• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I really should read my own blog.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

T R E 4 5 O N

“Squeaker” McCarthy

We still have time to mess this up!

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Everybody saw this coming.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Conservative politicians working hard to protect their own jobs

Conservative politicians working hard to protect their own jobs

by Kay|  August 15, 20135:29 pm| 85 Comments

This post is in: Activist Judges!

FacebookTweetEmail

Approval ratings for Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-led General Assembly have plummeted in recent weeks, according to a poll released Wednesday. Public Policy Polling says McCrory’s job approval is at a record low 39 percent, with 51 percent of respondents saying they disapprove of his performance as governor. Lawmakers did even worse, with an approval rating of 24 percent.

PPP is a reliable pollster, but in 2012 national conservative pundits and paid media shills refused to believe polls and just made up some numbers to keep donors happy, and apparently they’re sticking with that strategy.

Renew North Carolina, a foundation set up last fall to support McCrory’s agenda, countered the PPP poll numbers by releasing the results of internal polling it conducted Aug. 8-12.
That poll, which surveyed 800 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points, shows a 48 percent job approval rating for McCrory and only a 22 percent disapproval rating.

Far Right Governor Pat McCrory is very unpopular in his state, so it’s time to put some job protections in for elected conservatives:

Within hours of Gov. Pat McCrory signing a Republican-backed bill this week making sweeping changes to the state’s voting laws, local elections boards in two college towns made moves that could make it harder for students to vote.
The Watauga County Board of Elections voted Monday to eliminate an early voting site and election-day polling precinct on the campus of Appalachian State University.
The Pasquotank County Board of Elections on Tuesday barred an Elizabeth City State University senior from running for city council, ruling his on-campus address couldn’t be used to establish local residency. Following the decision, the head of the county’s Republican Party said he plans to challenge the voter registrations of more students at the historically black university ahead of upcoming elections.

That’s a nice touch, targeting students at historically black universities.

Democratic lawmakers repeatedly tried to amend the bill to allow student IDs from state-supported universities and community colleges to be used at the polls, but that was blocked by the Republican majority.
In a contentious meeting Monday, the new GOP majority on the Watauga elections board voted over the objection of the board’s lone Democrat to eliminate early voting at the Appalachian State student union.
The Watauga board also voted 2-1 Monday to combine the three Boone voting precincts into one, eliminating an election day polling site on campus. More than 9,300 Boone residents will now be slated to cast ballots at a county building that only has about 35 parking spots.

“Why are they making it harder for students to vote?” said Sen. Josh Stein (D-Wake), who has been a vocal opponent of the new law. “Because young people tend to vote more Democratic than Republican. I think that’s disgraceful.”

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Real Wrath of God-Type Stuff (Open Thread)
Next Post: Thursday Evening Open Thread: Grimm Gamerz (We Are All Pawns) »

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  1. 1.

    Belafon

    August 15, 2013 at 5:32 pm

    I know these guys would like to have this go up to the Supreme Court, but since in 1978 it ruled that a college student could claim their college state as their state of residence for voting purposes, a legal challenge would at least stop some of this.

  2. 2.

    smintheus

    August 15, 2013 at 5:34 pm

    Ingenious new strategy in the war against voting: eliminate all election districts but one, and place that single polling place where there’s minimal parking.

  3. 3.

    EconWatcher

    August 15, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    They don’t do subtlety. And that will be their undoing.

  4. 4.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 5:38 pm

    Well, I must admit some naivete, wondering what the upshot was to forcing students to vote in their home districts … I mean, I did that when I was in college (same state) and how did that affect the powers that be? But now the truth comes out… historically Black colleges and universities. So it’s Civil Rights Era cosplay here. Like their parents’ generation who walked out of their high schools to march on the supervisor of elections office. Grandparents for some of these kids. And their home district is going to be gerrymandered majority-minority where their vote won’t affect the lege.

    The lack of shame on display here is unsettling.

  5. 5.

    Tokyokie

    August 15, 2013 at 5:41 pm

    It’s apartheid, pure and simple.

  6. 6.

    smintheus

    August 15, 2013 at 5:42 pm

    @EconWatcher: How many subtle ways are there to obstruct voting? It has to be invisible, behind the scenes stuff. Caging and rejecting voter applications over card stock were the most subtle recent GOP ploys I can think of, and those ran aground in the courts.

