies they are legal residents of the US.
We should also get rid of identification verification requirements for purchasing a gun. If you don't have a drivers license, or other form of official government identification, you are effectively barred from owning a weapon. Poor, uneducated and similarly marginalized groups are at a tremendous disadvantage, if they are required to maintain these documents, just to take advantage of their Constitutional rights. It's no coincidence that these restrictions also seem to be targeted at blacks - the government is obviously trying to discourage them from exerting their legal rights.
The next step in the process should be to strike down the requirement that workers fill out the I-9 form, which verifies they are legal residents of the US.
We should also get rid of identification verification requirements for purchasing a gun. If you don't have a drivers license, or other form of official government identification, you are effectively barred from owning a weapon. Poor, uneducated and similarly marginalized groups are at a tremendous disadvantage, if they are required to maintain these documents, just to take advantage of their Constitutional rights. It's no coincidence that these restrictions also seem to be targeted at blacks - the government is obviously trying to discourage them from exerting their legal rights.
7
I love ot when racists try to pass off their racism as satire.
9
It has been deeply distressing to watch my state drift into becoming Mississippi. But God willing this decision is the first of many court reversals of cockamamie laws spewed out by our mean spirited legislature. Let the "de-Mississipianization" begin!
Note to my fellow NC progressives: Conservatives vote in droves. "Don't boo. Vote!"
Note to my fellow NC progressives: Conservatives vote in droves. "Don't boo. Vote!"
13
The courts have struck down the restrictive abortion law. Now the restrictive voting law. Basically for not addressing a real problem.
For the courts, is this going to be a thing now?
For the courts, is this going to be a thing now?
2
The constitutional legitimacy of law rests on its citation of a specific delegated power to enact it. There is no delegated power to enact laws that simply place undue burdens on people exercising their liberties.
5
In the mid 20th century courageous African Americans in the South risked their lives by trying to register to vote. Some were lynched. Citizens of every color should remember them by voting and making our votes count.
23
Voter suppression laws are obviously meant to lower the turnout of a particular demographic. No one, not even republicans, really believe the laws are meant to stop voter fraud. They say their aim is to cast a wide net and see who gets caught. But if a vast majority of those who were caught turned out to be republicans, then it would be like stepping on your own foot- and why would anyone do that? Hence, they have and idea who gets get caught in the net, otherwise it wouldn't make sense to do it at all. It seems so simple.
6
How appropriate that the leader of North Carolina's opposition to the jim crow politicians of North Kakalacka gave one of the most moving "christian" speeches at the DNC this week. Rev. William Barber is the leading civil rights of these trobled times. Follow him.
8
The Supreme Court has struck down the section of the Voting Rights Act that required North Carolina and several other states to obtain pre-approval from the Justice Department before enacting changes to voting laws. The circuit court panel, in effect, has ruled that North Carolina cannot enact changes that might not have been pre-approved by the Justice Department. This violates the intent of the Supreme Court ruling, which was that all states should be treated the same. If New York can prohibit early voting altogether, as it does, North Carolina should be able to reduce the number of early voting days to 10. If New York can prohibit same-day registration and out-of-precinct voting, North Carolina should also be permitted to prohibit them. If Indiana’s photo voter ID law is constitutional, North Carolina should have an equal right to require photo voters ID. Why not make rules for federal elections the same in all states.
3
The US needs a national election law to break the states' grip on the only two established national brand names for political parties in the US
2
And yet again the GOP is shown to the nation to be cowards and racists.
No one is surprised at it, it is par for the course for the GOP; never permit a level field lest the voters see how pathetic their platform is for those of us who aren't in the top 1%.
No one is surprised at it, it is par for the course for the GOP; never permit a level field lest the voters see how pathetic their platform is for those of us who aren't in the top 1%.
10
LET FREEDOM RING NC and TX have learned the hard way that their plotting to deprive African American voters, probably along with others often lumped together with them in the Deep South, were overturned. It is my fervent hope that these two precedents will encourage voters' rights advocates nationwide to challenge repressive laws and to change those long on the books that block access to the ballot box. In PA, where I live, for example, it is impossible to register to vote on election day. If there is widespread political wrongdoing in PS, in my opinion, it has happened in the interminable battle between the GOP dominated legislature and the Democratic governor, Tom Wolf, who wishes to impose new taxes to restore educational funding. The death struggle lasted months. Clearly, as with repressive voting laws, it was aimed at curtailing the rights of children to free and effective public education, including newly expanded full-day Kindergarten and free preschool programs. Slashing teaching jobs is especially cynical, because it clearly eliminates the means for families to improve their lives through excellent educational opportunities. I hope that the UCLA and other groups will bring action against the repressive voting laws in PA and that other states will follow suit. Frankly, I'm disgusted by the GOP's obvious calculating to control the outcomes of elections by controlling access to the vote. That's what Rence Priebus said on a video I've seen a number of times!
4
Simply stated, the Republicans, regardless of what state they call home, are racists and bigots.
14
Of course the appeals court based its decision on the centuries-old discrimination against African Americans, as it should have. But any description of the Republicans' targets must include another group that grew exceptionally in North Carolina for the three decades I lived there: Latinos. They're just as frightening to the Republican party in the state, even more so this year when a national candidate wants them all deported, wants their families broken up, wants their relatives banned from joining them.
The Republicans don't want one other group to vote for purely electoral reasons: young people who tend to vote Democratic, and especially college students trying to vote away from home (the new law severely limited early voting and same-day registration).
This court decision gives hope to all the groups the Republicans want to disenfranchise, and most importantly to the first two the legislature specifically targeted.
The Republicans don't want one other group to vote for purely electoral reasons: young people who tend to vote Democratic, and especially college students trying to vote away from home (the new law severely limited early voting and same-day registration).
This court decision gives hope to all the groups the Republicans want to disenfranchise, and most importantly to the first two the legislature specifically targeted.
9
The fact is there are a great many of my fellow whites who do not belong anywhere near a polling place. Ever.
That's why good schools are essential to the long term stability of democracies. People who believe in magic tend to be unreasonable.
3
These Voter ID's laws are no different than the abortion restrictions promoted by republicans. Both are fraudulent. promoted on lies. Attempting to hide the republican real motivation; a police state with a facist leader.
15
I need such a card to get onto the local beach, but I guess voting is less important.
5
This is what happens when we continually re-elect 1950's era men and their warped sense of American values. These are the vestiges of Jim Crow and have no place in our society today. When will the WASPs in this country come to terms that it is now 2016? In their minds, it's still Leave It To Beaver and Happy Days.
9
It’s not completely clear what is racist about having ID to vote. Perhaps NC enforced it with a racist precision, but the requirement itself makes sense. It’s silly to think that we can vote in any country without having proof of citizenship, and picture ID is generally required proof. There is nothing secret about your identity, as we all well know by now. I also don’t believe the price for a picture ID is beyond anyone’s reach or that it doesn’t help them. Getting picture ID to vote is the right thing to do and it’s really not too much to ask for. People willingly whip out that ID at banks, liquor stores, night clubs, even 7/11s for cigarettes. But it’s too much to ask for when we vote? I don’t think so.
11
The idea of voter ID is OK in itself.
But then it would be up to the state to make sure each legitimate voter has the ID. The law also says no poll tax, and any cost to the citizen is a poll tax, so the state needs to pick up the cost.
So, the cost of providing such an ID (renting business space, hiring people, processing paper work, making and sending IDs, etc.) far outweighs the benefits when there is such little demonstrable fraud.
But then it would be up to the state to make sure each legitimate voter has the ID. The law also says no poll tax, and any cost to the citizen is a poll tax, so the state needs to pick up the cost.
So, the cost of providing such an ID (renting business space, hiring people, processing paper work, making and sending IDs, etc.) far outweighs the benefits when there is such little demonstrable fraud.
3
In Massachusetts, to vote one gives one's address to the poll-worker, who reads back one's name from the registrar's list, to which one replies "uhuh", and receives the ballot. No ID required.
11
For most of us, getting an ID is easy. But in many of these districts, and particularly for the working poor, the elderly, people without cars, people with jobs that can't take time off work, the process has been made difficult. This has been done on purpose. It's a considered campaign.
"When Republicans emerged from the November 2010 elections with new majorities in statehouses across the country, ... 37 states saw strict voter ID laws introduced in 2011 and 2012. Many of those proposals contained elements of the ALEC "model" voter ID act, which imposes new burdens on the right to vote by requiring voters show state-issued ID cards that approximately 11 percent of voting-age American citizens do not possess. That number is even higher for students, African Americans, low-income, and older citizens. Though the ALEC "model" provides for free ID cards, the Brennan Center for Justice has found that the process of obtaining an ID presents significant difficulties, with voters lacking access to transportation, living dozens of miles from the nearest ID-issuing office (many of which have irregular and limited hours), and facing costs and headaches in obtaining supporting documentation like birth certificates. ... the in-person voter fraud these laws might prevent happens at an infinitesimally small rate -- meaning that on balance, the purported benefits of the law (stopping voter fraud) do not outweigh the costs of disenfranchising as many as 21 million American citizens."
"When Republicans emerged from the November 2010 elections with new majorities in statehouses across the country, ... 37 states saw strict voter ID laws introduced in 2011 and 2012. Many of those proposals contained elements of the ALEC "model" voter ID act, which imposes new burdens on the right to vote by requiring voters show state-issued ID cards that approximately 11 percent of voting-age American citizens do not possess. That number is even higher for students, African Americans, low-income, and older citizens. Though the ALEC "model" provides for free ID cards, the Brennan Center for Justice has found that the process of obtaining an ID presents significant difficulties, with voters lacking access to transportation, living dozens of miles from the nearest ID-issuing office (many of which have irregular and limited hours), and facing costs and headaches in obtaining supporting documentation like birth certificates. ... the in-person voter fraud these laws might prevent happens at an infinitesimally small rate -- meaning that on balance, the purported benefits of the law (stopping voter fraud) do not outweigh the costs of disenfranchising as many as 21 million American citizens."
14
I've seen several comments about how getting an ID is not hard and voters should be required to do so. The people making those comments should read the dissenting opinions of conservative federal judge Richard Posner regarding the Wisconsin voter ID law.
Judge Posner voted to uphold an Indiana voter ID law, but he later came to see such laws, including the Wisconsin law, for what they really are -- attempts by state Republican majorities to suppress votes among groups likely to support Democrats. Among other things, he noted that he has never seen his birth certificate and would not know how to go about getting it. The Wisconsin law required potential voters without birth certificates to fill out 12 page applications, and according to Judge Posner, the cost of obtaining the required documents would run somewhere between $75 and $175. That's obviously far beyond the means of many Americans. He also noted that luckily for him, the federal government supplies him with an ID for free.
It's one thing to require an ID to vote in a culture where everyone has one and acquiring one is cheap and easy. It's an entirely different thing to require one to vote in our culture, where no one is absolutely required by law to have an ID and where government takes no steps to make sure that IDs are easily available at a low cost.
Judge Posner voted to uphold an Indiana voter ID law, but he later came to see such laws, including the Wisconsin law, for what they really are -- attempts by state Republican majorities to suppress votes among groups likely to support Democrats. Among other things, he noted that he has never seen his birth certificate and would not know how to go about getting it. The Wisconsin law required potential voters without birth certificates to fill out 12 page applications, and according to Judge Posner, the cost of obtaining the required documents would run somewhere between $75 and $175. That's obviously far beyond the means of many Americans. He also noted that luckily for him, the federal government supplies him with an ID for free.
It's one thing to require an ID to vote in a culture where everyone has one and acquiring one is cheap and easy. It's an entirely different thing to require one to vote in our culture, where no one is absolutely required by law to have an ID and where government takes no steps to make sure that IDs are easily available at a low cost.
31
These are the very same folks who claim there is no hardship in all the obstacles they place in the path of women seeking basic health care.
9
The Times and this editorial are barking up the wrong tree on this important issue.
The large majority of qualified voters have driver’s licenses or state issued ID’s, and will have no trouble with most voter ID laws . Such ID’s are required for Social Security, Medicare, and many other government benefits. People seem to have no trouble coming up with the required identification to receive these benefits.
Illegal immigrants may not have ID’s, but they shouldn’t be voting.
Indiana has the poster child of ID laws, upheld by SCOTUS, and it is simply not a problem. Voting is quick and easy, and typically takes only a few minutes, or can be done by mail.
Voting fraud really can be a problem which needs to be prevented. There is unproven, but credible, evidence that the 1960 Presidential election, which elected JFK, may have been tainted.
The real problem that impedes the right to vote are the enormous lines at voting sites in places like New York City. It can take hours to vote in many locales. The people most likely to be disenfranchised are the poor, who cannot take the time off from their jobs.
If the Times wishes to protect the right to vote, it should direct its journalistic attention much closer to home, at the long lines and inefficiencies at polling places in NYC and many other jurisdictions.
The large majority of qualified voters have driver’s licenses or state issued ID’s, and will have no trouble with most voter ID laws . Such ID’s are required for Social Security, Medicare, and many other government benefits. People seem to have no trouble coming up with the required identification to receive these benefits.
Illegal immigrants may not have ID’s, but they shouldn’t be voting.
Indiana has the poster child of ID laws, upheld by SCOTUS, and it is simply not a problem. Voting is quick and easy, and typically takes only a few minutes, or can be done by mail.
Voting fraud really can be a problem which needs to be prevented. There is unproven, but credible, evidence that the 1960 Presidential election, which elected JFK, may have been tainted.
The real problem that impedes the right to vote are the enormous lines at voting sites in places like New York City. It can take hours to vote in many locales. The people most likely to be disenfranchised are the poor, who cannot take the time off from their jobs.
If the Times wishes to protect the right to vote, it should direct its journalistic attention much closer to home, at the long lines and inefficiencies at polling places in NYC and many other jurisdictions.
10
And yet for all the yelling about voter fraud, there is near zero of it actually taking place. What? Yes, thats right voter fraud is nearly nonexistent in the US, especially in a presidential race.
The reason is you would have to mobilize several hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voters to maybe, just maybe make an impact. And do it several times in several jurisdictions...
Voter fraud is a Conservative Boogeyman, that lives under the bridge. But the bridge and the boogeyman only live in the imaginations of Conservative Republicans.
Here's a novel idea, get your party at work attracting the voters you want suppressed. You know, do the hard work of liberation, not suppression.
The reason is you would have to mobilize several hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voters to maybe, just maybe make an impact. And do it several times in several jurisdictions...
Voter fraud is a Conservative Boogeyman, that lives under the bridge. But the bridge and the boogeyman only live in the imaginations of Conservative Republicans.
Here's a novel idea, get your party at work attracting the voters you want suppressed. You know, do the hard work of liberation, not suppression.
8
Your concerns are important, but the two issues do not cancel each other out. There are large parts of the country where the working poor, the elderly, and people without easy transport have trouble getting the proper ID. Consider what Kobach did!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/voting-gets-harder-in-k...
He has been ordered to stop this, but has enough power to ignore the legal restraints between now and November. He's an ally of Mike Pence, mind you.
"Although Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s attempt to keep 17,000 Kansans from voting in federal elections has been rebuffed in U.S. District Court and by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he still plans to keep those voters from participating in state elections. As such, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a new suit against Kobach for creating a two-tiered registration system that disenfranchises thousands of Kansans. "
http://cjonline.com/opinion/2016-07-26/editorial-new-challenge-voter-sup...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/opinion/sunday/voting-gets-harder-in-k...
He has been ordered to stop this, but has enough power to ignore the legal restraints between now and November. He's an ally of Mike Pence, mind you.
"Although Secretary of State Kris Kobach’s attempt to keep 17,000 Kansans from voting in federal elections has been rebuffed in U.S. District Court and by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he still plans to keep those voters from participating in state elections. As such, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a new suit against Kobach for creating a two-tiered registration system that disenfranchises thousands of Kansans. "
http://cjonline.com/opinion/2016-07-26/editorial-new-challenge-voter-sup...
8
"Voting fraud really can be a problem which needs to be prevented."
Please provide support for this. Something more than rumors about the Kennedy election 56 years ago. The alleged fraud in that election was supposedly engineered by the Daly political "machine," which controlled both the voting booths and voter lists, not by individuals without ID.
Please provide support for this. Something more than rumors about the Kennedy election 56 years ago. The alleged fraud in that election was supposedly engineered by the Daly political "machine," which controlled both the voting booths and voter lists, not by individuals without ID.
4
It is a sad state of affairs that people are too lazy or ignorant to get something as basic as an ID.
8
Perhaps you are too lazy or ignorant to explore both sides of the issue.
5
I was happy to move to NC in 2010 because of its progressive position among southern states, but the subsequent mid-term elections that put the state under Republican control changed all that. The striking down of this latest racist voter suppression law is just one of a succession of ideological and anti-constitutional laws that this legislature has passed. They attempted to establish a state religion. They then passed Amendment 1 that was anti-gay legislation that was so poorly conceived and written that the majority of people harmed were children in heterosexual families. These people have cost the decent people of this formerly progressive state untold millions of dollars in legal fees, legislative time, and lost progress on actual problems in the state. NC is a good example of Republicanism in action and needs to have its house cleaned.
7
All states require voters to show some type of ID as they vote or register to vote. So the issue is not whether voter IDs should be required, but what type of voter IDs should be required. Before digital technology made putting photos on driver licenses affordable, traffic cops had no way of knowing if driver’s licenses actually belonged to the person behind the wheel. Voter registrars and poll workers have no way of matching checks stubs, utility bills and other non-photo IDs to a voter’s face. An ID without a photo is worthless. Photo IDs issued by non-state or non-federal agencies are worthless because they do not provide proof of citizenship. We need state-issued voter photos IDs that are easy to acquire yet provide proof of citizenship. The federal government encourages states to verify citizenship of people seeking employment by processing their application through the E-Verify database. Why not allow voters who have lost their birth certificates to qualify for free state-issued voter IDs via the E-Verify process?
5
I live in NY, I have never been asked to present ID. And there has been no cases of merit involving voter fraud. Weird right?
6
In New York, one signs to vote. One does not do that twice in one election because it would be an open and shut case of fraud.
1
I don't recall being asked for ID to vote here. They ask me my name and address, verify that I'm on their list, ask me to sign the list and hand me a ballot.
3
Virtually everyone, of both and every party, who resides in these southern climes knows the purpose of these sorts of laws. It is purely and simply an attempt to gain political advantage by (conspicuously) targeting specific groups, commonly African Americans, to suppress political participation (voting). The excuse of potential "voter fraud" is transparent nonsense; it has nothing to do with the matter.
The intent of such laws is not even debatable; it's a slam-dunk.
