I happened upon an article in The Nation today by Ari Berman under the headline "North Carolina Republicans Push Extreme Voter Suppression Measures!" Needless to say, I wanted to see what horror the GOP was not foisting onto the unsuspecting public of the Tarheel State. Here are some of the extreme measures being passed now by the Republicans in the state legislature:
1. In future elections, early voting on Saturdays will end at 1:00 p.m. rather than continuing in the afternoon. During the week, the full day will still be available for voting.
Let's stop here and denounce the horror of having early voting close after only half a day on Saturdays. Are they kidding? Just how many folks are there who cannot get to the polls on election day or during the weeks prior to the election when early voting is held or on Saturday morning on the weekend before the election? And if there are some people who absolutely can vote only on Saturday afternoons, they can get absentee ballots by mail and return them by mail. No one is denied the vote; no votes are suppressed.
2. Counties will not be able to extend polling by an hour on election day if there are long lines.
Here too there is nothing happening. Let's be clear: if there are lines at polling places when closing time comes, every one of the folks in line is still allowed to vote. That's right, every person who came during voting hours gets to vote. The only people who cannot vote are the ones who did not bother to come out when voting was scheduled. This prevents certain counties from extending their hours to help one candidate or another on election day. So here too, no votes are suppressed.
3. The new law eliminates provisional voting if someone goes to the wrong polling place. A person who shows up at the wrong polling place will need to go to the correct one where all the documentation to verify the voters' eligibility to vote is located. Again, no votes are suppressed.
4. The new law eliminates straight party voting. Just imagine, instead of marking one box for Republican or Democrat, the voter will need to mark a separate box for each office. Whose vote does that suppress? Nobody's!
5. The new law purges voter rolls more often. People who have not voted for five years or who have been convicted of a felony are supposed to be removed from the voting rolls. Voters who have died are also supposed to be removed. The new law requires that these removals are done each year. No votes are suppressed except maybe those voters in cemeteries who frequently vote in alphabetical order. This stops fraud; it does not suppress votes.
6. The new law also shortens early voting. It is not as if there will only be a day or two of early voting. There will still be weeks of it. The counties, however, will no longer have to carry the cost of voting for as many weeks. Again, people who want to vote early have ample time to do so. If the loss of the week makes it impossible for someone to vote, they can just vote by absentee ballot by mail.
The truth is that none of these actions suppress voting. Once again, the left is using the big lie tactic.
1. In future elections, early voting on Saturdays will end at 1:00 p.m. rather than continuing in the afternoon. During the week, the full day will still be available for voting.
Let's stop here and denounce the horror of having early voting close after only half a day on Saturdays. Are they kidding? Just how many folks are there who cannot get to the polls on election day or during the weeks prior to the election when early voting is held or on Saturday morning on the weekend before the election? And if there are some people who absolutely can vote only on Saturday afternoons, they can get absentee ballots by mail and return them by mail. No one is denied the vote; no votes are suppressed.
2. Counties will not be able to extend polling by an hour on election day if there are long lines.
Here too there is nothing happening. Let's be clear: if there are lines at polling places when closing time comes, every one of the folks in line is still allowed to vote. That's right, every person who came during voting hours gets to vote. The only people who cannot vote are the ones who did not bother to come out when voting was scheduled. This prevents certain counties from extending their hours to help one candidate or another on election day. So here too, no votes are suppressed.
3. The new law eliminates provisional voting if someone goes to the wrong polling place. A person who shows up at the wrong polling place will need to go to the correct one where all the documentation to verify the voters' eligibility to vote is located. Again, no votes are suppressed.
4. The new law eliminates straight party voting. Just imagine, instead of marking one box for Republican or Democrat, the voter will need to mark a separate box for each office. Whose vote does that suppress? Nobody's!
5. The new law purges voter rolls more often. People who have not voted for five years or who have been convicted of a felony are supposed to be removed from the voting rolls. Voters who have died are also supposed to be removed. The new law requires that these removals are done each year. No votes are suppressed except maybe those voters in cemeteries who frequently vote in alphabetical order. This stops fraud; it does not suppress votes.
6. The new law also shortens early voting. It is not as if there will only be a day or two of early voting. There will still be weeks of it. The counties, however, will no longer have to carry the cost of voting for as many weeks. Again, people who want to vote early have ample time to do so. If the loss of the week makes it impossible for someone to vote, they can just vote by absentee ballot by mail.
The truth is that none of these actions suppress voting. Once again, the left is using the big lie tactic.
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