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You are here: Home / Half a million voters denied access to the ballot can of course swing an election towards Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan

Half a million voters denied access to the ballot can of course swing an election towards Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan

by Kay|  August 15, 20129:57 am| 112 Comments

This post is in: Assholes

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Bad news:

A state judge on Wednesday refused to block Pennsylvania’s controversial voter ID law. Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson’s 70-page order wasn’t yet available on the court’s website, but a docket entry noted that the law would not be enjoined.
Simpson did not rule on the case’s merits, only on whether it could be enjoined. Opponents of the law are expected to appeal to the state’s Supreme Court.
“We’re not done, it’s not over,” Witold J. Walczak, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who helped argue the case, told the Associated Press. “It’s why they make appeals courts.”
The law is expected to have a heavier impact on elderly voters and voters inurban areas. The state has already given a contract to a Republican lobbying company to educate voters about the law. One top Republican in Pennsylvania said the voter ID law would help Mitt Romney win the state.

The law will have the biggest impact in Philadelphia, according to the facts presented at trial. It will of course be very difficult for volunteer democracy enthusiasts to inform Pennsylvania voters on one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country given such a short window. The Governor and his appointed top election official have outsourced voter education efforts to a Romney bundler, so there’s no help there, obviously.

Really, really disappointing news, but I once heard a Latino voting rights activist speak, and she had a glass-half-full view of the current Republican efforts to suppress the Latino vote in Texas. She said when someone tries to take something away from you, it often becomes more important.

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Previous Post: « Open Thread for the Romney Campaign
Next Post: MSM Finds Weakness in Ryan… his Tailor »

Reader Interactions

112Comments

  1. 1.

    Hill Dweller

    August 15, 2012 at 10:02 am

    The state’s attorney admitted there was no voting fraud and the law wouldn’t stop any future fraud.

    Hopefully the state SC, which is supposed to rule before the election, will strike down the law.

  2. 2.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:02 am

    There’s way to make everyone happy.

    Delay the decision, hold the election with the new ID law in place, then find for plaintiffs… after the election

    This way you can hand the state to Romney. then announce that hey, sorry, justice has been done, but because the election’s come and gone, there is no comfortable remedy, a do-over’s too expensive, and multiple elections calls into question the democratic process.

    Cynicism is impossible in the present climate. The bidding opens with ‘what’s the least likely, yet most despicable thing that could happen?’

  3. 3.

    c u n d gulag

    August 15, 2012 at 10:04 am

    Cheap cheaters, and their compliant “activist judges!”

    After our Civil Rights Acts passed, we were the go-to nation for voter rights.

    Until now.
    Now, the only ones the people on the right want to have the right to vote, are the “right” voters.

    We are a lauging stock.

    Well on our way to becoming the world’s best armed Banana Republic, thanks to banana’s Republicans.

    The only way to conquer the right’s voter suppression, is a deluge of the ‘wrong’ kind of voters.

  4. 4.

    Cassidy

    August 15, 2012 at 10:04 am

    I really, really, wish these fuckers would go drink some bleach. All of them.

  5. 5.

    Valdivia

    August 15, 2012 at 10:04 am

    When is the case going before the state-SC? When are they supposed to rule?

  6. 6.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:05 am

    The rational for denying the injunction seemed to be that the legislature is within its rights to define election law criteria. And in a broad sense this is true, of course that’s what the Jim Crow legislatures said also. It seems to me that the issue of whither the law is constitutional can wait till after the election and you grant the injunction for the Novemeber election. I spent many years voting in Penna. w/o a voter id law. The state has been holding elections for several hundre years, I think they can get thru one more without this law.
    Settle the issue after the election and if the law remains on the books people will have the time to adjust to it before the next election.

    Obviously this isn’t about what is right but about stealing an election, just as the changes in early voting in Ohio are about stealing the election.

  7. 7.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 10:05 am

    The standard for government restrictions on civil rights used to be it could only be done to advance a legitimate state interest and then could be no broader than necessary to accomplish that interest. Here, we have a case in which the government admitted that the supposed interest — in-person voting fraud — had not actually occurred, and the measure taken to advance that nonexistent interest is the disenfranchisement of a million voters.

    I honestly don’t understand how a judge could fail to enjoin such legislation if he were not grievously corrupt.

  8. 8.

    Todd

    August 15, 2012 at 10:08 am

    Time for Second Amendment remedies to be discussed in a mass rally in Harrisburg, perhaps?

