Caught On Tape: Poll Watcher Intimidates Black Voter in Florida, Witness Steps in To Protect the Man’s Vote

It was practically written in the stars that the Republicans were going to win the election on Tuesday. All the Republican voters had to do was turn out, and may of them did. What I find wholly pathetic, however, was the inability of the Republicans to win without the specter of foul play hanging over their head. What started with 40,000 missing voter registration forms in Georgia, or flyers out in Kentucky, now turns its attention towards Florida, where foul play appears to have been caught on film.

The relationship between Florida and election BS doesn’t need reinforcing; following 2000, it should be obvious that there are Banana Republicans capable of running cleaner elections. It should be no surprise that Florida, then, is once more is back in the spotlight after questionable behavior on Tuesday. Broward County, a strong Democrat county that could have carried Crist to victory with a strong turn out, is the epicenter this time.

A number of issues in Broward came to Crist’s attention on Tuesday: there were issues with the voting machines, including malfunctions, and voters being sent to different polling locations. In at least one situation, a polling location was not operational for over an hour on Tuesday morning, which prevented voters from casting ballots before work. Crist filed an emergency motion to keep those polls open at least another hour, but despite ample evidence and large number of voters, a Circuit Court judge denied Crist’s requests. While those in line at 7 PM ET were allowed to cast their ballots, nobody else was able to go back in line, even if they had to previously leave or had been given bad info regarding their polling location.

And there were instances of poll workers giving bad information. Izak Pratt of Miami-Dade county noticed just such an incident; the man, who was Black, had his US passport as his identification. According to Pratt’s testimony in a piece for the Gaily Grind, the poll worker told the man that he needed a driver’s licenses with his current home address on it to vote. Eventually, the man gave up, and Pratt interviewed the man as he was walking out:

Flabbergasted and speechless, I stopped the man and asked him if his passport was expired. The gentleman pulled out his passport and showed it to me, it was valid with a signature and clearly had the gentleman’s face on it. I went back inside the polling station and told the poll workers that it was not a legally acceptable reason to deny somebody the right to vote if they presented a valid US passport. 

The poll worker said that the gentlemen could not vote because the passport did not have his “home address on it”. That is when I asked to speak with the supervisor of the polling station. The supervisor came over and told me the exact same thing. I pulled out my phone and showed her that she was mistaken and that the law clearly states that a US passport is a valid form of identification in order to be allowed to vote. The supervisor said that she would have to call the elections department to get clarification, but I told her that I conducted a simple Google search to show her all the acceptable forms of ID which are allowed to vote in the state of Florida. She did look them up and after consulting with two poll workers, finally relented and let the man vote. 

The gentleman came up to me and told me, as he shook my hand, “Thank you for protecting my right to vote”

Pratt returned for a confrontation that he captured on film with the poll workers and the supervisor. The supervisor maintained that it was just a misunderstanding and a “clerical error.” Pratt posted the confrontation on his Facebook page:

Pratt also attempted to speak with another poll worker outside of the polling station, but was told to leave. Why? Because he was “intimidating the voters.” I’m sure they know all about that, huh?

The sad thing about this is that the GOP would likely have still won without all of this chicanery. It seems like there was a concerted effort to attack voter turn out, and who knows how many “clerical errors” played out on Tuesday as a result.

WATCH:

The GOP’s Keep-In-The-Vote program worked

Virginia’s voter ID law — one of many getting their first field tests in a slew of Republican-controlled states this year — had the potential to suppress turnout by at least two percent.

At the time, I had no idea the state’s senate race would be anything resembling close. And yet, Mark Warner eked out a win by less than a full percentage point against a candidate who straight up stopped campaigning in the weeks before Election Day. 

These new voter suppression ID laws made it harder for millions of people to vote this year.

As the Brennan Center for Justice noted yesterday, four states (Virginia included) had statewide races in which the margin of victory was eclipsed or nearly eclipsed by the “margin of disenfranchisement,” which is the number of people affected by new voting restrictions.

