This is what actual voter suppression looks like

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/voter-suppression-2016_us_581028c2e4b02b1d9e63bcd2

 

Donald Trump regularly tells his supporters that the election has been rigged against him, and on Monday he accused Hillary Clinton’s campaign of utilizing a “voter suppression technique” that involved manipulating polls. (Politifact rated his claim “pants on fire” false.) 

But with early voting now underway in several states, the real-world effects of actual (and very consequential) voter suppression have begun to bubble up.

Exhibit A is North Carolina, where in recent months reporters discovered that state Republican leaders had sent emails directing GOP appointees on local elections boards to “make party line changes” to limit early voting.

In one message, titled “CRITICAL and CONFIDENTIAL,” a Republican district chairman urged election officials to offer only one early voting site for the minimum hours allowed by law, so as not to give Democrats an advantage

[formergothardite]

I actually saw someone trying to claim that none of this was voter suppression and then posts some video of a person supposedly in Virginia trying to vote for a Republican but the machine changed it to a Democrat. 

[nausicaa]

49 minutes ago, formergothardite said:

I actually saw someone trying to claim that none of this was voter suppression and then posts some video of a person supposedly in Virginia trying to vote for a Republican but the machine changed it to a Democrat. 

Even though Virginia uses paper ballots, not machines, and those candidates aren't even up for re-election this year.  But you know, I'm sure the video is totally legit. 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/27/13431540/republican-voter-intimidation-suppression

Democrats just filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Republican National Committee of voter intimidation

Trump and his allies might have put the RNC on the wrong side of a 34-year-old court order.

http://www.vox.com/first-person/2016/10/20/13337526/donald-trump-rigged-election-no

I’m an elections official in Philadelphia. There will be no rigging. Stop it.

[AmazonGrace]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/27/us-elections-rigged-donald-trump-gerrymandering

Yes, US elections are rigged – but not in the way Donald Trump thinks

Gerrymandering, a time-worn practice, is alive and well in 2016. It skews results, drives down turnout and harms minorities – and we need to do away with it

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/north-carolina-voter-purge-lawsuit

Lawsuit Alleges Racially Targeted Voter Purge in North Carolina

The state NAACP says the purge has disproportionately affected black voters.

[AmazonGrace]

Breaking: When voting is easier, more people vote.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/suppress-black-vote-trump-campaign-230616

Quote

 

White nationalists plot Election Day show of force

KKK, neo-Nazis and militias plan to monitor urban polling places and suppress the black vote.

 

 

And after all those people have promised to do what Trump asked people to do, his adviser speaks ill about them  

talk about ingratitude

Quote

 

Trump adviser Flynn gets agitated over KKK question

Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn talks about Donald Trump

 

 

Note that he wants to suppress the press and says they're doing something wrong by even mentioning Trump's most important newspaper endorsement. 

[urban teacher]

Voter suppression of independents is real and very much a problem. Open primaries, allowing independents to be in debates, etc would open up the process and allow independents to be heard.

[GreyhoundFan]

On Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 7:21 PM, AmazonGrace said:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/27/us-elections-rigged-donald-trump-gerrymandering

Yes, US elections are rigged – but not in the way Donald Trump thinks

Gerrymandering, a time-worn practice, is alive and well in 2016. It skews results, drives down turnout and harms minorities – and we need to do away with it

The Washington Post had an interesting article: How to gerrymander your way to a huge election victory

There are some interesting maps in the article, using North Carolina as an example, and a link to maps for all 50 states from dailykos. Here in VA, I was thrown in another district a few years ago when the Republicans redrew the map. Some of the districts are crazy, they are only a few miles wide and hundreds of miles long. As if someone in County X in the far north of the state has much in common with someone from County Y in the extreme south.

[AmazonGrace]

BREAKING: the right to vote needs to be earned so we should really start calling it a salary to vote instead.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-merrill-alabama_us_581a4760e4b0c43e6c1dbadd?section=politics

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) said in a recent interview that prospective voters should have to earn the “privilege” to cast a ballot by making an effort to get registered.

