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GOP voter supression

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  • JoeF
    12-20-2011 07:36:19 PM
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    The GOP stole elections in 2000 and 2004. That resulted in a catastrophe that will be difficult to recover..

    They plan to steal the presidential election in 2012.They know they can’t win on level field. State by state they are passing laws to prevent voting rights of groups like the elderly, the poor, minorities, the rural and students to vote in the next election--and potentially even have an effect on the election's outcome. These are "laws across more than a dozen states designed to severely reduced voter participation." And the voters from these groups are Democratic voting blocs.

    Seventeen states require photo ID to vote. Nineteen laws and two executive actions in 14 states dominated by Republicans, as a result, more than five million eligible voters will have a harder time participating in the 2012 election.
    These states have 171 electoral votes. 270 electoral votes are necessary to elect the president.

    States requiring photo ID to vote: Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas.

    States that reduce early or absentee voting: Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida.

    States making voter registration more difficult: Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Texas, and Florida.

    More than 21 million citizens — 11 percent of the population — do not have government ID cards. Many of them are poor, or elderly, or black and Hispanic and could have a hard time navigating the bureaucracy to get a card.

    The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has started an investigation into this action by the Republicans. It is too little too late. Most of the federal court judges were appointed by Republican presidents. They will rule on the side of the Republicans and delay action. By the time a favorable ruling is made, it will be too late. The 2012 election will be over.

    Watch Ed Schultz video on voter suppression. It is an eye opener.
    http://ed.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9500847-voter-suppression-whats-at-stake

    To prevent another stolen election by the Republicans, we have much work ahead. We must work diligently on voter registration and helping disenfranchised voters get needed documents to vote (birth certificates and photo IDs). Cost of birth certificates and photo IDS would be a form of poll tax which is illegal. They should be free.

    This is a magnanimous task and should be initiated soon.

    It would be great if the “99%” would get involved in this.

    "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." – Thomas Jefferson
  • that guy in Arizona
    05-03-2012 10:56:22 AM
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    Joe:


    I received a letter this morning from the Democratic Governors Association, which provides updated information for your post:

    https://mail.google.com/mail/?shva=1#inbox/13712cb5b38fa099

    To add your name to their list, just click on the link below:

    http://action.democraticgovernors.org/page/content/votersuppression
  • alias
    05-04-2012 01:56:42 PM
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    What I want to know is how the GOP stole the Presidential election in 2000 and 2004?  Does anyone have an explanation for 2000?  I'd love to hear it.
  • that guy in AZ
    09-13-2020 08:38:34 AM
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    alias:

    The link below will answer your question:

    https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2012/02/i-am-not-crook.html

  • that guy in AZ
    09-13-2020 08:50:33 AM
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    As Dutch is well aware, voter suppression is alive and well in Florida.

    Four months after a federal judge ruled that it was akin to an unconstitutional poll tax for Florida to require that people with serious criminal convictions pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote, an appeals court narrowly overturned that decision on Friday.

    Although the fines vary a bit from case to case, they are typically in the range of $500-$700 .

    Five of the six judges who supported the 60-page decision were appointed to the court by President Trump. Two of those judges were also former Florida Supreme Court justices named to that bench by Mr. DeSantis. (One of the former justices, Judge Barbara Lagoa, was named by Mr. Trump this week as among those he would consider nominating to a potential future seat on the Supreme Court.)

    Restoring felons’ voting rights could vastly grow the electorate in the nation’s biggest presidential battleground state. An expert for the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups testified at trial that more than 774,000 felons in Florida owe legal financial obligations.

    The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which organized the Amendment 4 campaign, has raised about $4 million to help more than 4,000 “returning citizens” pay their outstanding court fines and fees, according to Neil G. Volz, the coalition’s political director.

    Florida’s division of elections had received 85,000 voter registrations as of May from former felons who believed they had been re-enfranchised by Amendment 4. The division must screen those registrations to see whether the would-be voters had paid their financial obligations. Only then could any of them be removed from the voter rolls, the appeals court said.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/us/florida-felon-voting-rights.html

    One guy who can make a difference in Florida is Mike Bloomberg. He has pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden in Florida.

    Bloomberg made the decision to focus his final election spending on Florida last week, after news reports that Trump had considered spending as much as $100 million of his own money in the final weeks of the campaign, Bloomberg’s advisers said. Presented with several options on how to make good on an earlier promise to help elect Biden, Bloomberg decided that a narrow focus on Florida was the best use of his money.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bloomberg-money-florida-biden/2020/09/12/af51bb50-f511-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_bloomberg-630am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

  • TG Tarheel
    09-13-2020 10:01:07 AM
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    that guy in AZ Wrote:

    As Dutch is well aware, voter suppression is alive and well in Florida.

    Four months after a federal judge ruled that it was akin to an unconstitutional poll tax for Florida to require that people with serious criminal convictions pay court fines and fees before they can register to vote, an appeals court narrowly overturned that decision on Friday.

    Although the fines vary a bit from case to case, they are typically in the range of $500-$700 .

