The Justice Department is significantly reducing the number of federal observers stationed inside polling places in next month’s election at the same time that voters will face strict new election laws in more than a dozen states.
These laws, including requirements to present certain kinds of photo identification, are expected to lead to disputes at the polls. Adding to the potential for confusion, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for his supporters to police the polls themselves for fraud. [snip]
Justice Department officials said they had no choice but to cut the number of observers. The Supreme Court’s 2013 Shelby County v. Holder ruling on the Voting Rights Act “curtailed our ability to deploy observers” to states that used to need federal approval before making changes to election or voting laws, said Vanita Gupta, head of the department’s civil rights division.Republicans are desperate to keep voters away from the polls this November (and in any election, for that matter), especially in battleground states like North Carolina and Ohio, because higher turnout generally means victory for Democrats. Charles Pierce details some of the voter suppression activities going on in Indiana and Wisconsin as well, where Republicans are using police state tactics and bureaucratic slow- walking to try to hang on to power. Florida's odious tea party Republican Gov. Rick "Bat Boy" Scott won't extend Florida's voter registration deadline, evidently counting on the disruption caused by Hurricane Matthew to potentially take away the right to vote from thousands of first time (Democratic) voters.
All this should enrage anyone whose sense of what it means to live in a democracy (as flawed as ours is) includes fairness and equal treatment -- you know, like "one person, one vote." This is Jim Crow all over again, and it's taking place right under our noses.
Thirty-one days to go.