The intent of such laws is not even debatable; it's a slam-dunk.
6
Let's remember that the Roberts court is solely responsible for this law and several others. The ink was hardly dry on the gutting of the Voting Rights Act before politicians in North Carolina and Texas rushed through legislation clearly targeted at minority voters. So once again the courts have to step in to ensure equal representation at the ballot box. Something to remember this November as the new president will probably have at least three Supreme Court nominees.
9
I wonder if it is possible for Roberts or Alito to feel shame.
3
Wouldn't it be easier for NC to try to earn minority votes by actually listening to the people of NC? Guess that's too hard for McCory and the legislature. It's better to spend taxpayer money defending their racist notions. Go figure.
4
I used to love visiting North Carolina in the fall to see the change of seasons but now what with this and the ridiculous bathroom law I will not be going there in the near future. Maybe never again, as I am getting older, and that makes me sad. I am not trans or black but I am outraged by the way the North Carolina legislature has been trying to wage war by decree against fellow citizens of our country. What happened to "justice for all"?
6
North Carolina is the most beautiful and best state in the country. Please don't trouble yourself to visit.
1
Please MY Times readers, progressive, inclusive as you are, who clearly believe minorities are less capable than equally poor white people to obtain I'D (very racist thinking) , stop talking about moving to Canada whenever you feel you are not getting what you want. They require photo ID to vote.
9
The discriminatory effect and intent of the North Carolina law was always obvious. I have to wonder how any lower court judge could have failed to see that. If the reasoning powers of these lower court judges are so weak as to be unable to recognize the intent behind the NC voting laws, I am afraid what that says about all the other decisions these judges are making on a daily basis.
5
Elected judges are very sensitive to election practices.
1
The courts have been being stacked along with the voting process. Many of those judges are neither neutral nor innocent.
This relates to the stonewalling of the Judge Garland nomination, which is only the tip of the iceberg.
This relates to the stonewalling of the Judge Garland nomination, which is only the tip of the iceberg.
4
I'm sure that if you asked the Republican legislators in North Carolina, Wisconsin and other states that rushed to pass these thinly disguised "anti-voter fraud" measures, to a man and woman they would swear that they revered the Constitution as holy writ. Also to a man and woman they would assert "majority rule" was the foundation of our democracy. But this would betray an understanding of most important founding document and the intent of the Founders.
The most salient feature of the Constitution of the United States is the protections that it affords to minorites, minority rights, and dissenting opinions against the potential tyranny of the majority. We see this disregarded, particularly in Republican controlled States over and over again. It plays out on the national stage too. The Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Mike Pence, asserts that he is "a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican -- in that order." and his governing philosophy suggests that these three qualities far outweigh his being an American and a Constitutionalist in any order.
An absolute right to vote for all U.S. citizens needs to be enshrined in the Constitution through the Amendment process and uniform voting standards established at the National level. The franchise is too central to the continuation of our democracy, instantiated as a representative federal republic, to be subject to overt discrimination flying the banner of "states's rights."
The most salient feature of the Constitution of the United States is the protections that it affords to minorites, minority rights, and dissenting opinions against the potential tyranny of the majority. We see this disregarded, particularly in Republican controlled States over and over again. It plays out on the national stage too. The Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Mike Pence, asserts that he is "a Christian, a Conservative, and a Republican -- in that order." and his governing philosophy suggests that these three qualities far outweigh his being an American and a Constitutionalist in any order.
An absolute right to vote for all U.S. citizens needs to be enshrined in the Constitution through the Amendment process and uniform voting standards established at the National level. The franchise is too central to the continuation of our democracy, instantiated as a representative federal republic, to be subject to overt discrimination flying the banner of "states's rights."
4
The Constitution doesn't list specific protections for anyone. It only restricts the powers of government to those it enumerates.
1
1. How do you know voter fraud is minimal? You know about the people you catch, but don't know about those you miss. The fraudulent votes you miss are the only ones that matter since they get counted.
2. For those who object to voter ID, what method of validating a voter is who s/he is would satisfy you?
3. If fraudulent votes turn an election, (i.e from 50.01/49.99 to 40.99/50.1 the isn't the major of legal voter (50.01) disenfranchised? If the majority of voters are disenfranchised, doesn't that have massive anti democratic impact?
2. For those who object to voter ID, what method of validating a voter is who s/he is would satisfy you?
3. If fraudulent votes turn an election, (i.e from 50.01/49.99 to 40.99/50.1 the isn't the major of legal voter (50.01) disenfranchised? If the majority of voters are disenfranchised, doesn't that have massive anti democratic impact?
4
So your hypothetical is more important than, for example, the tossed votes in 2000?
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/1-million-black-votes-didn-t-count...
"While investigating the 2000 ballot count in Florida for BBC Television, I saw firsthand how the spoilage game was played -- with black voters the predetermined losers.
"Florida's Gadsden County has the highest percentage of black voters in the state -- and the highest spoilage rate. One in 8 votes cast there in 2000 was never counted. ... wrote in "Al Gore." Optical reading machines rejected these because "Al" is a "stray mark."
"in the white county, make a mistake and get another ballot; in the black county, make a mistake, your ballot is tossed.
"The U.S. Civil Rights Commission looked into the smelly pile of spoiled ballots and concluded that, of the 179,855 ballots invalidated by Florida officials, 53 percent were cast by black voters. In Florida, a black citizen was 10 times as likely to have a vote rejected as a white voter."
"Florida is typical of the nation."
This ... is no accident. ... warned Gov. Jeb Bush's office well in advance of November 2000 of the racial bend in the vote-count procedures."
"An apartheid vote-counting system is far from politically neutral. Given that more than 90 percent of the black electorate votes Democratic, had all the "spoiled" votes been tallied, Gore would have taken Florida in a walk, not to mention fattening his popular vote total nationwide."
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/1-million-black-votes-didn-t-count...
"While investigating the 2000 ballot count in Florida for BBC Television, I saw firsthand how the spoilage game was played -- with black voters the predetermined losers.
"Florida's Gadsden County has the highest percentage of black voters in the state -- and the highest spoilage rate. One in 8 votes cast there in 2000 was never counted. ... wrote in "Al Gore." Optical reading machines rejected these because "Al" is a "stray mark."
"in the white county, make a mistake and get another ballot; in the black county, make a mistake, your ballot is tossed.
"The U.S. Civil Rights Commission looked into the smelly pile of spoiled ballots and concluded that, of the 179,855 ballots invalidated by Florida officials, 53 percent were cast by black voters. In Florida, a black citizen was 10 times as likely to have a vote rejected as a white voter."
"Florida is typical of the nation."
This ... is no accident. ... warned Gov. Jeb Bush's office well in advance of November 2000 of the racial bend in the vote-count procedures."
"An apartheid vote-counting system is far from politically neutral. Given that more than 90 percent of the black electorate votes Democratic, had all the "spoiled" votes been tallied, Gore would have taken Florida in a walk, not to mention fattening his popular vote total nationwide."
4
People speak as though without voter ID anyone could show up and vote. That's not how it works. Here your name must be on their list before they hand you a ballot. If a person pretends they're someone else the fraud will be detected as soon as the real person shows up.
4
There was never any doubt about why these restrictions were enacted in the first place, and for whom they were intended.
For years, Republicans in (mostly) Southern states have been doing their best to undermine the Voting Rights Bill, in a determined effort to minimalize the Constitutional rights of African-Americans. And it almost looked like they were succeeding.
Anyone who has been following this story with a sense of growing rage and horror, can breathe a little bit easier now.
Not only has justice been served, but it has been served just in time for the Presidential election.
For years, Republicans in (mostly) Southern states have been doing their best to undermine the Voting Rights Bill, in a determined effort to minimalize the Constitutional rights of African-Americans. And it almost looked like they were succeeding.
Anyone who has been following this story with a sense of growing rage and horror, can breathe a little bit easier now.
Not only has justice been served, but it has been served just in time for the Presidential election.
15
So - I guess restricting airline passengers to those who have a photo ID is also racist now....
after all - air travel terrorist incidents are "statistically minuscule"
at least to the Grey Lady's Editorial Board and some appeals court justices.
after all - air travel terrorist incidents are "statistically minuscule"
at least to the Grey Lady's Editorial Board and some appeals court justices.
10
How about restricting voting to only those who can recognize Maxwell's equations?
3
People flying are a privileged subset of the population, able to afford high-end transport. We're talking about the working poor and the elderly, and places that have made the effort to make the process difficult and/or impossible.
There's plenty of documentation on this, and many of the stories are quite shocking.
There's plenty of documentation on this, and many of the stories are quite shocking.
5
When demographics are showing that a political party’s chances of winning at the ballot box are progressively declining, it can do one of two things:
1. Change its policies so that they appeal more to these “changing demographics.”
2. Change the laws to make it harder for these “changing demographics” to get to the ballot box.
Unfortunately, in more and more states where it controls the legislature, the GOP is choosing the second option, which courts across the country are finding to be unconstitutional. These rulings only further emphasize the critical role of the judiciary in ensuring the survival of our constitutional democracy, which could be “trumped” in November. Our courts are ensuring that lack of a picture ID cannot be a disqualifying reason to stop eligible voters from casting their ballot. So don’t boo; vote!
1. Change its policies so that they appeal more to these “changing demographics.”
2. Change the laws to make it harder for these “changing demographics” to get to the ballot box.
Unfortunately, in more and more states where it controls the legislature, the GOP is choosing the second option, which courts across the country are finding to be unconstitutional. These rulings only further emphasize the critical role of the judiciary in ensuring the survival of our constitutional democracy, which could be “trumped” in November. Our courts are ensuring that lack of a picture ID cannot be a disqualifying reason to stop eligible voters from casting their ballot. So don’t boo; vote!
8
Confirmation of appointees to the federal judiciary are done for the year.
1
I witnessed this first hand at the last election. The guy in front of me in line, who was black, was denied the right to vote as he ID wasn't sufficient and they couldn't find his name on the list of registered voters.
The worker was embarrassed, the guy was mad and I stood there in awkward silence thinking I should say something in support or in condemnation of what I was seeing.
I remained silent, he left and it still haunts me. That scene, times millions is what this decision is about. Gerrymandered districts and Tea Party legislators will hit back, but at least this is a "Win".
The worker was embarrassed, the guy was mad and I stood there in awkward silence thinking I should say something in support or in condemnation of what I was seeing.
I remained silent, he left and it still haunts me. That scene, times millions is what this decision is about. Gerrymandered districts and Tea Party legislators will hit back, but at least this is a "Win".
8
How do you know a fraudulent vote was not prevented. If he was legal and cared about his vote he could go home and get his iD.
What, if any, method of verifying a voter is in fact a legal voter would you support? Or is your philosophy that we shouldn't check? If fraud changes the rightful result of an election than isn't the majority of legal voters by definition disenfranchised?
What, if any, method of verifying a voter is in fact a legal voter would you support? Or is your philosophy that we shouldn't check? If fraud changes the rightful result of an election than isn't the majority of legal voters by definition disenfranchised?
1
I am confused at who these folks are that have no ID.
By now, they should have some inkling that an election is upcoming, assuming that they so want to vote.
The requirement of showing an ID is logical and the practice in virtually every country where citizens vote. Can you name a country where citizens are not required to?
One would think that with months of lead time an aspiring voter would arrange to get an ID.
This fuss seems to be more a hindrance to the Denocrat practice of driving around scraping up poor people off the streets, bussing them to the polling place, and ordering them to vote D for a free meal.
By now, they should have some inkling that an election is upcoming, assuming that they so want to vote.
The requirement of showing an ID is logical and the practice in virtually every country where citizens vote. Can you name a country where citizens are not required to?
One would think that with months of lead time an aspiring voter would arrange to get an ID.
This fuss seems to be more a hindrance to the Denocrat practice of driving around scraping up poor people off the streets, bussing them to the polling place, and ordering them to vote D for a free meal.
2
HIya clueless,
Guess what? We've been voting THAT DANGEROUS WAY since voting started.
Republicans, as you WELL KNOW created the faux voter in their own minds.
Maybe you are not clueless.
Maybe your just another racist who doesn't think non-white Americans are - you know - American.
Guess what? We've been voting THAT DANGEROUS WAY since voting started.
Republicans, as you WELL KNOW created the faux voter in their own minds.
Maybe you are not clueless.
Maybe your just another racist who doesn't think non-white Americans are - you know - American.
6
Yes, they've been trying, and in many cases they've run into a variety of obstacles that make the process take months if not making them actually impossible. Like only having the office open a few hours every third week, or refusing ordinary ID. The working poor and the elderly often have transport and free time problems.
3
Racism comes in many forms. The barriers to adequate housing, basic education, affordable food, stable employment, comprehensive healthcare and voting rights. At times it feels we are going backward instead of forward in the path of equal rights for all. I am very sad to see the ugly hatred and meanness growing in this country.
6
Throughout our nation's history, efforts have been made by those clinging to power to withhold the right to vote from certain citizens. Past events have shown that minorities, women, and those without education and property have been unduly stripped of their voting rights.
Gerrymandering of voting districts has come into play to keep certain political and economic groups in control of state and local election results.
The Supreme Court has justified and sanctioned unlimited political funding by wealthy corporations, special interest groups, and the richest of wealth-mongers.
The Supreme Court even cast its deciding votes for a presidential election, determining Bush the winner over Gore (even though Gore had a majority of the national votes).
So, one wonders what conniving and sinister steps will be taken in North Carolina and Wisconsin – and in other states – to negate these most recent Federal Circuit and District Court decisions. I'm sure that plans are already afoot!
Gerrymandering of voting districts has come into play to keep certain political and economic groups in control of state and local election results.
The Supreme Court has justified and sanctioned unlimited political funding by wealthy corporations, special interest groups, and the richest of wealth-mongers.
The Supreme Court even cast its deciding votes for a presidential election, determining Bush the winner over Gore (even though Gore had a majority of the national votes).
So, one wonders what conniving and sinister steps will be taken in North Carolina and Wisconsin – and in other states – to negate these most recent Federal Circuit and District Court decisions. I'm sure that plans are already afoot!
3
Snopes investigated and analyzed EVERY single instance of Republican-claimed voter fraud in all 50 states in the 2012 presidential election. And in EVERY instance (yes, even in precincts where Obama won 100% of the vote!) the claims were ruled FALSE. I would hope, in the name of fairness, that if you believe in this Republican myth, please take the time to educate yourself at -
http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/2012fraud.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/2012fraud.asp
8
I read that Snopes "study". It was a statistical analysis which has no bearing on the question.
Snopes' bias is showing.
Snopes' bias is showing.
And the Republican bias is not?
2
I rejected the evangelical Christianity of my youth as soon as I could leave home. I always just brushed it aside when confronted with it throughout my life. Watching the Republican party since Obama's election and especially since Trump took control, I now have visceral revulsion and active hatred for a group, Christian and Republican, that is so far removed from what Christ was about in the Bible that there's absolutely no Christ left in what they're about. I only see Pharisees!
Hey, I read the Bible, all the way through multiple times. I had to, was forced to in my evangelical Baptist school of thirteen years and never ever did I see Christ rejecting the poor and minorities the way today's Republicans do. They are the antithesis of Christ and a growing menace to our democracy that need to be fought and stopped.
I'm sure these same legislators began the session to craft this bill with a formulaic prayer "in Jesus Christ, our lord and saviour's name, amen." Do you really believe Christ would have huddled with these hypocrites to craft these laws? Really?!
Hey, I read the Bible, all the way through multiple times. I had to, was forced to in my evangelical Baptist school of thirteen years and never ever did I see Christ rejecting the poor and minorities the way today's Republicans do. They are the antithesis of Christ and a growing menace to our democracy that need to be fought and stopped.
I'm sure these same legislators began the session to craft this bill with a formulaic prayer "in Jesus Christ, our lord and saviour's name, amen." Do you really believe Christ would have huddled with these hypocrites to craft these laws? Really?!
12
Gee Republicans, rather than cheat to win, maybe form policies people actually want to vote for.
5
That's too bad. We can't even protect our constitutional right. How contorted. You have to have all kinds of identification to even attempt to buy a gun but you don't have to prove your identity to cast a vote... With huge responsibility and implications for the future. Sad.
1
Actually it's easier to get a gun license than to vote. This contains some colorful language but provides good examples, for example, the wounded veteran who couldn't vote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRW5qoraTw
"Let the People Vote: Get Nana a Gun"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypRW5qoraTw
"Let the People Vote: Get Nana a Gun"
2
How is it racist to require all voters to have a photo ID? Please explain that to me.
4
Take the time to read the decision and you will understand.
Stunning ignorance is bliss.
Stunning ignorance is bliss.
5
In and of itself requiring a photo ID is not racist. But please re-read the sixth paragraph of the editorial, especially the second half of the paragraph:
"The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found."
That is blatantly racist.
"The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found."
That is blatantly racist.
6
I took the time to read the decision. Stunning bias by that judge is a horror.
1
I am beginning to believe that we need to get rid of the Supreme Court. I don't want a group of 9 people appointed for life making laws. That is not democracy. Yes, they have made some laws that were beneficial but they were also responsible for Dred Scott, Plessy vs Ferguson and other horrible decisions. Without Roe v Wade I believe abortion would have been legalized in most states without the rancor it has led to, it already was in N.Y. Progressives are dying to reshape the court to their way of thinking because they know what's best for everyone. Why not try persuasion?
1
You're absolutely right. The Supreme Court was never meant to "interpret" the intent of a law. The argument that the Constitution is a "living document" is an argument for a few appointed politicians posing as judges to legislate.
If the Constitution is deemed outdated, we have the amendment process to rectify the anomaly.
If the Constitution is deemed outdated, we have the amendment process to rectify the anomaly.
Getting rid of the Supreme Court is throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Much of the progress we've made in this country has come through the court. We just need to work hard to make sure the top justices are not pursuing a political agenda.
Judge Garland should be confirmed.
Judge Garland should be confirmed.
3
Yes, without the supreme court Gore would have been elected President.
As soon as the Federal government was precluded from reviewing and approving such plans, we see an almost knee jerk reaction from the right to do wrong.
Say what you will about state's rights - but it almost always centers around taking rights from one group and expanding fits for others. We see it in NC with this being pushed back, but we also see it with transgendered rights, gay marriage and a host of other non-issues which the right uses as wedges to divide us.
The way to stop this, is to stop them. Stop voting only in presidential years - the local races is where this stuff happens, and that is where we the people need to act. Be informed. Vote in every election, special election, off-year election, primary and run-off. Don't play the fools game of expecting presidential politics to fix what was broken at the local level.
Be informed. Be engaged. And be an active voter.
