Comments on: Sunday’s column: Virginia voter suppression, circa 2016

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:53:16 +0000

“The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,’

Is he not making the connection? Ah republicans…clueless to the end.

By: Dan Casey

Dan Casey — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 05:46:35 +0000

From Raw Story: "Jim Greer, the former head of the Florida Republican Party, told The Palm Beach Post that a new law shortening the early voting period in the state was intended to prevent Democrats from voting. Greer said that since at least 2009, GOP staff and consultants had discussed limiting early voting hours, which they believed helped Democratic candidates. He described current talk of eliminating voter fraud as a “marketing ploy.” Former Republican Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida confirmed that GOP officials had sought to limit early voting in an effort to suppress Democrat turnout. He told the Post that the effort seemed to be aimed at ethnic minorities, a key demographic for Democrats. “The sad thing about that is yes, there is prejudice and racism in the party but the real prevailing thought is that they don’t think minorities will ever vote Republican,” Greer said. “It’s not really a broad-based racist issue. It’s simply that the Republican Party gave up a long time ago ever believing that anything they did would get minorities to vote for them.”

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 02:01:34 +0000

Seems to me the obvious answer to much of these problems of access, decreasing polling sites, expense of running a polling place, etc…..is to move the country towards ELECTRONIC ONLINE VOTING. This is 2012 and why do we need to go to a place and stand in line, when probably 65% of voters could do it from home, work, or mobile device. The $4 million that Gov. Bob earmarked to send us those cards and a letter that the cards were coming, would have gone a long way towards implementing an E-VOTE system.

Think of the paper it would save from not receiving all those handouts outside and carrying them into the trash can!

By: Dan Casey

Dan Casey — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:04:47 +0000

“No Another Chuck, my aunt is not an immigrant! 90 years ago, she was born at home without a doctor present and she has never had an actual birth certificate so none is “on file” to send her. To get one, she has to fill out other forms and get a different kind of birth certification. She has never driven a car. She worked outside the home, has a bank account, receives dividends and Social Security checks and has maintained her entire life without one.”

AC, the way the law is now, Sandi’s aunt can vote because her bank statement is allowed as ID (and she also has a new voter registration card, thank you Virginia taxpayers).

She has been voting for eons. Do you really believe the setup needs to be changed to make her jump through all those hoops just so she can keep the ability to vote?

This is real-world stuff, not theoretical, mind you.

I honestly wonder if you would be singing this tune if Romney had won.

By: Sandi Saunders

Sandi Saunders — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:54:42 +0000

We have no need to discuss the debt or the deficits because we have no expectation whatsoever that the right wingers here are any more capable of honest discussions based in reality on those subjects than they have had on any other subject. Just the mentions you already made and the responses prove the futility of arguing with people whose arguments are based in right wing talking points, cherry picked statistics and incredible claims.

Pardon those of us who find this current worry over 16T to be BS when the previous worry over 10T was non-existent. “Deficits don’t matter” -Dick Cheney

Pardon those of us who find this current worry over the spending specious when the previous worry over the war spending, revenue cuts and insurance company boons was non-existent.

Pardon those of us who find this current worry over the troops and the longevity of the war to be BS when the previous worry was non-existent.

By: Sandi Saunders

Sandi Saunders — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 15:47:30 +0000

No Another Chuck, my aunt is not an immigrant! 90 years ago, she was born at home without a doctor present and she has never had an actual birth certificate so none is “on file” to send her. To get one, she has to fill out other forms and get a different kind of birth certification. She has never driven a car. She worked outside the home, has a bank account, receives dividends and Social Security checks and has maintained her entire life without one. I am not real interested in whether your brain can understand that she is not the only one. The fact is that to allow only one form of ID, a DMV issued photo ID, would disenfranchise her, cause her to jump through hoops she has never had to before and in that, it would be a poll tax. It is a deliberate attempt to prevent people from voting because people like her will simply not vote rather than submit to the tyranny of people like you suddenly deciding she is not worthy of the right she has had for so long.

No one has or should have any gripe with showing some form of ID, but to limit that to one specific ID, knowing that many people will not have it, is a modern day poll tax, and voter suppression of the worst kind, with virtually no evidence of need.

By: Dan Casey

Dan Casey — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:34:59 +0000

“#41 Come on, AC, I rarely see gay marriage discussed on this board, although we do call out right wingers when they get all homophobic on us.”

AC, since you brought it up, it’ll get a mention on here Tuesday.

By: gdad

gdad — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:47:10 +0000

#41 Come on, AC, I rarely see gay marriage discussed on this board, although we do call out right wingers when they get all homophobic on us.

By: MikeC

MikeC — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:39:31 +0000

“I have posed the question many times about how to deal with our national debt, but no one seems to care. What moves the needle on this board is homeless voting rights ,gay marriage and women’s reproductive issues. Come on people, we are 16t in debt with a president that could care less about spending cuts.”

The right should let same-sex marriage “rock on” if they are truly ONLY concerned with the economy. We represent a huge “chunk of change” and are stereotypically notorious for spending money!

D.I.N.K, double income no kids. All the way to the bank!

http://money.cnn.com/2012/07/24/pf/gay-marriage-economic-impact/index.htm

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:01:28 +0000

AnotherChuck, k could name 10 things that interest and alarm me more than the deficit, Just because the current convenient GOP narrative is that we’re supposed to collectively be wetting ourselves over it – simply because they find it to be a facile cudgel to beat over Obama’s head (it has zero to do with principle) – doesn’t require me to fall in with the sheeple. The sky is not falling, the deficit will work itself out somehow as it always does (ask Reagan), and in the meantime there’s no reason to abandon civil rights and health care reform. None.