Disenfranchisement and race and poverty

Scott Brown objects to registering poor people

• By the way: the cosst of implementing voterID in MA? $23Million:  http://www.democrats.org/the-real-cost-of-photo-id-laws
• Romney Passes Welfare-Queen Card To Scott Brown For Voter-Registration Gambit | The New Republic (8/10/2012)  http://bit.ly/PL7fCY
• "In many other states, Republican-dominated legislatures have been moving in the opposite direction, trying to make the voting process more burdensome either by cancelling early voting or requiring government-issued picture IDs. Those rules — which disproportionately affect poor people, who lack cars and driver’s licenses — are aimed at keeping people away from the polls; in that context, it’s easy to see why Brown would assume that any move to increase registration would be politically motivated. / But even in a politically charged environment, making it easier for qualified voting-age adults to register to vote and making it harder for them to do so are not equivalent: The state government should be doing all it can to increase participation by qualified voters. There’s nothing sinister in Massachusetts’s commitment to send voter registration forms to poor people, especially to remedy its past failure to follow federal law.making it easier for qualified voting-age adults to register and making it harder for them to do so are not equivalent -- Massachusetts is justified in mailing voting forms to aid recipients - Editorials - The Boston Globe (8/10/2012) http://b.globe.com/OQAVjx
• Deval Rigs Vote For... GOP? - Talking Politics  http://bit.ly/PFBHhV
• Scott Brown: Encouraging the Base by Discouraging the Vote, Take Two | HesterPrynne (8/9/2012)- http://bit.ly/OQznGd
• Massachusetts is justified in mailing voting forms to aid recipients - Editorials - The Boston Globe (8/10/2012) http://b.globe.com/OQAVjx
• Massachusetts the only state that agreed to send mass mailings in the wake of lawsuits - The Boston Globe [NOT TRUE: ALSO MICHIGAN]- (8/10/2012) http://bo.st/OQBcDd
Watchdog Slams New Scott Brown Attack on Voting Rights of Welfare Recipients | Public Campaign Action (8/8/2012) Fund - http://bit.ly/OQzIca
• Scott Brown demands Elizabeth Warren reimburse taxpayers for vote registration mailings - Political Intelligence - Boston.com (8/10/2012) http://bo.st/OQzPo4
• Brown criticizes voter mailings - Boston.com -(8/9/2012) http://bo.st/MYKGvV
• USAprogressive: DEMOS President Fires Back At Baseless Partisan Attacks (8/9/2012) http://bit.ly/OQzWjg
• Scott Brown Decries Legally Mandated Voter Registration Effort (8/8/2012) http://bit.ly/O9MYwm
• Deb In the City: The cost of politics (8/2012) http://bit.ly/NyUH26
• I believe a democracy is better when more (all?) people participate, so I really like this law. 
•  Because when you can't actually suppress votes, the next best thing is to blow a dog whistle signaling that you regret that you can't.  

Why Some People Don't Vote, Register

• Voting’s Outcasts: Why One in Five Blacks in Kentucky Can’t Cast a Ballot | The Nation (9/18/2012) http://bit.ly/Ob54is
• An abridged history of Conservative voter suppression | Dirt & Seeds (3/28/2011)- http://bit.ly/RHckCM
• Survey Shows Why Many Americans Fail to Vote in Elections - http://bit.ly/OXhGYs -
• Who are the non-voters? : The survey found that nonvoters are disproportionately young, single, less educated and more likely to be of an ethnic minority than infrequent and frequent voters. 40 percent of nonvoters are under 30 years old, compared to 29 percent of infrequent voters and 14 percent of frequent voters. Infrequent voters are much more likely to be married than nonvoters, with 50 percent of infrequent voters married compared to only 34 percent of nonvoters. 76% of nonvoters have less than a college degree, compared to 61 percent of infrequent voters and 50 percent of frequent voters. Among nonvoters, 54 percent are white or Caucasian compared to 60 percent of infrequent voters and 70 percent of frequent voters.
• USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll: Stay-at-home Americans disgusted: why 90 Million Americans Won't Vote in November. – USATODAY.com (8/15/2012) http://usat.ly/PdeqZg
• (Washington): sociological evidence overturns felon voting ban » Citings and Sightings - http://bit.ly/RH59ub (1/2010)
• The surprising ruling, by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle, said the law violates the 1965 Voting Rights Act by disenfranchising minority voters.  The decision is the first in the country’s federal appeals courts to equate a prohibition against voting by incarcerated felons with practices outlawed under the federal Voting Rights Act, such as poll taxes or literacy tests.
• drunkbrad: Poor people choose to be poor--and choose not to register for same reasons (what?) http://bit.ly/OQzul3

Now, some data about voting and registration demographics:

Voter Registration rates by race--note, total does NOT include incarcerated people--significantly reducing the total # of black americans: 

• Whites: Around 70% (trend)
• Black: Low 60s%
• Hispanic (non white):  around 55%
• Asian: Around 50% (WTF?!)

• Census data on registration/voting:  http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/socdemo/voting/publications/historical/index.html
• Non-working and unemployed much less likely to vote: (US Census graph 1968-2008) http://1.usa.gov/OQCIFg
• Dramatic: Less education, less likely to vote (census, graph, 1964-2010) http://1.usa.gov/OXiigD
• whites more likely to vote than blacks (census, graph, 1968-2008) http://1.usa.gov/xjYlRv
• Race (white/black) and region (south/not south) voting - http://1.usa.gov/RH3Yeb
• Voting by Race (black/white) and age (census, 1968-2008) - http://1.usa.gov/RH8cTd
• 2008 Surge in Black Voters Nearly Erased Racial Gap - NYTimes.com (7/20/2009) http://nyti.ms/PL7GgO

PS: Welcome to 2009: 

• Report Finds Acorn Broke No Laws - NYTimes.com - http://nyti.ms/O5XUsf

Republicans Actively Seeking to Disenfranchise Minority and Poor Voters

• Boehner Says Out Loud He Hopes Blacks and Latinos 'Won't Show Up' This Election - Politics - The Atlantic Wire (Aug 2012) http://bit.ly/Oo0tWp
• Rachel Maddow: Romney Is Trying To Win By ‘Deliberately Running Against Minority Voters’ | Mediaite (AUg 2012) http://bit.ly/Oo136r

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See also Cynicism, Apathy and Distraction and At Least the War on Voting Is Going Well

Move into "war on voting" post: 

• Ohio Early Voting Cutbacks Disenfranchise Minority Voters | The Nation - http://bit.ly/P6BrOp