Say what you will about state's rights - but it almost always centers around taking rights from one group and expanding fits for others. We see it in NC with this being pushed back, but we also see it with transgendered rights, gay marriage and a host of other non-issues which the right uses as wedges to divide us.
The way to stop this, is to stop them. Stop voting only in presidential years - the local races is where this stuff happens, and that is where we the people need to act. Be informed. Vote in every election, special election, off-year election, primary and run-off. Don't play the fools game of expecting presidential politics to fix what was broken at the local level.
Be informed. Be engaged. And be an active voter.
8
"State's rights" is antithetical to "equal protection of the law" for all citizens.
1
As this premeditated, coordinated effort by the Republicans to disenfranchise minorities, students and other groups covers at least 19 states, the NYT should cover it with a series of articles that will run through this November's election. We need to know the state of play in each of these targeted states and the country as a whole, and the right wing forces should know that the whole world is watching.
14
It's amazing what naked racism and disenfranchisement can be practiced when five black-robed hacks on the SCOTUS work, not for the people, but only for the "right" people.
As much as I dislike and distrust Mrs. Clinton as a potential president, she does appear to be sane, which is more than I can say for her carrot-topped opponent. I would like my judges to be appointed by someone who is sane.
As much as I dislike and distrust Mrs. Clinton as a potential president, she does appear to be sane, which is more than I can say for her carrot-topped opponent. I would like my judges to be appointed by someone who is sane.
9
I am saddened that these legal fights are necessary and that Southerners still think that they can discriminate and get away with it. Shame on the people who enacted these laws in the first place. Let's get rid of the rest of these laws all over the nation and invite those who disenfranchised to join the system called democracy.
6
Republicans are fighting a losing, rear guard battle against America’s unstoppable march toward greater inclusion in an increasingly diverse society.
The courts are striking down voter suppression laws. When Democrats re-take the Senate and reduce Republican margins in the House, the Voting Rights Act will be restored in full. A fully-functioning SCOTUS will restrain Chief Justice Roberts’s long-running project to restrict voting rights. Ultimately, the Constitution will be amended once and for all to define and protect the right to vote for all Americans.
Nothing in the previous paragraph will happen if Donald Trump is elected as our next President.
The courts are striking down voter suppression laws. When Democrats re-take the Senate and reduce Republican margins in the House, the Voting Rights Act will be restored in full. A fully-functioning SCOTUS will restrain Chief Justice Roberts’s long-running project to restrict voting rights. Ultimately, the Constitution will be amended once and for all to define and protect the right to vote for all Americans.
Nothing in the previous paragraph will happen if Donald Trump is elected as our next President.
3
The NC GOP claims, like Paul Ryan, that politics is a "competition of ideas." If so, you'd think they wouldn'the need gerrymandering and voter suppression to win.
4
Currently many states require more documentation from voters than is required to get on the ballot. My disabled son in New Jersey had to show more documentation to get a non-driving photo ID than any candidte has to show to get on the ballot. I had to show my 20 year old gold sealed divorce decree to get a new drivers license in order to use my birth name even though I had birth certificate, passport,etc.
Meanwhile we don't know if candidates have dual citizenship or owe massive debt to foreign powers.....they are the people that are undocumented.
The undocumented candidate is the candidate that hides their tax returns from the public or refuses to show dual citizenship documents,etc.
Meanwhile we don't know if candidates have dual citizenship or owe massive debt to foreign powers.....they are the people that are undocumented.
The undocumented candidate is the candidate that hides their tax returns from the public or refuses to show dual citizenship documents,etc.
4
I am so happy that this awful law passed by the worst legislative body in America has been found to be what it was: racist. North Carolina has struggled to be better than its past and this will help. Special praise for Moral Mondays and those citizens with a moral conscience. Maybe now we can send the legislature and their governor home.
4
We need to stop seeing voting restrictions such as North Carolina's as MERELY racist, and most specifically anti-Black, anti-Hispanic and anti-poor (In fact, the Republicans' REAL anti-poverty program: Disenfranchise the poor.), which of course those restrictions are.
Republican efforts to restrict voting is in fact an effort to disenfranchise, where they can, ALL Democratic Party voters (White, Black, Brown, Yellow, Red), all Democratic-leaning independent voters. Republican efforts to restrict voting rights are anti-democratic (small "d") and anti-American.
Because voting restrictions are only tactically racist. Strategically, they aimed un-racially at all those who might oppose not just Republican governance, but dictatorial Republican rule. When Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris dictatorially stripped Blacks and Hispanics from voter registration roles in Florida in 2000, they stole not just Black and Hispanic votes. They stole the votes of every American who voted for Al Gore, without regard to race. If you voted for Gore, YOUR vote was stolen, no matter who you are.
So, it is not enough to just see voter restrictions as racist. It's not just happening to someone else. It's happening to YOU. It's happening to all of us. I would not want to anyone, not even Republicans, denied their vote. If any of us are denied our right to vote, we are not being governed. We are being ruled. That is not America.
Republican efforts to restrict voting is in fact an effort to disenfranchise, where they can, ALL Democratic Party voters (White, Black, Brown, Yellow, Red), all Democratic-leaning independent voters. Republican efforts to restrict voting rights are anti-democratic (small "d") and anti-American.
Because voting restrictions are only tactically racist. Strategically, they aimed un-racially at all those who might oppose not just Republican governance, but dictatorial Republican rule. When Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris dictatorially stripped Blacks and Hispanics from voter registration roles in Florida in 2000, they stole not just Black and Hispanic votes. They stole the votes of every American who voted for Al Gore, without regard to race. If you voted for Gore, YOUR vote was stolen, no matter who you are.
So, it is not enough to just see voter restrictions as racist. It's not just happening to someone else. It's happening to YOU. It's happening to all of us. I would not want to anyone, not even Republicans, denied their vote. If any of us are denied our right to vote, we are not being governed. We are being ruled. That is not America.
9
Here it is 2016 and these acts started in 2012/13 cycle. We now have corrupted one voting cycle and a group got in that never should have. They have the layer of incumbency to give them protection from the voters. What is really scary is SCOTUS basically turns a blind eye on their horrendous decisions allowing this to happen. They were 100% wrong. They need to fix it. If they don't, Roberts and Kennedy are either corrupt or stupid.
4
Actually it really got going before 2000. Hence Bush v. Gore. There are multiple evidences of cheating in that election, not just those hanging chads. It's been metastasizing ever since. Jane Mayer's Dark Money covers some of it. The Koch empire and ALEC are busy providing templates and support for suppressing the vote.
3
Another GOP effort in NC to solve a problem that does not exist. Voter fraud and transgendered pedophiles in the bathroom. What other distractions will Governor McCrory and our legislature cook up? A total embarrassment.
5
In the case of Shelby County v. Holder a conservative Republican 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court of the United States decided to substitute their factual opinions for the politically bipartisan findings of the U. S. Congress and President George W. Bush that racial discrimination in voting was still and endemic enduring threat the South other states with a history of white supremacy. They effectively gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which required U.S. Justice Department pre-clearance of any change in voting requirements, policies and practices in specific states. What was left was proving intentional racial discrimination and disparate impact which are very difficult costly, complicated and long processes.
The Republican Party is the political party of white people, for white people and by white people along with a few black sycophants. Since the Presidential election of 1964, black voters have voted 90+% for the Democratic candidate. A majority of white voters have voted Republican since that 1964 election culminating in 57% in 2008 and 59% in 2012.
But ethnic European white voters are a rapidly aging and shrinking portion of the America. White supremacy as opposed to racism is the problem. Allegiance to one's own ethnic colored clan tribe rather than hatred of the other is a much more insidious evil.
The Republican Party is the political party of white people, for white people and by white people along with a few black sycophants. Since the Presidential election of 1964, black voters have voted 90+% for the Democratic candidate. A majority of white voters have voted Republican since that 1964 election culminating in 57% in 2008 and 59% in 2012.
But ethnic European white voters are a rapidly aging and shrinking portion of the America. White supremacy as opposed to racism is the problem. Allegiance to one's own ethnic colored clan tribe rather than hatred of the other is a much more insidious evil.
7
The rules should be the same in all states. If North Carolina must permit same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting, so should other states. The majority of states do not permit same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting. If North Carolina must provide more than 10 days of early voting, so should other states. New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota disallow early voting altogether.
1
@ William Case
But we do not have a national Presidential election. We have 50 state Presidential elections plus the District of Columbia. And we have an Electoral College that actually elects the President in our democratic republic. The Constitution establishes a floor regarding voter qualifications, practices and policies. But the Constitution does not establish walls and ceilings with respect to those voting qualifications, practices and policies with respect to individual voters.
But we do not have a national Presidential election. We have 50 state Presidential elections plus the District of Columbia. And we have an Electoral College that actually elects the President in our democratic republic. The Constitution establishes a floor regarding voter qualifications, practices and policies. But the Constitution does not establish walls and ceilings with respect to those voting qualifications, practices and policies with respect to individual voters.
3
The rules need to be the same for all states. For example, the three-judge panel ruled that North Carolina voting laws are intentionally discriminatory because they do not permit same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting, but most states—including New York—prohibit same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting. The panel also ruled that North Carolina’s decision to provide only 10 days of early voting was racist, but New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota disallow early voting altogether. The panel also ruled that North Carolina photo voter ID requirement violates the Voting Rights Act, but the Supreme Court has already found a similar Indiana photo voter ID law constitutional. Congress needs to establish national standards for federal elections.
3
William
I think that the court was reacting to the legislature's request for data on voting patterns by race in order to determine what to change in the new law. It was removing things based on a false claim of fraud that they were concerned with, not whether laws in different states vary.
I agree that national standards would help along with making election day on a Saturday when most people do not have to get to work
I think that the court was reacting to the legislature's request for data on voting patterns by race in order to determine what to change in the new law. It was removing things based on a false claim of fraud that they were concerned with, not whether laws in different states vary.
I agree that national standards would help along with making election day on a Saturday when most people do not have to get to work
2
In addition 200,000 Independent voters in New York were not allowed to vote in the primary because unlike in North Carolina Independents cannot declare a party to vote for in the primary.
1
justice prevails again. This is the second time this week that an upper court has handed a loss to GOP terrorism. I have a feeling that the GOP is going down hard this fall.
4
Indiana, the state that initiated "voter fraud" voting laws, has other ploys to keep minorities and working poor from voting. Polls open very early when most are readying for work and kids to school, but close early too at 6 pm, before most working people can get there, and if they do are guaranteed the longest line of the day. Low wage employers see their campaign dollars working for them with the ability to harshly punish their workers for taking off time at all and since they offer no paid time off and it's as needed, if you vote, suddenly you find out you're not needed.
The only indication that it's election day is the sudden appearance of yard signs for candidates. Local candidates intentionally don't openly campaign to ensure a low profile to lower awareness to insiders who will be sure to vote and that citizens, if they do vote don't know much about any of the candidates so loyals to the likes of Pence are guaranteed their seat.
Indiana's voting history is so bad, the feds demanded that the state must ask every SNAP, TANF and Medicaid if they want to register to vote. They mail out an application, leaving room for discrimination due to the paper bureaucracy of actually getting, completing, mailing that application then following up that it is processed resulting in being registered--too many cracks for things to fall through by a government headed and manned by the likes of Pence on a stressed group, too much oversight when the daily task is just getting by.
The only indication that it's election day is the sudden appearance of yard signs for candidates. Local candidates intentionally don't openly campaign to ensure a low profile to lower awareness to insiders who will be sure to vote and that citizens, if they do vote don't know much about any of the candidates so loyals to the likes of Pence are guaranteed their seat.
Indiana's voting history is so bad, the feds demanded that the state must ask every SNAP, TANF and Medicaid if they want to register to vote. They mail out an application, leaving room for discrimination due to the paper bureaucracy of actually getting, completing, mailing that application then following up that it is processed resulting in being registered--too many cracks for things to fall through by a government headed and manned by the likes of Pence on a stressed group, too much oversight when the daily task is just getting by.
2
Well, I guess all Canadians are being racially discriminated against, too. To vote in Canada, an eligible voter has to show an approved photo ID. I have worked the polls for years and I never saw that showing an ID prevented anyone from being able to cast their vote. I live in a rural area and have worked at rural voting stations. Maybe the rule was really meant to discriminate against the farmers and ranchers, oh my! You know, those people who tend to vote conservatively.
Americans love a red herring.
Americans love a red herring.
7
Since you are Canadian perhaps you don't really know the history behind disenfranchisement of minority voters. I think the issue is more complex than you understand or make it out to be.
And with a quick search I found this:
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=faq&documen...
Canadian voting laws seem a bit more progressive than those in the US. And the forms of identification that can be are quite extensive. (And a photo ID is not required) Speaking of red herrings.....
And with a quick search I found this:
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=faq&documen...
Canadian voting laws seem a bit more progressive than those in the US. And the forms of identification that can be are quite extensive. (And a photo ID is not required) Speaking of red herrings.....
2
There has been a history of discrimination in Canada. The First Nations people were denied voting rights unless they gave up their treaty rights and moved off the reservation. That ended in the 70's.
All that is required to vote is: Canadian citizenship, 18 years old, proof of residency in the voting district -- proven with a photo ID!
p.s. I was born and bred in the USA and have been living in Canada for the last 25 years. I was raised in a liberal/lefty household. I am well aware of the American civil rights struggle for voting rights.
All that is required to vote is: Canadian citizenship, 18 years old, proof of residency in the voting district -- proven with a photo ID!
p.s. I was born and bred in the USA and have been living in Canada for the last 25 years. I was raised in a liberal/lefty household. I am well aware of the American civil rights struggle for voting rights.
1
It is appalling how low the republican state legislatures can go dealing with racial differences. I know all republican voters are not racist so I often wonder why they do not speak up against what their representatives do with their time to make elections unbalanced. When will this racism in America stop?
6
Republicans, have you no shame?
7
I am very glad of this, not only because I deeply believe in the right to vote, but because if one group can be targeted, any group can be targeted. We are all in this together.
7
Want to know what it would be like to have Donald Trump as President?
It couldn't be easier. Just look at the behavior of all the little Republican Donald Trump clones: The little GOP Trump clones who work to restrict American women's legal right to control their own bodies. The little GOP Trump clones who conspired with foreign interests to subvert our peaceful efforts to stop nuclear proliferation. The little GOP Trump clones who work to deny Americans affordable health care. The little GOP Trump clones who work to maintain their undemocratic power and privilege by doing everything they can to stop Americans from exercising their right to vote, thereby literally stealing elections, and thus stealing domestic and foreign policies.
Now watch the little GOP Trump clones, the ones who supposedly lead the Republican Party in the Congress, in the States, in the media, protect and defend, not the Constitution they have sworn under oath, or persistently proclaim, to protect and defend, to lov, but the candidacy of the big GOP Queen Bee Trump himself, putting party before country, just as the Queen Bee Trump will do.
We do not have to imagine a President Trump. We have been watching all along, in broad daylight, his little GOP Trump clones, building the hive, constructing the nest, in which the Queen Bee Trump will reside, protected and in command, to lay the eggs to produce many more future little GOP Trump clones, and drones.
It couldn't be easier. Just look at the behavior of all the little Republican Donald Trump clones: The little GOP Trump clones who work to restrict American women's legal right to control their own bodies. The little GOP Trump clones who conspired with foreign interests to subvert our peaceful efforts to stop nuclear proliferation. The little GOP Trump clones who work to deny Americans affordable health care. The little GOP Trump clones who work to maintain their undemocratic power and privilege by doing everything they can to stop Americans from exercising their right to vote, thereby literally stealing elections, and thus stealing domestic and foreign policies.
Now watch the little GOP Trump clones, the ones who supposedly lead the Republican Party in the Congress, in the States, in the media, protect and defend, not the Constitution they have sworn under oath, or persistently proclaim, to protect and defend, to lov, but the candidacy of the big GOP Queen Bee Trump himself, putting party before country, just as the Queen Bee Trump will do.
We do not have to imagine a President Trump. We have been watching all along, in broad daylight, his little GOP Trump clones, building the hive, constructing the nest, in which the Queen Bee Trump will reside, protected and in command, to lay the eggs to produce many more future little GOP Trump clones, and drones.
5
The NC decision makes a point that does not get enough attention. From page 10 of the decision:
"Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans."
There is just no way to argue that this was not an attempt to disenfranchise black voters.
"Before enacting that law, the legislature requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices. Upon receipt of the race data, the General Assembly enacted legislation that restricted voting and registration in five different ways, all of which disproportionately affected African Americans."
There is just no way to argue that this was not an attempt to disenfranchise black voters.
7
As a 2008 transplant who served as a poll monitor, I saw Afro Americans and college students give this state to President Obama by voting early and using same day registration. The racial basis for the overturned law was so apparent; nonetheless, many, many well-meaning people shrugged it off. The district court judge whose opinion was roundly criticized by the Fourth Circuit should be impeached, because he intentionally let the law stand and thus excluded over 400,000 voters in the 2014 contests. Many thanks to the judges of the Fourth Circuit for restoring basic voting rights and turning back the Jim Crow restoration wrought by the horrible Shelby County 2013 decision. Maybe Paul Ryan will read the decision and be shamed into allowing a vote to proceed on the bipartisan voting rights bill that has languished in the House since 2014.
7
Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. If you check the mirror now, you will see David Duke approaching. Now there is someone the GOP can really rally around in 2020.
2
This occurrence makes either a fool or a fraud of the Supreme Court. I strongly believe the latter.
Having dismantled a key act that provides for equality of representation, the GOP went straight into a process straight out of the 60s.
Thieves, is what they are. Un-American and disgusting. They know they can't win without theft. The question is - Where are they stealing votes where we haven't caught them?
Having dismantled a key act that provides for equality of representation, the GOP went straight into a process straight out of the 60s.
Thieves, is what they are. Un-American and disgusting. They know they can't win without theft. The question is - Where are they stealing votes where we haven't caught them?
6
John Roberts worked hard to find ways to subvert or overturn the Voting Rights Act when he worked for Ronald Reagan back in the 80s. The conflict of interest and the lack of sense of open-minded fairness was more than obvious when he failed to recuse himself in the Shelby County case. Fortunately at this point he doesn't have to votes to overturn any of these lower court rulings and, if he's smart about his legacy and the Court's integrity, he won't vote even to take the appeal. I agree, the Roberts Court is a fraud. I think history will rank them right down at the bottom with the Chaney Court. Certainly Roberts and Alito are the most partisan justices to serve in a very long time. Of course, that's why Bush was told to appoint them.
6
Another victory for democracy. Now, about that gerrymandering thing ...
