The Supreme Court has recently taken on the task of determining if the federal government has the right to tell states how to conduct polling in their jurisdictions. In the case of Shelby County v. Holder, argued before the Court on Feb. 27, attorneys for Shelby County, Ala. said that it was inherently unfair for some states to have free license to change their voting laws while others don’t.
This is despite the fact that Alabama was caught attempting to disenfranchise Black voters in 2008 and that the last time the Voting Rights Act was up for extension, in 2006, it overwhelmingly passed the House and unanimously passed the Senate.
In light of numerous attempts to try to limit or thwart potential Democratic voters and minorities from voting, never has there been a time that the Voting Rights Act was more needed. However, in light of Justice Antonin Scalia’s comment on the bench that the Voting Rights Act was just a “racial entitlement” and concurrence from the conservatives on the Court that the Voting Rights Act is needlessly cumbersome, there is a real fear that the bill may be ruled unconstitutional and the states will have free rein to disqualify voters as they wish.
In light of the difficulties such “disqualification” measures imposed in the 2012 elections, Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) has re-introduced the 2013 Voter Empowerment Act (VEA) to the House. Co-sponsored by Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), George Miller (D-Calif.), Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and Bob Brady (D-Penn.) and re-introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) into the Senate — the VEA will nationalize the electoral process in the United States.
First introduced into the House in May 2012 by Rep. Lewis and into the Senate September 2012 by Sen. Gillibrand, the bill would remove barriers to voting by increasing access for voters with disabilities, prohibiting voter caging and deceptive practices, mandate the counting of all provisional ballots and provide for adequate training of all election officials. In addition, new and secure methods to allow for efficient voting registration, such as automatic, online or same-day voter registration will be allowed.
Registration for military members serving overseas will be simplified, increased standards will be put into place for voting machines and a national hotline to report voting problems will be established. Finally, the Election Assistance Committee will be reauthorized.
According to a press release from the office of Rep. Clyburn, “Protecting the right to vote requires continued vigilance and review … Unfortunately, the realities of Election Day 2012 reminded all Americans that although much progress was made in ensuring equal access to exercise the right to vote, much work remains. Across the country, Americans waited in line for hours as they attempted to vote. Many were forced to cast provisional ballots, while others were victims of false information scams or subjected to draconian early voting rules. This is an unacceptable standard for a leading global democracy. We can and should do better.”
Heather Smith, president of Rock the Vote, praised the VEA. “The Voter Empowerment Act is a positive step toward ensuring that every person who is eligible to cast a ballot is able to do so … If the strength of our democracy can be measured by the participation of our citizens, then barriers being placed on young people pose a serious threat to the long-term future of our democratic system. The Voter Empowerment Act is a great step toward a more modern election system that meets the needs of today’s voters.”
The 2012 version of this bill died in committee. There is reason to suspect that this version will suffer the same fate.
Dead on arrival
The 2012 elections proved one thing to the Republicans: They cannot win playing fair. With less than a third of the Latino vote and less than 1/20th of the African-American vote, the Republicans’ time-old strategy of cornering the White vote is insufficient in the multiethnic demographics of modern-day America.
While there have been some movement to bring in more minorities — the House has bipartisanly introduced an immigration bill that mirrors the defeated DREAM Act and the National Rifle Association (NRA) has started to aggressively recruit African-Americans and Latinos — the more radical aspects of the party, particularly, the Tea Party, has rejected assuming a more accommodationist role.
In light of this, the Republicans are left with only one alternative toward taking and retaining power: Change the rules of the game so that it favors them, again.
From REDMAP — the Republican Party’s seemingly successful attempt to permanently take and keep control of the House of Representatives by controlling a majority of state legislatures and aggressively gerrymandering congressional districts — to strict voter identification requirements, which many born in the South who do not have government-issued documentation of birth cannot meet — to restrictions on early voting hours, which aggravates voting access in heavily-populated areas, the Republicans have been following a well-defined path.
It can be argued that the Republican Party is following an established party platform that reflects the teachings of the Heritage Foundation’s co-founder Paul Weyrich: “I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”