Filmmaker Brian Jenkins asks Merrill why he opposes automatic voter registration in his forthcoming voting rights documentary, according to a teaser clip posted Wednesday. The secretary of state responds by describing voting in terms that appear to be in conflict with the U.S. Constitution’s language guaranteeing citizens the right to vote.

“If you’re too sorry or lazy to get up off of your rear and to go register to vote, or to register electronically, and then to go vote, then you don’t deserve that privilege,” Merrill said.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Voters could be registered automatically when dealing with other agencies such as the DMV.
 

Quote

 

But Merrill said he didn’t want to see such a simple form of voter registration in Alabama. As a justification, he said it would somehow offend heroes of the civil rights movement ― people like Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who has himself supported federal legislation to implement automatic voter registration nationwide.

“These people fought ― some of them were beaten, some of them were killed ― because of their desire to ensure that everybody that wanted to had the right to register to vote and participate in the process,” Merrill said. “I’m not going to cheapen the work that they did. I’m not going to embarrass them by allowing somebody that’s too sorry to get up off of their rear end to go register to vote ― or now, because of what we’ve done, turn the computer on and register to vote ― because they think they deserve the right because they’ve turned 18.”

 

That was a magnificent piece of word salad but apparently according to him, people who fought because they wanted to make it easier for people to vote would be offended if we made it easier for people to vote.

As if the right to register to vote was the point and not the actual voting.

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-voter-cancellation-process_us_581a6481e4b08f9841ad232b?section=politics

Federal Judge Calls North Carolina Voter Cancellation Process ‘Insane’

“It almost looks like a cattle call, the way people are being purged,” said the U.S. District judge.

Quote

 

Since 2014, at least 5,600 registrations have been removed in Cumberland County for varying reasons, while 790 and 63 were removed in Moore and Beaufort counties, respectively.

Biggs added that she was “horrified” by the large number of people removed from the rolls in Cumberland County.

“It almost looks like a cattle call, the way people are being purged,” she said.

North Carolina law maintains that any voter within a county can challenge the eligibility of another voter in that county up to 25 days before the election.

But the North Carolina NAACP argues that the cancellations unfairly target black voters and are an attempt by the Republican Party to suppress the black vote.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

This doesn't seem like such a good idea to me. How do you know that your chat partner will really vote for who they say they will? So you might be wasting your vote on Jill Stein and the other person in the swing state will vote for Trump.

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/3/13478042/third-party-clinton-vote-trading

[AmazonGrace]

ASHEBORO, N.C., Nov 3 (Reuters) - When Bill McAnulty, an elections board chairman in a mostly white North Carolina county, agreed in July to open a Sunday voting site where black church members could cast ballots after services, the reaction was swift: he was labeled a traitor by his fellowRepublicans.

...

In emails, state and county Republican officials lobbied members of at least 17 county election boards to keep early-voting sites open for shorter hourson weekends and in evenings - times that usually see disproportionately high turnout by Democratic voters. Reuters obtained the emails through a public records request.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-carolina-republicans-limit-voting-hours_us_581b5ca3e4b01a82df653b2b?section=politics

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-supporter-gun-voter-intimidation-virginia_us_581cf16ee4b0aac624846eb5

[Flossie]

Hundreds of Oregon voters have reported receiving robocalls in recent days questioning their voter-registration status and indicating that their ballots won't be counted unless they update their registration. The Oregon Secretary of State's office said an investigation is being launched to determine who is behind the apparent voter-suppression effort.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/11/hundreds_of_voters_hit_by_vote.html

[Geechee Girl]

I'm passionate about voter advocacy. Suppression is still a thing in Florida, especially in minority precincts where people aren't aware of their rights. The elderly, non-native english speakers, and the disabled are not offered the accommodations which they are due. Spanish language, Haitian Creole  and large print ballots are treated like secret menu items. The general public doesn't know they can ask for them. Misinformation is also a means of suppression and intimidation. Voters in disenfranchised communities have been told to hurry as if there's a time limit, only 1 person allowed in the booth, and they can't vote if the polls close while they're in line so they should just go home. All lies, and these people are preyed upon because they don't know how the system works. The most common tactic is to tell a voter they're at the wrong precinct, sending them on a wild goose chase or having them give up in frustration.  It was done to me in two different counties not expecting that I knew differently. 