123
Did I miss seeing the governor of NC response to this outlandish injustice on his state? He did have a great response to the NBA for taking away the All-Star game. Are all of the citizens of NC racist? If they are not then they need to begin immediately to remove the racist bigots from their state government.
2
Whew. Dodged another bullet. Thank you 4th Circuit for helping to restore faith in the Federal Judicial system.
To the people who claim that observing these restrictive rules is simply being responsible to your a civic duty. It is neither civic or dutiful to cheat.
Now. On to Kansas.
To the people who claim that observing these restrictive rules is simply being responsible to your a civic duty. It is neither civic or dutiful to cheat.
Now. On to Kansas.
4
Many commenters in this space criticize the district court's blistering language in invalidating North Carolina's restrictive voting law. They argue with passion that citizens ought to meet the same requirements to vote as they do to drive a car, etc.
But look at the Court's rationale in overturning the law. A blatant attempt to restrict voting for specific targets that tend to vote Democratic: blacks, college-age voters, Latinos.
Where did this idea come from? Not from the GOP members of the NC General Assembly. Instead, from ALEC, a shadow organization funded by right wing billionaires dedicated to insuring Republican victories in state and federal elections, using untraceable donations and boilerplate language developed for compliant, Republican-dominated legislatures around the country, but especially in battleground states like NC, Ohio and Wisconsin. ALEC's most visible presence is one Ken Kobach, the elected attorney general of Kansas, where Republican-inspired draconian legislation. Has all but ruined the state's economy, while preserving white majorities in all elections.
These legislatures justify their actions as preventing fraud. But it is they who are committing the fraud as a rear-guard action to preserve racial disparities.
But look at the Court's rationale in overturning the law. A blatant attempt to restrict voting for specific targets that tend to vote Democratic: blacks, college-age voters, Latinos.
Where did this idea come from? Not from the GOP members of the NC General Assembly. Instead, from ALEC, a shadow organization funded by right wing billionaires dedicated to insuring Republican victories in state and federal elections, using untraceable donations and boilerplate language developed for compliant, Republican-dominated legislatures around the country, but especially in battleground states like NC, Ohio and Wisconsin. ALEC's most visible presence is one Ken Kobach, the elected attorney general of Kansas, where Republican-inspired draconian legislation. Has all but ruined the state's economy, while preserving white majorities in all elections.
These legislatures justify their actions as preventing fraud. But it is they who are committing the fraud as a rear-guard action to preserve racial disparities.
8
Somewhere this morning, a very disappointed Donald Trump is weeping and muttering jibberish about a 'rigged system'.
5
Why do Republicans make it difficult for "some" citizens to vote?
Because those citizens have views that don't subscribe to theirs.
“in the immediate aftermath of unprecedented African-American participation”
“target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.”
“requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.”
What an indictment the ruling is, to the point of being criminal.
Let's launch a congressional investigation into something that actually affects peoples lives and constitutional rights!
Because those citizens have views that don't subscribe to theirs.
“in the immediate aftermath of unprecedented African-American participation”
“target African-Americans with almost surgical precision.”
“requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.”
What an indictment the ruling is, to the point of being criminal.
Let's launch a congressional investigation into something that actually affects peoples lives and constitutional rights!
10
It's the GOP big lie machine again. Folks, voter ID fraud is a fantasy created specifically to suppress minority and other opposing voters. Statistically voter ID fraud is so far to the right of the decimal point that it's almost as far to the right as these anti-democracy legislators.
4
I suppose that in a way this is proof that the plaintive wail “black lives matter” makes sense.
After all this time Blacks still rely on the mercy and goodness of the courts for justice and fairness.
After all this time Blacks still rely on the mercy and goodness of the courts for justice and fairness.
1
As an lillywhite immigrant to these shores, I have learned one lesson about this country decades ago, and that is that not all Republicans are racists, but that all racists are republicans.
9
As a former resident of this beautiful State, my delight in the judicial repeal of NC's racist voting restrictions is balanced by my sadness that NC's growing tolerance of previous years had been destroyed by a Republican regime steeped in bigotry.
Now that the courts have lifted NC's recent suppression of an expanded voting franchise, it is up to voters to capitalize on this salutary development.
Please NC, vote in November! Then make voting a habit and vote again in 2018. Come to think of it, this plea applies to the whole country.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
Now that the courts have lifted NC's recent suppression of an expanded voting franchise, it is up to voters to capitalize on this salutary development.
Please NC, vote in November! Then make voting a habit and vote again in 2018. Come to think of it, this plea applies to the whole country.
www.endthemadnessnow.org
7
Like it or not, Americans, you and your country are at the crossroad of history. Victory of Trump will lead to Civil war II if not world war III. Then, the solution for the African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans is the path laid down by Gandhi and followed King. Gandhi himself credited his philosophy of non co-operation and non violence to Henry David Thoreau. Those who do not remember history are condemned to repeat it. Discrimination of every kind is so outdated that it is strange that one of the Presidential candidates is using it as an USP. Only thing stranger is the party of Lincoln has embraced him. Fame and fortune are temporary and only class is permanent. I am sorry that candidate, I can not even bring myself up to name him, has no class whatsoever. Wish you good luck US of A and the people. You need it more than ever. Let better sense and wisdom dawn on all.
2
The NC voter suppression law was all too predictably the result of the obscene Roberts majority opinion in Shelby County.
That decision, ignoring and refuting the overwhelming vote of the Congress and the signature of President Bush in reenacting the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5 in 2006, was a transparently cynical attempt to allow legislatures previously subject to pre-clearance requirements because of a history of racial discrimination, to do just what the NC bigots did in enacting the nation's most restrictive voter suppression law.
The 4th Circuit's majestic opinion not only was a rebuke to the Tea Party NC legislature but also to Roberts and the other unprincipled radical right wing activists on SCOTUS in the 5/4 Shelby majority.
Roberts' majority opinion in Shelby County will be his signal fetid legacy as Chief Justice of SCOTUS in the sweep of history, just as Henry Billings Brown's majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson is his.
That decision, ignoring and refuting the overwhelming vote of the Congress and the signature of President Bush in reenacting the pre-clearance provisions of Section 5 in 2006, was a transparently cynical attempt to allow legislatures previously subject to pre-clearance requirements because of a history of racial discrimination, to do just what the NC bigots did in enacting the nation's most restrictive voter suppression law.
The 4th Circuit's majestic opinion not only was a rebuke to the Tea Party NC legislature but also to Roberts and the other unprincipled radical right wing activists on SCOTUS in the 5/4 Shelby majority.
Roberts' majority opinion in Shelby County will be his signal fetid legacy as Chief Justice of SCOTUS in the sweep of history, just as Henry Billings Brown's majority opinion in Plessy v. Ferguson is his.
4
Someone is taking away the power of the ballot-the judges who issued this ruling. A legislature is just an elected body of representatives of the people. The judges aren't saying the legislators are racially motivated, they are saying the people are. And they are wrong.
2
Thirty years ago the Supreme Court, in Thornburg v. Gingles, established an analysis to evaluate racially polarized voting, which as the court recognized renders minority voters vulnerable to the tendency of elected officials to entrench themselves by targeting groups unlikely to vote for them. The Fourth and Fifth Circuits employed that analysis in their North Carolina and Texas decisions.
Since the Roberts Court struck down the pre-clearance requirement under the Voting Rights Act, we have witnessed dozens of GOP-controlled state legislatures expend enormous energy -- and our tax dollars -- to deny the franchise to minorities. The GOP-controlled Congress has supported the expenditures by failing to update the pre-clearance requirement as the Roberts Court directed.
Said President Obama: "Don't boo. Vote." The GOP is making that as difficult as possible.
Since the Roberts Court struck down the pre-clearance requirement under the Voting Rights Act, we have witnessed dozens of GOP-controlled state legislatures expend enormous energy -- and our tax dollars -- to deny the franchise to minorities. The GOP-controlled Congress has supported the expenditures by failing to update the pre-clearance requirement as the Roberts Court directed.
Said President Obama: "Don't boo. Vote." The GOP is making that as difficult as possible.
2
Is it really so difficult or too much to ask someone to get a license in 2016? Is it really that bizarre of a request?
We just want to know who you are when you cast your vote. Stop whining and get with the program already......
We just want to know who you are when you cast your vote. Stop whining and get with the program already......
3
Ridiculous!
You might want to find out what was actually in the N.C. law -- or at least read the column. The column notes many of the detailed appellate courts findings that the state legislature deliberately limited the kinds of acceptable photo ID to those black citizens were less likely to have and eliminated or cut back voting opportunities (such as Sunday voting) most often used by minority voters. Is it too much trouble to get a license? You might asked the 80 year old who has never driven and would have to take both time (sometimes weeks) and spend money to get certified copies of documents like birth certificates in order to get the "free" Div. of Motor Vehicles ID card. Yet that same 80 year old may have regularly voted in the past and may also have photo ID -- just not photo ID accepted under the law.
4
The radicalized Republicans in the NC legislature who aborted their formal educations in the fetal stage have more trials to face. We can’t wait for the challenge to spending state public money for church schools who teach bogus information.
3
All government affirmation of anyone's claims to know what God thinks is patently unconstitutional.
1
How do the below help voters?
Closing polling stations
Limiting hours of operation
Eliminating early voting
Eliminating "souls to the polls"
All these are only done against voters in democratic voting districts.
Closing polling stations
Limiting hours of operation
Eliminating early voting
Eliminating "souls to the polls"
All these are only done against voters in democratic voting districts.
7
Obama winning NC in 2008 had the racists all over America SHOOK!
6
scur·ril·ous
ˈskərələs/Submit
adjective
making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation.
"a scurrilous attack on his integrity"
To be truly clear, scurrilous, does not do justice to the intent behind the voter suppression laws enacted in several states, including North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, and others, including the attack by the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Currently, people all over the world, disenfranchised people have looked on in pure horror and genuine fear, as our state, federal, and Supreme Court powers, openly attack and eliminate basic individual rights, rights enshrined in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, with nary a concern there will be push-back, from the citizenry, all of whom are so fraught, and subjugated, they have nearly capitulated to a return to feudalism, fear that since the United States sets such an example, other sovereign nations will be emboldened to act likewise.
As I read various articles this morning, I conclude, in spite of the generalized evidence of pure evil at work in our nation, and the world at large, there is still a solid healthy core of goodness in the hearts of many, goodness that will triumph, and send the practitioners and enforcers of evil, back to the cesspool darkness they crawled out of.
Americans, remember, "One Nation, Under God, with Liberty, and Justice, for All", and I add "All of the Time".
ˈskərələs/Submit
adjective
making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation.
"a scurrilous attack on his integrity"
To be truly clear, scurrilous, does not do justice to the intent behind the voter suppression laws enacted in several states, including North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas, and others, including the attack by the Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Currently, people all over the world, disenfranchised people have looked on in pure horror and genuine fear, as our state, federal, and Supreme Court powers, openly attack and eliminate basic individual rights, rights enshrined in our Constitution and our Bill of Rights, with nary a concern there will be push-back, from the citizenry, all of whom are so fraught, and subjugated, they have nearly capitulated to a return to feudalism, fear that since the United States sets such an example, other sovereign nations will be emboldened to act likewise.
As I read various articles this morning, I conclude, in spite of the generalized evidence of pure evil at work in our nation, and the world at large, there is still a solid healthy core of goodness in the hearts of many, goodness that will triumph, and send the practitioners and enforcers of evil, back to the cesspool darkness they crawled out of.
Americans, remember, "One Nation, Under God, with Liberty, and Justice, for All", and I add "All of the Time".
4
>>>>
Denying or making it more difficult for certain people to vote is the last tool in the GOP's toolbox to hold power in a demographic landscape that is turning against them.
Although this decision is a victory to basic voting rights, the GOP will relentlessly carry on their war at the voting booth against specific U.S. citizens.
The final victory will be won if, and only if, Hillary wins and potentially alters the SCOTUS to a 7-2 liberal majority, where Roberts and Alito represent token votes.
Denying or making it more difficult for certain people to vote is the last tool in the GOP's toolbox to hold power in a demographic landscape that is turning against them.
Although this decision is a victory to basic voting rights, the GOP will relentlessly carry on their war at the voting booth against specific U.S. citizens.
The final victory will be won if, and only if, Hillary wins and potentially alters the SCOTUS to a 7-2 liberal majority, where Roberts and Alito represent token votes.
6
Forgive me for being the naïve, American expat who has lived abroad for many years ... I don't understand why the requirement for a photo ID in order to vote is discriminatory. Here in Italy, photo IDs are even required for making some credit card purchases. This is the 21st century. How is it possible that someone could not have a photo ID?
6
The US doesn't have a national ID system because it wants employers to be able to hire illegal immigrants.
6
Shopping with a credit card is not a fundamental right in a democracy. I don't think you are naive, I think you are biased. Imagine you are elderly, unemployed, have no money and no car. It's pretty easy for someone in that situation to end up with a drivers license that is expired. They are still a citizen with the right to vote!
4
Imagine all the time , energy and money the Republicans have spent fighting " voter fraud" ! Despite overwhelming statistical and investigative evidence that shows it is virtually non existent they keep crying in righteous indignation. Compound that with the incessant Gerrymandering they engage in and you see they want to nullify and prevent the votes of people of color, immigrants and and Latinos. I am often shocked they have not tried to suppress the voting rights of women but I guess statistics show many of them vote republican. It is clear this in line with them being strict constructionists of the constitution which only granted voting rights to land owning white men. It would be much more genuine if they simply said we don't think anyone should be allowed to vote who wasn't white . Perhaps with the Trump era being ushered in, they will drop the pretense and just admit these truth which are clearly self evident for all to see and hear and be ashamed and afraid of.
10
This is what happens when you elect Democrats as president: You get leftist activist judges who create con law out of thin air and infuse their progressive agenda, the consent of the people be damned. This ensures Dem majorities for years to come.
Democrats win. We lose. This is why we need Article V convention of the states to bypass this tyranny.
Democrats win. We lose. This is why we need Article V convention of the states to bypass this tyranny.
2
Why are you so afraid of black people voting? We live in a democracy!
6
What on earth are you talking about Cjmesqu0? What tyranny? That of black people voting? Did you read the article? How might the legislators have been more blunt about their intentions?
--The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found.
--The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found.
5
This should not be a partisan issue, yet you contribute to making it such. To call out racists for attempting to block those who have often been marginalized is not tyranny. It is justice.
As for your allegation of "leftist activist judges", on what grounds do you make such charges? Judges on the Supreme Court are nominated by politicians and approved by them. It is your system and it is one that has, more often than not, served the United States well. People cannot simply resort to castigating the judiciary whenever it rules on constitutional matters in ways that offend their sensibilities.
In my view, to denigrate the courts is to denigrate the rule of law. Look to China and Russia for examples of what happens when people set out down that path.
As for your allegation of "leftist activist judges", on what grounds do you make such charges? Judges on the Supreme Court are nominated by politicians and approved by them. It is your system and it is one that has, more often than not, served the United States well. People cannot simply resort to castigating the judiciary whenever it rules on constitutional matters in ways that offend their sensibilities.
In my view, to denigrate the courts is to denigrate the rule of law. Look to China and Russia for examples of what happens when people set out down that path.
4
Republican lawmakers always seem to be looking to make citizens jump through hoops in order to enjoy basic constitutional liberties. Imagine their uproar if you had to present your credentials to a state actor in order to visit the house of worship of your choice. What's the difference?
6
Let's celebrate those few shining moments of "simple justice." But, to paraphrase President Obama, "Don' gloat, vote!"
4
Citizens participating in the political life of their state? Only some! These tawdry actions by the government of North Carolina proves once again that some folks aren't good enough for our own Constitution.
4
I am amazed by how helpless and incapable of completing mundane tasks these judges must think minorities are. Why else would they view requirements to plan ahead by having a photo ID, registering, and going to the correct location as discrimination? I know there are exceptions, but are there that many exceptions that it is better to assume these minority groups incapable overall?
5
It is fact that the INTENT of the law was to discriminate. Tell us, what is YOUR intent in defending it?
7
People who work only months out of the year evidently cannot imagine what life is like for people trying to make ends meet with two or more minimum wage jobs.
3
Yes, you would think blacks would be insulted.
If the law was racist in intent, it seems to me that some people should be punished for it. If we can't do more to reduce voter suppression than striking down laws after a long process, there's no much to deter the racists from proposing more such laws.
10
Great news!
4
When I moved to North Carolina in 2010 the state had a reputation for progressive and tolerant attitudes. The research triangle of the tri-cities including Raleigh was touted as the one of the promises of technology and how the American south was transforming itself from a Jim Crow reputation to a modern, inclusive society. Of course I knew that Jim Crow wasn't just part of the south. I had grown up in Indiana and witnessed first hand bigotry that sometimes defied belief. I left Indiana decades ago for that reason and I may soon leave North Carolina. As a gay man, I have seen so much progress and yet, in the last four years the Republicans of both North Carolina and Indiana have demonstrated attitudes and passed legislation so full of hate that I have to wonder just how far we have come, and are we talking steps back into the past. Of course I also realize that what's really happening is the last screams of angry, straight, Christian white men who are seeing their power diluted. This law inhibiting voting in North Carolina, like other states, is one example. So is the anti-LGBT law, HB2, taking away any protections for my sexual orientation. I understand what they are losing because I am not only gay, but I am a white man. Yes, it is true we are losing some of our privileges. But they are privileges men took from women and minorities. They were never rightly ours to begin with. Thanks to the courts the battle continues to overturn these hate-filled laws. Finally.
153
My wife and I are considering moving to North Carolina Ashville in particular. We see these laws and know that ultimately they need to be changed from within. I know that it is tough right now, but it is people like you who stand for progressive causes that make these bigoted law makers react so strongly. So hang in there, please. Change is coming and we can't give up as things move toward a tipping point.
1
"Racism" in America seems 'alive and well', to our shame. This is a sad remnant of slavery in a country born with laudable aims of freedom and justice for all...except when they interfered with our tribal spirits of greed and dominance over the 'other', the common denominator for our petty behavior being that of a different skin color, conveniently forgetting our common ancestry. That we still have to deal with this grotesque injustice goes beyond understanding, and decency. Still, the hope remains that a proper education will shake our ignorance and the prejudices it entails.
46
The guise of racism will always be used as a method to instilling and quality assurance process that every other civilized countries have. By using this as ancvother example of racism, you are undermining the intellectual integrity of blacks who in 2016 and with a black president are still perceived to be unable to follow the most basic directions. Stand up people.
3
"Scurrilous" and "republican" in the same sentence? Now here's a surprise!
2
Now maybe they can charge those politicians who voted for this hate with hate crimes.