  9. 9.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    August 15, 2012 at 10:08 am

    This is very bad news. I haven’t read the opinion but the decision is horrifying, particularly given no evidence of voting fraud as acknowledged by the commonwealth. I get that it’s a decision in equity, in that an injunction was the requested relief, but it’s disappointing. In terms of what it may mean for disenfranchisement of the old and poor (who coincidentally tend to vote for Democrats), it’s a shandah.

  10. 10.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:09 am

    @Valdivia: state supremes arer split 50-50 so it’s a no decision at that level and the local judge’s decision stands
    . might have to go to the federal district court to get an injunction if that happens

  11. 11.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 10:10 am

    Someone really needs to think about forming an organization that is dedicated to destroying the fascist entity known as the Republican party. An election where only members of this cult are allowed to vote is not an election at all, and any “winner” determined by the outcome of such an election should be considered to have the same legitimacy as Bashar al-Assad.

  12. 12.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:10 am

    @Tokyokie: Corruption isn’t necessarily involved. No money needs to change hands.

    Team spirit is enough for a lot of people. We’re not all utility-maximizers.

  13. 13.

    Kay

    August 15, 2012 at 10:11 am

    @Valdivia:

    They should certainly appeal to the state supreme court, but I hope they’re not losing time waiting for a court. They need a really massive on the ground voter protection effort, and they need it immediately.
    Lawyers are only one part of this. Volunteers can do it, but it’s going to be a really heavy lift. They have to get moving. They’re going to have to go door to door in Philadelphia, ward by ward. The plus side of THAT is, it’s a voter contact, so they should be doing it anyway.
    The rules are incredibly confusing, and they change weekly. The state election official is blaming the state department of transportation (she dumped this mess in their lap) and they in turn are saying it’s her job, which it is.

  14. 14.

    General Stuck

    August 15, 2012 at 10:13 am

    That judge was republican, and is further evidence we are in a cold political war between the parties. And judges are not immune from being team players, when they can get away with it. The ACA would have been shitcanned, if not for the fact that John Roberts believed, he, or his court, couldn’t get away with that level of activism. Though he extracted a win with the medicaid restrictions.

    Reading about this case, I don’t expect the PA Supreme Court will over rule this district judge. It is currently 3 dems and 3 repubs on the court (I think I read that but could have dreamed it last night) for a likely tie and I believe the GOP governor casts the tie breaker. So it will likely have to be the feds to enjoin this truly draconian voter suppression law, that its champions cannot provide a single case to support their in person fraud protection bullshit.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    August 15, 2012 at 10:13 am

    @jp7505a:

    I have no idea what these judges need. A taped confession from Republican lawmakers?

    I mean, Jesus. These laws get more restrictive every pass. When are they going to draw a line?

  16. 16.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:13 am

    @Tokyokie: he is republican/ I think that is a synonym for grievously corrupt

  17. 17.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:14 am

    @Kay:

    The state election official is blaming the state department of transportation (she dumped this mess in their lap) and they in turn are saying it’s her job, which it is.

    When the corpse has no fingerprints on it, it’s not usually an accident.

  18. 18.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 10:14 am

    @Todd: Yep, since the Republican party is a true 5th column, they need to be treated the same way as any foreign enemy.

  19. 19.

    Hill Dweller

    August 15, 2012 at 10:15 am

    @General Stuck: ThinkProgress seems to think one of the Republicans on the state SC is a moderate, and likely to side with the Dems.

    I hope they’re right.

  20. 20.

    Cassidy

    August 15, 2012 at 10:16 am

    @beltane: Rendition and water boarding?

  21. 21.

    General Stuck

    August 15, 2012 at 10:16 am

    @Hill Dweller:

    Fingers crossed

  22. 22.

    Zifnab

    August 15, 2012 at 10:16 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Well, team spirit comes with a lot of back slapping, eye-winking, and shoulder nudging.

    Katherine Harris got her Senate run in Florida by serving up a steaming pile of voter shenanigans in 2000. Ken Blackwell got a run at the Ohio Governor’s mansion in ’06 for similar bullshit in favor of Bush in ’04, and he’s currently got a sweetheart gig working for Family Research Council to the tune of $162k/year.

  23. 23.

    Valdivia

    August 15, 2012 at 10:17 am

    @Kay:

    completely agree. can’t wait for the decision.

    @jp7505a:
    I understood that it was actually not guaranteed it would be 50-50. But thanks for the info.