To be sure, these laws didn’t decide the Senate as a whole, and they may not have decided any individual senate races (although it’s unknown how many down-ballot races could have been affected by suppressed turnout).

Voting isn’t supposed to be a partisan issue. If nothing else is taken from this election, it’s that the Republican Party has solidified its status as the party of legally-rigged elections.However, they have undoubtedly affected margins of victory and they have absolutely soured millions of Americans on the very idea of civic engagement.

TX Senator Pathetically Takes to Twitter to Mock Thousands of Americans Who Won’t Be Able to Vote

Voter ID laws, or as I like to call them the modern day poll tax, have sparked quite the debate these last few years. In fact, I was forced to pay a poll tax in Texas this year before I was allowed to vote. Since Republicans can’t just outright charge Americans for their right to vote, they’ve found a loophole to charge poll taxes with these new strict voter ID laws. Because when it comes right down to it, Americans are having to pay for the proper identification that’s required for them to legally submit their vote.

So, are Americans being charged for their right to vote? Not directly, but instead they’re having to pay various fees for the right documentation or identification so that they’ll be allowed to vote.

But most Republicans I’ve encountered on this issue simply don’t get it. I don’t care if most Americans have an ID or that you need an ID to do other things like buy a gun (at least in some cases) or open a bank account. I don’t even care if someone should already have a copy of their birth certificate “because they’re an adult.”

None of that matters.

It is unconstitutional and illegal to charge Americans for their right to vote.

End of story.

This isn’t a debatable issue. There’s no “Yeah, but…” response to this. The moment an American is required to pay anything for their right to vote, that’s unconstitutional. It doesn’t matter if the polling place is charging one penny to get in to vote - that’s illegal.

The amount charged doesn’t matter. Whether it’s $0.01 or $1,000,000, you cannot charge an American for their right to vote.

Well, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) took to Twitter recently to mock tens of thousands of Americans who won’t be allowed to vote this year because for whatever reason they lack the proper identification.

The senator tweeted:

Like I said, they just don’t get it.

She’s lucky she has time to take off work (if she works) to go down and get a new ID. Many Americans can’t afford to miss work. Hell, she’s lucky she has the money to pay for a new ID. That’s something else many Americans living in poverty don’t have.

But it all comes back to the very fundamental issue that Senator Cornyn actually exposed with this tweet: Texas voter ID laws are poll taxes.

Think about it. He claims his wife lost her ID. That being said, could she vote unless she paid for another ID (or at least at some point paid for a birth certificate to get a “free” Election Identification Certificate)?

The answer is simple: No, she couldn’t.

So here we have a U.S. Senator admitting that his wife will have to purchase an ID, which she will be required to show in order to vote in Texas.

No matter how these Republicans want to try to spin these unconstitutional voter ID laws, they’re poll taxes – plain and simple.

And without thinking, John Cornyn actually admitted as much with his pathetic tweet mocking those Americans who won’t be able to exercise their right to vote this November because of these unconstitutional laws.

5 Reasons the LGBT Community Should Not Sit Out This Election

With only a week and a half to go, the word among political pundits is that most progressive voters will stay home on November 4th. While midterm elections are not as sexy as the ones in which we get to pick a president, here are five reasons why the LGBT community should not sit out this year:

Marriage Equality

At present over 30 states have some level of marriage equality in place, but over a dozen still do not. Further, even with court after court striking down gay marriage bans, some in the deepest of red states, many conservatives are vowing to fight this issue to the bitter end. Several states that were affected by federal appeal rulings are doing everything in their power to still thwart equality. We must be just as passionate in battling their bigotry, but at the ballot box. A vote for gay-friendly candidates helps ensure we continue to have elected officials in place to appoint progressive-minded judges and to vote against bills that target gays, lesbians, and transgender people.