    Five of the six judges who supported the 60-page decision were appointed to the court by President Trump. Two of those judges were also former Florida Supreme Court justices named to that bench by Mr. DeSantis. (One of the former justices, Judge Barbara Lagoa, was named by Mr. Trump this week as among those he would consider nominating to a potential future seat on the Supreme Court.)

    Restoring felons’ voting rights could vastly grow the electorate in the nation’s biggest presidential battleground state. An expert for the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups testified at trial that more than 774,000 felons in Florida owe legal financial obligations.

    The Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which organized the Amendment 4 campaign, has raised about $4 million to help more than 4,000 “returning citizens” pay their outstanding court fines and fees, according to Neil G. Volz, the coalition’s political director.

    Florida’s division of elections had received 85,000 voter registrations as of May from former felons who believed they had been re-enfranchised by Amendment 4. The division must screen those registrations to see whether the would-be voters had paid their financial obligations. Only then could any of them be removed from the voter rolls, the appeals court said.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/us/florida-felon-voting-rights.html

    One guy who can make a difference in Florida is Mike Bloomberg. He has pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden in Florida.

    Bloomberg made the decision to focus his final election spending on Florida last week, after news reports that Trump had considered spending as much as $100 million of his own money in the final weeks of the campaign, Bloomberg’s advisers said. Presented with several options on how to make good on an earlier promise to help elect Biden, Bloomberg decided that a narrow focus on Florida was the best use of his money.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bloomberg-money-florida-biden/2020/09/12/af51bb50-f511-11ea-bc45-e5d48ab44b9f_story.html?hpid=hp_no-name_bloomberg-630am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

    Another problem, which is reported in Florida...is often there is NO RELIABLE WAY...to know how much is owed on these court costs and fines, before one can be eligible to vote again. Likely this is by design.

    The court should have ruled, if they wanted to overturn the lower court ruling...that there ALSO must be a clear path to regaining franchise...which means, a clear and reliable wway to find out how much is owed and to pay it.
  • Dutch
    09-13-2020 10:50:42 AM
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    It only shows that this country is going down the tubes, because"money" runs everything; throwing in 100 million like Bloomberg did, does n't do anything about the corruption in elections it makes it only worse. The appointment of DeSantis and Scott was absolutely "bought" as well. Nothing is honest in this State and country. How come that elections in other countries can work as it should without hoards of "money"? "Money" corrupts everything here. Ask Trump!

    How about having an "election" which is done based on "qualification" such as: "honesty", "reality", "knowledge" "skills" "education levels", "world knowledge", "human nature" , psychology knowledge, "empathy" and "proven qualities" , proven "leadership" qualities. etc. I guess down here they just make it an "lotto" and test their "luck".

    Staying on this path will end up as any "money driven dictatorship"

  • TG Tarheel
    09-13-2020 01:34:45 PM
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    Dutch Wrote:

    It only shows that this country is going down the tubes, because"money" runs everything; throwing in 100 million like Bloomberg did, does n't do anything about the corruption in elections it makes it only worse. The appointment of DeSantis and Scott was absolutely "bought" as well. Nothing is honest in this State and country. How come that elections in other countries can work as it should without hoards of "money"? "Money" corrupts everything here. Ask Trump!

    How about having an "election" which is done based on "qualification" such as: "honesty", "reality", "knowledge" "skills" "education levels", "world knowledge", "human nature" , psychology knowledge, "empathy" and "proven qualities" , proven "leadership" qualities. etc. I guess down here they just make it an "lotto" and test their "luck".

    Staying on this path will end up as any "money driven dictatorship"

    Speaking to the choir here, mostly, I suspect, Dutch.

    The problem is...now that we are in this position...how do we get out? You cannot change a system...unless you get into that system.

    I was a candidate for office, because I wanted to change things. Fundraising was always my least favorite part of it. I hated it. And I did not raise much, either. I won 26 percent of the vote, about 7,900 votes. And by my calculations, each vote cost me about 28 cents. The problem with that is...it was not enough to win.

    Money raised has become a proxy for who is most likely to win...and who therefore get the endorsements...my opponent got almost all of them. She, being the wife of a registered lobbyist, had a much-fatter rolodex of wealthy donors...and likely less qualms about raising money than I had.

    How do you get into a system?? A sad reality of running for office here is that it takes money. I have always hated that aspect....but until enough people like me, who believe as I do...can get into the system...how can we change it?

    The system as is...works for those already inside the system, so they are not likely to change it. And some who start out believing as I do...who then get into power...may end up corrupted by what's there, too.

    I always said...the trick to running for office...is to learn how to wallow with the hogs, yet still remain clean yourself. Not sure I've quite learned how to do that yet...my first run for office was marked by an unwillingness to wallow with those hogs, and it may have cost me election....and thus, a chance to change things. But I am only one person...I need many others to come along with me.

    How do we get there? It is easy for you, apparently...to sit behind a keyboard and shotgun criticisms...but you seem short of working answers to this dilemma we are faced with. At least I have tried to get into the system to change it. I now know it cannot be accomplished the way I tried to do it. So I am open to suggestions.
  • Dutch
    09-14-2020 08:21:24 AM
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    Yes you describe it as it is. And that picture does not belong in an Democratic society. I can't change it. As long as they are "baby fed" with "money" here, you can't change that, unless you get an real revolution. The "brains" here are absent, just look at Trump's rally's. So as you said, as long as the population stays as dumb as they are and the education and church system stays as they are, than an single person like you or me are irrelevant as you already found out.