  24. 24.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:17 am

    @Hill Dweller: Remember, there’s no way the US Supreme Court is going to get involved in the nitty-gritty of how Florida counts its votes, and the details of the relationship between a state legislature and a state judiciary.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    August 15, 2012 at 10:19 am

    @Davis X. Machina:

    I love how she directed all the angry calls AWAY from her office. I called the transportation department to present a hypothetical to verify something I was going to write, and I got this exhausted-sounding woman on the phone.

    Her answer began with “I guess…” but can you blame her? Until the cowardly douchebags dumped this mess they created in her lap, she wasn’t in charge of VOTING.

    Door to door. They’re going to have to go door to door.

  26. 26.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:20 am

    @General Stuck: pa works like scotus on a tie the lower court decision stands. and there is a vacancy. The open seat was occupied by a judge now in jail. so the court is split between the two parties. ANd yes Roberts was just rying to avoid goind down with dred scott and bush v gore

  27. 27.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 10:20 am

    @Kay: These judges are merely Republican political operatives whose role is to give the fascists procedural cover for their coup. All tyrannical regimes use the courts in this way. Instead of pretending the system works in any way, we should realize we are at war and that every single Republican in this country is a Republican first and an American second. Their party is their country.

    I hope someone is documenting every last crime of these diseased cultists. The evidence compiled will one day prove very useful in some Nuremburg-style tribunal of the future.

  28. 28.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 10:22 am

    @Cassidy: They will do it to us if they have to. I have no doubts as to what these people are capable of.

  29. 29.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:22 am

    @Valdivia: we could be suprised and one gop judge may rise to the occassion but the last time the PA SC did the honorable thing G. Washinton was in office

  30. 30.

    amk

    August 15, 2012 at 10:25 am

    How much will it cost the dems to get the new voters ids, both in terms of money and time ? Thinking of next course of action.

  31. 31.

    Punchy

    August 15, 2012 at 10:25 am

    Hopefully the state SC, which is supposed to rule before the election, will strike down the law.

    No chance. To do so would require a R judge to vote with the Ds. That would effectively end that judge’s chances of promotion to anything besides barrista. Nah goyna hapin.

  32. 32.

    Zifnab

    August 15, 2012 at 10:27 am

    @Kay:

    I have no idea what these judges need. A taped confession from Republican lawmakers?

    This is why electing and term-limiting judges is a generally terrible idea. The judicial process needs, above all else, consistency. Even if you’ve got a pack of bad judges, so long as they are consistently bad and hold up a stable bad precedent, its preferable to justices that get changed out every 4 years and feel the need to reinterpret the law from the bench at every opportunity.

    You can see it at the SCOTUS level where justices like Souter and Stevens and even Kennedy and O’Conner kept conservative-era politicians from flying off the rails in ’00, despite being nominated by Republicans in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Short term elected judges aren’t the stabilizing force that lifers would be. And they are at least somewhat insulated from politics, relative to – say – a House Rep.

  33. 33.

    Bulworth

    August 15, 2012 at 10:28 am

    @Todd: I’m sure the teabag party will rise in protest of the voter ID ruling real soon. Don’t Tread On Me–Tread on them!

  34. 34.

    Kay

    August 15, 2012 at 10:29 am

    @amk:

    I told them they should fundraise on it. It’s expensive, doing voter education to replace the state’s failure or refusal to educate voters, and it’s an expense Republican campaigns don’t have. They should do a dedicated fund for voter education and outreach in Philadelphia. It sucks, because I know Democratic voters are paying Corbett and the crony he hired to do this job, but they’re obviously failing at it, so someone else will have to be paid to do their job for them.

  35. 35.

    wrb

    August 15, 2012 at 10:32 am

    It is worrisome that none of the hopeful polls have the effect of voter suppression factored in.

  36. 36.

    Poopyman

    August 15, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Since the decision just came down, the ACLU has yet to appeal (although they may have already done so in the last couple of hours), so it’s not yet on the Pa SC docket. But assuming a tied Pa Supreme Court makes a further appeal necessary, I don’t think there’s enough time to get it stayed before the election. Or at least you’d better assume the law will stand on election day and go with @Kay’s: scenario.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    August 15, 2012 at 10:34 am

    @Zifnab:

    I am really, really bitter that the US Supreme Court did not anticipate this when they ruled on Crawford.
    I think it’s a class issue as much as a race issue, and they could not imagine or comprehend that the vast majority of the people in this country are not supreme court justices. That’s unforgivable. It’s narrow and ignorant. They really, really need to get out more. Spend one day in a municipal court and see if they’re still persuaded that a driver’s license should be a requirement for VOTING. Field trips are in order.