Transgender Rights

There's a pervasive feeling that since gays and lesbians have achieved marriage equality we have now completely won the fight against the discrimination that has long been waged against our community. However, gay marriage is only one of our battles. We cannot forget our transgender siblings who have also made gains, but are still not afforded an appropriate level of respect and dignity in this country. Transgender people are frequent victims of hate crime, with society doling out few repercussions to the perpetrators. A quick read of the news reveals a number of recent attacks, often fatal, on transgender individuals across our country, including a recent beating that made headlines in Brooklyn, New York this past week. On top of the crimes we hear about, statistics show that many transgender people who experience brutal treatment do not report attacks as many law enforcement agencies do not adequately respond to these crimes. In addition, transgender men and women endure acts of bias that go beyond the obvious and include the subtleties of employment discrimination and denial of basic services. As a community we must continue to put our powerful money, voices, and votes behind candidates that will advocate for equality on every level and do not leave any of our brethren out in the cold.

Employment Non-Discrimination

Since 1974 some form of employment anti-discrimination bill has been brought to the floor of the United States Congress with little success. Most recently a number of gay-rights groups pulled their support for the latest Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) fearing the bill would have allowed religious groups to cite objections and thus legally discriminate against LGBT employees. The more senators and congressmen we help to elect, the better chance our community has of Congress passing a fully inclusive ENDA to protect workers from dismissal simply for being homosexual or transgender.

Reward Obama

Maybe President Obama disappointed the anti-war and anti-Wall Street movements, but let's not forget so easily that Obama has stood up for our community almost more than any other group of people in the country. The White House itself is quick to remind us on its website that O's list of accomplishments include repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, ending the legal defense of DOMA, signing hate crimes legislation and so much more. Plus, we cannot minimize the fact that this president is the first one to state that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marriage. No politician is perfect, but Obama stood by us and we should show some gratitude at the polls to help to elect individuals that are more inclined to work with the president on other progressive issues, like immigration reform.

Duty

Finally, with people all over the world marching year after year, even dying for the basic right to cast a vote in an election, we have that privilege at our fingertips. According to statistics, only 37 percent of voters even went to the polls in the 2010 mid-term election. To people around the globe that live under oppressive regimes where citizens have no voice at all, we must look like a self-absorbed, lazy, and entitled nation of people. Whether we agree or disagree with the people that are vying for office, we need to get our butts off the couch and away from the computer long enough to exercise our right and let our voices be heard. Even if we despise the individuals that are running, we can always write in the name of a candidate that we don't see on the ballot. The groups of people that seek to deny the LGBT community equality and dignity have no problem mobilizing on Election Day to make their point. As a gay, lesbian, transgender, bi-sexual, and queer-affirming group of people, we must show the same diligence and advocate for our own rights at the ballot box.

A conservative judge's devastating take on why voter ID laws are evil

In a rational world, the debate over voter ID laws would be ended by the eloquent, incisive and angry opinion issued late last week by U.S. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner of Chicago in a case concerning Wisconsin.

But this isn't a rational world. So not only will the debate continue, but Posner's opinion failed even to sway his fellow judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The court split 5-5 on Posner's request for an en banc -- that is, full court -- rehearing of the Wisconsin case, in which a three-judge panel already had cleared the state's ID law to go into effect for next month's election. That meant Posner's request was turned down and his opinion was in the nature of a dissent.

Some of the 'evidence' of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid.- US Appellate Judge Richard A. Posner, assailing Wisconsin's voter ID law

As it happens, the Supreme Court has stepped in and suspended the Wisconsin law, probably invalidating it for the upcoming polls. But Posner's 30-page dissent, laid out in his typical lucid and direct manner, is as exacting an examination as you're likely to find of why voter ID laws are corrupt and iniquitous, and why their usual rationale -- to combat voter fraud -- is a lie.

Before walking through Posner's opinion, a few words about why he's important. Posner, 75, is no wooly-headed liberal, but a card-carrying conservative who was appointed to the circuit bench by Ronald Reagan in 1981. He's widely regarded as the smartest jurist in the federal judiciary, and was identified in 2000 by Fred Shapiro of Yale Law School as the most-cited legal scholar of all time. (Shapiro's full list is here.)

