Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Hey, Chief Justice Roberts. Yeah I'm talking to you. Does this look like race-based GOP voter suppression — the Southern strategy — is a thing of the past to you? Ed Kilgore writes at the Political Animal blog, Supreme Court Decisions Have Consequences:
So do you think the Supreme Court decision
largely invalidating the preclearance requirement imposed by Section 5
of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was no big deal, since southern
discrimination is largely a thing of the past and other
anti-discrimination measures are available?
Check out what the North Carolina legislature is about to do, per this depressing report from The Nation’s Ari Berman:
This week, the North Carolina legislature will almost
certainly pass a strict new voter ID law that could disenfranchise
318,000 registered voters who don’t have the narrow forms of accepted
state-issued ID. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the bill has since been
amended by Republicans to include a slew of appalling voter suppression
measures. They include cutting a week of early voting, ending same-day
registration during the early voting period and making it easier for
vigilante poll-watchers to challenge eligible voters. The bill is being
debated this afternoon in the Senate Rules Committee.
Until the Shelby County v. Holder decision came down, this
bill would have been reviewable on multiple grounds by the Civil Rights
Division of the U.S. Justice Department, and might not have even
included some of the more egregious restrictions. As Berman points out,
there are alternative legal paths for challenging the bill, and it could
spark a political backlash that could thwart its intent. But there’s no
question that southern Republicans are fully aware of the the green
light the Court gave them, and are racing ahead, knowing voting
restrictions are much harder to reverse once they are enacted.
Instead of calling it the Republican Party we ought call it the Regressive Party — taking America back to before the Civil War. Whatever happened to the forward looking optimism of Americans? Who are these hateful people?
And if you think this can't happen here in Arizona, think again. Just wait until the legislature comes back into session next January.
UPDATE: Think Progress breaks down the voter suppression measures in North Carolina. North Carolina On Cusp Of Passing Worst Voter Suppression Bill In The Nation.