  38. 38.

    elmo

    August 15, 2012 at 10:35 am

    Agree with those above who are saying voter outreach is now the key. In the “silver lining” department, the voters that this initiative targets are, in the main, the same demographic who tend to not vote because “my vote doesn’t count.” Well, here we have ironclad proof that the Republicans certainly think it counts, so right away you have a strong argument against voter apathy.

  39. 39.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 10:35 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Whether it’s money or power, it still smacks of corruption. My take at this juncture is that the trial judge decided that the Legislature was within its rights to do what it did (which, under federal law, which is applicable, it most certainly was not), and he was too gutless to do the job for which he is paid — interpret the law.

  40. 40.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:38 am

    @Tokyokie: It’s not corruption, it’s faction — and that’s the problem. Corruption is a lot easier to armor a system against.

  41. 41.

    Poopyman

    August 15, 2012 at 10:38 am

    Well, according to Wikipedia the PASC judges are elected to 10-year terms, with a yes/no retention vote 10 years after. If “no”, the Governor gets to appoint a temporary justice until a special election is held.

    So I’m thinking the political pressure on those judges isn’t as bad as it could be. Not as good as USSC, but we might be surprised.

  42. 42.

    JGabriel

    August 15, 2012 at 10:45 am

    Republican judge upholds Republican-backed voter suppression law.

    The GOP is thoroughly corrupt, and our local, state, and federal governments are corrupt to the extent that Republicans hold office in each body.

    As General Stuck notes, we’re in a political Cold Civil War with these anti-American authoritarian conservatives.

    .

  43. 43.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    August 15, 2012 at 10:46 am

    …in Ben “if you can keep it, Madam” Franklin’s Pennsylvania, no less.

  44. 44.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 10:47 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Well, in my view, every Republican official who takes action to enforce voter-suppression laws is acting under color of office to restrict civil rights. I don’t think it’s enough for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to file suits seeking injunctions against these pernicious measures, the FBI should be arresting the likes of Husted and Corbett and flinging their asses into prison.

  45. 45.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 10:49 am

    @Tokyokie:

    I don’t think it’s enough for the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ to file suits seeking injunctions against these pernicious measures, the FBI should be arresting the likes of Husted and Corbett and flinging their asses into prison

    This

  46. 46.

    Violet

    August 15, 2012 at 10:49 am

    This is just depressing. Republicans are scum.

  47. 47.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 10:51 am

    But not to worry according to Mrs. Mitt they are done releasing tax returns. No 2011 return and no additions to the incomplete 2010. ain’t democracy wonderful. I wonder what the rules are to immigrate to Australia. their pols might not be any better but the kangaroos are so cute

  48. 48.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    August 15, 2012 at 10:53 am

    I would like to think that the power of the Black Churches will again come to save the day in informing the congregants of this vile attempt by the Republiklan and get out the drive to save the right to vote. Jim Crow is a monster zombie.

  49. 49.

    Violet

    August 15, 2012 at 10:54 am

    @jp7505a: Pretty funny that they have to keep talking about their tax returns. I don’t think the subject is going to go away.

  50. 50.

    Steve

    August 15, 2012 at 10:55 am

    @Kay: From Mayor Nutter’s speech a few weeks back it sure sounded like they were already planning on going door to door.

    You’re right that it has to be fought on every level. During the Civil Rights Era, voting restrictions were fought in the courts but also through voter registration drives and activism on the ground. A lot of blood was shed, too, which I hope I don’t see a repeat of.

    I wish I could believe what your Latino voting rights activist says, but I don’t know if it truly works that way. You’ve got to teach your children well. What’s the participation rate for black voters these days?

  51. 51.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 10:56 am

    @Tokyokie: On what charge? Rule of law and all that…

  52. 52.

    Violet

    August 15, 2012 at 10:58 am

    I hope the Obama campaign, or a related SuperPAC has ads ready that will play on TV channels popular with those who are most are to be affected. “The Republicans want to keep you from voting. They want to take away your rights. Are you going to let them?”

  53. 53.

    hells littlest angel

    August 15, 2012 at 11:01 am

    We elect judges in Pennsylvania, sad to say. Judgeships are fucking political offices. The “supreme” court will most likely split along political lines, leaving the ruling intact.

    Support the ACLU, which is leading the fight against these sleazy motherfuckers.