  7. 7.

    feebog

    August 15, 2013 at 5:48 pm

    It’s kind of tough to vote at your home address if you are resident student in another state. Or for that matter, within the state. I work at a polling place adjacent to a State University. While many of the students are local, a substantial number live in dorms or student housing because they are from other parts of the state. And classes are usually going full bore in November, its not like a student can pick up and go home to vote in the middle of the week.

    This part of the law is going to be overturned IMHO. I would love to be able to cross examine one of these Republican Legislators under oath about his reason for not allowing Student ID.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    I hope the people of North Carolina prove to the world that the Republicans were right to make the attempt.

  9. 9.

    jl

    August 15, 2013 at 5:52 pm

    Hit racial minorities and college educated young people with with the same swipe. Now, that is good efficient voter outreach. Bravo GOP!

    And I believe that college educated with BAs are an important part of GOP voters.

    Hell, the GOP might as well try to ID everyone who voted GOP in the last election and try to suppress everyone else.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    August 15, 2013 at 5:56 pm

    Is it beyond the pale to call the GOP racists? Seriously, everything they do in the South nowadays stops just short of screaming the n-word from a mountaintop, but they are good as ever at blowing that dogwhistle.

  11. 11.

    Yatsuno

    August 15, 2013 at 5:58 pm

    @feebog: When I was in college, I registered as a permanent absentee. But I also live in WA where they allow socialist shit like that.

    Has anyone done the maths on how much the myriad lawsuits are costing the state?

  12. 12.

    J.D. Rhoades

    August 15, 2013 at 5:59 pm

    My daughter goes to App State, and she’s a staunch Democrat. I told her I’d drive up there and take her to vote if I needed to.

  13. 13.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    August 15, 2013 at 5:59 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

    Of course it’s beyond the pale. Racism is over, John Roberts said so, and Trayvon “SuperThug” Martin proved that the only racists left in the country are those who call others racists, making black people the super ultra-mega worst racists in the history of ever.

    These laws are just counterbalancing the pernicious and pervasive reverse upside down double-dog racism those dirty uppity blahs are perpetrating on good ol’ folks.

    I mean, DUH.

  14. 14.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 5:59 pm

    @smintheus: Obama’s not as dumb as some people think he is. If we can get a Dem sweep in 2016, expect a federal voting law that forces precincts to be right-sized to their max influx. It’s a matter of party interest that coincides with the rather popular notion of universal suffrage.

    Good luck running propaganda against THAT, Chamber of Commerce.

  15. 15.

    The Moar You Know

    August 15, 2013 at 6:01 pm

    In a contentious meeting Monday, the new GOP majority on the Watauga elections board voted over the objection of the board’s lone Democrat to eliminate early voting at the Appalachian State student union.

    Democrats stayed home. Too bad, so sad.

    As they say, elections have consequences.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:03 pm

    @EconWatcher:

    They don’t do subtlety. And that will be their undoing.

    It’s exactly what voting rights people warned the SCOTUS about. That they would move to limit minority participation at the local candidate and precinct level.

    But John Roberts knew better than people who have spent their whole lives working on this. He ignored all evidence.

  17. 17.

    PsiFighter37

    August 15, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    @Kay: John Roberts knows all, because he’s part of the Real ‘Murika (TM)

  18. 18.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    @Kay:

    But John Roberts knew better than people who have spent their whole lives working on this. He ignored all evidence.

    You are smarter than that, Kay.

  19. 19.

    shelly

    August 15, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    I hate the governor’s and other proponents of these laws when they try to present it as oh-so-reasonable.
    ‘We’re tryting to protect voter integrity.’ Show us some actual data on voter fraud.

    ‘You have to have an ID to board a plane..cash a check…” We’re not getting on a plane or cashing a check. We’re trying to exercise our legal right to vote.

    “Well, 30 other states have the same kind of laws….”
    I refer you to your mother when you were a stupid tween. “If all the other kids were going to jump off a cliff, would you?”

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    August 15, 2013 at 6:07 pm

    @Kay:

    But John Roberts knew better than people who have spent their whole lives working on this. He ignored all evidence.

    John Roberts knew exactly what was going to happen. He’s been working towards this for the last 30 or so years. It’s just that he’s working on the other side of the issue, so to speak.