    I lived in other countries where there is no bribery with "money" in their elections, but the arrogance here and the "island" mentality "of knowing it all" , as well that all the crooks and lobbyists who profit from this stupid system, will make it just about impossible to change this system here. Only if something very drastic happens with an "leader" who has international experience. Obama went to school in Indonesia, he at least had some external experience. We can't say that from the present candidates. Sorry to be negative, but there is an clear picture in elections etc. that "money" corrupts. Like you clearly describes how it works here; i.e. who do you know, are you an good "talker", can you bully, how much money can you shove or collect, having connections with the "rich " and powerful, and on top of that can you persuade people with B.S.

    Having "brains/qualifications" for such job is not important anymore, neither "leadership qualities"; it is more how are you "trained" into fooling people using hoards of money to convince them that you have the qualities to lie and cheat and can talk your way out of all kinds of situations. That is how it is done here.

    I lived in Washington and worked there; I met plenty of well known people there; my neighbor was an "lobbyists" and told me a lot about the "workings" there. It just like an chicken coup where all the chickens and the main rooster fight for some "grain". What we need is an smart "fox" who cleans out the chicken coup.

    Indeed the way you or I want to do it, does not work in an totally polluted society where "money" corrupts everything.

    Like you said, if fund raising is an must "qualification" then that is where the "corruption" starts.

  • TG Tarheel
    09-14-2020 10:34:29 AM
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    Dutch Wrote:

    Yes you describe it as it is. And that picture does not belong in an Democratic society. I can't change it. As long as they are "baby fed" with "money" here, you can't change that, unless you get an real revolution. The "brains" here are absent, just look at Trump's rally's. So as you said, as long as the population stays as dumb as they are and the education and church system stays as they are, than an single person like you or me are irrelevant as you already found out.

    I lived in other countries where there is no bribery with "money" in their elections, but the arrogance here and the "island" mentality "of knowing it all" , as well that all the crooks and lobbyists who profit from this stupid system, will make it just about impossible to change this system here. Only if something very drastic happens with an "leader" who has international experience. Obama went to school in Indonesia, he at least had some external experience. We can't say that from the present candidates. Sorry to be negative, but there is an clear picture in elections etc. that "money" corrupts. Like you clearly describes how it works here; i.e. who do you know, are you an good "talker", can you bully, how much money can you shove or collect, having connections with the "rich " and powerful, and on top of that can you persuade people with B.S.

    Having "brains/qualifications" for such job is not important anymore, neither "leadership qualities"; it is more how are you "trained" into fooling people using hoards of money to convince them that you have the qualities to lie and cheat and can talk your way out of all kinds of situations. That is how it is done here.

    I lived in Washington and worked there; I met plenty of well known people there; my neighbor was an "lobbyists" and told me a lot about the "workings" there. It just like an chicken coup where all the chickens and the main rooster fight for some "grain". What we need is an smart "fox" who cleans out the chicken coup.

    Indeed the way you or I want to do it, does not work in an totally polluted society where "money" corrupts everything.

    Like you said, if fund raising is an must "qualification" then that is where the "corruption" starts.

    We do not disagree. And it may be an exercise in futility, but I will keep trying to do what I can to change this system.

    It's easy to shotgun criticisms, you saw how easily I could do it, too. I am looking for someone with solutions. Because I do NOT have them all. I will be the first to tell you that.

    This is why...while I DO have a core set of beliefs, and certain things are NOT negotiable with me...I am fairly open to listening to different points of view...there always can be a gold nugget in a pile of horseshit yaknow!!
  • Dutch
    09-14-2020 02:49:31 PM
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    I comment you on your persistence; I'm not so young anymore and know from my past that things could be different if the majority wants that. But my experience is, as long as people maintain the present system of governing, then it is downhill all the way, because the rich feel fine in this non-cultural climate and the lobbyists keeps it going for them. The word "social" is here an dirty word. Sorry to say only an solid revolution with an leader with "brains" can change the situation; I bet that things here will not change, but only get worse, because no one wants to drastically change and improve our laws and "limit" the powers of Presidents. Let alone the corruption with billions of money for elections. Lots of corrections in the existing laws are needed without loopholes and "black and white" penalties should be defined if not followed. Such happens here, if you don't amend the base law only a couple times in 250 years. "Normal" countries update their base law all the time and make it an "living" document. Case laws, don't work as has been proven over and over again. I worked with "lawyers" all my life, so I know they are experts in "corrupting" things; built in as many "loopholes" as you can for instance because then you need them all the time, which means "money" for them. Never write "black or white" laws; make it look interesting and use lots of "difficult" words so to make sure you will need them and things can then be interpreted a million different ways. Etc. Let the "money roll"

    If you don't correct the laws here, then you get the situation as here now. Yes an"real" banana republic"!!!

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