  54. 54.

    beltane

    August 15, 2012 at 11:02 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Rule of Law becomes a joke in situations where an extremist political party has managed to co-opt the legal system. Surely the Patriot Act must contain provisions that allow for the seizure of US citizen suspected of subverting the government.

  55. 55.

    mslater

    August 15, 2012 at 11:03 am

    This past spring the PA Supreme court threw out the republican slanted gerrymandered redistricting for both State House and State Senate.

    Last week, the court ruled that the commission’s plan was “contrary to law” in a 4-3 decision that sends the new maps back to the drawing board. Details on what the court believes should be changed will be clearer after the formal decision is made public later this week.

    The deciding vote to reject the plan because was

    Chief Justice Ron Castille, a Republican, joined the three Democratic justices in voting against the plan.

    So maybe Justice Castile will again buck the trend and side with democracy.

  56. 56.

    Percysowner

    August 15, 2012 at 11:05 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Nope, the SC was very clear that its precedent in Bush v. Gore was not a precedent for any other election case down the line. They reserved the right to screw Democrats whenever they could.

  57. 57.

    hells littlest angel

    August 15, 2012 at 11:08 am

    @Kay:

    I have no idea what these judges need. A taped confession from Republican lawmakers?

    There is a taped confession:

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77811.html

    It didn’t help.

  58. 58.

    rikyrah

    August 15, 2012 at 11:09 am

    I saw this and got angry. I’m passed being sad. I’m pissed at these mofos.

  59. 59.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 11:09 am

    @beltane: OK. There’s no rule of law. What else you got?

  60. 60.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 11:12 am

    @beltane:
    As I commented a day or two ago, Krugman’s intro to one of his books is the best on this:

    Back in 1957, Henry Kissenger — then a brilliant, iconoclastic young Harvard scholar, with his eventual career as cynical political manipulator and, later, as crony capitalist still far in the future — published his doctoral dissertation, A World Restored. One wouldn’t think that a book about the diplomatic efforts of Metternich and Castlereagh is relevant to U.S. politics in the twenty-first century. But the first three pages of Kissinger’s book sent chills down my spine, because they seem all too relevant to current events.

    In those first few pages, Kissinger describes the problems confronting a heretofore stable diplomatic system when it is faced with a “revolutionary power” — a power that does not accept that system’s legitimacy. … It seems clear to me that one should regard America’s right-wing movement — which now in effect controls the administration, both houses of Congress, much of the judiciary, and a good slice of the media — as a revolutionary power in Kissinger’s sense. That is, it is a movement whose leaders do not accept the legitimacy of our current political system. [pp 5-6]

  61. 61.

    Trakker

    August 15, 2012 at 11:12 am

    When you intentionally deny citizens their right to vote, those citizens have every right to go ballistic. This is the stuff of revolutions.

    I would love to see those who show up and are told they cannot vote even though they are properly registered to DEMAND their right to vote and if denied to make a scene and force an arrest.

    Arresting thousands of Americans denied their right to vote will show the rest of the world just how fascist the right is becoming.

  62. 62.

    Cromagnon

    August 15, 2012 at 11:14 am

    Maybe the people who want to vote and don’t have proper ID should, you know, go out and get a proper ID. If they aren’t willing to do that much, then its obviously not that important to them to begin with. And if Mittwit wins because of that, then they have no one but themselves to blame

  63. 63.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 11:16 am

    I think if this crap throws the election, the only way to fight back is some kind of mass resistance. Only things I can think of right now are:
    (1) General strike
    (2) Mass effort to avoid income tax withholding

  64. 64.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    August 15, 2012 at 11:18 am

    It just dawned on me why so many prominent ‘libertarian’ lawyers have no problem with rulings like this: Legalism is the tip of fascism’s spear.

    Feature. Not bug.

    Many of those so-called ‘libertarians’ probably spent most of their law-school years daydreaming that this day would come.

  65. 65.

    Waynski

    August 15, 2012 at 11:18 am

    It will be interesting to see if Romney starts advertising in PA again. That will tell us all we need to know about the prospects of getting a strike down from PA SC or a federal injunction.

  66. 66.

    Steve

    August 15, 2012 at 11:19 am

    @Cromagnon: “If they aren’t willing to pay a $2 poll tax, obviously voting isn’t that important to them.”

  67. 67.

    gwangung

    August 15, 2012 at 11:20 am

    @Cromagnon: This is backwards.

    Because voting is a right, it is up to the state to show that any restrictions is rational—and they have not shown that.