1
In a democracy, the goal should be to encourage universal voting. Voting ID laws should evaluated with that in mind - laws that discourage voting should be viewed with suspicion. It is possible to create ID laws that are neutral by creating an outreach program to people who do not have photo IDs, defraying all the costs and giving people a long grace period to get an IDs. Laws like those passed in N.C. make no effort to be neutral to voter participation. One can only assume that N.C. lawmakers knew that they were discouraging voting.
6
This is the kind of case that makes me want to go back to school: law school. How does the transcript not mention HOW blacks perceive a picture ID as an obstacle? There are cultural differences acknowledged by a preponderance of our population of all ethnicities. But to say that the very ID necessary for hospitals, social services including food stamps, cigarette and liquor purchases, and hosts of other accommodations, is discriminating when voting, does not compute.
The case is also predicated on the mass of one ethnicity voting for its own. In North Carolina as in all other states, that one ethnicity is blacks voting for blacks at a higher rate than any other ethnicity voting for ITS own. When blacks vote for their own at a 98% rate, that's racism, not happenstance. So reverse that and go to any election and show that whites vote for a white over a black at a 98% clip. It just doesn't happen. Voter fraud exists, but the cover for excuses for one ethnicity to be entitled to its own cultural proclivity, further separating from, what is now, the dominant culture and the law of the land, is a misuse of the legal process.
The case is also predicated on the mass of one ethnicity voting for its own. In North Carolina as in all other states, that one ethnicity is blacks voting for blacks at a higher rate than any other ethnicity voting for ITS own. When blacks vote for their own at a 98% rate, that's racism, not happenstance. So reverse that and go to any election and show that whites vote for a white over a black at a 98% clip. It just doesn't happen. Voter fraud exists, but the cover for excuses for one ethnicity to be entitled to its own cultural proclivity, further separating from, what is now, the dominant culture and the law of the land, is a misuse of the legal process.
5
What a lot of words it took to simply state: If my side loses for any reason whatsoever, including numerical inferiority, it is because of fraud. Yes, I think your first sentence is correct, although something more basic than law school should suffice.
1
I'd just like to add that some of us *white* voters in North Carolina *also* feel as if the court dealt us a major victory. These voter restrictions were repulsive and all citizens should be furious when some are disenfranchised.
24
The White Identity Party ( AKA Republicans ) will be swamped in post 2016 elections.
As a college-educated retired white professor, from humble origins in New York City, I experience this -- easily researched/searched online -- finding with joy.
As a college-educated retired white professor, from humble origins in New York City, I experience this -- easily researched/searched online -- finding with joy.
2
The North Carolina legislature is an apparently ruled by Republican racists and anti-LGBT homophobes. I wonder how many of those bigots are "Conservative born again Christians". I would wager a significant majority. Their insidious hypocrisy is indelibly written in the shameful language of their bigoted statutes.
1
Many in NJ have moved to NC, and they are starting to regret it. Their "neighbors" have turned out to be racist fools. Welcome to the new South Carolina!
1
AMen!!!
1
They will find a way to steal this election. They are cornered. I think it's obvious that there is a calculated strategy to go forward with a weakened Supreme Court. I smell trouble.
1
Want to know why to vote for Clinton, when you might think she is a sell-out or too conservative, or part of the machine, or had an unfair advantage over Sanders?
Well, this is really likely to get to Supreme Court. One federal district is almost certain to judge the issue the other way, as voter ID laws are challenged state by state,
As I will continue to say, over and over, a lot rides on this election.
Well, this is really likely to get to Supreme Court. One federal district is almost certain to judge the issue the other way, as voter ID laws are challenged state by state,
As I will continue to say, over and over, a lot rides on this election.
4
SCOTUS finally did something right!!!! I don't have to fear driving with my NC license plates in other states any more. And working on getting voters registered will not be a pointless effort!
I proved my identity when I registered, after I had lived long enough at my current address. That was enough. Now when I vote, poll workers cross my name off in an address book before handing me a ballot, and never, not once, have I seen my name crossed off by somebody else. The classic system of voting works.
2
It's hardly news that North Carolina Republicans do not want African Americans to vote.
What is newsworthy is the 4th Circuit having none of it. I can remember, not so long ago, the decision would have gone the other way.
Thank you President Obama and thank you 4th Circuit. Sooner or later, the error of November 2010 will be just a bad, distant memory.
What is newsworthy is the 4th Circuit having none of it. I can remember, not so long ago, the decision would have gone the other way.
Thank you President Obama and thank you 4th Circuit. Sooner or later, the error of November 2010 will be just a bad, distant memory.
7
This also showed us the (surprising) naiveté of the conservative wing of the Supreme Court in the striking down of that section of the Voting Rights Act - or am I being generous in calling it naiveté?
5
I am so tempted to start a movement in lower Georgia and Alabama for Trump supporters to vote, then cross the border into Florida ... same day register with no ID or residency information and shift the election to Trump. Then maybe Democrats will care about integrity of elections, actually they did in California during the primaries to miss train poll workers to give first time voters (a demographic Bernie dominated) with no party affiliation paper NPP ballots to be kick out the count so Hillary could win, if they do that to their own, imagine what they do in general elections.
Doesn't matter, I want to see the look on Hillary's face after the election and see the black voter turnout number they are predicting using Obama's number fall super short of expectations
Doesn't matter, I want to see the look on Hillary's face after the election and see the black voter turnout number they are predicting using Obama's number fall super short of expectations
4
Voting restrictions that favor one party or the other are perfectly legal. When Republicans pass such laws, black Democrats suffer. Are the Republicans trying to harm Democrats or blacks? Harming Democrats is all good for Republicans, Not so harming blacks. This isn't the 1950's. Republicans want to win. They gave up lynching a long time ago. Republicans want to get more votes. Democrats wreak havoc against legitimate anti-Democrat measures. Meanwhile, Democrats engage in numerous and various anti-Republican measures. What a bunch of hypocrites.
5
Ok so what measures have dems passed to restrict the voting rights of white men?
1
Oh, thank goodness.
2
The complete Fourth Circuit opinion on North Carolina's voting law is at:
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/161468.P.pdf
-- The opinion is scathing, as the North Carolina Republican Legislature and Governor fully deserved.
-- Chief Justice Roberts' Supreme Court invited this state mischief with its 2013 'Shelby County' decision against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. NC and many states leapt at Roberts' gift of another chance to restrict voting rights. The Court should be ashamed of its misreading of state legislatures' immoral ambitions.
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Published/161468.P.pdf
-- The opinion is scathing, as the North Carolina Republican Legislature and Governor fully deserved.
-- Chief Justice Roberts' Supreme Court invited this state mischief with its 2013 'Shelby County' decision against the Voting Rights Act of 1965. NC and many states leapt at Roberts' gift of another chance to restrict voting rights. The Court should be ashamed of its misreading of state legislatures' immoral ambitions.
9
Anyone even marginally involved with attempting to limit anyones voting rights should be given the harshest punishment imaginable.
Right now I think that punishment would include being placed in solitary confinement and being forced to watch a continual loop of the speeches from the Republican convention!
Right now I think that punishment would include being placed in solitary confinement and being forced to watch a continual loop of the speeches from the Republican convention!
1
The mindless liberals really believe this is racist. Really??? Making sure that voter fraud (which the Democrats have been known for doing) doesn't happen. Black people DO have drivers licenses and anyone can request a photo ID from the state. This isn't racist but the group think that so many have bought into might be.
8
You haven't lived through the Republican hijacking of our state government in NC. The party of limited government has given us wholesale takeovers of local perogatives, loss of teacher tenure (causing an exodus of skilled teachers), gerrymandering on a massive scale, and YES suppression of voting by minorities and the young. Motor Vehicle offices are far apart, run on limited hours, and usually not accessible by public transportation. So, talk about conditions in your own state, not ones you'very probably never set foot in.
1
Fascinating... Voter fraud is a unicorn. And no not everyone has a drivers license. Sorry, what world are you from?
1
Let's see, North Carolina tried to restrict voting to only lily white racists and wants people to show birth certificates before using the bathroom.
Let's all of us just not go there until they decide to enter the 21st Century or actually admit that they lost the Civil War.
On reflection, I don't think I'd visit under ANY circumstances.
Let's all of us just not go there until they decide to enter the 21st Century or actually admit that they lost the Civil War.
On reflection, I don't think I'd visit under ANY circumstances.
3
This ruling shows the mendacity of the North Carolina Republicans. They claim that this law is about avoiding voter fraud. But, this ruling clearly shows that the data that was used to craft the law with "surgical precision" was about what voting practices were disporportionally used by democratic voters (blacks, students, etc). North Carolinians need to exercise our voting rights to throw these bums out.
11
The great majority of blacks, Hispanics and whites who are barred from voting have simply failed to bother to register. According to the 4th Circuit, they are all at fault for racial discrimination against themselves.
4
Racism is pervasive in the United States. From New York to North Carolina, black and whites live separately, go to separate schools and separate churches, have vastly different cultures, and, most important of all, they have vastly different standards of living. Self-righteous Northern Democrats and oblivious Southern Republicans all live in segregated worlds. When North Carolina passes laws that increase Republican influence, they may or may not be thinking about race. But this is a trivial matter because America is a racist country and virtually every white American is at fault. Let's be real.
7
I actually think that voters should have to produce photo IDs in order to ensure fair and safe elections. That being said, it is obvious the intent of this law was to discriminate. If producing a fair election was a motive, why not have programs enacted to create voter IDs when you register?
13
This is wonderful. It strengthens the argument that not voting is not a protest, it is a surrender. We must all must take our fate into our own hands.
7
To me it is racist to have anyone in this United States unable to have proof of identity. What kind of country do we live in where there is permitted to have a population of the unknown? This is a disservice to the very people it is supposed to be helping.
8
Voting is a right not a privilege. If a state or any juristictition wants to require photo identification for voting, then it is the reponsibility of that juristiction to provide the required voting documentation on request. And if the juristiction is unable to verify and supply the documentation required for voting, then that juristioction must be required to permit voting with a provisional ballot that the juristicion must verify post election. Voting is a right not a privilege, and onous of proof falls on the juristiction, not on the person wanting to vote.
6
2016 in America and we're still talking about the right to vote. More American exceptionalism.
12
We need a reasonable President like Hillary...to appoint a reasonable new Supreme Court Justice...to undo the damage that Scalia & friends have done. Some state lawmakers were more subtle with their remarks but others gloated about how they would now discourage "unfriendly" voters. In my opinion, any reasonable jury would consider this activity a crime. Why is it not being prosecuted?
22
If you can't win elections fair and square, try more devious methods. With this, and by nominating Trump RNC shows it's idea for new US is very dark indeed.
What does it say about the state of democratic principles in America if it is up to the courts to put them in writing? I may be naive but in my opinion the legislators have failed spectacularly.
By the way, are the Republicans going to call these judges activists?
What does it say about the state of democratic principles in America if it is up to the courts to put them in writing? I may be naive but in my opinion the legislators have failed spectacularly.
By the way, are the Republicans going to call these judges activists?
17
This move by republicans to suppress voters who will not support them is one of the most un-constitutional and weak minded I have ever seen. The republicans were attempting to CHEAT in a very big way to win this election. Based on these unconscionable actions we can see just how important it is to elect Hillary Clinton for President and to vote for every Democrat at every level of government otherwise as you can see from this action that we will not have a democracy, nor a republic, nor will the constitution be followed if republicans are allowed to get in power. Vote people!
29
Sadly because far too many Republicans are racists! Also since for the most part the American Public is Not buying what they're selling, and of course they refuse to change some or any of their positions, they have to Cheat to stay in the game. Voter suppression & gerrymandering are the ways the Republicans have taken both the House & Senate but hopefully at the very least this fall they'll lose the Senate.
When Mitch McConnell gave out his infamous order to his fellow Republicans Not to give President Obama anything that he could run on, he & his fellow Republicans Forget that say if President Obama had managed to pass a bill to repair our sorely in need infrastructure it wouldn't be the President who benefited, it would be the American Public & the Country as a Whole! Unfortunately the Republican Party is run by the angry, whiney, short-sighted men like Rush Limbaugh on Conservative talk radio & Roger Ailes, formerly at Fox-Faux News, into the totally Disastrous Party that it has become. I've never been a fan of the Republican Party or their policies but at least Nixon signed the Clean Air & Water Acts & the 1st Bush signed & advocated for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now they are the Party of Trump, enough said!
When Mitch McConnell gave out his infamous order to his fellow Republicans Not to give President Obama anything that he could run on, he & his fellow Republicans Forget that say if President Obama had managed to pass a bill to repair our sorely in need infrastructure it wouldn't be the President who benefited, it would be the American Public & the Country as a Whole! Unfortunately the Republican Party is run by the angry, whiney, short-sighted men like Rush Limbaugh on Conservative talk radio & Roger Ailes, formerly at Fox-Faux News, into the totally Disastrous Party that it has become. I've never been a fan of the Republican Party or their policies but at least Nixon signed the Clean Air & Water Acts & the 1st Bush signed & advocated for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Now they are the Party of Trump, enough said!
6
"Significantly, the appeals court noted that the restrictions were enacted by the state within weeks of the Supreme Court ruling that struck down a crucial part of the Voting Rights Act — the requirement that states with histories of racial discrimination obtain preclearance from the federal government for any voting changes."
I remember well when that SCOTUS decision came down and thought to myself, wonder how long it will take for states to return to their voter restrictions? Not long, it seems--a judicial nanosecond. I believe Texas was first, followed by the states mentioned in this article. Justice Roberts: satisfied your reasoning that certain states have overcome their curbing of voter rights still holds?
The good news is, the middle courts are doing their jobs, because these federal judges were in place before the McConnell decision to weaken SCOTUS by denying Mr. Obama's pick of a justice. The bad news is, of course, that racism is alive and well in GOP-dominated states.
But I think the scariest part, is how open and blatant they are about restricting the vote--the most precious right our democracy awards. No more dancing around, no more obfuscation, just an "in your face" answer to the original SCOTUS decision.
The founders said preserving democracy demands eternal vigilance. Nowhere else is this truer than on the issue of voter disenfranchisement.
I remember well when that SCOTUS decision came down and thought to myself, wonder how long it will take for states to return to their voter restrictions? Not long, it seems--a judicial nanosecond. I believe Texas was first, followed by the states mentioned in this article. Justice Roberts: satisfied your reasoning that certain states have overcome their curbing of voter rights still holds?
The good news is, the middle courts are doing their jobs, because these federal judges were in place before the McConnell decision to weaken SCOTUS by denying Mr. Obama's pick of a justice. The bad news is, of course, that racism is alive and well in GOP-dominated states.
But I think the scariest part, is how open and blatant they are about restricting the vote--the most precious right our democracy awards. No more dancing around, no more obfuscation, just an "in your face" answer to the original SCOTUS decision.
The founders said preserving democracy demands eternal vigilance. Nowhere else is this truer than on the issue of voter disenfranchisement.
19
Let's just make Gov Pat McCrory a one term governor of North Carolina already.
North Carolinians, you have a choice to make in this November, let gerrymandering rules you and return the state to a third rate has been or be courageous to embrace the real Constitution and modernity to show major corporations their investments in your state is worthwhile. The implications cannot be more important to your state. So think deeply
North Carolinians, you have a choice to make in this November, let gerrymandering rules you and return the state to a third rate has been or be courageous to embrace the real Constitution and modernity to show major corporations their investments in your state is worthwhile. The implications cannot be more important to your state. So think deeply
15
This human doesn't need to think deeply. Roy Cooper is my guy.
1
It's notable that a disgraceful Supreme Court decision quickly let to an equally racially discriminatory bill by the NC legislature.
That it why the election of the next president, who will almost certainly decide the composition of that court, is critical.
More rights will be lost if Trump is elected.
That it why the election of the next president, who will almost certainly decide the composition of that court, is critical.
More rights will be lost if Trump is elected.
74
That's Trumpo's plan John!
How about not making it about who gets in decides the power of a court that obviously makes rulings based on Ideological bias?
Don't you think that this suggests that it is the Court itself that needs the attention?
Why the fates of millions of people would even be allowed to be decided by such a body in the first place astounds.
And the fact that this body and its rulings will be dependent and influenced by which parties candidate becomes President in order that they can manipulate that ideological Bias to their advantage by who they appoint is outrageous!
Democracy? Looks like America is in training for rule by a Committee of 9!
Don't you think that this suggests that it is the Court itself that needs the attention?
Why the fates of millions of people would even be allowed to be decided by such a body in the first place astounds.
And the fact that this body and its rulings will be dependent and influenced by which parties candidate becomes President in order that they can manipulate that ideological Bias to their advantage by who they appoint is outrageous!
Democracy? Looks like America is in training for rule by a Committee of 9!
Why do voters have to identify themselves at all? I thought votes were supposed to be secret. Let everyone who wants to, come be counted. That would make us strong.
25
You're thinking if true, universal suffrage. All adults past puberty get to vote and then dip their finger in that blue dye, to prevent voting more than once. This is an anathema for the Repubilans, who can only win by cheating.
1
Fred - What or who you vote for is supposed to be secret, absolutely, but your right to vote in any nation comes with citizenship. It’s not wrong to have proof of that citizenship before stepping into a booth with an intent to change/influence outcomes for that society. No ID, no vote, imo.
1
I have to say I think the NYT deserves some credit here for calling the law racist, which it is and blatantly so. Other news orgs are more nebulous in their characterizations which is a disservice to our democracy.
31
The federal appeals court, in its ruling, expressly called out the NC law as racially discriminatory.
Wow! Let's not forget that this RACISM is THE Republican strategy, it's their plan, it's all they got. It's the Koch Brothers plan, it's what they fund to achieve on a national level. It's institutionalized in the ALEC directives as outlined by Elizabeth Drew in the current The New York Review of Books. She states that these initiatives are in part, even funded by 'dark money' (completely secret benefactors). It's given a step by step roadmap in a national project called REDMAP, or Redistricting Majority Project. If we as a people cannot rise above such crass political opportunism hiding behind palpable moves to make our nation more divided, more unequal, and more undemocratic, we are in a sad state of affairs.
47
The North Carolina laws disenfranchise blacks and Democrats in equal numbers. The Constitutional issue is whether the state's General Assembly was politically and/or racially motivated. Political motivation is acceptable. Racial motivation is not. White North Carolina legislators tell us their hearts were pure. 3 judges appointed by Democrats insist that their motives were racist. What we learned from this decision is that Democrats and Republicans disagree. That's about all we learn these days. Like policing, schooling, and the justice system, voting is a race-dominated issue. Democrats will celebrate the appellate decision. Republicans will cite the panel's bias. When truth is about who has the power, Republican or Democrat, there is no truth. Don't kid your self.
