More Voting Machinations

[Smurfette Principle]

thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/12/26/395287/93-year-old-tennessee-woman-who-cleaned-state-capitol-for-30-years-denied-voter-id/

A 93-year-old Tennessee woman who cleaned the state Capitol for 30 years, including the governor’s office, says she won’t be able to vote for the first time in decades after being told this week that her old state ID failed to meet new voter ID regulations.
Thelma Mitchell was even accused of being an undocumented immigrant because she couldn’t produce a birth certificate [...]

A spokesman for the House Republican Caucus insisted that Mitchell was given bad information and should’ve been allowed to vote, even with an expired state ID.

Oh, but wait, it gets BETTER.

The incident is the just latest in a series of reports of senior citizens being denied their constitutional right to vote under restrictive new voter ID laws pushed by Republican governors and legislatures. These laws are a transparent attempt to target Democrat constituencies who are less likely to have photo ID’s, and disproportionately affect seniors, college students, the poor and minorities.

As ThinkProgress reported, one 96-year-old Tennessee woman was denied a voter ID because she didn’t have her marriage license. Another senior citizen in Tennessee, 91-year-old Virginia Lasater, couldn’t get the ID she needed to vote because she wasn’t able to stand in a long line at the DMV. A Tennessee agency even told a 86-year-old World War II veteran that he had to pay an unconstitutional poll tax if he wanted to obtain an ID.

[/b][/quote]

Fuck. This is just the latest in the GOP's attempts to restore 50's era segregation and class disparity.

[priestling]

String them up, gut them, pour salt and lemon juice in the wounds and stake them out for the jackals!

[RavynousHunter]

Wait...they showed that kind of blatant disregard for simple, human decency to a World War II veteran? One of the motherfuckers who helped us topple the fucking Nazis? Godwin's Law be damned, Hitler would be proud of these motherfuckers.

[Oriet]

What gets me about this is that they're also targeting senior citizens, who disproportionately vote Republican to such an extent that, if memory serves correctly, is their main voting block. They're being incredibly self-destructive in their demands to get their way; which itself will also destroy themselves and the country, but they don't give a fuck because "at least we were on top!"

[rookie]

Dec 27, 2011 11:12:01 GMT -5 Oriet said:

What gets me about this is that they're also targeting senior citizens, who disproportionately vote Republican to such an extent that, if memory serves correctly, is their main voting block.

I saw this as well. Feels like I am missing something. Anyways, yeah. Fuck these guys with a rusty cactus.

[discoberry]

Dec 27, 2011 15:34:36 GMT -5 rookie said:

Dec 27, 2011 11:12:01 GMT -5 Oriet said:

What gets me about this is that they're also targeting senior citizens, who disproportionately vote Republican to such an extent that, if memory serves correctly, is their main voting block.

I saw this as well. Feels like I am missing something. Anyways, yeah. Fuck these guys with a rusty cactus.

I think this is what we call an unintended consequence.

[queenofhearts]

Dec 27, 2011 16:44:05 GMT -5 discoberry said:

Dec 27, 2011 15:34:36 GMT -5 rookie said:

I saw this as well. Feels like I am missing something. Anyways, yeah. Fuck these guys with a rusty cactus.

I think this is what we call an unintended consequence.

Or a calculated disenfranchisement. For every republican they prevent from voting, they're probably erasing many more democrat votes. I mean, if the GOP loses 1,000 votes but manage to erase 50,000 democrat votes, then their still +49,000.

EDIT: Damn "there," "their," and "they're!"

[Yaezakura]

It doesn't have very good long-term implications for them, though. Younger crowds are decidedly more liberal in makeup. The younger you go, the more liberal you get. When this block of old people that primarily vote republican die off, they're left with an ever-increasingly-liberal voting pool who are now in positions where these regulations will no longer easily prevent them from voting.

So while it may ensure a small tactical gain, it's strategic poison for them.

[Oriet]

They really only care about short term gain, though they are also managing to make things be in their favour long term as well.

[brendanrizzo]

More proof that the GOP is irredeemably evil. Yet they have the audacity to complain that their favorite candidates are disqualified from the primaries because they didn't get enough signatures.

[discoberry]

Dec 27, 2011 16:58:10 GMT -5 queenofhearts said:

Dec 27, 2011 16:44:05 GMT -5 discoberry said:

I think this is what we call an unintended consequence.

Or a calculated disenfranchisement. For every republican they prevent from voting, they're probably erasing many more democrat votes. I mean, if the GOP loses 1,000 votes but manage to erase 50,000 democrat votes, then their still +49,000.

EDIT: Damn "there," "their," and "they're!"

So you're saying a bunch of geriatrics are gonna vote for the guy that is supposedly stealing their medicare and putting them to death, when they get to expensive? The age group that makes up the majority of Bill O'Reilly's viewer demographic?

[ltfred]

And, of course, the alleged 'crisis' that this bill is 'addressing' doesn't exist. There have hardly been any cases of voter fraud (as opposed to voter registration fraud) in decades.

[jackmann]

Dec 29, 2011 16:13:04 GMT -5 discoberry said:

Dec 27, 2011 16:58:10 GMT -5 queenofhearts said:

Or a calculated disenfranchisement. For every republican they prevent from voting, they're probably erasing many more democrat votes. I mean, if the GOP loses 1,000 votes but manage to erase 50,000 democrat votes, then their still +49,000.

EDIT: Damn "there," "their," and "they're!"

So you're saying a bunch of geriatrics are gonna vote for the guy that is supposedly stealing their medicare and putting them to death, when they get to expensive? The age group that makes up the majority of Bill O'Reilly's viewer demographic?

Thing is, it's not just the elderly. It's also college students, poor people, and minorities. They're willing to take the hit on the elderly to disenfranchise the rest.

[queenofhearts]

Dec 29, 2011 20:34:38 GMT -5 jackmann said:

Dec 29, 2011 16:13:04 GMT -5 discoberry said:

So you're saying a bunch of geriatrics are gonna vote for the guy that is supposedly stealing their medicare and putting them to death, when they get to expensive? The age group that makes up the majority of Bill O'Reilly's viewer demographic?

Thing is, it's not just the elderly. It's also college students, poor people, and minorities. They're willing to take the hit on the elderly to disenfranchise the rest.

Right, this may be a bit clearer as to what I meant. Its sensational news when a senior citizens loses the right to vote after serving in WWII, working in the government, and voting for 60 years; so these are the stories we hear. But these laws are designed to target democratic voters (see Scott Walker closing DMVs in liberal districts to prevent photo IDs) and affect many more people than the few seniors which we hear about. The republicans may lose net votes, but because of liberal disenfranchisement (and the zero sum game of American politics) they actually gain votes.