"This year there's been a significant wave of new laws in states across the country that have the effect of cracking down on voting rights. It is the most significant rollback in voting rights in decades," said Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center. "More voters may be affected than the margin of victory in two out of the past three presidential elections."
The report sums up the scary statistics on voter suppression:
Already 19 new laws and two new executive actions are in place. At least 42 bills are still pending, and at least 68 more were introduced but failed.
These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.
The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.Koch-funded ALEC is behind "voter ID" laws already being pushed by corporate-puppet governors like John Kasich, Rick Snyder and Scott Walker. Now Governors Gone Wild have the help of Secretary of States Gone Wild, in places like Maine and Colorado.
Maine Secretary of State Charles Summers sent a letter last week to hundreds of college students who were legally registered to vote in Maine, scaring them by implying they may have violated election laws and encouraging them to re-register elsewhere.
This week, a Denver court is expected to decide whether Secretary of State Scott Gessler can keep eligible, registered voters in Denver from voting. Gessler’s efforts could have an impact on Initiative 300, an all-mail-in ballot referendum to allow Denver workers to earn paid sick days.
If Gessler wins, this could begin a cycle of registered voters being deemed “inactive,” and no longer receiving mail ballots. If Gessler gets his way, the disenfranchised would include about 55,000 voters, including Latino and African American voters, as well as young voters, the disabled and war veterans.
Charming.