  21. 21.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:08 pm

    @Baud:

    He’s had a dogmatic theory about race for 30 years. Nothing was going to get in the way of “post racial America”.
    I continue to be surprised at how blatant they are. I knew they’d suppress voters at the precinct level. I didn’t know they’d immediately move to bar candidates. That’s a whole other discussion. Obviously, candidates have to start in local races. If they can never get to the big leagues, well, problem solved!

  22. 22.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    @jl: And I believe that college educated with BAs are an important part of GOP voters.

    Yes, because BA exactly–not some college, not some grad school–is a proxy for white petty bourgeois, exactly the people who don’t know what the “big deal is” about voter ID and voter suppression laws, who can vote absentee from the parental house, same ballot as their parents, whose identity documents are all paid for and stored in the fire safe, who have a passport from the Europe trip, whose parents’ lawyer fixed their felony moving violation ticket problem down to misdemeanor with community service.

    Don’t think they’ll learn from their classmates because they can and do travel in segregated circles, especially in the larger schools. Different housing, classes, social events.

  23. 23.

    PopeRatzo

    August 15, 2013 at 6:10 pm

    It’s not accidental that Republicans have tied up long-term majorities in a majority of states. When it comes to taking power, they do not fuck around.

    And yet, knowing this, even in a blue state like Wisconsin, so many Democrats refused to come out and remove Scott Walker.

    The GOP is already laying the groundwork for the 2020 census. At the rate they are steamrolling state governments, they’re going to end up running 70% of the states after the 2020 election unless Democrats start getting smart and tough. But I fear it’s going to require a slightly more engaged Attorney General than the feckless Eric Holder. And, unfortunately a more engaged POTUS.

  24. 24.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    @PopeRatzo:

    You remind me of type of thinking that got us into this mess.

  25. 25.

    ranchandsyrup

    August 15, 2013 at 6:12 pm

    McCrory is trying to give himself cover by vetoing the mandatory drug test for welfare recipients bill. http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/08/15/2476571/mccrory-welfare-drug-testing/
    Turd sandwich covered in a tangy mustard sauce.

  26. 26.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Right, but that’s why he’s impervious to evidence. I hope they blow the doors off on election day with turnout. Apparently conservatives didn’t learn anything from ’12.

  27. 27.

    bemused

    August 15, 2013 at 6:13 pm

    It’s not only disgraceful as Sen Josh Stein said but it’s chicken shit cowardice.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    @Kay:

    I think it’ll backfire, because it will create more activists who are interested in actual politics.

  29. 29.

    Hungry Joe

    August 15, 2013 at 6:15 pm

    Do people in any other non-third-world country experience anything like this –waiting in line for hours and systematic disenfranchisement?

    It’s not that Americans are incapable of organizing elections. I’ve lived in SoCal most of my life, and before I started voting absentee a few years ago I always walked or drove a minute or two to my white, middle-/upper-middle-class neighborhood polling station — usually a church or somebody’s garage — stood in line for about 45 seconds, and voted. Then came the day when I had to wait about six or seven minutes; I said to myself, “The hell with this,” and started voting by mail.

  30. 30.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    @PopeRatzo:

    But I fear it’s going to require a slightly more engaged Attorney General than the feckless Eric Holder.

    This is just wrong. It’s inaccurate to say Holder hasn’t “engaged” on voting rights. He’s the best AG on voting rights in my lifetime. It is widely understood that he’s good on voting rights. Whatever your complaints on Holder, this one is way off base.

  31. 31.

    Chyron HR

    August 15, 2013 at 6:16 pm

    @PopeRatzo:

    the feckless Eric Holder.

    It’s okay, you True Progressives are allowed to just openly call Holder a “nigger” now.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:17 pm

    @Baud:

    I actually think it will, too. Unfortunately, the effort to knock out local candidates can’t be remedied by turnout. If the candidate isn’t on the ballot, people can’t vote for him.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    August 15, 2013 at 6:19 pm

    That poll, which surveyed 800 likely voters

    They’re judging likely voters according to whether they’re likely to be able to vote after the new, more restrictive voting laws go into effect.

  34. 34.

    celticdragonchick

    August 15, 2013 at 6:20 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    Bullshit. I travel to Watauga County several times a year for the Grandfather Mtn Highland games as well as general camping and winter sports stuff. The place is dominated by far right wing blue collar populism and culture war stuff determines everything else. This is Virgina Foxx country, and everything that goes with it. Mountain Dems move to Asheville…where the the NC legislature is trying to confiscate the municipal water supplies to sell for frakking.

