It's never to early to stage a fight for people's rights. And in this case, it's the voter rights act, or what's left of it. As you'll see below, Chris Hayes does a great job summing up the issues that are happening thanks to the scurrilous political right. If they don't succeed in stopping selected groups of voters, these wingnuts will lose their grip on power. And make no mistake, they do have the upper hand in power in most of the country, and not just the south. Take the case of Republican Iowa Secretary of State, Matt Schultz:
This movement of tamping down minority vote has been with us since reconstruction. Before that, Blacks and other minorities were just plain denied the right to vote, even if born here. Color was the obstacle. Jim Crow laws replaced just straight refusal which was followed by gangs literally beating minority voters, sometimes to death for even showing up at a poll. And then again there were the poll taxes.
But these measures were about hate, not fraud... or so they appeared. Then next step up the illusion trail to keep minorities away is the current voter fraud issue. It's so rampant that candidates have based their entire statewide campaign on stamping out voter fraud -- and won. That tired scare tactic has worked. Yet when you run on a platform, you are usually called into service upon taking office to move on the issue.
That brings us to Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz (R). He did as promised and pulled back the curtain on rampant voter fraud in his state. Huffpo revealed this:
Since taking office in 2011, Schultz has made safeguarding the ballot box from fraud a top state priority, striking a two-year deal with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation in 2012 that directed $280,000 of federal funds toward voter fraud inquiries. Additionally, a full-time agent was hired and assigned to pursue voter fraud cases.
The results were as reported by Chris Hayes in the video above. There is really no true voter fraud. There's bigotry fraud. And that's what this is all about, summed up perfectly by a well-respected Republican
In August, former U.S. Secretary of StateColin Powell criticized the argument of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) that his approval of a more restrictive voting bill would combat voter fraud.
“You can say what you like, but there is no voter fraud,” Powell said at the CEO Forum in Raleigh, N.C. “How can it be widespread and undetected?”
Voter ID laws are not going away anytime soon. So maybe it's time to take the campaign to get picture approved ID's to those without. A door to door program of volunteers to help people accumulate the necessary papers and documents, and then give them a ride to their DMV to get free photo ID's might be what it takes. But when those eligible voters get their identification, they can go from being denied, to doing the denying -- denying the racist incumbents who earlier denied them the right to vote from returning to office. Give them a dose of their own medicine.
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