3
Don't kid YOURself. These laws are racist in effect and, therefor, racist in intent. Believe me. I know these people.
1
No, political motivation isn't acceptable. There is no acceptable reason for denying someone their constitutional rights. Where on earth did you get that idea?
1
The tyrrany of false equivalences. Yes, partisans disagree. But the racism of the issue is pretty one-sided. Which actions that restrict white turnout have the Democrats (or Republicans) passed? Which ones have Democrats passed that only affected white turnout after requesting information on race and voting practices? How many black police officers (there are many of them you know) have shot unarmed white minor offenders (there are many of them too, you know) in similar situations? The answer is none, or vastly fewer. If a law cancels one in a million fraudulent votes by suppressing one vote in one hundred (or one in 1000 or one in 100,000), those are only "equivalent" restrictions if a finger is on the scale.
1
Here in Ohio, they are using new tactic -- Change your polling location to a new one, 3 months before the election. The end goal is anybody's guess. Please help spread the word and ask any of your friends and family in Ohio to be vigilant. Don't let them steal your vote.
153
Thank you, Sunny - Ohio has an egregious history of active voter suppression and deliberate disenfranchisement, under Secretary of State Jon Husted, and the equally odious Kenneth Blackwell before him. Let us not lose sight of the fact that the ostensibly "sensible, moderate" Gov. John Kasich has presided over Husted's contemptible GOTP voter purging. The only true voter fraud in any of these states, including Kansas, Alabama, Georgia (where the last Secretary of State conveniently "lost" almost 40,000 new voter registrations just in time for the election) and a host of other GOTP-led swamps, has been the suppression and Jim Crow tactics of the GOTP itself. Let us kick these reactionary liars to the curb for once and for all.
4
The decision was a 3-judge "panel" on a 15-judge intermediate level appeals court.
It overruled a federal trial court judge who had rendered a 485-page decision,
packed with facts.
The state will appeal the 3-judge "panel" decision further, to either the full 15-judge appeals court or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The full appeals court leans heavily Democrat:
10 Judges appointed by Clinton and Obama.
5 judges appointed by Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43.
So, in the end, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely make the final decision.
This is a heavily loaded political decision.
Presidential elections have many consequences,
not the least of which is the appointment of powerful "lifer" federal judges.
The federal judiciary is inherently anti-democratic:
They are not elected by the voters, and they are very difficult to remove.
Voting of course is democratic.
But it begs a very fundamental question:
Who are the voters?
Anyone who claims to be a voter? -- that is simply absurd.
Nothing inherently wise about judges.
Judges can say that a voter ID requirement is racist.
But their saying so does not make it so.
The judges said that only because they need a fig leaf
to drum up a Constitutional argument for making a political decision.
They scrounge around for all sorts of "factual" support,
most notorious of which of course is the non sequitur of "disproportional effect".
In fact, a photo ID requirement is a perfectly simple requirement,
and a perfectly reasonable requirement.
It overruled a federal trial court judge who had rendered a 485-page decision,
packed with facts.
The state will appeal the 3-judge "panel" decision further, to either the full 15-judge appeals court or directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The full appeals court leans heavily Democrat:
10 Judges appointed by Clinton and Obama.
5 judges appointed by Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43.
So, in the end, the U.S. Supreme Court will likely make the final decision.
This is a heavily loaded political decision.
Presidential elections have many consequences,
not the least of which is the appointment of powerful "lifer" federal judges.
The federal judiciary is inherently anti-democratic:
They are not elected by the voters, and they are very difficult to remove.
Voting of course is democratic.
But it begs a very fundamental question:
Who are the voters?
Anyone who claims to be a voter? -- that is simply absurd.
Nothing inherently wise about judges.
Judges can say that a voter ID requirement is racist.
But their saying so does not make it so.
The judges said that only because they need a fig leaf
to drum up a Constitutional argument for making a political decision.
They scrounge around for all sorts of "factual" support,
most notorious of which of course is the non sequitur of "disproportional effect".
In fact, a photo ID requirement is a perfectly simple requirement,
and a perfectly reasonable requirement.
2
It's interesting that all you vote suppressors don't mention the gerrymandering, the sudden changes of voting times, the fact that the law was freakin calibrated demographically to disenfranchise Black voters- really interesting that you cling to your ID argument and ignore the rest.
2
It helps Republicans to disenfranchise Democrats. The great majority of blacks are Democrats. When white Republicans pass their voting laws are they attempting to reduce Democratic voters, black voters, or both? Absent overt statements on the part of the legislators, the only way to discern their intent is to speculate based on essentially irrelevant evidence. People love to opine on intent where there is no persuasive proof of intent. Ignorance is bliss.
1
Both. The evidence from this case proves it.
1
The judges pointed out the intent. Maybe read the editorial before commenting.
The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found.
The Legislature moved quickly, the appellate judges found, and first “requested data on the use, by race, of a number of voting practices.” The General Assembly then enacted an “omnibus” bill of restrictions, “all of which disproportionately affected African-Americans,” the court found.
2
Some people say that there's no difference between Republicans and Democrats, that both parties are corrupt, and essentially have the same goals and serve the same masters. To some degree I suppose that's true. But here's a real difference:
Since a black man became president, the GOP has actively and systematically sought to tip the electoral scale in their direction by suppressing the votes of African-Americans.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to persuade people they disagree with to vote with them.
If that isn't a fundamental difference, I don't know what is.
Since a black man became president, the GOP has actively and systematically sought to tip the electoral scale in their direction by suppressing the votes of African-Americans.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have tried to persuade people they disagree with to vote with them.
If that isn't a fundamental difference, I don't know what is.
13
Democrats do plenty of vote distortion. They redistrict in ways that undermine Republican influence. They revise 200-year old Senate rules to reduce the voting influence of Republican Senators. And they hold off-term local elections at times when Republicans are least likely to vote. Manipulating elections by those in power is the American way.
1
Tell me about Democratic redistricting without mentioning what happened in Texas and other Republican states. There is a referendum in the Illinois that would eliminate gerrymandering (redistricting ) and it's being promoted by our Republican governor because the Democratic legislature does the redistricting. I will not vote for that measure unless all 50 states go along with independently drawn Congressional and legislative districting.
No they don't, and no, it's not.
1
These rulings are such wonderful, joyous news! But I am fearful of the vote suppression that can still occur this November in Republican-controlled states not covered by this series of judicial decisions -- for example, by reducing or moving polling places, abrupt changes in hours open, misdirection at polling places. Do we need to think about inviting international observers -- say from UK, Canada, Australia -- to oversee the elections in some of our states that have a history of attempted and actual disenfranchisement? Given the banana republic atmosphere the Trump GOTP has created for this election, it's not an outrageous idea. It may be a disgrace for our great country, but the Trump GOTP has disgraced the USA so terribly already.
2
Thank God that our courts have come to the rescue of our democracy at this critical point just a few months before our national elections. What they've exposed in the process reveals a deep and certain toxicity, at a very fundamental level, that strikes at the very heart of our democracy -- the right to vote.
The fact that certain States would revert to such extraordinary measures to strategically and selectively deprive a certain group of voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote is both reprehensible and profoundly antithetical to our form of government.
Our system of governance rests on the bedrock of the "consent of the governed". The fact that certain Republican Party officials have conspired to materially affect the outcome of upcoming elections demonstrates a shocking lack of appreciation for our country's cherished values and norms.
This pursuit of power at any cost reveals a moral depravity that harkens back to Nixon's Watergate era. Thank God we have a system of "checks and balances" that serves to preserve and protect our constitutional rights and freedoms.
Also, and importantly, we've seen that certain southern States can't be trusted when it comes to protecting citizens' voting rights. The Voting Rights Act, and the protections it preserves, needs to be reinstated NOW.
The fact that certain States would revert to such extraordinary measures to strategically and selectively deprive a certain group of voters from exercising their constitutional right to vote is both reprehensible and profoundly antithetical to our form of government.
Our system of governance rests on the bedrock of the "consent of the governed". The fact that certain Republican Party officials have conspired to materially affect the outcome of upcoming elections demonstrates a shocking lack of appreciation for our country's cherished values and norms.
This pursuit of power at any cost reveals a moral depravity that harkens back to Nixon's Watergate era. Thank God we have a system of "checks and balances" that serves to preserve and protect our constitutional rights and freedoms.
Also, and importantly, we've seen that certain southern States can't be trusted when it comes to protecting citizens' voting rights. The Voting Rights Act, and the protections it preserves, needs to be reinstated NOW.
6
Of all the activites where an official ID is required to participate, why is the basic block of our country not one of them?
I truly have a hard time believing any citizen functions without one. And if they do, they are cut off from so many benefits and activities that voting should be only one of many reasons to get the document.
Being a responsible citizen takes effort.
I truly have a hard time believing any citizen functions without one. And if they do, they are cut off from so many benefits and activities that voting should be only one of many reasons to get the document.
Being a responsible citizen takes effort.
5
Couldn't agree more with the statement that being a responsible citizen takes effort. Armed with that knowledge, the Republican state legislatures enacted laws that not only required voter ID, but reduced early voting periods (increasing the effort), reduced the number of polling places in minority neighborhoods (increasing the effort), and other effort- increasing measures designed to affect minority neighborhoods. The means the Republicans employ are designed to make voting more difficult for those who are not likely to vote Republican, period.
1
It takes effort but it can make you give up when the hurdles are too high. When you're poor and can't afford a car, when there are no buses or trains that can take you to the nearest DMV office, when taxis won't come to pick you up and no one in your family has a car to take you it's easy to give up trying to get an ID. Multiply that by millions of poor, elderly and marginalized Americans who have no reason to vote Republican and you have a threat to your Gerrymandering scheme. You should try living like that sometime and you'll see what I'm talking about.
2
Many of your fellow citizens are expending an enormous amount of effort in order to survive.
Reading these stories might help enlighten you.
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/voter-photo-id-laws-have-harsh-impact...
http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/challenge-obtaining-voter-ident...
http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/page?id=0046
Reading these stories might help enlighten you.
http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/voter-photo-id-laws-have-harsh-impact...
http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/challenge-obtaining-voter-ident...
http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/page?id=0046
1
"For all the lofty rhetoric the nation heard in the last two weeks about democracy at the Republican and Democratic Party conventions...."
That's just the point: on the Republican side it's all empty rhetoric.
Because Republicans are actually intent on suppressing the vote of those likely to vote against them, they must be intellectually dishonest and pretend that they are actually battling voter fraud.
Hopefully, the blatant attempts in Texas, North Carolina and elsewhere will energize the very portions that were targeted for suppression.
That's just the point: on the Republican side it's all empty rhetoric.
Because Republicans are actually intent on suppressing the vote of those likely to vote against them, they must be intellectually dishonest and pretend that they are actually battling voter fraud.
Hopefully, the blatant attempts in Texas, North Carolina and elsewhere will energize the very portions that were targeted for suppression.
5
These laws demonstrate once again how difficult many people find it to accept the democratic political process. Much of the South rejected a race-neutral definition of democracy until forced to do so by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Voter suppression statutes indicate the old attitudes survived, patiently awaiting the day when naive justices might enable them once again to shape electoral law.
The claim of state officials that the current decisions violate the principle of majority rule mirrors a similar assertion of outraged state officials made at the time of the Brown decision in 1954. Such politicians always define the electorate in terms of their own limited view of who qualifies for membership in the political community, and then they reject any constraints on the power of that electorate.
We minimize the importance of these laws at our own peril. Men and women who reject the political legitimacy of their adversaries will always seek to undermine a system that enables those opponents to win power.
The claim of state officials that the current decisions violate the principle of majority rule mirrors a similar assertion of outraged state officials made at the time of the Brown decision in 1954. Such politicians always define the electorate in terms of their own limited view of who qualifies for membership in the political community, and then they reject any constraints on the power of that electorate.
We minimize the importance of these laws at our own peril. Men and women who reject the political legitimacy of their adversaries will always seek to undermine a system that enables those opponents to win power.
It's about time, some judges took issues with these Racist laws passed by the Republican legislatures in North Carolina and some other states of the country as soon as 5 of the very Racist Republican leaning Justice Robert's Supreme Court judges ruled nullifying part of the rules enacted in the Voting Rights Act of 1965 where the southern states had to take pre-approval from the Justice Dept. to make any changes towards the Voters' participation in their states.
The way these Republican legislatures in North Carolina, Wisconsin,Texas,Kansas,to name just a few, showed the panic mode that the entire Republican party was set in, right after the shock defeat of their Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, is totally deplorable.
The Republican party was suppressing the minority votes for a very long time, on the National level as well as on the State and local levels.
The R.N.C.'s policy for a very long time was to deny the minorities their God given rights to participate in the electoral process .
But it's quite obvious to the whole world that the current Republican Party wants to expand that in a very significant way. The evidence of which was quite obvious with their all White Republican Party National Convention in Cleveland where one needed a magnifying glass to find one Black or Hispanic or other ethnic voters in a setting when they crowned the most Racist candidate in the history of America called Donald Trump, who even now shows his Racist views in plain view .
The way these Republican legislatures in North Carolina, Wisconsin,Texas,Kansas,to name just a few, showed the panic mode that the entire Republican party was set in, right after the shock defeat of their Presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, is totally deplorable.
The Republican party was suppressing the minority votes for a very long time, on the National level as well as on the State and local levels.
The R.N.C.'s policy for a very long time was to deny the minorities their God given rights to participate in the electoral process .
But it's quite obvious to the whole world that the current Republican Party wants to expand that in a very significant way. The evidence of which was quite obvious with their all White Republican Party National Convention in Cleveland where one needed a magnifying glass to find one Black or Hispanic or other ethnic voters in a setting when they crowned the most Racist candidate in the history of America called Donald Trump, who even now shows his Racist views in plain view .
5
I wonder. How exactly do Republicans justify in their own minds these kinds of transparent anti voting rights racist attempts to win elections. Do they believe that their party is God's gift to America so claiming control of power even if by hook or crook is okay with the divine. Or are they unable to see that there's anything morally/ethically wrong with their devious strategies and tactics (similar to their presidential nominee.) As Martin Luther King observed: "The Arc of the moral universe is long but it leans toward justice." Maybe it's time modern day Republicans, who painfully betray the memory of honest Abe, "put that in their pipe and smoke it."
6
The weakness of the republican party is evident by their attempt to argue and legislate against a non-existent issue, voter fraud. This "fraud" only occurs where there is early voter registration, same day registration, uniformly accepted forms of identification and easy access to the polls, in communities of color.
Maybe they should concentrate their efforts in being honest practitioners of the constitution and help to move our nation forward, rather than back to a time that didn't exist for most Americans. Or maybe they simply don't believe in "We, the 3/5ths people". That's probably more true than anything else contrived grievance about voter fraud.
Maybe they should concentrate their efforts in being honest practitioners of the constitution and help to move our nation forward, rather than back to a time that didn't exist for most Americans. Or maybe they simply don't believe in "We, the 3/5ths people". That's probably more true than anything else contrived grievance about voter fraud.
7
How ironic that in the land of democracy, Black people, for nearly 300 years have been fighting to obtain and keep the fundamental right to vote.
240 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; 150 years after the signing of the Civil War Amendments--13th, 14th, & 15th; and 51 years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the 15th Amendment 100 years later, Black people are still fighting for the fundamental right to vote in a nation built on their backs while trodding in soil soaked with their blood, sweat, and tears.
Echoing the words of the great poet Langston Hughes, "This ain't America is it?"
240 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; 150 years after the signing of the Civil War Amendments--13th, 14th, & 15th; and 51 years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to enforce the 15th Amendment 100 years later, Black people are still fighting for the fundamental right to vote in a nation built on their backs while trodding in soil soaked with their blood, sweat, and tears.
Echoing the words of the great poet Langston Hughes, "This ain't America is it?"
10
Yes. The Court says the record is clear that the GOP legislature requested data on on boting practices by race and " with almost surgical precision" designed voting restrictions that would target black voters most heavily. And the laws enactment followed immediately on the heels of the Supreme Court's 5-4 majority's striking of the Voting Rights Act's preclearance provisions. NC has had a long history of racial descrimination, which the Fourth Circuit decision noted.
7
Let's face it, the only real examples of "voter fraud" have been those laws written by Republicans to deliberately suppress voting in an effort to steer elections in their favor.
Also, it's hard to ignore the gerrymandering of voting districts that has been going on in Republican controlled States as another significant means of denying minorities fair representation.
In my mind, these efforts, in total, are an indictment of a Republican mindset that essentially acknowledges that they can't win elections in a fair and even-handed manner. So they resort to these artificial means as a way to tilt the election results in their favor. It is outrageous!
Also, it's hard to ignore the gerrymandering of voting districts that has been going on in Republican controlled States as another significant means of denying minorities fair representation.
In my mind, these efforts, in total, are an indictment of a Republican mindset that essentially acknowledges that they can't win elections in a fair and even-handed manner. So they resort to these artificial means as a way to tilt the election results in their favor. It is outrageous!
28
To any thinking person it has been obvious for some time that the Republican party will do anything to game an advantage regardless of the ethics or fairness of the tactics- but how do they get away with such blatant, antidemocratic, racist strategies?
There should have been outcry from their own party against this long before it ever got to the courts and the citizens of this country should have risen up in anger that tactics were being employed at the highest levels purely to make it harder for poor people to vote.
Unfortunately we don't live in a country whose citizens are attentive enough to see such devious tactics for what they are and polls have consistently shown public support for these methods. The Republicans managed to sell another myth- that voter fraud is a serious problem in our country.
So to break up obvious road blocks to our democratic process we rely on our courts. I'm proud of America, but there are lots of Americans that don't swell my heart with pride. It requires a lot of dupes for myths like the voter fraud fiction (or climate change denial) to become effective arguments.
There should have been outcry from their own party against this long before it ever got to the courts and the citizens of this country should have risen up in anger that tactics were being employed at the highest levels purely to make it harder for poor people to vote.
Unfortunately we don't live in a country whose citizens are attentive enough to see such devious tactics for what they are and polls have consistently shown public support for these methods. The Republicans managed to sell another myth- that voter fraud is a serious problem in our country.
So to break up obvious road blocks to our democratic process we rely on our courts. I'm proud of America, but there are lots of Americans that don't swell my heart with pride. It requires a lot of dupes for myths like the voter fraud fiction (or climate change denial) to become effective arguments.
9
In Britain as in USA too few exercise their right to vote. In Britain however they have no excuse or deterrents. Periodically the head of every household has to list all in the household who are eligible to vote. This data is published in an Electoral Register and anyone can challenge an entry to help avoid fraud.
