Republicans are playing dirty.
I was disgusted when Pennsylvania (and a few other states) passed a voter-ID law making it a requirement to show a government issued photo ID in order to be able to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. While the Republicans - who led by Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett, a man who also has a clear agenda of financially crippling public education as a means of pushing for privatization - have claimed this was a means of fighting voter fraud (in which there is zero evidence that this a problem, particularly in PA), their intentions are clear. They are willing to play dirty in order to limit votes for Democratic candidates.
Simply put, Republicans fear domination at the polls by young people, minorities, and poorer citizens and are willing to sink to Reconstruction-era type voting laws (think poll taxes) as a means of crippling voter turnout for PA citizens who generally lean to the left.
Below is the statistical breakdown of voting eligible adults who do not have valid photo IDs:
- 25% Black
- 20% Asian
- 19% Latino
- 18% 18 to 24 year olds
- 11% of all U.S. adults
- 8% whites
The reasons behind this breakdown are complex, but have been explored time and time again (try here, here, and here, if you’re curious). The reason these statistics favor Republicans is a no-brainer.
Romney could win Pennsylvania and other key election states based solely on these discriminatory voter ID laws.
Seriously, let that sink in for a moment.
Romney could win Pennsylvania based on discriminatory laws. State election officials in PA recently released data stating that more than 758,000 - or 9.2% - of PA’s registered voters do not have the proper voting ID to vote in November (Corbett’s camp had continuously claimed - lied - that the number was as low as 1%). That’s just the currently registered voters.
The crazy thing is that GOP lawmakers in Pennsylvania aren’t even being shy about letting their true intentions be known - that they passed a law that would make it possible for a Republican presidential candidate to win the state for the first time since 1988. PA GOP House Majority Leader Mike Turzai recently said about the passing of the voter ID law while going over a checklist of Republican accomplishments in the state:
“Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania: done.”
It’s insane. It’s sickening.
And the majority of Pennsylvanians either don’t know or are just shrugging it off.
The law won’t be repealed or held off before November. So, where should one aim efforts to combat this clear discrimination?
- Educate! Republican lawmakers are banking on young people, minorities, and lower class citizens being ignorant of these changes. First and foremost: this needs to become common knowledge. People need to be educated about this new law: http://www.dmv.state.pa.us/voter/voteridlaw.shtml. Using social media is nice, but that won’t reach everyone: print fliers explaining this in simple terms. Call organizations in neighborhoods that this law will most effect. Get people fired up. It’s up to us.
- Transportation efforts to DMVs need to be amped up. People need to organize. Transportation should and needs to be free and get people there as effortlessly as possible. Fees for the ID can be waived by filling out a certain form at the DMV, but people have to have a way to get there first and foremost.
- Get your ass out there to vote. While I’m focusing on PA, this isn’t just PA. Wherever you are in the U.S., you need to vote. Vote for whoever you want, but vote. And don’t just vote in the Presidential elections. Vote every election. Young people, poor people, and minorities are far less likely to vote in other elections and that’s how abusers of power like Tom Corbett get elected. Stay informed as much a possible. Read. Keep people like this out of power.
I’m going to use Erie, Pennsylvania as an example, because that’s where I live and it’s a city that I love. In the past year, the DMV in Erie, Pennsylvania moved. Before, it was located near the heart of the city’s primarily black population at the Eastway Plaza in Harborcreek - within walking distance of the primarily black community as well as a prominent Housing Authority in Erie. Now, the DMV resides in suburban Millcreek, seven miles outside of the heart of the East side. The new DMV is open from 8:30 AM to 4:15 PM - most people’s working hours. It’s pretty easy to figure out how difficult this might be to get to for someone who works full-time and does not have their own transportation. Or, more importantly, someone who doesn’t even know that they need the ID this election.
It’s not going to be easy - and that’s what Corbett and other Republican lawmakers had hoped.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
![quickhits:
Pennsylvania remains a democracy — for now.
ThinkProgress:
Last month, a Pennsylvania trial judge upheld that state’s Voter ID law, in an opinion that relied at least in part on Nineteenth Century precedent which claimed that vote suppressing laws may be permissible to protect against ‘rogues,’ ‘strumpets,’ and ‘wandering arabs.’ Today, the state supreme court vacated that order, noting that the law is not living up to its own promises of ensuring voters will have access to ID:
[T]he Law contemplates that the primary form of photo identification to be used by voters is a Department of Transportation (PennDOT) driver’s license or the non-driver equivalent provided under Section 1510(b) of the Vehicle Code. Furthermore, the Law specifically requires that – notwithstanding provisions of Section 1510(b) relating to the issuance and content of the cards – PennDOT shall issue them at no cost … . As such, the Law establishes a policy of liberal access to Section 1510(b) identification cards.
However, as implementation of the Law has proceeded, PennDOT – apparently for good reason – has refused to allow such liberal access. Instead, the Department continues to vet applicants for Section 1510(b) cards through an identification process that Commonwealth officials appear to acknowledge is a rigorous one. Generally, the process requires the applicant to present a birth certificate with a raised seal (or a document considered to be an equivalent), a social security card, and two forms of documentation showing current residency. The reason why PennDOT will not implement the Law as written is that the Section 1510(b) driver’s license equivalent is a secure form of identification, which may be used, for example, to board commercial aircraft.
The Department of State has realized, and the Commonwealth parties have candidly conceded, that the Law is not being implemented according to its terms… . Overall, we are confronted with an ambitious effort on the part of the General Assembly to bring the new identification procedure into effect within a relatively short timeframe and an implementation process which has by no means been seamless in light of the serious operational constraints faced by the executive branch. Given this state of affairs, we are not satisfied with a mere predictive judgment based primarily on the assurances of government officials, even though we have no doubt they are proceeding in good faith.
State Republicans will likely try to put a happy face on this, but it really is a loss for them.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mak7ovySz21qfengno1_500.jpg)
![pantslessprogressive:
“I own a house in the city, two children, wife, we have car payments, we have house payments. We have utility bills. We have to pay them all, and it’s not going to be easy to do on this kind of money.”
Robert Pugliese has worked for the Department of Public Works in Scranton, PA for 26 years. He made $19/hour. Now he makes $7.25/hour.
Every city employee in Scranton, including police and firefighters, saw their paychecks slashed to minimum wage last Friday. Mayor Chris Doherty says the city’s financial situation is so dire that the town only had $5,000 even after paying their employees minimum wage. Doherty has indicated he wants to raise taxes to bring in more revenue, but the City Council blocked his proposal.
To put the wage cut into perspective, Robert would make more money from unemployment benefits than his current paycheck, according to the CBS report.
Last week, a judge ordered the town to continue paying full wages to the town employees. The mayor violated the judge’s order; a lawyer representing three unions is now filing a motion to hold the mayor in contempt.
The bottom 60 percent of households have actually lost income since 1983 (while the top five percent of households took in 82 percent of all the income gains since 1983).
Adjusting for inflation, minimum wage earnings now are lower than they were in 1968.
At $7.25 an hour, your pre-tax income is $15,080/year. The federal poverty level for a family of four, like Robert’s family, is $23,050/year. If Robert is the sole provider for his family, his employer of 26 years has just put him and his family in poverty.
This is why unions exist. Workers need a resource to stand up for fair compensation. 62 percent of Robert’s income is now gone. Scranton has been “financial distressed” for the past 20 years. These draconian wage cuts are nothing but a band-aid for the town’s woes. [photo via CBS News]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6z6e5pOdY1qzr73ro1_500.png)