While still unquestionably conservative, Posner has been moving away from Republican orthodoxy on many issues, or perhaps it's more accurate to say that today's Republicans and conservatives have moved away from his principles. You can get a taste of that from his opinion last month overturning gay-marriage bans in Indiana and Wisconsin, finding that their grounds for such discrimination "are not only conjectural; they are totally implausible." For a taste of how Posner treats ill-prepared lawyers in court, listen to these clips from the oral arguments in that gay-marriage case, and thank your lucky stars you weren't the attorneys tasked with defending the bans.

Posner's dissent in the Wisconsin voter ID case is especially telling, because he wrote the so-called Crawford decision in 2007 upholding

Indiana's voter ID law, in which he was upheld by the Supreme Court. But he has since recanted. In a 2013 book, he accepted the view that such laws are properly regarded as "a means of voter suppression rather than fraud prevention." That's the view that informs his latest opinion.

"There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud," he writes, "and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens." More specifically, he observes, photo ID laws are "highly correlated with a state's having a Republican governor and Republican control of the legislature and appear to be aimed at limiting voting by minorities, particularly blacks." In Wisconsin, according to evidence presented at trial, the voter ID law would disenfranchise 300,000 residents, or 9% of registered voters.

Posner systematically demolishes every argument mustered in support of voter ID laws. Combating voter fraud? "There is compelling evidence that voter-impersonation fraud is essentially nonexistent in Wisconsin." Assertions about voter fraud are "a mere fig leaf for efforts to disenfranchise voters." He adds that "some of the 'evidence' of voter-impersonation fraud is downright goofy, if not paranoid, such as the nonexistent buses that according to the 'True the Vote' movement [a voter suppression organization originating in the tea party movement] transport foreigners and reservation Indians to polling places."

Indeed, Posner writes, lists of the states that impose the strictest requirements "imply that a number of conservative states try to make it difficult for people who are outside the mainstream, whether because of poverty or race or problems with the English language...to vote."

How about the argument that photo ID is required to board a plane and for many other routine actions, so what's the harm in requiring it for voting? Posner points out that the requirement of photo ID for flying is "a common misconception." Nor is it true, as the three-judge appeals panel had it, that photo ID is required to pick up a prescription (not so in Wisconsin and 34 other states, Posner observes); open a bank account (not true anywhere in the country) or buy a gun (not true under federal law at gun shows, flea markets, or online).

Then there's the argument that getting a photo ID is easy and cheap, and therefore that people without them must not care enough about voting to bother. The three-judge panel wrote that obtaining a photo ID merely requires people "to scrounge up a birth certificate and stand in line at the office that issues driver's licenses." Posner replies that he himself "has never seen his birth certificate and does not know how he would go about 'scrounging' it up." Posner appends a sheaf of documents handed to an applicant seeking a photo ID for whom no birth certificate could be found in state records. It ran to 12 pages.

As for its supposedly negligible cost, "that's an easy assumption for federal judges to make, since we are given photo IDs by court security free of charge. And we have upper-middle-class salaries. Not everyone is so fortunate." He cites a study placing the expense of obtaining documentation at $75 to $175 -- which even when adjusted for inflation is far higher than "the $1.50 poll tax outlawed by the 24th amendment in 1964."

Posner places Wisconsin's argument for its voter ID law within a "fact-free cocoon." Last week, the state's governor, Scott Walker, defended the law by asserting it's worthwhile whether it stops "one, 100 or 1,000" illegal votes." Leaving aside that the number of illegal votes for which there's any evidence is zero, the very idea of disenfranchising 300,000 voters in the hope of stopping even 1,000 illegal votes is beyond fatuous, and well into the category of hopelessly cynical. Walker's lawyers tried to make that case before Judge Posner, his written opinion shows what he thought of it.

Bernie Sanders Nails Republican Lies About Voter ID Laws After Release Of GAO Report

Something most liberals have known all along has basically been confirmed in a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report shows new voter ID laws that have been passed in a number of Republican-controlled states are making it more difficult for Americans to vote. Specifically those Americans who tend to vote for Democrats.