  68. 68.

    japa21

    August 15, 2012 at 11:21 am

    @Cromagnon:

    Maybe the people who want to vote and don’t have proper ID should, you know, go out and get a proper ID. If they aren’t willing to do that much, then its obviously not that important to them to begin with. And if Mittwit wins because of that, then they have no one but themselves to blame

    This…is idiotic.

  69. 69.

    elmo

    August 15, 2012 at 11:22 am

    @Cromagnon:

    Yep. And people who want money and don’t have any should, you know, go out and get some. If they aren’t willing to do that much, then it’s obviously not that important.

    People who want transportation and don’t have any should, you know, go out and get a proper car. If they aren’t willing to do that much, then it’s obviously not that important.

    Thank you for a perfect distillation of the Republicans’ contempt for those less fortunate than themselves. Really, it’s perfect.

  70. 70.

    Chyron HR

    August 15, 2012 at 11:23 am

    @Cromagnon:

    If voting was so important to them nigras, they wouldn’t let themselves get lynched on the way to the polls.

    Well, nobody can accuse you of picking an inaccurate pesudonym.

  71. 71.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    August 15, 2012 at 11:24 am

    @Cromagnon:
    Right On, Bro!

    Instructions on getting a voter ID are clearly on display in the bottom of that locked filing cabinet, stuck in a disused restroom, with a sign on the door saying “Beware of the Leopard”.

  72. 72.

    Yutsano

    August 15, 2012 at 11:26 am

    @Cromagnon: Ooh new troll. Fun!

    Except, of course, for the 24th Amendment which this clearly violates since PA does not offer a free ID. But you knew that right?

  73. 73.

    LanceThruster

    August 15, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Occurances such as these really do call for torches and pitchforks. It is so shocking and disheartening that they get away this this in plain sight.

    Mah.Thur.Fah.Curse.

  74. 74.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 11:34 am

    @Davis X. Machina: Violating civil rights under color of office is a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other federal statutes.

  75. 75.

    LanceThruster

    August 15, 2012 at 11:35 am

    @Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:

    I’m sorry, but if they can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs that’s their own lookout.

  76. 76.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 11:35 am

    @Tokyokie:
    Problem is that much of the legal code involves remedies, not things like perp walks.

  77. 77.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 11:40 am

    @Tokyokie: The next step is for you to contact the US Attorney’s Office:

    U.S. Attorney’s Office
    Attn: Richard Barrett
    615 Chestnut Street, Suite 1250
    Philadelphia, PA 19106

    215-861-8200

  78. 78.

    AliceBlue

    August 15, 2012 at 11:47 am

    God, this is depressing.

    Shit. Just shit.

  79. 79.

    El Cid

    August 15, 2012 at 11:50 am

    You know, ACORN used to help out poor communities with things like this, with registration and other drives, organizing transportation and fundraising… Good thing we got rid of them — several times some of their members did things which at least seemed wrong.

  80. 80.

    PeakVT

    August 15, 2012 at 11:52 am

    Holy crap. I can’t believe that this got upheld.

  81. 81.

    jp7505a

    August 15, 2012 at 11:53 am

    The ROMneybot just announched how he will solve the deficit problem – he will shot the cookie monster by defunding pbs. it really can’r more depressing (or yes it can)

  82. 82.

    Chris

    August 15, 2012 at 11:58 am

    @liberal:

    Yeah, that’s a good one. Well, most of what Krugman writes is good.

  83. 83.

    Catsy

    August 15, 2012 at 11:58 am

    Once the dust settles on this law one way or the other, the outcome is going to be one of those unambiguously clear yardsticks you can use to tell the difference between decent people and amoral hacks. This law is naked partisan voter suppression, about as blatant as it gets without armed thugs. It’s completely indefensible by anyone with a conscience–as is the Republican party operative posing as a judge who handed down this decision.

  84. 84.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 11:58 am

    @liberal: 18 U.S.C., section 242: Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, … shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

  85. 85.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    @Tokyokie:
    I’m quite happy to be WRONG on the Intertubes on this one.

  86. 86.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    August 15, 2012 at 12:03 pm

    Once upon a time, people in tri-cornered hats, revolted over not being allowed to have a say in electing their own government. I guess Teabaggers are a wee bit selective on which elements of the revolution they choose to reenact.

  87. 87.