As an election approaches all registered voters get a card which tells them where to vote or if incapacitated or elderly they can get a postal vote. When I went to a polling station I did not have to wait for a machine to be free. I was given a voting paper and entered a screened booth to mark it. Average queuing time about five minutes.
Since Britain still uses the old fashioned paper voting the candidates and their representatives can watch the count to prevent irregularities.
As an election approaches all registered voters get a card which tells them where to vote or if incapacitated or elderly they can get a postal vote. When I went to a polling station I did not have to wait for a machine to be free. I was given a voting paper and entered a screened booth to mark it. Average queuing time about five minutes.
Since Britain still uses the old fashioned paper voting the candidates and their representatives can watch the count to prevent irregularities.
5
North Carolina officials who promote voter ID laws are cut from the same cloth as the Aristocrat Slave Owners. They still believe that they and only they should run society and that the "others" should be kept in their place. There are virtually no examples of voter fraud. None. Yet these bigots create laws that work for the upper classes only.
The US made two big mistakes in the 19th century. The first was fighting to keep these states in the Union. The second was prematurely removing the troops form those states. Maybe if Federal supervision had continued for a few more generations, equal rights for the poor (black and white) could have been maintained and expanded.
The invasion of the south to "reform" the region and the short term occupation sounds awfully familiar to me. It's a mistake we make over and over. If you are going to "nation build", you have be in the nation forever.
The US made two big mistakes in the 19th century. The first was fighting to keep these states in the Union. The second was prematurely removing the troops form those states. Maybe if Federal supervision had continued for a few more generations, equal rights for the poor (black and white) could have been maintained and expanded.
The invasion of the south to "reform" the region and the short term occupation sounds awfully familiar to me. It's a mistake we make over and over. If you are going to "nation build", you have be in the nation forever.
2
Take a look at the similarity in these two maps. They prove your point.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/10/opinion/20101210_Disunion_...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/25/us/efforts-to-change-votin...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/12/10/opinion/20101210_Disunion_...
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/07/25/us/efforts-to-change-votin...
It never ends. The imposition of the majority against the minority continues more than 150 yrs. after the end of the Civil War.
These restrictive voting laws are a naked expression of an attempt at racial voting suppression. They are held up by lying Republicans as ways to ensure against voting fraud, yet there is no substantial record of people voting who are not eligible anywhere in America (at least not in recent times).
North Carolina, like much of the old south, is a state that teeters between white hooded racism and facing a bright and productive future. Which will it choose? Again and again, let's go back to the past!
We need a quiet revolution in America, one that is founded on the knowledge that, no matter how well intended, the majority cannot administer rules and laws for the minority with absolute fairness. There was a time when white America came to the conclusion that it must make way, must accommodate the aspirations of black people. Now, the effort is to suppress those aspirations again and deny the ordinary opportunities of citizenship. This is shameful.
The Republicans are perfectly aware that demographics are turning against a backward, old order enforcing political party. They are trying to get as much as they can, while they can. They have learned they can lie about their intentions and many people will accept and defend those lies. This campaign against democracy, expressed in this and many other forms, cannot be allowed to succeed.
These restrictive voting laws are a naked expression of an attempt at racial voting suppression. They are held up by lying Republicans as ways to ensure against voting fraud, yet there is no substantial record of people voting who are not eligible anywhere in America (at least not in recent times).
North Carolina, like much of the old south, is a state that teeters between white hooded racism and facing a bright and productive future. Which will it choose? Again and again, let's go back to the past!
We need a quiet revolution in America, one that is founded on the knowledge that, no matter how well intended, the majority cannot administer rules and laws for the minority with absolute fairness. There was a time when white America came to the conclusion that it must make way, must accommodate the aspirations of black people. Now, the effort is to suppress those aspirations again and deny the ordinary opportunities of citizenship. This is shameful.
The Republicans are perfectly aware that demographics are turning against a backward, old order enforcing political party. They are trying to get as much as they can, while they can. They have learned they can lie about their intentions and many people will accept and defend those lies. This campaign against democracy, expressed in this and many other forms, cannot be allowed to succeed.
217
Mostly agree, but since Wisconsin very definitely fought for the Union you are mistaken as are so many liberals that this is exclusively a Southern problem.
To be sure many states trying to deny voting rights are Southern, but far from all.
To be sure many states trying to deny voting rights are Southern, but far from all.
3
I spent my teen years in Greensboro, NC (during desegregation), and then lived in Chapel Hill for a decade. I venture regularly (over the past 45 years) deep into the hills of various mountains locales between Cullowhee and Banner Elk.
When you say "... America ... founded on the knowledge that...the majority cannot administer rules and laws for the minority with absolute fairness..." the North Carolina "majority" you speak of is now the "minority", no matter that they hold a majority in the NC Assembly -- a position achieved through gerrymandering and out-sized campaign spending financed with money coming from super-PACs and the NRA outside the state of North Carolina.
I do not dispute your view on their disregard for fairness as I have seen and felt -- even as a white man -- just how deep-seated is their holier-than-thou racism, in both words and deeds..
The real problem in North Carolina and across our country -- witness the disasters in Kansas and with our U.S. Congress -- is that all too often it is the minority that enacts or administers rules and laws that protects their interests at the expense the majority, i.e., the rest of us, with utter disregard not for fairness but also for our safety, health and economic vitality.
This is exactly what the NRA has done for decades by buying and manipulating state legislative and Congress. One such egregious example that has nefarious, deadly and fear-inducing consequences across our land.
When you say "... America ... founded on the knowledge that...the majority cannot administer rules and laws for the minority with absolute fairness..." the North Carolina "majority" you speak of is now the "minority", no matter that they hold a majority in the NC Assembly -- a position achieved through gerrymandering and out-sized campaign spending financed with money coming from super-PACs and the NRA outside the state of North Carolina.
I do not dispute your view on their disregard for fairness as I have seen and felt -- even as a white man -- just how deep-seated is their holier-than-thou racism, in both words and deeds..
The real problem in North Carolina and across our country -- witness the disasters in Kansas and with our U.S. Congress -- is that all too often it is the minority that enacts or administers rules and laws that protects their interests at the expense the majority, i.e., the rest of us, with utter disregard not for fairness but also for our safety, health and economic vitality.
This is exactly what the NRA has done for decades by buying and manipulating state legislative and Congress. One such egregious example that has nefarious, deadly and fear-inducing consequences across our land.
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Your points are well taken. Mr. MacDonald, but I would suggest that we should not confuse the issue. There still is, in the year 2016, a huge gap between our ideals of fairness, justice and social acceptance and the treatment of people of color, especially when they might tangle with the legal system. By some reasonable estimates, 1/3 of black men in America will be arrested at some point in their lives. Does that make any sense? Are there really that many people who are serious legal transgressors? The city of Baltimore arrested 600,000 people in one recent year with a population of 1 million. Ferguson, Mo. had issued warrants for 80% of the population of the city and in one year put out 30,000 warrants in a town of 20,000.
The current government of North Carolina, installed via funding from the Koch brothers, consists almost entirely of bigoted, narrow-minded, racist worms. It's an insult to worms, actually, to make the comparison, as worms are good for the soil. My apologies therefore to the worms.
The Republicans have done nothing but ruin the state; I'm sure the great folks of North Carolina will celebrate for years once they've kicked them out; that is, should they be able, like us Texans, to ever get around the hideous, farcical gerrymandering said bought and sold current government has made almost a permanent feature of the state's now utterly dysfunctional political system.
That gerrymandering is indeed worm-like, in the residue of slimy trails it has left behind.
So I say to McRory and all his partners in crime, in that great state and out: unhappy trails to you.
The Republicans have done nothing but ruin the state; I'm sure the great folks of North Carolina will celebrate for years once they've kicked them out; that is, should they be able, like us Texans, to ever get around the hideous, farcical gerrymandering said bought and sold current government has made almost a permanent feature of the state's now utterly dysfunctional political system.
That gerrymandering is indeed worm-like, in the residue of slimy trails it has left behind.
So I say to McRory and all his partners in crime, in that great state and out: unhappy trails to you.
25
I recently visited N. Carolina as my son has lived there for about 5 years. I heard from a friend of his who expressed the opinion that most N. Carolina residents are embarrassed for their state because of the Republicans enacting voter suppression laws and especially the anti-Gay and anti-trans gender bathroom laws. This person also indicated a big correction will be forthcoming this November and this prediction was before the federal appeals court ruling.
Worms die when exposed to sunlight, for too long, so yes, you do malign worms, but these are stupid worms, in their ignorance never knowing the cleansing power of the glowing brightness of truth.
I hope to live long enough to see the American Dream return.
I hope to live long enough to see the American Dream return.
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Steven, thank you for your apology to the worms. As for the Republicans, both here in Texas and across the nation, how sad to act like a snake, live like a snake, and be a snake biting, striking, and slithering behind public view in order to destroy our country!
1
I fail to see how documenting who one is promotes any type of voter fraud. The last time I was at a nearby teaching hospital, I had to produce my driver license to obtain some medical records and x-rays. Since some in the U.S. do not care who is here (whether multiple registrations or not); this will ultimately bite us in the end.
9
That's some deflection! You want to talk about medical records to provide a case for stringent ID requirements- to vote? Right. What about the restrictions on registration and early voting? What will you compare those to? Passing the bar exam?
1
Janis, lots of people don't have a driver's license, or any other kind of official ID. Congrats on yours, but your experience isn't everybody's (gasp!).
1
I think you misread the article. The issue is that the laws were developed targeting certain communities rather than to generally solve a problem of voter fraud (which was also not shown to exist)
The forms of acceptable documentation such as drivers licenses or passports are often not held by young people particularly those in less affluent communities and photo student IDs were not accepted.
Strangely in Texas, for example, while student photo IDs were not acceptable an NRA membership card was. Statistically that targets certain communities
Similarly the rule specifically targeting early voting in an attempt to reduce certain communities from voting was found to be a problem.
As we saw in Arizona during the primaries the state can influence voter turn out through reducing the number of polling stations - where they have them and by looking a statistics of which people use absentee balloting as opposed to voting in person
The forms of acceptable documentation such as drivers licenses or passports are often not held by young people particularly those in less affluent communities and photo student IDs were not accepted.
Strangely in Texas, for example, while student photo IDs were not acceptable an NRA membership card was. Statistically that targets certain communities
Similarly the rule specifically targeting early voting in an attempt to reduce certain communities from voting was found to be a problem.
As we saw in Arizona during the primaries the state can influence voter turn out through reducing the number of polling stations - where they have them and by looking a statistics of which people use absentee balloting as opposed to voting in person
1
This is complete insanity. You don't have to prove/verify your identity when you register, or when you vote. All kinds of new Identity fraud will now become rampant, an extension on the untold numbers of illegal aliens who have already stolen other people's identity in order to get SSN numbers to work, and 'pay taxes'. {Truth be told, I have no idea if ANY of them are paying taxes, that is a liberal claim- but it is certain that many have stolen other American's SSN numbers, the Govt knows, but refuses to act}
It is completely insane to be auto-registering ANYONE. When you do that you aren't registering a person, you are registering a "name'. And without having to prove your identity, anybody can simply walk up to a Polling Station and claim to be somebody else. The only problem that could happen is if the same 'voter' attempted to vote more than once at the same location.
If it is 'difficult' to get your ID, that is simply too bad. It is YOUR job as a citizen to prove your identity, not the state's job to prove who you are.
SAME-DAY Registration is likewise an insane idea. There is too much chaos, and too many delays already on election day. I look on TV at the Polls where they have lines that are a quarter mile long, and wait times in the "hours'.
If people can't be bothered to register before election day, then that should be their problem, not to create another stupid obstacle/delay for the people who take their citizenship duties more seriously
It is completely insane to be auto-registering ANYONE. When you do that you aren't registering a person, you are registering a "name'. And without having to prove your identity, anybody can simply walk up to a Polling Station and claim to be somebody else. The only problem that could happen is if the same 'voter' attempted to vote more than once at the same location.
If it is 'difficult' to get your ID, that is simply too bad. It is YOUR job as a citizen to prove your identity, not the state's job to prove who you are.
SAME-DAY Registration is likewise an insane idea. There is too much chaos, and too many delays already on election day. I look on TV at the Polls where they have lines that are a quarter mile long, and wait times in the "hours'.
If people can't be bothered to register before election day, then that should be their problem, not to create another stupid obstacle/delay for the people who take their citizenship duties more seriously
19
Getting an ID is only part of the difficulties imposed on these neighborhoods. Making voting more difficult for lower income citizens was the intent and it doesn't take a genius to figure this out.
1
@Zip Zinzel you would agree over ruling gerrymandering as well. Right?
2
Take a deep breath. There simply are no widespread voter fraud. Nope look it up. Same day registration is done by town or county clerks, not the same lines for voting. If there is a question about a voter, they are sent to town or county clerks that are at the polling site. Why is voting such a long process in your state? I suspect they are not funding it at the levels they need to to make voting a smooth and uncomplicated process. Not voter fraud
3
The buck stops at Chief Justice John Roberts' bench. He and the other right wing jihadists on the Supreme Court (Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.) knew exactly what they were doing when they invalidated key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965:
They were re-instating Jim Crow as the law of the land and trying to influence the 2016 election in favor of the Republican Party, to which they all belong.
Add to this their 2010 decision on Citizens United, a case initiated by a PAC trying to smear Hillary Clinton which resulted in allowing larger corporate donors to influence elections, and the pattern becomes obvious. The five Repulican Justices have been using the power of their positions to influence this country's elections.
Justice Roberts and the others have committed serious crimes against the people of the United States in these two decisions, and should be impeached for those crimes.
They were re-instating Jim Crow as the law of the land and trying to influence the 2016 election in favor of the Republican Party, to which they all belong.
Add to this their 2010 decision on Citizens United, a case initiated by a PAC trying to smear Hillary Clinton which resulted in allowing larger corporate donors to influence elections, and the pattern becomes obvious. The five Repulican Justices have been using the power of their positions to influence this country's elections.
Justice Roberts and the others have committed serious crimes against the people of the United States in these two decisions, and should be impeached for those crimes.
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All of which underscores the absolute necessity of choosing a president who will nominate better judges.
It ain't rocket science.
It ain't rocket science.
1
"Jihadist"
My Lord, did you ever think that word could be used to describe the intent behind their actions, here in the once bastion of liberty and justice, for all.
It is extreme, appropriate, and fitting.
Now, all, and that's a stretch, of the citizenry need to get up from their supine positions, and really stand up, be counted, and once for all time, let these would-be destroyers of our liberty, and suppressors of justice, know, and see, the real power is in the minds, and hands, of the people, forgotten for a time, but when subjugation becomes such an unbearable weight, they will remember, and fight back, with vengance.
I approach 70 years on the planet, and I begin to hope, again.
My Lord, did you ever think that word could be used to describe the intent behind their actions, here in the once bastion of liberty and justice, for all.
It is extreme, appropriate, and fitting.
Now, all, and that's a stretch, of the citizenry need to get up from their supine positions, and really stand up, be counted, and once for all time, let these would-be destroyers of our liberty, and suppressors of justice, know, and see, the real power is in the minds, and hands, of the people, forgotten for a time, but when subjugation becomes such an unbearable weight, they will remember, and fight back, with vengance.
I approach 70 years on the planet, and I begin to hope, again.
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But poetic justice is at hand. Their legal decision, produced so one of their club could be elected, may give them Trump! Ha!
It is about time ! In fact, it is PAST time to go after all the state laws which restrict voting rights in any manner. Such laws are a blight on our country's already stained reputation.......
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Defeat the White Identity Party!
Vote for disliked Hillary over the even more disliked, embarrassing, deeply unstable, wildly dangerous, mean-spirited, immature, gratuitously malicious, and sickeningly off-putting around the globe, Trump-the-Terrible.
Vote for disliked Hillary over the even more disliked, embarrassing, deeply unstable, wildly dangerous, mean-spirited, immature, gratuitously malicious, and sickeningly off-putting around the globe, Trump-the-Terrible.
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The fact that such State laws are actually considered let alone able to be passed into law is what shocks observers from outside the U.S and blights your stained and strained reputation.
That these so called "Politicians" aren't immediately struck from office and charged with corruption and other criminal charges as they most certainly would be in many other Western Democracy's doesn't help matters either!
That said, hearing from people such as yourself brings back faith that there are still those who do understand and see what increasingly, is being able to be done with impunity and with most people not even thinking of just how wrong and unacceptable such things are.
Thank you.
That these so called "Politicians" aren't immediately struck from office and charged with corruption and other criminal charges as they most certainly would be in many other Western Democracy's doesn't help matters either!
That said, hearing from people such as yourself brings back faith that there are still those who do understand and see what increasingly, is being able to be done with impunity and with most people not even thinking of just how wrong and unacceptable such things are.
Thank you.
It is strange, in Sweden we have a "requirement" of government approved photo-identification and I never see complaints about that. On the other hand we don't need to register to vote, so perhaps it is a combination of the US not spreading the use of government approved ID's with other restricting laws.
8
But Joel, you hate Sweden.
You expose by inference that the USA's White Identity Republican Party still has much influence at votong venues, even as it wanes out of existence
You forget that in Sweden having an ID gets you something. Everyone has one one because everyone receives certain social benefits that Americans can only dream of. This is not apples to apples.
Here am ID helps you buy alcohol or drive a car perhaps.
Here am ID helps you buy alcohol or drive a car perhaps.
1
There was no "lofty rhetoric" from the Republicans. Only fear and hatred. It's all they've got anymore.
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There was no fraud in earlier voting and we all know why it was done. We go around the world to promote democracy but we try to make it difficult for people to vote here. HYPOCRITES!!!
31
In addition to the state-issued photo ID requirement, the three-judge panel listed North Carolina’s decision to reduce early voting to 10 days while prohibiting same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting as proof of intentional discrimination. But most states—including New York-- prohibit same-day-registration, pre-registration and out-of-precinct voting. And New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota disallow early voting altogether. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the state-issued photo ID requirement in Indiana. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ruled (Crawford v. Marion County Election Board) that is requiring voters to provide photo IDs is constitutional. The rule should be the same for all states.
7
And I bet those Republicans that proposed the voting restrictions would adamantly declare they are not racist. They should not wonder why Blacks ocerwhelmimgly do not vote for Republican candidates. They seem to have a tinge of racism.
31
Interestingly, one of the findings in the appeals court's decision is that it doesn't matter at all whether the champions of these laws are racist or not. Even if what was in their heart of hearts was, "Wow, you've really got to admire those black folk for the way they stick together as a voting block. That completely accords with what I observe among my many black friends, who are loyal and honorable people," the law would still be illegal. By removing *racist intent* from the equation and ruling that the mere fact that the laws were written to disproportionately affect black people ("with surgical precision") was enough to overturn, the court made the job of undoing these horrible laws a bit easier. "We're not racist," even if true, is no longer a valid defense.
