Proving yet again that liberals are full of shyt when it comes to opposing voter ID laws.
Why let the truth get in the way of their already established narrative?
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/despite-voter-id-law-minority-turnout-up-in-georgi/nR2bx/
Posted: 5:31 a.m. Monday, Sept. 3, 2012
Despite voter ID law, minority turnout up in Georgia
Brant Sanderlin, bsanderlin@ajc.com
Voters take advantage of early voting Saturday July 21, 2012 at the Fulton County
Government Center in downtown Atlanta.
By Shannon McCaffrey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Georgia became one of the first states in the nation to demand a photo ID at the ballot box, both sides served up dire predictions. Opponents labeled it a Jim Crow-era tactic that would suppress the minority vote. Supporters insisted it was needed to combat fraud that imperiled the integrity of the elections process.
But both claims were overblown, according to a review of by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of statewide voting patterns in the five years since the law took effect.
Turnout among black and Hispanic voters increased from 2006 to 2010, dramatically outpacing population growth for those groups over the same period.
On the other hand, Georgia’s top elections official could not point to a single case of ballot fraud the voter ID law had prevented.
“I think the rhetoric on both sides has been overstated,” said Edward Foley, executive director of an election law center at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
“It hasn’t had the voter-suppressing effect that some people feared,” Foley said. Conversely, he said, rhetoric about voter fraud has largely proven to be a “scare tactic” with little basis in fact.
Still, the law has had real and measurable effect for some voters: Since November 2008, the ballots of 1,586 Georgians didn’t count because of the law. (They arrived at the polls without a photo ID, cast provisional ballots, and did not return later with the required ID.) Overall, 13.6 million votes were cast in the state during the same period.
POLARIZING NATIONAL ISSUE
Few rights are held as sacred in the United States as the right to vote. And in this sharply polarized election season, voter ID laws have taken on an unusually high national profile.
Democratic Vice President Joe Biden railed against voter suppression efforts at an appearance before a receptive audience at the NAACP’s annual convention in July. Labeling voter fraud “poison,” the GOP made support of voter ID laws a plank in its party platform, which convention delegates adopted in Tampa this week.
Both sides are appealing to their base. Democrats, by and large, oppose the laws, saying they target reliably liberal constituencies: the poor and minorities, who are less likely to have a drivers license or other photo ID. Republicans maintain that without the laws, people not registered, or even legally eligible, cast votes by posing as someone who is registered.
Seven states adopted or strengthened voter ID laws in 2011. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that 33 states now have voter ID laws, although some are far more strict than others.
Georgia, considered one of the toughest, requires that anyone voting in person have a state-issued photo ID for their ballot to count. Photo identification is not required to cast an absentee ballot in Georgia.
Legal battles have erupted over many of the laws. In recent months, voter ID laws in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been winding through the courts. The U.S. Department of Justice signed off on a law in the battleground state of Virginia, that state’s governor said, but rejected voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas. On Thursday a federal court also ruled against Texas’ law, saying it could suppress turnout among Hispanic voters.
Why let the truth get in the way of their already established narrative?
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/despite-voter-id-law-minority-turnout-up-in-georgi/nR2bx/
Posted: 5:31 a.m. Monday, Sept. 3, 2012
Despite voter ID law, minority turnout up in Georgia
Brant Sanderlin, bsanderlin@ajc.com
Voters take advantage of early voting Saturday July 21, 2012 at the Fulton County
Government Center in downtown Atlanta.
By Shannon McCaffrey
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When Georgia became one of the first states in the nation to demand a photo ID at the ballot box, both sides served up dire predictions. Opponents labeled it a Jim Crow-era tactic that would suppress the minority vote. Supporters insisted it was needed to combat fraud that imperiled the integrity of the elections process.
But both claims were overblown, according to a review of by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of statewide voting patterns in the five years since the law took effect.
Turnout among black and Hispanic voters increased from 2006 to 2010, dramatically outpacing population growth for those groups over the same period.
On the other hand, Georgia’s top elections official could not point to a single case of ballot fraud the voter ID law had prevented.
“I think the rhetoric on both sides has been overstated,” said Edward Foley, executive director of an election law center at The Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
“It hasn’t had the voter-suppressing effect that some people feared,” Foley said. Conversely, he said, rhetoric about voter fraud has largely proven to be a “scare tactic” with little basis in fact.
Still, the law has had real and measurable effect for some voters: Since November 2008, the ballots of 1,586 Georgians didn’t count because of the law. (They arrived at the polls without a photo ID, cast provisional ballots, and did not return later with the required ID.) Overall, 13.6 million votes were cast in the state during the same period.
POLARIZING NATIONAL ISSUE
Few rights are held as sacred in the United States as the right to vote. And in this sharply polarized election season, voter ID laws have taken on an unusually high national profile.
Democratic Vice President Joe Biden railed against voter suppression efforts at an appearance before a receptive audience at the NAACP’s annual convention in July. Labeling voter fraud “poison,” the GOP made support of voter ID laws a plank in its party platform, which convention delegates adopted in Tampa this week.
Both sides are appealing to their base. Democrats, by and large, oppose the laws, saying they target reliably liberal constituencies: the poor and minorities, who are less likely to have a drivers license or other photo ID. Republicans maintain that without the laws, people not registered, or even legally eligible, cast votes by posing as someone who is registered.
Seven states adopted or strengthened voter ID laws in 2011. The National Conference of State Legislatures says that 33 states now have voter ID laws, although some are far more strict than others.
Georgia, considered one of the toughest, requires that anyone voting in person have a state-issued photo ID for their ballot to count. Photo identification is not required to cast an absentee ballot in Georgia.
Legal battles have erupted over many of the laws. In recent months, voter ID laws in the swing states of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have been winding through the courts. The U.S. Department of Justice signed off on a law in the battleground state of Virginia, that state’s governor said, but rejected voter ID laws in South Carolina and Texas. On Thursday a federal court also ruled against Texas’ law, saying it could suppress turnout among Hispanic voters.
It was OBVIOUSLY designed to suppress the black Democratic vote. Many Repubs even admitted it.
Jesus fukking christ. Perhaps you should've clicked the link before you commented. It was a quote from one of the handful of GOP operatives who have admitted that they were purposely trying to suppress the black vote with these voter ID laws and voting hour restrictions.