    West of the Cascades

    August 15, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    Has anyone (Nate Silver??) crunched the numbers for what this voter suppression law would likely mean in practice? I mean – in terms of actual likely vote swing? Given 50% turnout rates and that a non-negligible proportion of voters without IDs would have voted Republican, might the practical effect be less profound than the total number of voters disenfranchised?

    (this isn’t an argument in favor of the law — rather I’m curious how much of an additional gap it really means the Democrats have to make up because of the law’s effect IF it goes into effect).

  88. 88.

    Chris

    August 15, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    @Catsy:

    about as blatant as it gets without armed thugs.

    Oh, I’m sure that’s in the works too…

  89. 89.

    Gravie

    August 15, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    I live close enough to Philly that I could help with voter enfranchisement efforts (driving people to the DMV to get their IDs, etc.) Does anyone know of such?

  90. 90.

    Patricia Kayden

    August 15, 2012 at 12:04 pm

    “It will of course be very difficult for volunteer democracy enthusiasts to inform Pennsylvania voters on one of the most restrictive voting laws in the country given such a short window.”

    Difficult, but hopefully not impossible. Is there anything that non-PA supporters can do?

  91. 91.

    Sasha

    August 15, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    Cromagnon Says:

    Maybe the people who want to vote and don’t have proper ID should, you know, go out and get a proper ID. If they aren’t willing to do that much, then its obviously not that important to them to begin with. And if Mittwit wins because of that, then they have no one but themselves to blame

    My mother is dead as are all my aunts and my grandparents. Hawaii, where my eldest sister lives, recently changed their requirements for a driver’s license, requiring a raised seal birth certificate even to renew. All of our lives we thought my sister, who was born to my unmarried,teen-aged mother in 1952 had been born in New York City. It cost almost $50.00 to apply for a NYC birth certificate online (much less if you went through the mail and could wait up to two months) only to be told that she was not born in NYC after all. The state system also uses a private contractor to sell copies online. They told my sister that if she did not know which city she was born in, she could apply for a birth certificate but she risked losing the fee. This turned out to be false, as she found out when she called the department of health.

    So it took several weeks and almost one hundred dollars to finally get a copy of her birth certificate. It took us both several hours to navigate the system. She’s only 60 years old and she was still in a situation where nobody living in our family had the information she needed.

  92. 92.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 12:07 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:
    Yeah, I’d be happy to pony up some nontrivial cash if someone actually started organizing something effective.

  93. 93.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 12:11 pm

    @Chris:
    One of my friends read a detailed history of the failure of the SDP to stop the Nazis early on, and concluded that the Nazis had more effective thugs.

  94. 94.

    Sarah

    August 15, 2012 at 12:13 pm

    How do I find out how to help. I’m in NY, I’ll go to PA.

  95. 95.

    The Other Chuck

    August 15, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    @Catsy: You don’t need your own armed thugs when you make the laws. You have the police. It’s still the same threat.

  96. 96.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    August 15, 2012 at 12:21 pm

    Wonderful. So this means…what? Does that leave Penn in play all of a sudden? We get ratfucked because the GOP has judges that agree that we don’t want the WRONG people voting for those dirty fucking Anti-American commie hippie baby killing Dems?

    And because of the make up of the current PASC, we’re essentially fucked down there?

    Perfect. Fuck this goddamned country.

  97. 97.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 15, 2012 at 12:27 pm

    @Tokyokie: I think you should call someone;

    18 U.S.C. § 4: Whoever, having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony cognizable by a court of the United States, conceals and does not as soon as possible make known the same to some judge or other person in civil or military authority under the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

  98. 98.

    Carol from CO

    August 15, 2012 at 12:37 pm

    It seems to me that the aclu has been strangely silent during all this. Have I missed something?

  99. 99.

    CarolDuhart2

    August 15, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    Many people are wondering how to help in the face of concerted voter suppression efforts. I have a few links that may help.

    https://my.barackobama.com/page/content/pavpvol/
    http://www.866ourvote.org/
    http://ncbcp.org/programs/unity/

    There is a new app for voter protection. It’s free…

  100. 100.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 15, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    The opinion is here.

  101. 101.

    karen

    August 15, 2012 at 1:04 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    My folks are working on Long Island with OFA and they mentioned something about there being bus rides to PA to register people to vote…

  102. 102.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    @Davis X. Machina: I’m not a Pennsylvania resident. Would the federal prosecutor’s office in Philadelphia even listen to me? (I’m not trying to be snarky, I don’t know.)

  103. 103.

    Chris

    August 15, 2012 at 1:10 pm

    @liberal:

    Interesting! You don’t know what book he was reading, do you? I’m always in the market for books about that era.