  35. 35.

    ? Martin

    August 15, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    @feebog:

    And classes are usually going full bore in November, its not like a student can pick up and go home to vote in the middle of the week.

    A lot of these states only have show-cause absentee voting. Not many states explicitly accept ‘being a full time student in college’ as an excuse. Here’s the rules for Pennsylvania:

    You may vote for absentee ballot if:

    you are in the military service of the United States (military voters do not need to be registered to vote to vote by absentee ballot, and they do not need to be overseas or even outside of Pennsylvania)
    you are a spouse or dependent of someone in the military, and you expect expect on election day to be absent from the Commonwealth or the municipality of residence during the entire period in which the polling places are open for voting (7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M).
    you are a member of the Merchant Marine (or a spouse or dependent) and you expect on election day to be absent from the Commonwealth or the municipality of residence during the entire period in which the polling places are open for voting (7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M).
    you are a member of a religious or welfare group attached to and serving with the armed forces (or a spouse or dependent) and you expect on election day to be absent from the Commonwealth or the municipality of residence during the entire period in which the polling places are open for voting (7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M).
    you expect that your occupation or duties (including leaves of absence for teaching, vacations, and sabbatical leaves) will cause you to be away from your municipality on election day. This also applies to spouses and dependents.
    you are a war veteran who is bedridden or hospitalized due to illness or physical disability and therefore unable to vote in person (note: people who fall in this group can vote by absentee ballot even if they are not already registered).
    you are ill or physically disabled and therefore unable to go to a polling place or operate a voting machine.
    you are employed by the Commonwealth or the Federal Government and your duties require you to be absent from the Commonwealth or the municipality of your residence on election day. This also applies to spouses and dependents.
    you are employed by the county and you expect that your election day duties will prevent you from voting.
    you will be observing a religious holiday and will be unable to vote.

    There’s no obvious carve-out for students. Is college an ‘occupation or duty’? Plus it’s an additional hurdle for students to clear which can only serve to reduce the number of participants (it can never increase the number). Plus it improves the effectiveness of gerrymandering by keeping voters tied more closely to the data (voter registration) that was used to model the districts.

  36. 36.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:24 pm

    @PopeRatzo:

    It’s actually Thomas Perez (who headed the Holder civil rights division and now is labor secretary) who did the good work on voting rights but obviously it’s Holder’s DOJ, so he gets the credit. Holder is also a good public advocate on voting rights, but Perez is the one who did the enforcing after the Bush DOJ ignored voting rights for 8 years.

  37. 37.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:29 pm

    @Baud:

    I think working to stop candidates from qualifying will be treated differently than working to disenfranchise voters. It’s worse. That’s the big leagues in dastardly deeds, because minority candidates won’t be able to move up unless they are able to run in local races. They need a “bench”.

  38. 38.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 6:30 pm

    @Kay: AGs have been a favored punching bag of the discontent for years but it seems like Holder just gets punched repeatedly for no reason. He’s no John Ashcroft and I really don’t understand the hatred. Also, Bush&Co fucked up DoJ so bad from what I understand (and to be fair, I have a mole on the inside who swears it’s really NOT as bad as you would think from the news) that it’s not like Holder could fix things overnight. Besides which, Obama has not been a “let’s lay waste to the civilian bureaucrats in an ideological purge” kind of guy so the Bush dead wood has to be picked off for cause, if at all. (In my experience, the buropeeps are not all that political anyway. They’re mushy middlers, have to be or they’d be adversely affected by the ups and downs of Washington.)

    I don’t remember emoprogs hating on an AG this bad, not even Ashcroft (even though the guy was pretty vile), so I have to wonder what’s different this time. **props head on hands and smiles innocently**

    Fast&Furious even to the extent it happened under Holder happens because you just can’t get fucking prosecutions with our dumbshit weakass gun control laws. It’s a series of failed operations revived independently by good law enforcement people who are not lawyers who are trying to stop the crooks. A lawyer told me this.

    Another funny note about federal bureaucracy is that IRS is pumping out guidance and response letters and shit lately after sitting on requests through THE ENTIRE 8 YEARS OF GWB. I don’t know what dumb nonsense Bush was wasting their very limited resources on (although something something Earned Income Credits had something to do with it) but it’s really wacky watching this happen.

