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USW District 2 Director Michael Bolton and progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall this week discussed the spate of recent laws that make it harder for students, the elderly, minorities and other groups to vote.
Conservatives who back these laws claim that they are about preventing fraud. But laws that force voters to show specific IDs, eliminate early voting, and allow vigilantes to intimidate voters at the polls are really about suppressing the votes of groups that tend to vote Democratic, said Bolton.
“Their key is to drive down turnout. I heard a Republican say one time, ‘the fewer people who vote, the better it is for us.’”
Cases of true voter fraud are extremely rare, with as few as only one for every 15 million eligible voters. These laws, on the other hand, put up obstacles that could potentially disenfranchise 5 million legal voters.
Many of these people take their right to vote seriously but genuinely lack the money, time or access to transportation needed to comply with new rules. “There are just so many instances of people being denied their right who have voted for years,” Bolton said.
These laws “should be called what they are,” said Bolton, “and that’s voter suppression.”
For the full audio, click the link below:
Background Materials:
Republicans try to kill the African-American vote
How the Supreme Court Made a Mess of Our Voting System
Chinese, GOP Agree Non-Rich Shouldn’t Vote
The Big Lie Behind Voter ID Laws
With voter ID on hold in Wisconsin, Republicans call for vigilantes
$16 million in ads later, not much has changed in Walker-Burke race
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