I know, you’re shocked.

Here’s part of the statement released by Senator Bernie Sanders’ office:

State laws that make voters show IDs at polling places have put a price on ballot access and eroded turnout – especially among African Americans, young people and recently-registered voters – a non-partisan congressional watchdog concluded. 

The Government Accountability Office report also found scant evidence of voter fraud that the new laws that ostensibly are designed to discourage. 

The report was requested by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). The senators asked the research arm of Congress to investigate what they called an “alarming number” of new state laws that make it “significantly harder” for millions of voters to cast ballots. 

The report calculated the direct cost to would-be voters in the 17 states where voters must present a driver’s license or other state identification at polling places. The price for driver’s licenses ranges from $14.50 in Indiana to $58.50 in Rhode Island. The cost of getting a birth certificate needed to obtain a non-driver ID ranges from $7 in North Dakota to $25 in Georgia. 

Focusing on two states with strict ID laws, Kansas and Tennessee, the GAO found greater falloffs in voter turnout in those states than in states without restrictive voting laws. The 2012 general election turnout compared to 2008 was as much as 3.2 percent less in Kansas and 2.2 percent less in Tennessee than in other states. The falloff was greatest among African-Americans, young people and newly-registered voters, the GAO said.

I highlighted the last two paragraphs because they’re particularly important. Republicans have seemingly found a way around illegal poll taxes by simply requiring people pay to have an ID before they’re allowed to vote. So, in reality, it’s just a roundabout way to levy a poll tax – without directly charging a poll tax.

Not only that, but these laws are lowering voter turnout. And like I’ve said before, anyone who’s trying to make it harder for Americans to vote clearly has some kind of unethical ulterior motives. Especially when this study concluded that the people most adversely effected by these laws were African Americans, young people and newly registered voters. Otherwise known as voters who tend to vote for Democrats more than Republicans.

Again, I know you’re completely shocked. Republican legislatures passing strict voter ID laws that just happen to lower the voter turnout among demographics who vote for Democrats - no way! 

And, as most of you might expect, the Supreme Court keeps upholding these unconstitutional laws. But that’s what happens when the court is controlled by conservative justices.

This has to stop, because history is just repeating itself. Decades ago poll taxes were used to try to discourage people from voting (specifically African Americans). Now these “poll taxes” are being disguised under the pretense of “combating voter fraud” by requiring Americans to present an ID before they can vote. An ID that the vast majority of Americans would have to pay for in order to obtain.

So, if Americans can’t be forced to pay in order to exercise their right to vote, but an ID costs money, how is that not requiring Americans to pay a fee before they can vote?

I can’t emphasize this enough, liberals must get out to vote this November. I don’t care what hoops they try to make you jump through - vote. We cannot continue to allow Republicans to violate our Constitutional rights and rig our election process. Because if we don’t get out to vote, we’re just handing this country right over to them. And we damn sure can’t let that happen.

Republican Candidate Gets Purged From Voter Rolls In Arkansas Because Of GOP Voter Suppression Laws

The Republican Party is throwing a temper tantrum after one of their own candidates was purged from the Arkansas voter rolls, and they only have themselves to blame.

Leslie Rutledge is the GOP candidate in the race to become Arkansas’ next Attorney General. Well, she used to be anyway. As it turns out, the state constitution requires candidates for public office to be registered voters, but because of voter suppression laws passed by the GOP, Rutledge has not only been disqualified as a voter, she could be disqualified as a candidate because of it.

Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane booted Rutledge’s name off the voter rolls because she failed to follow proper procedure. She failed to cancel previous registrations in Washington DC and Virginia before she moved to Pulaski County, where she failed to re-register to vote.

Of course, this caused Republicans to accuse Crane, a Democrat, of engaging in “dirty tricks,” but Crane says he was legally bound to remove Rutledge’s name from the rolls after receiving a letter about the issue of her registration.