  39. 39.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    According to PACER, as of today, plaintiffs in the private litigation in NC haven’t requested a TRO, although the complaint asks for a preliminary and permanent injunction AND Section 3 bail-in. I don’t know whether there is a local rule or custom in the Middle District of North Carolina that you can’t ask for a TRO against the state government ex parte (note that Wake County is in the Eastern District), so I’m not going to speculate about why they haven’t asked for a TRO.

    It doesn’t appear that any of the defendants have been served yet.

    The case is League of Women Voters of North Carolina v. State of North Carolina, no. 13-cv-00660

  40. 40.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    and to be fair, I have a mole on the inside who swears it’s really NOT as bad as you would think from the news

    I probably agree with that. I know there are career lawyers who would do the job regardless of the President. Still, I think we have to remember that Bush had a huge DOJ scandal that was centered around fake voter fraud investigations. That’s why they removed those US attorneys and replaced them with campaign hacks. Because the real lawyers wouldn’t prosecute fake voter fraud. Bush’s AG had to resign. That’s big.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 6:36 pm

    @Kay:

    Any chance of going to court to challenge the residency restriction? I still don’t get how they can say you can’t run for a local position that you can vote for.

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    **props head on hands and smiles innocently**

    Cute.

  43. 43.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Another funny note about federal bureaucracy is that IRS is pumping out guidance and response letters and shit lately after sitting on requests through THE ENTIRE 8 YEARS OF GWB

    False. Demonstrably false. I practice tax law. There was no lack of guidance from 2001-09. A one-minute search of any commercial tax law database (CCH, BNA, Tax Analysis, take your pick) will give you a deluge of guidance from that period.

  44. 44.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 15, 2013 at 6:44 pm

    “Why are they making it harder for students to vote?”

    Because students fairly consistently do not vote for Rethug scum, that’s why.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:47 pm

    @Baud:

    That isn’t what they’re claiming. They’re saying he can’t vote using that residence so that also bars him from qualifying as a candidate:

    Gilbert cited the wording of state law requiring voters to be registered at their “permanent” domicile. He argued a dorm room occupied for only part of the year is a temporary residence. The GOP controlled elections board agreed, voting 2-1 to bar King from the ballot.
    In an interview with The Associated Press, Gilbert said he plans to challenge the residency of more students using campus addresses to register to vote. He said he would urge his counterparts living in college towns across the state to do the same.

    Residency is weirdly hazy in state law. I deal with it all the time because juvenile courts deal with it all the time. You’d be surprised how complicated “where do you reside?” can be. I have this really nice state appeals court opinion for military “residency” that came out of “my” court. I pull it out all the time. I should just make 100 copies, because I’m always attaching it. It’s particularly big where I practice, because people move across the (close) IN and MI borders frequently.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    August 15, 2013 at 6:50 pm

    @Kay:

    I see. Thanks.

    He argued a dorm room occupied for only part of the year is a temporary residence.

    So how does that apply to people on military bases? Or do they not move as much?

  47. 47.

    kc

    August 15, 2013 at 6:51 pm

    Totally OT, but I could kill whoever fucked up gmail beyond all recognition.

    Any suggestions for an alternate email provider?

  48. 48.

    kc

    August 15, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    That’s a nice touch, targeting students at historically black universities.

    Jesus, I hate these people so much it’s unhealthy.

    I just hope this backfires on them in a big way.

  49. 49.

    Seanly

    August 15, 2013 at 6:53 pm

    I like the logic quoted by Wonkette that it’s too easy to vote since people died for us to have the right to vote and to appreciate voting it should be much more difficult, that’s how you honor people who died for us. Ipso facto argle bargle.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    August 15, 2013 at 6:54 pm

    @kc:
    You don’t need an alternate email provider. You just need to stop using Google’s webmail client. Get a decent IMAP mail program and use it to access Gmail instead.

  51. 51.

    Kay

    August 15, 2013 at 6:54 pm

    @Baud:

    In my world, military people can keep their county residency as long as they’re enlisted.

    I don’t know if there’s an argument that says otherwise, because no one ever pulls out anything that contradicts me and my dog-eared state court of appeals opinion . They talk al lot, but they never have anything :)

  52. 52.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    @Kay: Ah, so that is why the right hates Perez and called him a communist. Got it.

  53. 53.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    @Kay: Where are the Liberty/King’s College grads now? In the DoJ equivalent of rubber rooms?

