Voter suppression

Arizona has become a bellwether in recent years. Before the Tea Party, well funded by Republican oligarchs, surprised Democrats in the 2010 elections, Arizona had led the way with the passage of SB 1070 and crazy, racist political movements. The result was a takeover of all statewide offices by right-wing extremists.

Now we have the disaster of the primary election, where voters were forced to wait for hours in lines. The number of polling places in Maricopa County was cut from 200 in 2012 to only 60. These closures fell heaviest in poor and minority areas. Details are contained in the Arizona's Continuing Crisis news vertical on this site.

Elvia Diaz of the Arizona Republic correctly writes that this was not a bureaucratic mistake by County Recorder Helen Purcell but "a well-orchestrated plan to keep ... Latinos from voting." Purcell had a green light when Arizona was among the states exempted from long-standing federal oversight after Republicans dismantled the Voting Rights Act:

Advocates and academics have documented concrete examples of discrimination against minority voters since statehood to the March 22 Republican and Democratic presidential preference elections. Those in power have adeptly used cultural and language barriers as a weapon. For instance, in the early 1900s, Arizona enacted its first English literacy test.

“The literacy test was enacted to limit ‘the ignorant Mexican vote’ … As recently as the 1960s, registrars applied the test to reduce the ability of Blacks, Indians and Hispanics to register to vote,” according to historian David R. Berman.

If you think about it, little has changed throughout Arizona’s history. Conservatives have incessantly targeted minorities and typically intensify their efforts during economic recessions or political turmoil.

Indeed, future Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist participated in Operation Eagle Eye, a voter suppression tactic aimed at minorities in south Phoenix in the 1960s. Remember, Arizona was long as much a Southern as a Western state. So its inclusion in Justice Department oversight of voting was well deserved.

Remember what I've been telling you for years. SB 1070 had little to do with illegal immigration or WHAT PART OF ILLEGAL DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!?! Without cheap, fearful illegal workers, the Arizona economy would have collapsed, and indeed the anti-immigrant policies helped retard the state's recovery from the Great Recession.

Instead, the legislation and the Badged Ego's "sweeps" were all about pushing Hispanic citizens back into the shadows, especially politically. That 100,000-member march in 2006 scared the hell out of the right-wing establishment. These measures were also very useful for another political reason: animating the fears of Anglos who wanted Des Moines in the desert.

In addition, Arizona has a recent history of a highly politicized Secretary of State, the official who oversees elections. We came a long way from the apolitical stewardship of Wes Bolin to Jan Brewer, who was in charge of the 2004 election while also being the state Bush chairman.

Up to now, Hispanics have been their own worst enemies. They haven't voted in large numbers. I remember going to the gym the morning after the big march. Alfredo Gutierrez, former Democratic leader of the state Senate, was on the treadmill (metaphor noted). I asked him what he thought. "But will they vote?" he growled. Indeed.

But back to Arizona as bellwether: One of the biggest stealth issues of this election is voter suppression. Republicans control the governorships and both houses of the legislature in 23 states (it's only seven for Democrats). In addition to Arizona, they are in total charge in such pivotal presidential electoral states as Ohio, Florida, and Wisconsin. The union also has 34 Republican governors.

They will do everything they can to ensure the election is within stealing distance. As of 2014, a total of 22 states had passed various forms of voter suppression laws. These are specifically aimed at Democratic areas or poor and minority areas, where Republicans fear people will vote Democratic. North Carolina, once a moderate and competitive state, has gone batshit extremist. People are aggrieved by passage of the anti-LGBT law. They'd better keep their eyes on the voter suppression laws.

So it doesn't matter whether you #FeelTheBern or #I'mWithHer. Both factions of the Democratic Party need to be focused on the deliberate effort to deny citizens the franchise and ensure a fascist future.

 

Comments

[Lnda Brown]

And we were the first state to enact sweeping voting barriers with 2004's Prop 200, denying public benefits to undocumented people-- benefits they had no access to anyway. The voting barriers were drafted with help from Kris Kobach, proud white supremacist and now Kansas Secretary of State. They required documentary proof of citizenship to register. That portion was struck down by the SCOTUS, so now the elections officials maintain two sets of voting rolls: one for those who can only vote in federal elections, and the other for those who were able to provide birth certificates, passports, etc. to prove citizenship. The law grandfathered in anyone who was already registered. Among those not able to register was a 97 year old Anglo woman who had been born without a birth certificate and cast her first ballot for FDR. The ID requirements were "interesting" in that no ID was required for those voting by mail. They merely needed to sign outside of their sealed ballot envelope. Signatures would be compared, and if they matched, there would be no issue. Yet the signatures of those voting at the polls who had to sign the voter log book in front of poll workers were no longer adequate proof. They also needed either one piece of Gov issued photo ID with the same address at which they were registered, or two pieces of non photo ID at their current address. Interesting tidbit-Republicans and Anglos voted by mail at much higher rates than Democrats and people of color. Yet in recent years efforts by civil rights groups to move infrequent Latino voters to the Permanent Early Voting List had taken off. Part of their effort included offering to pick up signed, sealed ballots and drop them off at the recorder's office. Hence this year's new law making it a class 6 felony to do just that. Racist Voter Suppression efforts know no bounds in AZ. We need to bring back Section 5 of the VRA, and enact further protections.

