I've grown more and more angry with the state of the Mississippi Democratic Party, often my problem is with particular people. I don't mind if someone makes a stupid move, but some operate with a sheer stupidity that topples other, good democrats in their wake.
A few democrats have sued in federal court to address the NON-EXISTENT problem of voter dilution when Republicans cross over to vote in Democratic Primaries. As a result, this week, a federal judge has ruled that (by 2008) we must have a party registration system AND a voter ID system. The Republicans were not involved with this suit, but should be VERY happy by this result. Our current system requires you to vote in one primary (GOP or Democrat), but not both. this paired with the very large number of democratic officials elected locally (by far, the majority) has the effect of bringing more attention, support, and money into the Democratic Party. With the new registration process, it would be impossible to gain any more in these areas, but rather we can be guaranteed a deduction. More importantly, this opens the door for GOP growth in local/county elections where they have been helpless thus far. Party building this is not. Its like introducing loyalty oaths without any reward for that loyalty.
AND, leave it to these Democratic IDIOTS to deliver what no elected GOP official could over the last decade or more: Voter ID. This made up voter fraud issue is a hallmark of GOP suppression attempts has been delivered by the democrats themselves. This is the sort of thing that has very much tempted me to abandon Democratic Party politics in Mississippi. i say "tempted" because many of the GOP around here remain some of the most loathsome, destructive human beings I've met within this state's borders.
That last one really bothers me a lot. I've spent a great deal of my time and energy working against voter suppression tactics in this state, and to have a group of democrats do some of the very damage that I've worked to protect against for years may just be unforgivable. if you haven't already clicked the link in the above paragraph, here it is again. you REALLY should read about what has been going on across this country over the last decade in an attempt to suppress lawful voters.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The Last Straw?
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6 comments:
This is interesting. How will this action negatively affect the process though if in actuality it is a non-issue? I read that article, but couldn't quite understand the inuendos of it all. Could you summarize it in 3 points and a poem?
Well, my meaning was that the supposed 'voter fraud' is a bogus problem the GOP has used to introduce their 'fix' of voter ID (among other fixes). as that article i linked mentioned, voter ID is a way to shave points off democratic vote totals in the name of fixing a fake problem.
so, the fraud protection is a non issue. However we now get the suppression portion of the picture along with this new registration process which will also deplete democratic primary turnout...just great.
I'm angry over this...nearly beyond repair. I'm hopeful that my insight here is completely wrong because being right just makes me bitter.
Will the process not suppress Republican turnout equally? Is this something that is peculiar to your state?
What is the party voting percentage there Dem v Rep?
no, voter id tends to effect poorer voters (who tend to be democratic) MUCH more so, bc such a voter is much more likely not to have ID and not to be able to return with ID. it can shave the dem numbers down in a race by 4-7%. which can make a world of difference.
as for party affiliation, it depends. our house and senate are Maj. Dem. the local elections are Dems by a WIDE margin. we rarely vote for a Dem president, but have come reasonably close with Clinton 1.
So it sounds like your concerns are multi-leveled.
1. No matter what political affiliation, individuals affected by poverty are less likely to be able to meet these new voter requirements.
2. The requirement to register by party might negatively affect the voters who, it appears, are very comfortable flip-flopping parties, voting D locally and R nationally.
Does your state, Mississippi right, implement what we call here in TN, Moter Voter registration based on the 1993 voter registration act, and could those implementations become a basis for guaranteeing that the poor are not inequitably affected by this action? Tennessee is also among some states trying to implement a provision of picture IDs for homeless, non-drivers through a Homeless Management Information System (1/2 way down the page). That kind of thing is really important for providing tools for voting for that segment of society. Sorry, I'm going on and on and I won't even mention finger-print ID, but this subject is near and dear to me.
Did you see the New York Times on this today?
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