  54. 54.

    aimai

    August 15, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Please, not this old canard. This may be in a very Republican district. For all you know the voters got what they wanted.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    August 15, 2013 at 7:00 pm

    @Seanly:
    Yeah, there was a post on that one a day or two ago. Interesting how it’s never rich white people who need to have a harder time voting to remind them of how precious the right is.

  56. 56.

    Another Holocene Human

    August 15, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    @burnspbesq: Is it normal in your world to ask for a ruling in 1998 and get a response in 2013? Just asking. For a friend.

    Also–and I know this doesn’t really affect your clients because their collars aren’t blue–but there was a big shakeup in nontaxable/taxable fringe benefits two years ago. And all of the sudden the IRS peeps are running around doing reviews after years of silence. Just things that make you go hmmmm.

  57. 57.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    August 15, 2013 at 7:02 pm

    Hah. If Renew America is just going to make shit up, why don’t they at least have the Governor’s favorability rating over 50%?

    Morans.

  58. 58.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    @Baud:

    The complaint in the LWV case doesn’t address college student residency issues, because none of the individual plaintiffs have standing on that issue. It addresses the curtailment of early voting, the curtailment of same-day registration, and something about right church wrong pew that I’m not sure I understand.

    Plenty of opportunity to add plaintiffs and amend the complaint, or for DOJ to raise that issue, or for a student at UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, High Point, UNCG, Winston-Salem State, or NC A&T (all of which are in the Middle District) to file their own action and have the two cases consolidated.

  59. 59.

    Mike in NC

    August 15, 2013 at 7:10 pm

    Odd, I was just about to put up a link to this very same article from our local rag, which I read over dinner.

    The NC GOP Voter Suppression Program is moving ahead right on schedule. This year they rolled back early voting from 17 to 10 days. Next year I guarantee they will abolish it completely.

  60. 60.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 7:10 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Unusual but not unheard of. Sometimes they sit on ruling requests while they are working on a regulation project, or because the situation is so far out there that it takes them a long time to figure out what the answer is. Also, the list of no-ruling areas changes every year, and it’s possible that the issue on which your friend sought a ruling moved from “we will rule” to “we won’t rule” after it was filed.

    The ways of the National Office are strange and inscrutable to us lowly Field mice (I was in the field in the Office of Chief Counsel from 1990 to 1999). Don’t believe me? Ask Yats.

  61. 61.

    kc

    August 15, 2013 at 7:16 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    Roger, thanks. I’ll look into that.

  62. 62.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 7:17 pm

    @burnspbesq:

    Also too, there have been a couple of hiring freezes during that period, which adversely affect the Office’s ability to manage its workload because the revolving door doesn’t stop spinning when that happens, it just becomes one-way traffic.

  63. 63.

    tif

    August 15, 2013 at 7:21 pm

    @The Moar You Know: So you admit that the only reason to eliminate early voting is to swing elections to Republicans. That is NOT the excuse being given in NC. Better bone up on the conservative talking points and try again!

  64. 64.

    rikyrah

    August 15, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    @smintheus:

    How many subtle ways are there to obstruct voting?

    Ain’t shyt subtle about this.

  65. 65.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    August 15, 2013 at 7:27 pm

    @burnspbesq: Ya know, ol’ Rand Paul has a solution to all these problems with the IRS.

  66. 66.

    Bob In Portland

    August 15, 2013 at 7:31 pm

    I’d suggest the students organize that they get thousands to the polls at five a.m. Bring camera crews, and any other people who live in the district can get in the back of the line.

  67. 67.

    Violet

    August 15, 2013 at 7:34 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    The NC GOP Voter Suppression Program is moving ahead right on schedule. This year they rolled back early voting from 17 to 10 days. Next year I guarantee they will abolish it completely.

    Early voting is popular with everyone. Some Republican-voting acquaintances I know love early voting, especially the ones who have to travel for work. Some older folks I know also love early voting. I feel like limiting early voting is going to backfire on them.

  68. 68.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 7:39 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I do not think that word means what he thinks it means.

  69. 69.

    burnspbesq

    August 15, 2013 at 7:43 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    The NC GOP Voter Suppression Program is moving ahead right on schedule. This year they rolled back early voting from 17 to 10 days. Next year I guarantee they will abolish it completely.

    They can do all of those things if they’re willing to do them from jail. There will be an injunction, violating an injunction is punishable as contempt of court, and U.S. District Judges don’t take kindly to pissant state bureaucrats violating their orders.

