Top Florida Republicans admit that “voter fraud” laws are about suppressing turnout.

The prior chair of the Florida Republican Party (2006–2010) and former governor Charlie Crist (2007–2011) have both told the Palm Beach Post that they didn’t push voter ID laws and the like in order to reduce fraud (there is none)—they did it to suppress turnout. The more people voting, the better Democrats do. They invented …

43% of Philadelphia voters lack photo ID.

Approximately 437,237 Philadelphia residents will not be able to vote under Pennsylvania’s controversial new voter ID law. Statewide, it’s 1.6M people, or one in five voters. This law was pushed strongly by Republicans and—damnest thing—it’s mostly Democrats who are disenfranchised by this law. It’s no wonder that the U.S. Attorney General is investigating whether the …

There is no voter fraud in Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania is defending their voter ID law in court, and they’ve just dealt themselves a serious blow. In a filing, they’ve admitted that there “have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states,” as …

Links for October 11th

CJR: The Shorter-Form JournalThis clever analysis of Wall Street Journal article lengths over the years shows that, under Rupert Murdoch, articles have gotten quite a bit shorter. The Washington Post: Five myths about voter fraudThere are some important and interesting facts about voter fraud here. A member of the Commission on Federal Election Reform figures …

Links for October 5th

Chattanooga Times-Free Press: 96-year-old Chattanooga resident denied voting IDDorothy Cooper even managed to vote under Jim Crow, but the Tennessee Republican Party has proved to be one obstacle she can't overcome. She's never driven, so she has no driver's license. She tried to get a photo ID, but she has to present her marriage certificate, …

Links for March 9th

Richmond Times-Dispatch: 1,100 felons regain rights in McDonnell’s first yearColor me surprised. I would happily have put down $50 saying that McDonnell wouldn't restore the civil rights to but maybe 10% as many felons as Gov. Tim Kaine Kaine did. He's on pace to match Kaine. This is still a terrible system—we're one of just …

Links for March 7th

Washington Post: In states, parties clash over voting laws that call for IDs, limits on where college students can cast ballotsNew Hampshire Republicans are trying to prohibit college students from voting in their state because students are "foolish" and they tend to be "voting as a liberal." New York Times: Fox and Glenn Beck Stare …

Should voting histories be private?

The Roanoke Times editorialized today in favor of the Know Campaign’s guilt-based GOTV campaign, and I couldn’t agree more. That was the conservative group who was looking to send out mailers telling people which of their neighbors have voted in recent elections. The SBE was upset, as were many citizens, who complained that whether or …

Left of Center: Reforming Virginia elections.

February’s Left of Center meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night at Rapture, 7:00 PM: After last year’s historic voter participation, what is being done to ensure that every vote is counted and make voting more accessible to everyone, particularly students and people convicted of felonies? Amongst the many pieces of legislation that are being considered during …

Albemarle turnout report.

Turnout here at the Stony Point precinct of Albemarle County is off the charts. Normally we’d have somewhere between zero and five people waiting when the polls open. Today it was 49, with another half dozen walking from their cars to the line at the moment that the doors opened. We had over 200 people …