The hallmark of the United States isn’t just our practice of democracy but the freedom of our elections — in theory.
Ever since President Obama was elected to the White House, there has been an increased effort by those states with Republican majorities and/or governors to pass legislation that would keep people from casting fraudulent votes — even though official data shows it’s not nearly the problem as some would have the nation believe.
Out of the 197 million votes cast for federal candidates between 2002 and 2005, only 40 voters were indicted for voter fraud, according to a Department of Justice study outlined during a 2006 Congressional hearing. Only 26 of those cases, or about .00000013 percent of the votes cast, resulted in convictions or guilty pleas
So, what’s the real reason for enacting laws that are addressing a problem that, for the most part, is non-existent — it’s called voter suppression.
It would benefit the Republican Party — because they are the majority of the authors of these kinds of laws — to ensure that less voters who opposed their party platform and politicians actually voted in elections.
These are voters of color, low income, gay, young people, etc.
Before the summer of 2013, there was a federal mandate that states, notorious for their suppression of votes by people of color in the past, had to clear with the federal government any changes to their state’s voting laws. In a shocker, the Supreme Court struck that oversight down and deemed that these same states no longer needed to get clearance from the federal government before implementing voting changes.
For more on this story:
http://latinalista.com/2013/08/new-study-finds-suppression-of-u-s-voters-rights-takes-several-forms-but-all-threaten-nations-democracy