  70. 70.

    Loviatar

    August 15, 2013 at 7:44 pm

    Good job Obots, I see you’ve been taking negotiating lessons from Obama. You got Obamacare, they got the country.

  71. 71.

    fuckwit

    August 15, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    @PopeRatzo: This, people, is why the 50-state strategy should NEVER have been abandoned, should have been escalated, and Howard Dean should still be running the DNC. This is Democratic Party’s fault for ignoring local races and giving up on “red states” instead going for “swing state” bullshit and broadcast TV buys.

    Local precinct by precinct takeovers is how the right wing got to where they are, and they’ve been doing it since the 80s. This dates back well before Bush, to the Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell era in the 80s. The fundamentalist churches did this kind of local, door-to-door insurgency, under the radar, took over the party apparatus, the local precincts the local offices, county offices, states, and now they have everything. It’s called being organized, at a local level. Now they control the statehouses, voting laws, and census redistricting… and thus the House of Representatives.

    They will maintain this control for a generation or more, or indefinitely if we don’t get our shit together with a new 50-state strategy. We have a lot of work to do in order to turn it around. OFA has been the best I’ve seen so far with grassroots organization; that’s how Obama won twice. But that’s not enough. There are off-year elections, state elections, county elections, local elections, etc.

    Interestingly, go back 50-60 years and it was Democrats who knew how to do local door-to-door and precinct level politics, thanks to unions mostly. That all seems gone now, and we’re trying to reinvent it in the social-media era. The reality is it has to be local, has to be face-to-face, and has to be HUMAN BODIES SITTING AND STANDING IN ROOMS INTERACTING WITH OTHER HUMAN BODIES– like every week at church, which is how the right wing did it, or in union meetings, which is how Democrats did it way long ago. There is no way to do this digitally. It involves people in meatspace meeting with people.

    Politics, alas, is a contact sport.

  72. 72.

    Anne Laurie

    August 15, 2013 at 7:50 pm

    @Another Holocene Human:

    I don’t remember emoprogs hating on an AG this bad, not even Ashcroft (even though the guy was pretty vile), so I have to wonder what’s different this time. **props head on hands and smiles innocently**

    Then you weren’t paying attention. Us DFHs were bitching nonstop about Ashcroft the Crisco-Anointed — among other turdblossoms of the GOP, let’s not forget Ed Meese for example — but the MSM didn’t pay much attention while it was only DFHs complaining. Historical memory, how the fuck does it work?

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    August 15, 2013 at 7:58 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    Ya know, ol’ Rand Paul has a solution to all these problems with the IRS.

    The final solution to the IRS problem.

  74. 74.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 15, 2013 at 8:36 pm

    @PopeRatzo:
    They’re not laying the groundwork for squat. They’re desperate, panicky, not too bright racists who are grabbing any straw they can think of at any moment. There is no plan here other than ‘But it’s not FAIR for a black man to become president!’

  75. 75.

    NobodySpecial

    August 15, 2013 at 8:53 pm

    @Anne Laurie: They can’t remember when Firebaggers were Republican plants, how the fuck you expect them to remember the W administration?

  76. 76.

    El Cid

    August 15, 2013 at 9:14 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Yeah, no fucking shit! God, the degree of energy poured out in opposition to Ashcroft, and the Cheney-esque super-creepy Gonzales was remarkable. But no, no, if you want a perfect narrative of ’emoprogs’ who only hate Democrats, forget all that.

  77. 77.

    Splitting Image

    August 15, 2013 at 11:21 pm

    @Hungry Joe:

    Do people in any other non-third-world country experience anything like this –waiting in line for hours and systematic disenfranchisement?

    In the last provincial election here in Ontario, a guy tried to block me from voting when I didn’t provide him with a photo ID. Which legally I don’t need to do. Same shit as in Michigan, Pennsylvania, etc.

    There was also a kerfuffle over Muslim women wearing the veil in Quebec a few years ago. The Conservative position is that they should have to uncover their faces in order to vote. Part of it was the usual Islamophobia, but I also think that part of it was about mainstreaming the idea that “Everyone has to show a photo ID to vote. Why should these people get special treatment?” when in practice, they don’t. The real goal is to boost support for requiring a photo ID.

  78. 78.

    pseudonymous in nc

    August 15, 2013 at 11:49 pm

    It’s shameless. The line about student residency apparently doesn’t apply to members of the military or simply who work out of state for extended periods of time.

