An editorial in the NY Times points to a brief study [PDF] by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law in discussing legislative changes that mandate use of identity documents at polling places and thereby "make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans — groups that typically vote Democratic — to cast a ballot".
The Times comments that Republican legislatures and governors are rewriting voting laws -
Spreading fear of a nonexistent flood of voter fraud, they are demanding that citizens be required to show a government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote. Republicans have been pushing these changes for years, but now more than two-thirds of the states have adopted or are considering such laws. The Advancement Project, an advocacy group of civil rights lawyers, correctly describes the push as "the largest legislative effort to scale back voting rights in a century".The Brennan Center study suggests that 11% of US citizens do not have a current photo ID. (Figures on the number of Australians without a drivers licence, passport or other official photo ID are unavailable. As a point of reference Year Book Australia 2003 - the ABS compilation - indicated that there were some 15.4 million motor vehicle and motor cycle licences, a figure with substantial double counting.out of a population of 19.9 million people.)
Anyone who has stood on the long lines at a motor vehicle office knows that it isn't easy to get such documents. For working people, it could mean giving up a day's wages.
In the US that 11%
increases to 15 percent of low-income voting-age citizens, 18 percent of young eligible voters and 25 percent of black eligible voters. Those demographic groups tend to vote Democratic, and Republicans are imposing requirements that they know many will be unable to meet.The Times goes on to report that -
Kansas ... voters will be required to show a photo ID at the polls. Before they can register, Kansans will have to produce a proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.Over 30 US states are reported as joining the eight that already had photo ID laws.
Tough luck if you don't happen to have one in your pocket when you’re at the county fair and you pass the voter registration booth. Or when the League of Women Voters brings its High School Registration Project to your school cafeteria. Or when you show up at your dorm at the University of Kansas without your birth certificate. Sorry, you won’t be voting in Lawrence, and probably not at all.
That’s fine with Gov. Sam Brownback, who said he signed the bill because it’s necessary to “ensure the sanctity of the vote.” Actually, Kansas has had only one prosecution for voter fraud in the last six years. But because of that vast threat to Kansas democracy, an estimated 620,000 Kansas residents who lack a government ID now stand to lose their right to vote.
The Wisconsin bill refuses to recognize college photo ID cards, even if they are issued by a state university, thus cutting off many students at the University of Wisconsin and other campuses. The Texas bill, so vital that Gov. Rick Perry declared it emergency legislation, would also reject student IDs, but would allow anyone with a handgun license to vote.Perry has recently attracted attention for declaring three days of prayer for rain, a fascinating illustration of the intersection of religion, politics and popular culture.
His proclamation reads -
WHEREAS, the state of Texas is in the midst of an exceptional drought, with some parts of the state receiving no significant rainfall for almost three months, matching rainfall deficit records dating back to the 1930s; and ...As I've noted elsewhere, it is perplexing that the pious (or merely opportunistic) Texas Governor does not declare state Days of Prayer for other ills. Why not a Day of Prayer to deal with rattlesnakes, coyotes and other varmints (as unpleasant as drought - and, in the case of poisonous serpents, more deadly - but surely a part of God's creation)? If, like sundry people noted in this blog, we accept the notion that prayer or the miraculous intercession of the saints can heal cancer, why not a state - indeed national - day of prayer (or week of prayer) to alleviate inconveniences such as amputated limbs? (I remain perplexed, innocent that I am, as to why prayer makes cancer go away but doesn't regrow a missing limb or two ... such selectivity seems inconsistent with claims about higher powers.) If a week does not suffice, try a month, and throw in some wailing, gnashing of teeth, rending of clothes (sackcloth and ashes are the new black) and expiatory burning of witches or other baddies.
WHEREAS, these dire conditions have caused agricultural crops to fail, lake and reservoir levels to fall and cattle and livestock to struggle under intense stress, imposing a tremendous financial and emotional toll on our land and our people; and
WHEREAS, throughout our history, both as a state and as individuals, Texans have been strengthened, assured and lifted up through prayer; it seems right and fitting that the people of Texas should join together in prayer to humbly seek an end to this devastating drought and these dangerous wildfires;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK PERRY, Governor of Texas, under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and Statutes of the State of Texas, do hereby proclaim the three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, as Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas. I urge Texans of all faiths and traditions to offer prayers on that day for the healing of our land, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of our normal way of life.
