TAMPA — Those who don’t believe it’s going to be a long and
nasty 11 months before Election Day should just look at how
Attorney General Eric Holder and Democrats across the country are
accusing Republicans of attempting to keep Democratic core
constituents — minorities, young people, the poor, the disabled,
etc. — away from the polls.
These charges are a symptom and preview of that party’s
campaign, which promises to be built on little more than attempting
to gin up racial and social class resentments. My sources in the
Democratic National Committee tell me that group is considering
changing its anthem from “Happy Days are Here Again” to “We Wuz
Robbed.” (See November 2000.)
Requirements for voting have gotten a bit loosey-goosey,
in Florida and elsewhere, over the past few cycles. In many
jurisdictions people need do little more than show up at polls,
with or without credible ID, in order to be handed a ballot. There
have been well-documented instances of fraud, particularly
involving third party groups registering voters.
Rules for obtaining an absentee ballot are particularly
slack, with some counties insisting on little more than a pulse for
receiving one (though when past practices in Chicago and select
other precincts are considered, insisting on a pulse may be a step
in the right direction). Any attempt of late to make voting more
secure, no matter how reasonable, has been branded by Democrats as
an attempt to disenfranchise their voters.
In order to save taxpayer money and to make voter fraud
more difficult, the Florida Legislature last year passed
legislation that reduces early-voting days in the state from 14 to
eight while requiring that third party organizations that register
voters turn in registration paper work within 48 hours. (This last
requirement is in response to incidents in Florida where third
parties did not turn in registration paperwork at all.) Several
other states passed similar measures.
In Florida Democrats have reacted to these measured steps
in much the same way Dracula reacted to sunlight. Reading or
listening to Democratic leading lights one would have to conclude
that Jim Crow is back in town. In a press release from Florida
Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, running for re-election this
year, we read this: “The right to vote is, and always has been, at
the foundation of our democracy. But this fundamental right is
under serious attack right now, in Florida and more than a dozen
other states. Many believe a handful of super-rich conservative
activists are behind an orchestrated effort to keep millions of
seniors, younger voters, and minorities from casting ballots next
year.”
On reading this, I sent a case of de-caf directly to
Nelson’s Washington office. He and his staff clearly already have a
well-thumbed copy of Saul Alinsky’s playbook and etiquette
manual.
As delusional as these charges may seem, Nelson had no
difficultly getting his Democratic colleague Dick Durbin of
Illinois, a state with a colorful history of voting practices, to
go along with the gag. Durbin, chairman of the Subcommittee on
Human Rights and the Law of the Senate Judiciary Committee, will
hold an “investigative field hearing” in Tampa in January because,
Durbin says, Florida’s new law “will almost certainly
disenfranchise a wide swath of the state’s young, minority, senior,
disabled, rural and low income voters.”
Neither Nelson nor Durbin have said how the new law will
keep these Democratic constituencies from the polls, or in any way
inconvenience them.
“Absolutely not,” said Lane Wright, Florida governor Rick
Scott’s press secretary, when I asked him if Florida’s new law put
up any barriers to any eligible Floridian voting. “Governor Scott
signed this bill to ensure that Florida’s elections are secure and
free of fraud.” He said. “Every eligible Floridian is free to vote.
We have confidence the system is free and accurate.”
Wright said while the law cuts back on the early voting
days it allows the same number of hours for the polls to operate,
including on weekends. In the two-week system there were hours that
polls were open but very few voters showed up. The new system is
more efficient and because of weekend hours allows even more voters
an opportunity to vote at their convenience.
“There’s absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the new
law will lead to any voter suppression,” said Chris Cate,
communications director for the office of the Florida Secretary of
State, the agency that administers voting in Florida.
Cate said the process of registering to vote and then to
make address changes ahead of elections is very easy. Voters
wishing to make address changes at the polls on Election Day will
have to vote by provisional ballot, which will only be counted
after the county Supervisor of Elections Office verifies that the
voter is legit. But address changes before Election Day are easy
now and can be made by phone or by email.
The chief sponsor in the Florida House of the bill that
created the new law is unimpressed with the charges against it.
“There’s nothing in the election bill that limits the voting rights
of anybody in Florida,” said Dennis Baxley (R- Ocala). “What it
does is protect our elections from mishaps and mischief. On early
voting we didn’t cut one hour, just changed the schedule so polls
could be open all day.”
Baxley calls the complaints about the new law “overtly
political.” He says, “There has to be accountability in third party
registration. When you pay people to get signatures they’re going
to create them. A lot of that happened.”
The charges against Florida’s new election law are dopey
enough that the Florida ACLU has filed suit against implementing
the law.
Bob Sanchez, policy director for the James Madison
Institute in Tallahassee, a free market think tank, says it’s vital
to ensure that people who vote are who they say they are and are
citizens eligible to vote, as the new Florida law attempts to
do.
“It’s an ultimate irony that some voices are saying how
sacred voting rights are, but as soon as elected officials do
something they don’t like they rush to unelected officials in the
courts to overturn what the elected officials have done,” Sanchez
said.
These sorts of transparently baseless and cynical charges
against voting laws are being made in several states, without any
serious scrutiny given to them by the local liberal media. Even
Attorney General Holder is in on the act. In a speech in Austin,
Texas, Tuesday he anguished over unspecified attempts by
you-know-who to suppress minority voter turnout. He said he would
be casting an eye on Florida, as well as other states.
“We need election systems that are free from fraud,
discrimination, and partisan influence — and that are more, not
less, accessible to the citizens of this country,” Holder
said.
If only, huh? Perhaps Holder could sub out part of the
access portion of this project to the Black Panthers.
Baxley is unimpressed, saying, “Eric Holder needs to clean
his own house rather than trying to clean ours. He has his own
problems.”
I left multiple messages at Nelson’s office and that of
Durbin’s subcommittee asking for clarification on how Florida’s new
laws keep anyone away from the polls, let alone selects Democratic
constituencies to disenfranchise. My calls were not returned. Can’t
hardly blame these folks. It’s never easy or fun to defend the
indefensible.