[Pat]

What's the problem? I hear voting went smoothly everywhere, Sun City, Sun City West, Fountain Hills, North Scottsdale and Paradise Valley; no long lines, no hassles, and besides, THOSE people "down there" aren't going to vote anyway, they're too busy pulling themselves up by their bootstraps over and over and over.

[C Cannon]

The Reverend George Brooks, who along with Mr. Lincoln Ragsdale was a leader of the Civil Rights struggle in Phoenix some fifty years ago, told a memorable story about voter suppression here around that time.

Rev. Brooks described a scene at a South Phoenix polling place where he and others were peacefully asserting their case against voter suppression. He recalled a young man who came out of the building and

"told us why we ought not to doing what we were
doing. And that young man is an old man now, and
is Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
states. Yes, I'm talking about Mr. Rehnquist."

A news article from the time of Rehnquist's confirmation quoted a lady identified as Francis Archer, who was an official pull watcher along with Rehnquist, as saying that Rehnquist approached an African American who was attempting to vote and told him, "Sir, I would ask you to leave". The arch use of the subjunctive stamps this with absolute authenticity.

[Tom G]

I see you are a follower of Alan Dershowitz! Oh! And by the way .....
Gilbert, Chandler, Ahwatukee and North Scottsdale were effected
by polling issues!!!

[Kevin in Preskitt]

My grandpa worked at a polling place in Waddell during last week's election. He said it was not very busy there. At the end of the night, they still had hundreds of provisional ballots available. He heard that other polling sites ran out of provisional ballots earlier in the day, but he said that County Elections staff did not call his polling place to ask what the volume of voters had been like or to ask if they could pick up provisional ballots to take to one of the busier sites. Grandpa is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but even he found last week's election to have been very mismanaged

[Darwin Sator]

We should be concerned not so much about the fact that voting was sabotaged in Arizona, as with how devastatingly effective it was. Official apologies do not change election outcomes any more than apologies from the NFL front office reverse blown game- or season-deciding football calls. Arizona shows the nation how easy it might be to guarantee a Republican win.

[Cal lash]

I was here when Rehnquist was doing his best to keep non white people from voting.

Not much has changed in Arizona since April 12, 1861. While on the surface it may seem better, underneath the Rehnquist's have become stronger and more in control.

Regardless of "whose fault" or how much a "conspiracy" the psychological effect is an obvious negative.

[Ramjet]

I believe I warned about his very thing a few threads back citing "Rehnquist et. al."
Nothing new here just move on.

[TL]

Ineptitude is always a more likely explanation than conspiracy when trying to make sense of our crazy world. However, conspiracy really is a thing. So is it possible the long voting lines in a few white areas were token situations to show voter suppression was color blind?

[Cal lash]

I would like to see percentage numbers of the age of those standing in lines. And the percentage of "whites" compared to Hispanics and other folks of color.
At 75 I don't know hardly anyone that votes in person. It's by mail. No waste of time or gas and not a discouraging task. Well in my case it's distasteful trying to decide who not to vote for. Most white folks in places like Gilbert will vote no matter how difficult as its a religious duty.

[Mike Doughty]

The Republicans saw the writing on the wall in 2008 when there were 5 million new voters.According to NPR,of those 2 million were black,2 million were Hispanic and 400,000 were Asian.75% of them voted Democrat.The fix was in and voter suppression became the buzzword.8 years latere the plan worked perfectly and if the protests blow over quickly-as anticipated-the plan worked and the suppression will continue.

[Cal Lash]

No surprise here. Arizona and Utah at top of list in suppressing Native American votes.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/03/28/1507226/-Arizona-s-primary-mess-no-surprise-to-American-Indians-familiar-with-history-of-voter-suppression?

[Cal Lash]

how far would you drive to vote:
http://onlinesurvey.org/270fa2aba71655e48b9649c1ac748410

[Cal Lash]

and my side bar for today, on voting.
https://consortiumnews.com/2016/03/28/bernie-sanders-as-commander-in-chief/

[Mike Doughty]

If the right to vote is the most important right in the Constitution, which was written 100+ years before the automobile was even invented,why is one required to drive to a voting place?Shouldn't voting be even easier than enrolling your child in school,regardless of whom you might vote for?

Good people on both sides can surely see the problem here.

[Cal lash]

Mike, are you suggesting as Edward Abbey once said, "all men are brothers and all living things on earth are kindred spirits."

I fear that "Good People" is becoming an Oxymoron.

[Cal Lash]

Want to vote for Bernie, YOU cant in DC.
He is not on the ballot.
I sure Hillary is innocent and astonished that such a thing could occur.
http://www.aol.com/article/2016/03/30/bernie-sanders-left-off-d-c-ballot-after-democratic-party-mistake/21335888/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl6%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D1359904966

[Mike Doughty]

Cal-If I may substitute "good men" for "Good People" I am reminded of the Edmund Burke quote
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."
I fear our politics are degenerating into a "Lord of the Flies"and thinkers like us have no where to go.