    The shit that went down at the Watauga elections board is probably illegal, because video of the meeting showed that the two GOPers met in advance and colluded on how to ram the voter suppression stuff through. Let’s see if Roy Moore has the power to do something about it.

    @ranchandsyrup:

    McCrory is trying to give himself cover by vetoing the mandatory drug test for welfare recipients bill.

    Well, that’s meaningless, because both chambers of the GA have a veto-proof nutjob majority.

  79. 79.

    dianne

    August 16, 2013 at 4:39 am

    Just curious- I’ve noticed that many red states will have dots of blue around university towns (where the smart people are, of course). Does anyone with ties to ASU have any idea how the professors will react to this new ruling? Will they advocate for their students or for the powers that be? The person who said get out there at 5 AM and get to the head of the line and hog the voting booths away from the locals had the right idea. Hope that is what happens, I’m just wondering if the students will have support from their teachers.

  80. 80.

    Keith G

    August 16, 2013 at 6:32 am

    Access to voting is the most important issue of 2010s. More than Gay right, and I think even more important than ACA implementation. This is as crucial as it gets in a democracy.

    And yet this is seemingly only faintly noticed, or at least examined, by many. If the Democratic grassroots do not get energized and involved to fight this, we will really regret it.

    Really regret it.

  81. 81.

    TR

    August 16, 2013 at 6:55 am

    But I keep hearing how Republicans believe in Freedom!*

    *offer limited to old white men

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 16, 2013 at 10:19 am

    @Hungry Joe: Do people in any other non-third-world country experience anything like this –waiting in line for hours and systematic disenfranchisement?

    Worth keeping in mind that the only reason much of the American South isn’t a third world country is because of the money they get from the rest of the country.

  83. 83.

    dianne

    August 16, 2013 at 11:00 am

    Many colleges have web sites that allow students to rate and comment on their teachers. If, for instance, a student was enrolling in a constitutional government class, wouldn’t it be nice if he or she could go on line and see how that teacher felt about the state of NC usurping the students’ right to vote. It would certainly make me think twice about a teacher who supported what the state was doing or spoke out against it or even declined to state. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the months ahead of 2014.

  84. 84.

    boatboy_srq

    August 16, 2013 at 11:21 am

    @PsiFighter37: Nope. Racist, sexist, statist, self-righteous religious bigot, homophobe, hypocrite, greedy insensitive f##k – there’s a plethora of descriptors that would be accurate, and yet somehow insufficiently descriptive, for the small-minded, short-sighted self-centredness that typefies today’s GOTea.

    Between IOKIYAR, IGMFY and NIMBY – that’s where you’ll find them.

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik: Precisely.

    @fuckwit: Blame the corporate state as well: with the squeeze firmly on for anyone not in the 1%, ever fewer have the bandwidth to do the kind of organizing required for that. Who says union-busting doesn’t have benefits?

    @TR: *offer limited to old, white, Xtian, hetero (or at least “passing”), “job creating” men, you mean…

    @PsiFighter37: Alt+0+1+5+3=™. ,-)

  85. 85.

    boatboy_srq

    August 16, 2013 at 11:23 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It would be worthwhile to handle the “makers/takers” argument on a state-by-state basis. Defunding all the Reichwhingers who insist Big Gubmint is spending too much money would be instructive, to say the least.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

2023 Pet Calendars

Pet Calendar Preview: A
Pet Calendar Preview: B

*Calendars can not be ordered until Cafe Press gets their calendar paper in.

Recent Comments

  • eclare on Saturday Evening Open Thread: A Start Is Made, in Memphis (Jan 29, 2023 @ 12:14am)
  • TS on Saturday Evening Open Thread: A Start Is Made, in Memphis (Jan 29, 2023 @ 12:13am)
  • Kent on War for Ukraine Day 338: Russia Unloads on Ukraine Again (Jan 29, 2023 @ 12:09am)
  • YY_Sima Qian on War for Ukraine Day 338: Russia Unloads on Ukraine Again (Jan 29, 2023 @ 12:05am)
  • YY_Sima Qian on War for Ukraine Day 338: Russia Unloads on Ukraine Again (Jan 29, 2023 @ 12:03am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Favorite Dogs & Cats
Classified Documents: A Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Front-pager Twitter

John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
ActualCitizensUnited

Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!