Keeping your vote from counting

July 31, 2012

The Virginian-Pilot reports, "At least 5 million voters, predominantly young and from minority groups sympathetic to President Barack Obama, could be affected by an unprecedented flurry of new legislation by Republican governors and GOP-led legislatures to change or restrict voting rights by Election Day 2012... Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia and Wisconsin, all viewed as important states this fall, each have enacted stricter ID laws."

Progressive Point: Across the country--and right here in Virginia--conservative politicians have put up new hurdles that make it harder for millions of law-abiding citizens to vote. They've pushed these laws to make it harder for students and minorities, who often don't vote for conservatives, to cast a ballot. But that's not all. The unintended consequences are that seniors who never got a birth certificate will also be turned away from the polls. Now Mitt Romney is even calling on Ken Cuccinelli to help him dissuade communities of color and young women from participating in this election.

Conservatives who've been more worried about protecting corporate tax breaks instead of middle class jobs don't want to face us at the polls--they don't want us to hold them accountable. This year, if Romney and Cuccinelli can't count on your vote, they'd rather you not be counted at all. This is America--we've never solved anything with less democracy and we won't now.

Get the Facts:

• Last week at almost 100 days before the election, Mitt Romney asked Ken Cuccinelli, our Attorney General, to spurn over 15,000 voter registration applications form a nonpartisan nonprofit group and question the eligibility of every Virginian who registered to vote in the past two months. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, July 27, 2012)


• The new voter ID law passed in Virginia forces voters who do not bring one of the approved forms of ID to the poll to cast a provisional ballot that will only be counted if they report to their election office with an approved ID within three days of the election. (Virginian-Pilot, July 30, 2012)


• According the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, implementing these voting restrictions would cost the state between $522,000 and $1.26 million. Not only are conservatives trying to implement what amounts to a poll tax, but they are also spending taxpayer money to do it. (Washington Times, March 15, 2012)


• Proponents of the new Virginia legislation making it harder to vote say its necessary to solve the problem of voter fraud, but even the bill's sponsor admits that voter fraud is not a problem and could not name an instance of it occurring. (YouTube)

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