3
As A Canadian watching the USA, it strikes me and alarms me that some of our neighbors in the south will do anything to discriminate Hispanics and African Americans. The Underground Railway was closed a hundred years ago, but with the likes of the GOP and Trumph, Canada might once again willingly need to offer a safe haven to not only minorities but to Americans in general!
35
I am a registered NC voter (three years now) and have never had such a hard time voting. And I have voted in six other states. There are other conditions in NC which must also be overturned, e.g. Absentee Voting. Alas, will this horrible governor be voted out in November? We certainly hope so!!
2
Now that the restrictions have been struck down, it is time for the African American community to show allegiance to the party that is defending their right to fair access to the polls. Regardless what you think of the Democratic nominee, it is time to show the Republican Party that black lives matter enough to vote.
28
If Republicans worked as hard on keeping guns out of the mentally insane as they do to disenfranchise minority voters the world would be a much safer place.
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It almost seems as if keeping guns out of the hands of the mentally insane would strip the republicans of their right to bear arms.
3
Trump said that America is not so great. One thing that is not so great about America is the voting restriction laws many Republican states trying to pass. As a North Carolinian, I am so glad with this Federal Appeals Court ruling. Shame on the Republicans. They know that they are going to lose the elections if they don't redraw the maps and suppress minority voting. This is the only way they can win. But I am certain now NC will be a blue state this election cycle.
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To Average Joe: I share your admonishment of shaming the Republicans. But as a North Carolinian as well, I also say shame on us for electing our current Governor and legislative body. Obama, in his brilliant speech at the Dem convention reminded us that power begins with the people....with votes for Councilmen, Mayors, Planning Boards, School Boards. We ALL need to pay more attention to who we choose, not only for the highest office in the US, but for our towns, cities, counties, and states.
6
Here's an idea, Republicans: how about actually working to earn the votes of minority voters instead of trying to prevent them from voting? A radical idea, I know.
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Here's a circular argument - they pass laws restricting voting because the people who are affected by these laws won't vote for them because they keep passing laws like this!
I'm not sure the Republicans really want them.
1
They don't want their votes. They want them moved out of the country.
1
These laws that Republican dominated states rushed to pass to restrict voting rights demonstrate how wrong the Supreme Court was went it struck down significant parts of the Voting Rights Act.
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Having a Supreme Court made up of Ideological biased "job for life" Judges who can determine the fate and wellbeing of millions of people and whose rulings are final is what's wrong!
They shouldn't have the power to make and decide these things in the first place.Why you let them is beyond me.
They shouldn't have the power to make and decide these things in the first place.Why you let them is beyond me.
The ultimate test for these types of laws is to weigh the supposed benefits against the negative impacts. The Republicans have never presented any compelling evidence whatsoever that widespread voter fraud is occurring. Yet hundreds of thousands of nonwhite voters are purged from the voter rolls when these laws are passed. Legally, this is a no-brainer, and unconstitutional on its face.
62
The specious argument used in most attempts to restrict voting is that people who are here illegally are going to flood the polls and swing elections. Seriously?
Would you risk arrest and deportation to vote in an election? Do you think it's wise to expose yourself to additional risk of being caught?
I didn't think so.
The courts have revealed the obvious--voting restrictions are aimed at specific populations and do nothing to address the alleged invasion which, the data show, is slightly more likely than a unicorn completing a write-in ballot.
Would you risk arrest and deportation to vote in an election? Do you think it's wise to expose yourself to additional risk of being caught?
I didn't think so.
The courts have revealed the obvious--voting restrictions are aimed at specific populations and do nothing to address the alleged invasion which, the data show, is slightly more likely than a unicorn completing a write-in ballot.
76
You don't even have to speculate on this. These laws address a voter fraud that doesn't even exist. Except if you consider that "fraud" to the current cabal of "lawmakers" in Raleigh who think anyone in their right mind who refuses to vote for republicans.
3
This will eventually make its way to the Supreme Court. Which is why we need to elect a president who will appoint a Supreme Court justice that respects the constitution. A president not named Trump.
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in addition we need to rid ourselves of a congress that literally did nothing but repeal a law they know would not be repealed 60 times. I really wish they had a real wall to bang their heads against!
2
I find it very strange that when America does not agree on things that most other countries do not even make an issue of (because the answer and way to go is usually obvious and basic common sense), they then have the matter decided by 9 ideologically biased Judges whose job is held for life and who cannot be questioned nor impeached for anything in regards to their job.
Why would you let them decide Anything of import and of potential negative consequences to millions of people?
Democracies don't operate like that nor require an elite few to decide the fate of millions? Don't you get that?
Why would you let them decide Anything of import and of potential negative consequences to millions of people?
Democracies don't operate like that nor require an elite few to decide the fate of millions? Don't you get that?
Here in Oregon we are able to vote by mail. This option should be allowed nationally. Voting should be convenient and political parties who try to make it difficult to maintain power are disgraceful.
Thank goodness for those who are willing to push back and hold those who abuse the voting process accountable.
Thank goodness for those who are willing to push back and hold those who abuse the voting process accountable.
32
I honestly don't know how the republicans who pass these restrictions can look anybody in the eye. Bravo that North Carolina's are overturned. Now let's overturn the republicans themselves in November, for good measure.
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I honestly don't know how the Republicans who pass these restrictions can be allowed to stay in office and not be charged with Corruption as well as other criminal charges.
And why Americans even allow such things to happen.
And why Americans even allow such things to happen.
Party over people, that's the Republican way. Without the benefit of ideas, the only way Republicans can remain or gain office is by rigging the system, disenfranchising eligible voters and taking away their constitutional rights. Kudos to the Appeal Court justices who instantly recognized the racist intent of the law.
84
The republicans have ideas. Look at the republican platform. They are ideas that reflect the thinking of people 500 years ago and even then they were weird.
1
So why does the system and the American people allow them to do these things?
In most advanced Democratic countries this "only way" the Republicans use to gain or maintain their power is blatantly not a way at all...and obviously illegal and against the law...why isn't it obvious to America?
In most advanced Democratic countries this "only way" the Republicans use to gain or maintain their power is blatantly not a way at all...and obviously illegal and against the law...why isn't it obvious to America?
The way the North Carolinians have been acting lately, one would never think, it was one of the southern states that wobbled, and among many of their folks presented misgivings before seceding! Maybe it was a bad idea that Sherman and Sheridan avoided the scorched earth theory, when it came to those Carolinians?! Hopefully now, they'll get their acts together, because the Tar Heel State has much going for it!
3
Try voting in any other western country without proof of who you are.
11
The U.K. Does not require ID.
2
We prove who we are when we register to vote.
2
I try it, successfully, every election, local and national in the UK along with 50 million other Brits.
2
You know, real men don't hide. Real men don't lie. Real men don't create pathetic, transparent pretexts to do things. Real men stand out in the open and say clearly what their real intentions are. It's called honor. So it's easy to understand that these Republicans across the country passing these Voter ID laws in a pointless effort to stem the non-existent epidemic of "voter fraud" are not men. They are cowards, because they hide, like children. And this makes you wonder how they can look their children the eye.
198
You, unwittingly, and unintentionally, maligned children.
Children do wrong, ofttimes, in innocence, whereas these creatures do wrong deliberately, with forethought, forethought honed to disenfranchise millions, of their unalienable rights, enshrined in our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights.
I begin to understand what leads to revolution, bloody revolutions, when hard fought-for rights are attacked, and destroyed.
Children do wrong, ofttimes, in innocence, whereas these creatures do wrong deliberately, with forethought, forethought honed to disenfranchise millions, of their unalienable rights, enshrined in our Constitution, and our Bill of Rights.
I begin to understand what leads to revolution, bloody revolutions, when hard fought-for rights are attacked, and destroyed.
1
It also begs the question of what sort of political system of any integrity and concern for Democracy allows such Politicians to even hold office as well as being so devoid of any consequences , check or balances to allow such people to even make such laws legal let alone possible?
Legal challenges against similar voter-suppression laws in other states ... "could be crucial in securing a fair and credible election result in November." In this usage "fair and credible" means leaning Democratic - finally in accord with the voting population.
When voter suppression ends, the Republican Party will either lose its ability to obstruct government in the service of big business or it will have to rethink itself and find some voters to represent that are not a doomed demographic.
When voter suppression ends, the Republican Party will either lose its ability to obstruct government in the service of big business or it will have to rethink itself and find some voters to represent that are not a doomed demographic.
33
Yes, it was stolen, especially in Palm Beach County, and in Blacks being turned away from the polls in several Florida voting places, but we were told by the media to shut up.
Told it was not an illegitimate Bush presidency. Gore would have comfortably taken Florida in that stolen election.
Anyway we did as told by the media and pols. We shut up and therefore had the world-wide disaster, still continuing today, given us by an illegitimate, ignorant president. Trump of course may become our most ignorant president.
We can check to see if even the New York Times told us not to question the legitimacy of the Bush presidency. I'm certain it did.
Told it was not an illegitimate Bush presidency. Gore would have comfortably taken Florida in that stolen election.
Anyway we did as told by the media and pols. We shut up and therefore had the world-wide disaster, still continuing today, given us by an illegitimate, ignorant president. Trump of course may become our most ignorant president.
We can check to see if even the New York Times told us not to question the legitimacy of the Bush presidency. I'm certain it did.
6
The plain and simple fact is that we witnessed the disaster of the 2000 presidential election, resulting in what I believe was a STOLEN victory for Bush. Unbelievable that a country with the technology we possess STILL cannot figure out how to register voters and tally their votes accurately and without malfeasance. It seems clear to me that certain states simply DO NOT WANT to offer their citizens fair and easy and honest access to the voting booth. I never believed that I would live to witness a presidential election like the one of 2000 but after that I am prepared to believe anything. It's a disgrace that a country like ours which prides itself on the concept of "one person one vote" is still, in 2016, having to deal with obstacles and chicanery such as we're seeing in NC, Texas and other states of questionable practices.
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I don't think it's a matter of figuring out anything. This is a deliberate attempt to keep people from voting by a racist cabal whose idea is democracy is that they win all the time.
2
"One person, one vote' is so very old-fashioned. Now it's 'one dollar, one vote', and no real guard exists against foreign nationals, or nations even, able to influence our elections. That is more subtly evil than this blatant voter suppression thankfully now struck down.
Outrageous! The Republicans have no ethics and no shame.
95
First prevent minorities from voting. Then elect fascist Trump, followed by deporting minorities and choosing a Supreme Court justice that is in his pocket.
What's next? Trump leader for life?
What's next? Trump leader for life?
63
If competent, knowledgeable, hard working, disliked and corrupt Hillary defeats the White Identity Party's totally crazy, Malicious, Infantile, word-wide hated, forever silly, always self-regarding, Very Big Baby, immensely Embarrassing, Totally Ignorant, buffed buffoon, you needn't worry too much, IF our American people push hard for campaign and election rules reform-- followed by political reform...
Then we can have good care for children, and good care of the elderly, a civilized wage reform enabling a dignified way of life, more job availability, a single-payer health insurance, and a mandatory all doctors-on-salary and patient outcome replacing the fee-for-service rip-off in our fair land...
And, yes, a free college education, such as I and millions of others once received in New York City, form about 1840 with Cooper Union College, then ratcheting up to many more free city colleges, beginning with The City College of New York, from about 1863, until about sometime in the 1970s...
City College turned out more Nobel Laureates than any other college in America and provided them all with good to very good long-term, and many with life-long, jobs----so, an investment in a college education by citizens certainly payed off, you think?
Have a nice day.
Then we can have good care for children, and good care of the elderly, a civilized wage reform enabling a dignified way of life, more job availability, a single-payer health insurance, and a mandatory all doctors-on-salary and patient outcome replacing the fee-for-service rip-off in our fair land...
And, yes, a free college education, such as I and millions of others once received in New York City, form about 1840 with Cooper Union College, then ratcheting up to many more free city colleges, beginning with The City College of New York, from about 1863, until about sometime in the 1970s...
City College turned out more Nobel Laureates than any other college in America and provided them all with good to very good long-term, and many with life-long, jobs----so, an investment in a college education by citizens certainly payed off, you think?
Have a nice day.
3
FT, San Francisco,
Thank you, a million times, thank you.
Mel,
New York
Thank you, a million times, thank you.
Mel,
New York
1
I read the decision entirely, once I was able to find actual ruling language after the three million words that documented the participants – the federal courts might consider putting all of that in an appendix.
Given the factual record assembled by the district court itself that this appeals decision overturns, it’s astonishing to me that the district court could have permitted NC’s law to stand. It appears that NC legislators first researched the practices employed by blacks in NC to vote and even to live, then set about establishing specific requirements that blocked those practices, in a clear attempt to both discourage and stop black Americans from voting. This is simply … outrageous.
Short of utter chaos, democracy is the messiest form of government invented by mankind but assuredly the most legitimate. To me, it’s a valid argument that our franchise is too broad when it actively encourages the ignorant and the disengaged to vote and when our laws actively seek to facilitate such votes; but to apply that reasoning to people on the basis of their race or ethnicity, or any other artificial quality … to me is criminal. There must be a special place in Dante’s Hell reserved for those who would do this.
My advice to NC is the same that I make often in these comments to extreme liberals: if you want to have legitimate impact on our governance, don’t rely on such clearly improper means: engage your adversaries and make better arguments for your ideological convictions.
Given the factual record assembled by the district court itself that this appeals decision overturns, it’s astonishing to me that the district court could have permitted NC’s law to stand. It appears that NC legislators first researched the practices employed by blacks in NC to vote and even to live, then set about establishing specific requirements that blocked those practices, in a clear attempt to both discourage and stop black Americans from voting. This is simply … outrageous.
Short of utter chaos, democracy is the messiest form of government invented by mankind but assuredly the most legitimate. To me, it’s a valid argument that our franchise is too broad when it actively encourages the ignorant and the disengaged to vote and when our laws actively seek to facilitate such votes; but to apply that reasoning to people on the basis of their race or ethnicity, or any other artificial quality … to me is criminal. There must be a special place in Dante’s Hell reserved for those who would do this.
My advice to NC is the same that I make often in these comments to extreme liberals: if you want to have legitimate impact on our governance, don’t rely on such clearly improper means: engage your adversaries and make better arguments for your ideological convictions.
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I really hope you aren't ignorant enough to believe that and are just baiting conservatives.
"To me, it’s a valid argument that our franchise is too broad when it actively encourages the ignorant ... to vote ..."
Joshua Schwartz -- the Israeli who comments here -- once wrote the best reply to this thinking that I can recall reading. I wish I knew where it was so I could copy & paste it and pretend it was my own. ... Suppose it possible to genetically engineer prodigiously intelligent people. Would society then be better off? Remember what Jefferson said? Pose a moral problem to a plowman and a professor, and the former will often decide it better.
Intellectuals as a class often make awful political decisions and devise abstruse philosophies whose impacts can be calamitous. Karl Marx spent 30 years in the Reading Room at the British Museum in London composing Das Kapital. Though we don't talk much about it, America had a massive eugenics program, which came about because of the influence of Social Darwinism. Commoners didn't create or support these ideas. Intellectuals did.
To tell people that they aren't fit to have a say in who governs them is almost telling them that they aren't fit to have a say in HOW they are governed. Once you remove one level of people from the voting process, why not the level above them? After all, to the brightest of the bright, these people, too, are unworthy to choose. I want Americans to be better educated, for sure. But I don't want them to be disenfranchised because they aren't.
Joshua Schwartz -- the Israeli who comments here -- once wrote the best reply to this thinking that I can recall reading. I wish I knew where it was so I could copy & paste it and pretend it was my own. ... Suppose it possible to genetically engineer prodigiously intelligent people. Would society then be better off? Remember what Jefferson said? Pose a moral problem to a plowman and a professor, and the former will often decide it better.
Intellectuals as a class often make awful political decisions and devise abstruse philosophies whose impacts can be calamitous. Karl Marx spent 30 years in the Reading Room at the British Museum in London composing Das Kapital. Though we don't talk much about it, America had a massive eugenics program, which came about because of the influence of Social Darwinism. Commoners didn't create or support these ideas. Intellectuals did.
To tell people that they aren't fit to have a say in who governs them is almost telling them that they aren't fit to have a say in HOW they are governed. Once you remove one level of people from the voting process, why not the level above them? After all, to the brightest of the bright, these people, too, are unworthy to choose. I want Americans to be better educated, for sure. But I don't want them to be disenfranchised because they aren't.
5
Amen, brother Richard. And they would send these same people they disenfranchised to fight wars for them, in defense of and to spread democracy. The great state of Texas found only 800 actionable cases of voter fraud in ten years of records - a statistically insignificant amount.
2
It's about time these unconstitutional laws were struck down. Thanks to the judges who did it. Now let's get rid of the rest of these democracy-destroying ploys to suppress the vote.
289
If these law makers swore an oath to defend the Constitution, then their now-proven attack against the 15th amendment must surely be punishable. At least bar them from office, and disenfranchise them as a glorious act of irony.
235
"If these law makers swore an oath to defend the Constitution, then their now-proven attack against the 15th amendment must surely be punishable. At least bar them from office, and disenfranchise them as a glorious act of irony."
Thank you Gerald...Why are we are so apt to give our politicians a free pass when they've broken the public trust, and in this case, so egregiously, so intentionally, and so fraudulently. By what higher authority do these violators of the Constitution get to stay in office? They are a national disgrace. They have proven themselves entirely unfit to serve, and doing so in such a way that public humiliation and jail time are entirely appropriate and might serve as a warning for other politicians who might consider intentionally breaking the law and violating the sacred oath of office they have sworn to obey.
Thank you Gerald...Why are we are so apt to give our politicians a free pass when they've broken the public trust, and in this case, so egregiously, so intentionally, and so fraudulently. By what higher authority do these violators of the Constitution get to stay in office? They are a national disgrace. They have proven themselves entirely unfit to serve, and doing so in such a way that public humiliation and jail time are entirely appropriate and might serve as a warning for other politicians who might consider intentionally breaking the law and violating the sacred oath of office they have sworn to obey.
10
Their oaths on Bibles are lies to begin with.
4
Thanks goodness common sense won the day. I can only hope that the Kansas voter ID law is overturned.
210
I hope Kansans get rid of Kobach... who despite his stellar academic credentials is a true reactionary.
19
The implementation of law can vary quite a bit across the different circuits of the federal judiciary.