[Mecca]

I posted this elsewhere, but I think I should put it in here to at the encouragement of PraiseDog. 

Just got back from voting. I had no issue. Everything went smooth. My husband was another story. When he went up to have his name checked off the list, there was a star by his name with a note that said and I quote, "Ask to see I.D. and examine it closely for authenticity." The poll worker said, "What does that even mean? I have never seen that before." Yep. Does not matter that he is a citizen of the United States and has been for years, has been registered to vote for years, votes in every election and has voted in this state previously. Apparently, the election commission in our area still does not trust him because he is an immigrant.  

[AmazonGrace]

This is from September but still relevant:

https://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsin-is-systematically-failing-to-provide-the-photo-ids-required-to-vote-in-november/

 Wisconsin Is Systematically Failing to Provide the Photo IDs Required to Vote in November

New recordings from the DMV show how the state is continuing to disenfranchise black voters.

[bashfulpixie]

Of course they are.  Not at all shocked.  This country is broken.

[zygote373]

On 11/8/2016 at 10:06 AM, Mecca said:

I posted this elsewhere, but I think I should put it in here to at the encouragement of PraiseDog. 

Just got back from voting. I had no issue. Everything went smooth. My husband was another story. When he went up to have his name checked off the list, there was a star by his name with a note that said and I quote, "Ask to see I.D. and examine it closely for authenticity." The poll worker said, "What does that even mean? I have never seen that before." Yep. Does not matter that he is a citizen of the United States and has been for years, has been registered to vote for years, votes in every election and has voted in this state previously. Apparently, the election commission in our area still does not trust him because he is an immigrant.  

Very delayed, but I am curious. @Mecca, are you in one of the close swing states?

And/or, are you one of the ones that has passed increased regulations since the Voting Rights Act was gutted recently (found here: http://www.brennancenter.org/voting-restrictions-first-time-2016)?

[Mecca]

46 minutes ago, zygote373 said:

Very delayed, but I am curious. @Mecca, are you in one of the close swing states?

And/or, are you one of the ones that has passed increased regulations since the Voting Rights Act was gutted recently (found here: http://www.brennancenter.org/voting-restrictions-first-time-2016)?

No, I am not is a swing state. I live in a extremely red state. 

Yes, my state passed increase regulations. The note attached to my husband's name required the person in charge of the polling place to be called over to overlook his ID for a second time to make sure it was legit. That has never happened to him before. 

[bertnee]

A friend was voting on election day and said a Latina woman in the line ahead of her was told her drivers license wasn't good enough because it's a state ID and she needed to present a federal ID to prove she is a registered citizen. Luckily the next person in line spoken up and said that's not true, all of us (white) voters are showing you a drivers license which is a state ID, all you need in our state is a valid DL or state ID if you're not a driver. The poll worker had to call over a supervisor and it took a while but finally the Latina woman was "allowed" to vote. And yeah it worked out in this case, but how many others were turned away?

[GreyhoundFan]

2 hours ago, bertnee said:

A friend was voting on election day and said a Latina woman in the line ahead of her was told her drivers license wasn't good enough because it's a state ID and she needed to present a federal ID to prove she is a registered citizen. Luckily the next person in line spoken up and said that's not true, all of us (white) voters are showing you a drivers license which is a state ID, all you need in our state is a valid DL or state ID if you're not a driver. The poll worker had to call over a supervisor and it took a while but finally the Latina woman was "allowed" to vote. And yeah it worked out in this case, but how many others were turned away?

That is just sad. I agree, how many people were turned away because they were afraid to fight? I'm so glad someone spoke up for this woman.