How Do We Protect Our Vote?
By Thom Hartmann A...
High voter turnout is a good thing for our democracy.
Long lines?
Not so much.
They're a dead giveaway of voter suppression in action, which is why everyone should be worried about what we saw this weekend in states like Ohio.
At one polling place in Hamilton County - which includes Cincinnati - almost 4,000 people got stuck in line trying to cast their ballots before the deadline for early voting expired.
Journalist Saahil Desai estimated that the line stretched for more than half a mile and would have taken at least 11 minutes to cover by foot.
Again - this is not what democracy looks like.
This is what voter suppression looks like - and it's something we've seen all across the country over the past few days in states that have done what Ohio has done and closed polling places and cut back on early voting, particularly in neighborhoods filled with minorities, students, and older people.
It'll be a miracle if we don't see even longer lines on Election Day.
Since five conservatives on the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act back in 2013, Southern states that previously had to get Justice Department approval for any changes in voting laws have closed down at least 868 different polling places.
That's right - 868!
In Arizona alone - local officials have shuttered 212 different polling places, most in places with a lot of Hispanics - which is a huge deal now that Arizona is a swing state that could end up deciding the election.
This is the reality we live in right now in this country.
The right to vote - the most basic building block of our democracy - is under siege.
And when Americans go to the polls today - they'll see the effects of this siege firsthand.
They'll have to deal with the long lines - they'll be confronted with outrageous voter ID suppression laws - and they'll have to face challenges to their voter registration that have nothing to do with stopping voter fraud and everything to do with stopping them from voting - period.
So how can we protect our vote?
Comments
#2
I want a constitutional amendment giving me the un-impeded right to vote!
I want a constitutional amendment requiring one polling station for every 5000 people!
I want a constitutional amendment requiring paper-only balloting!
The first political party that makes ALL THREE happen, I'll join.
#3
Obama acceptance speech 2012: He thanked everyone who had to stand in long voting lines and then quickly added, " by the way we have to fix that".
Obama has had plenty of opportunity to call a press conference over the last couple years and point out the damage the Supreme Court has done to voting rights. 868 polling places closed! Why didn't he at least speak out? Why hasn't he spoke out about all kinds of injustice? He's had the bully pulpit, " The White House," for eight years but has refused to use it.
In the primary when Bernie finally got the chance to speak out about economic and social injustice, the citizens listened and a national movement took hold.
#4
An amazing victory by Trump!!
I hope that America got it right and that the devisiveness of the last eight years is behind us.
May the healing begin.
(Formerly "Evil Rich Guy" but booted off the board for an unknown reason)
#5
evil rich guy: With Teapublican/Fascist control of all branches of government, you're party will now have no place to hide and no one to blame when the second great economic depression settles in....not even fox news can save your sorry ass now. It's too bad it's going to take a global crash for the same truth Bernie was communicating to finally reach Teapublican idiots like your KKK.
The Democrats have never been able to win the the corpse media fight ...it's always kept them in a defensive stance....I've warned and warned about this propaganda machine.
#6
Does anyone really believe the polls in all those swing states were off by that much???? Oh yeah votes got flipped too.... that's not just sour grapes. ...it happened.
#7
2950--
I confess that I am worried about what happens next.
There are problems that have been deliberately ignored. Trump will take the problems head on, and as we saw with real estate, when a bubble pops it isn't pretty.
But, cans can only be kicked so far down the road. At some point fiscal responsibility needs to kick in.
That said ... I will bet that this is looked back on as a huge win for black and Hispanic communities. Trump will make huge inroads on jobs and lifting people out of poverty.
It may not seem like it .... but I think this was a victory for all Americans. Or, I hope it was!!! We shall see.
#8
Dems can't blame Comey for Clinton's loss. Hillary & the DNC did that themselves when it's been proven they forced a primary win for Clinton over the popular candidate, Sanders! Sanders could have beaten Trump because like Trump, he tapped into the anger of the voters & he was also against the trade deals like Trump.
Also, experts say the vote has been hacked ever since HAVA began--the MSM uses one company that does exit polls & that company changes the exit polls to fit the election results! There are lots of experts that claim this is true--& we KNOW Dubya got elected in 2000 with the Katherine Harris/Bush purge of poor voters by the thousands from the voter rolls. The Dems know this but refuse to talk about it.
It's time to stop supporting the Dems since they are hopelessly inept & begin putting our support behind developing a third party that has clout, like the Greens.
#9
Now is the time to kiss your personal freedoms and individual rights goodbye. Big business will get much bigger, the rich will get much richer, and the poor will begin to die off in droves. Obamacare - gone. Equality - gone. Truth and justice - gone. And TRUE religious freedom - gone.
The United States I was born in and grew up with is gone.
#10
Cheeky, Gore lost because he couldn't carry his home state of Tennessee. With 11 electorial votes. Gore 277 Bush 260. Florida shenanigans would not matter.
#11
Stecoop01
Most of those things are already happening. The sun will rises, the network programs are back on.
The only difference is the campaign ads are gone from the air waves. I survive 8 years of Bush I think I can handle 4 years of Trump.
#12
Voter turnout in Oregon was 75%. Why? Maybe vote by mail and motor voter. I'm sure there are still holes and disparities that need to be corrected. But we have a good start, and other states should follow suit!
http://results.oregonvotes.gov/VoterTurnoutDetails.aspx?map=TURN
#13
There is a very controversial issue here. Voting is supposed to be anonymous but after the scandal with Clinton's letters how can anyone feel save if the USA sending his vote online? On the other hand standing in a long line is unacceptable.
I'm writing my essay on it.
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We all want honest elections.
Surely a necessary guarentee of this is a voter ID card.
They are used routinely in many countries around the world.
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