  104. 104.

    CarolDuhart2

    August 15, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    Voter protection app download link: (must have a smartphone to download)
    http://signup.lawyerscommittee.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=6386

  105. 105.

    Seanly

    August 15, 2012 at 1:18 pm

    To answer a question asked above, Nate Silver ran analysis and said it should only be a 2% shift. However, he did quite a bit of gymnastics to arrive at that number. Any percent helps the Republicans.

    This is yet another example of me wishing I believed in Hell so there would be a place for all these jerks to go when they leave their mortal coil.

  106. 106.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2012 at 1:21 pm

    OK, the standard for granting a preliminary injunction, somewhat oversimplified, is that the party seeking the injunction has to show (a) that it will be irreparably harmed if the injunction isn’t granted and (b) it will likely win on the merits.

    None of us have seen the opinion yet, and maybe there is some subtle point we’re all overlooking. But otherwise, this is just incomprehensible. The 24th Amendment argument seems pretty solid to me, although I can imagine some judge saying that the amendment only reaches actual poll taxes and not measures that have the same practical effect as a poll tax. And it’s hard to imagine a clearer case of irreparable harm than conducting an election with restrictions on qualified voters’ access to the polls in place that are later struck down.

    Through the looking-glass, we are.

  107. 107.

    Emerald

    August 15, 2012 at 1:22 pm

    I don’t suppose any of the good poll workers in Philadelphia and other blue areas would be willing to just go all Rosa Parks on PA’s ass and ignore the law? It would be easy to do. The law is deliberately confusing on which IDs are acceptable, so just accept anything. Or don’t even ask for ID. What’s the state gonna do? Arrest them? I highly doubt it.

    Also too, there is the time-tested way of life in all totalitarian regimes: churn out a buncha fake IDs. It’s not like most high school kids can’t get one.

    Or shoot, just vote absentee, because they don’t apply their shiny new “law” to absentee ballots, do they? That might inconvenience Republicans.

    A little creativity and a lot of organizing, which we have to do anyway, can resist this and can win. Massive refusal to comply is all that’s needed. It’s what the Florida county supervisors are doing already.

    In short, Just Say No.

  108. 108.

    BruinKid

    August 15, 2012 at 1:29 pm

    Hey Pennsylvania, see what happens when you elect Republican governors and legislatures? Are you ever going to learn your lesson?

  109. 109.

    liberal

    August 15, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    @Chris:
    Might have been this one:
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Nazi-Seizure-Power-experience/dp/0531056333

  110. 110.

    JoyfulA

    August 15, 2012 at 2:07 pm

    Here’s the are you registered? link: https://www.pavoterservices.state.pa.us/Pages/voterregistrationstatus.aspx.
    Apparently, a lot of people who’ve been voting somehow aren’t on the rolls and won’t get to vote no matter what ID they bring.

    “I spent a lot of this past weekend working voter registration in suburban Philadelphia. My compatriots and I had signs, we had tee shirts. We were, for this time of year, inundated with potential voters, people needing to update information, people who needed absentee ballot applications, and most interestingly, people who wanted to check if they were registered, or had potentially been purged.

    In the past month, the state of Pennsylvania has purged 758,000 voters from the rolls. If you think these are people who have died, or haven’t voted, you’d only be partially right. They’ve also purged active voters.

    The first night, we checked about 20 people, and found 3 of them had been purged, including one who had voted in the May, 2012, primary. I posted the information to Facebook and Twitter, asking everyone I knew to check their status, and between them and the table checks over the weekend: 7 people purged. And that’s just people I came in contact with.

    If you live in Pennsylvania and want to check if you’ve been purged, you can click this link. Having a voter registration card does NOT mean that you are still registered. If you live in any other state, you can use this link to find your state’s registration check website.”

    Cited to “DocJess” and passed along by a friend.

  111. 111.

    JMS

    August 15, 2012 at 2:51 pm

    Hope for the best, prepare for the worst? Seems like this would be the time to really step up education and enablement efforts among the populations most likely to be affected. (For example, transporting people to the DMV, helping them fill out forms etc) The people most likely to be affected by these measures are also the ones least likely to know about them and in the worst position to obtain ID in time.

  112. 112.

    Bobby Thomson

    August 15, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    @burnspbesq: I posted the link to the opinion above. The judge said that a voter ID can be obtained costlessly under the law and wasn’t going to assume that state officials will not follow the law.

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