Our ancestors fought and died so they would have the
right to electoral self government, from the nation’s earliest days during the
Revolutionary War. Our fathers, uncles,
brothers and sisters died in World War 2, Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan, not
for vacuous principles, but for the very practical rights we enjoy, the most
important of which is the right to democratically choose our leaders. Within the past few years hundreds of thousands
of people in Libya, Egypt and Syria have fought and died for the same rights.
Yet here in America for the 2012 presidential and congressional
elections, which Republican politicians insist on describing the country as the
bastion of “Exceptionalism,” one in four African Americans may very well be
prevented from voting and one in 10 Americans across the board may not be able
to vote for the president, senators or congressmen.
The only thing exceptional about that is how
utterly anti-democratic it is. The vast majority of voters being disenfranchised belong to groups which disproportionally vote Democratic. What is
most puzzling is that the vast majority of Americans stand by twiddling their
thumbs doing nothing about this travesty, while the clock ticks down to the
November election. In most other countries, people would be protesting in the
streets by the thousands, demanding a stop to this massive disenfranchisement.
Republican
legislators governors in 8 states have passed laws which make it nearly
impossible for many minority, elderly and college age citizens to vote in the
forthcoming election. Perhaps some are
not aware of the reasons these voter suppression laws are a serious problem.
On the surface, requiring photo voter identification may seem
reasonable. But it turns out, that if
such a law were passed, and photo voter IDs were to be a requirement consistent
with our voting rights, the laws passed would have to be dramatically changed
to address their systematic discrimination against some voters. As they are, they are unconstitutional.
1. According
to a national study by the Brennan Center at NYU Law School, a photo
identification requirement excludes 11% of all Americans, 25% of African
Americans, 18% of over 65 voters and 18% of 18-24 year olds.
2. You
may ask “What’s the big deal with getting a photo ID?” There are numerous problems making it nearly
impossible to vote.
a. In
some states a birth certificate is required to obtain a photo ID that is a
substantial expense for poor people. It costs $21.50 for a copy in Ohio, for
example. Poor and elderly people often cannot afford to pay for a birth
certificate. Basically, that makes voters pay a poll tax, which is
prohibited. Some rural elderly people were born at home and no birth
certificates exist. Other citizens were born in another country many years ago
and have no accepted birth certificate. Many poor and elderly people have
no means of transportation to the required state office, often in another town,
or in another part of a large city, in order to reach the office to buy a
certificate. Many people work on jobs where they lose wages if they take
off work to obtain a birth certificate and lose wages again to stand in very
long lines to vote. They often can't afford that. If this were to
be a requirement it should be paid for by the government.
b. In
some states other citizenship documents are required to get a photo ID.
13 million American have no practical access to citizenship documents,
and 39% of people with lower incomes have no documents. It costs $55 to
obtain a US passport card the first time, which is prohibitive for poor
Americans and again, amounts to a poll tax.
c. College
students may be required to register to vote in their home state though they
live in a different state while attending college, which would require they fly
home to register, and fly home again to vote. Some states, like
Pennsylvania, have outlawed mail registration. Anyone who has moved in the past
year may be required to re-register, which is a special problem to students.
Anyone who has changed their name, such as recently married women, may be
unable to vote. They tend to be younger people. For 18% who have
photo IDs, their address is not current.
3. Access to
polls has been reduced. Voting hours have
been reduced in most voter suppression states, so there is very little time
before or after work to vote, which requires people paid by the hour to lose
wages in order to stand in long lines to vote, which is a serious financial
hardship for many poor White, Hispanic and Black voters. Many African
American people have historically voted the Sunday before the election on
Tuesday, so Republican have blocked voting on that Sunday in some states. In
some states, there are fewer voting machines per precinct in poorer areas than
in wealthier white precincts, guaranteeing long lines. If it rains
electionday, many poor voters may have to wait in the rain for hours to vote
while voters in affluent precincts will be accommodated more comfortably. During the 2008 election some voters stood in
line in the rain 11 hours to vote. 
This election promises to be the most corrupt in the
nation's history. The lack of public
response, the near silence from the citizenry is stunning. We are standing by doing nothing, while the
voting rights of from 1 in 4, to 1 in 10 are in jeopardy. Where is the outrage? It has been said, “You cannot make a man by standing a sheep on its hind-legs. But by
standing a whole flock of sheep in that position you can make a crowd of
men….let him loose among his fellows, and he is lost —- he becomes a unit in
unreason.*” Have we become an utterly passive obedient populace, docile and
indifferent sheep, accepting the unacceptably unconstitutional laws imposed
upon us, devoid of backbone?
[* Sir Henry Maximillian Beerbohm (1911)]
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