TobiasFunke
Footballguy
This has long been an issue discussed in other threads but I think it deserves its own thread. Two big stories today highlighting what I consider voter suppression tactics that may influence close elections.
A North Dakota law requiring registrants to have street addresses was allowed to stand by Supreme Court (link). The law disproportionately affects Native American voters in the state, who often use PO Boxes as their mailing address and who carried Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp to a narrow win in 2012.
The Georgia Secretary of State, who is also the GOP candidate for Governor in a very close race, conducted a massive purge of the voter rolls based on an "exact match" process where the name must be a perfect match to a name on file with the SSA or the DMV (link). The move disproportionately affected African American- the list of voter registrations "on hold" are nearly 70% black according to reports. The Democratic candidate for governor is an African-American woman.
Not long ago, increasing voter participation was considered a noble non-partisan goal. Everyone across the country was pleased when turnout was up, and when it went down it was a national issue that we all wanted to fix. What has happened? I have my own ideas but I want to see what others think. Does anyone want to defend either of these state policies?
A North Dakota law requiring registrants to have street addresses was allowed to stand by Supreme Court (link). The law disproportionately affects Native American voters in the state, who often use PO Boxes as their mailing address and who carried Democratic senator Heidi Heitkamp to a narrow win in 2012.
The Georgia Secretary of State, who is also the GOP candidate for Governor in a very close race, conducted a massive purge of the voter rolls based on an "exact match" process where the name must be a perfect match to a name on file with the SSA or the DMV (link). The move disproportionately affected African American- the list of voter registrations "on hold" are nearly 70% black according to reports. The Democratic candidate for governor is an African-American woman.
Not long ago, increasing voter participation was considered a noble non-partisan goal. Everyone across the country was pleased when turnout was up, and when it went down it was a national issue that we all wanted to fix. What has happened? I have my own ideas but I want to see what others think. Does anyone want to defend either of these state policies?