[Cal lash]

Mike, U R right.
For deep thought I prefer the deep desert mostly void of Manunkind. I dream of sitting in a sturdy lawn chair on the surface of the moon and letting my mind roam about the landscape and peering off into space at earth. Maybe a small abode in Uruguay near the sea and a chance to help Jose Mujica and his wife tend to their garden with small talk about how Bernie Sanders might have been president of the USA. I just came in from desert campfire, it's a cool but great nite here in the Great Sonoran desert, what's left of it.

[Cal lash]

Will Hillary's decisions on Unaoil. lubricate Bernies campaign? Reminds me of of, If Russia attacks Turkey from behind will Greece help?

[Joe]

I'm not sure suppression is an appropriate description for the election Arizona just held.
I received numerous reminders prior to the election reminding me to either register, change parties, or enroll in mail in balloting.
Given that I am an airline pilot I both registered to vote by mail and changed my affiliation (for the first time) to democratic because the GOP went batshit insane. It was easy and took about two or three minutes of time.
This is a story of procrastinators looking for excuses and drama. Kind of like college was in hind sight.

[sj]

Yes, voter suppression is the right description.

I'm glad that early voting/voting by mail works for you, Joe. It's great for lots of folks.

I'm not sure that all those early Rubio voters were well-served by the early voting process this time out. I'll bet a few would like a do-over.

I've always liked to go to the polls on election day. This year was just a mess. No question about it.

Surely you can agree that the long lines, etc., impact low income voters to a greater degree?

As an aside, I spent a lot of time telling people registered as Independents to re-register with a party in order to participate in the March 22nd election. I know this is anecdotal, but 95% of the voters I spoke with had no idea that they needed to be a Dem or Repub to vote.

[Joe]

I agree that what happened what not appropriate and remedies need to be made forthgoing.

I still don't believe there was a concerted effort to suppress the votes of those who didn't vote by mail, register correctly or have time to wait in those long lines. Why would the county disseminate so much voter information prior to the election if this is the case?

[Cal Lash]

"Why would the county disseminate so much voter information prior to the election if this is the case?"
Yes but, no one was listening.

And for all the conspiracy kooks out thar.
The Hillary and Helen job.

http://www.penigma.blogspot.com/2016/03/silliest-conspiracy-theory-this-week.html

[Pat]

Uh-oh, things are heating up now, Michelle Reagan has admitted there was voter fraud...probably only because Anonymous is snooping around, but apparently, lots of people showed up to vote and were told they weren't registered as members of their Party. What a place. Maybe Trump should run for Governor of Arizona.

[Cal Lash]

Pat, if Trump is president Arizona will not need a Governor.

The following has been floating around amongst a few of us here and following is my comment on such.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/interrogation/2016/03/barney_frank_is_not_impressed_by_bernie_sanders.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

Frank didnt say much of anything I disagreed with about anybody.
But my opinion of Frank as a "strong" legislator is that he wasn't.
He was OK, which is saying a lot.
All said and done, I want to have coffee with Bernie after he loses to Hillary.
I wouldnt walk across the street to have coffee with the 3 Clintons or the Bush brothers.
But I like their mom.
People I wish I had coffee with, Edward Abbey, e e cummings, James Baldwin, John Fante, Cesar Chavez, Ursula Andress, Elizabeth Taylor.
People I hope to have coffee with, Jose Mujica, Bernie Sanders, Petro, Soleri, Jerry, Suzanne, Roger Ramjet and my ole Injun buddy, Ruben.

[Cal Lash]

Anther reason why voting in this election is moumental:
Keeping the Koch boys black gold in the ground:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tesla-model3_us_56fdae3fe4b0a06d58055c19

[Pat]

Cal, I think-the way things stand right now, at this minute-that I'm going to predict Trump will lose the general election, then turn his mob loose on the country for revenge at his rejection. He'll be pissed at New York for not supporting homeboy, and looking for a place where he can bask in the love. Hell, he might even be the next Badged Ego and make an official reality show out of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Department. He can build the most garish, lit-up, Phoenician Resort-level tasteless mansion on Camelback Mountain and golf with Alice Cooper, while every weekly episode will feature him with idiots like Steven Seagal and Chuck Norris persecuting the rich folk's gardeners and housekeepers.

[Cal lash]

Pat U probably R on course with your thoughts. But my biggest concern is mot Trump but Ted Cruz.

[Ramjet]

"In the midst of these pleasing ideas we should be unfaithful to ourselves if we should ever lose sight of the danger to our liberties if anything partial or extraneous should infect the purity of our free, fair, virtuous,and independent elections. If an election is to be determined by a majority of a single vote, and that can be procured by a party through artifice or corruption, the Government may be the choice of a party for its own ends, not of the nation for the national good."

John Adams Inaugural Address
March 4, 1797

Nothing changes but the faces!

[Cal Lash]

Ramjet, good post

What do Hillary and the Koch brothers have in common.
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/democracy/corporate-money-out-politics/watch-and-share-hillary-clinton-loses-patience-with-greenpeace-activist-over-fossil-fuel-donations/