Rutledge isn’t the only person in Arkansas to be tossed from the voter pool. Thousands of Arkansas voters have faced the same treatment. They’ve been thrown off the voter rolls, interrogated about their personal information, and had their legal vote discarded entirely due to restrictive anti-voting measures passed by Republicans. But because their own laws are affecting one of their own, only now are they upset. In fact, Republicans are so pissed that karma came back to bite them in the ass that they’re complaining about a tactic that they themselves have defended ruthlessly for months across the country. In short, they’re being hypocrites.

The chairman of the Republican National Lawyers Association decided to defend Rutledge by whining about her being “systematically removed from voter rolls within 90 days of a federal election.” He also claimed that Democrats were responsible for this voter suppression.

The fact is that it is a clear and unmistakable attempt at the most harmful kind of voter suppression in violation of federal law – removing a qualified female voter from the rolls notwithstanding her valid registration and actual votes in the last 4 elections in violation of her civil rights. Democrats should be embarrassed.

Democrats, however, are not the ones who have pushed voter suppression laws in states around the nation. The Republicans did that. Where were they when citizens who have been voting for decades were denied their right to vote because of the laws they themselves passed? Oh, that’s right, they didn’t give a damn because the laws they passed are supposed to target Democratic voters, not Republican voters.

But in this case, the voter suppression laws enacted by the GOP not only affected a Republican voter, it took down a Republican candidacy. And now they’re throwing a fit and accusing Democrats of voter suppression. Unfortunately for the GOP, Democrats are not to blame for their own misfortune. They already know who the true culprit is, all they have to do is look in a mirror.

Black LGBT activist arrested after distributing literature on voter’s rights

A black LGBT rights activist and former state Senate candidate was arrested in North Carolina Monday for distributing literature on voting rights.

Police say Ty Turner violated a city ordinance by distributing the leaflets on parked cars.

Turner was flyering the cars as part of an event held in response to the state’s history of racial profiling and violating voter’s rights.

Turner told Think Progress: “They said they would charge me for distributing literature.”

“I asked [the officer] for the ordinance number [I was violating], because they can’t put handcuffs on you if they cannot tell you why they’re detaining you.

“I said, ‘Show me where it’s illegal to do this.’ But he would not do it.

“The officer got mad and grabbed me. Then he told me that I was resisting arrest.”

Turner says police took him to three different spots other than jail after arresting him, including an empty parking lot.

He told ThinkProgress: “They knew they were in the wrong.”

Turner was not charged with any crime and was released from custody after being given a citation soon after his arrest.

Turner is openly gay and campaigned for Senate with a platform endorsing equality and inclusion for LGBT North Carolinians.

Watch a video Turner took of his arrest below:

Pennsylvania Judge Strikes Down State’s Voter ID Law

Commonwealth Judge Bernard McGinley has ruled there is no need for a voter ID law in Pennsylvania!

Democrats have been grinding their teeth ever since Pennsylvania State House Majority Leader Mike Turzai announced the new Voter ID Law passed by the legislature was “gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” Lawyers presented his statement in court as evidence the state’s newfound interest in voter fraud was just voter suppression in disguise.

To Leader Turzai’s eternal disappointment, the state’s supreme court kept the law from taking effect in time for the 2012 election. The justices sent the case back to the Commonwealth Court to investigate how the new ID requirements would impact legal voters, with instructions that the lower court must suspend the law if “liberal access to voter ID is nor ensured.”

Think Progress reports the Commonwealth Court has ruled. Judge Bernard McGinley struck down the law, issuing a permanent injunction against the voter ID requirement, writing:

“In Pennsylvania, the right of qualified electors to vote is a fundamental one. Therefore, Pennsylvania precedent does not permit regulation of the right to vote when such regulation denies the franchise, or ‘make[s] it so difficult as to amount to a denial.’”

Judge McGinley also dismissed the state’s claim they were concerned about voter fraud, saying he found such instances to be “exceedingly rare”.

The case will no doubt be appealed, once again, to the state supreme court.

Welcome back Jim Crow! The GOP should be so proud!