GOP's push to suppress vote threatens democracy

[NJMaverick]

Quote:(CNN) -- One day before the election, tensions are running high and poll numbers are being crunched every few hours. Nowhere is this truer than in Ohio -- the pathway to victory. So there was a collective gasp Friday when a last-minute directive from Ohio's secretary of state, a Republican, threatened to invalidate a number of provisional ballots.
When the fate of the nation could hinge on a handful of votes, arcane state rules and local politicians' motives take on a new urgency.

Earlier last week the Obama campaign complained to Wisconsin's attorney general about what it said was "willful misrepresentation" by the Romney campaign in the materials used to train Election Day poll watchers. At issue was whether people in Wisconsin with felony convictions could vote. (They can, once they complete their sentences, but the Romney documents had said they can't.) Given that this fact can be Googled in less than 10 seconds, one must conclude the Romney campaign was either grossly ignorant of election law or intentionally deceiving volunteers in an effort to swing the vote.

This election year is the culmination of years of Republican efforts to foment confusion and fear to keep certain Americans from voting. That is a subplot of this election, but one that will have massive consequences. In close and bitterly fought elections, there's far more at stake than who occupies the White House: Americans' belief in the integrity of our democracy hangs in the balance.
These efforts are pernicious, pervasive and professionalized. In a recent New Yorker article, Jane Mayer profiled Hans von Spakowsky, a legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation who has been hyping the myth of voter impersonation fraud since 1998, despite mountains of evidence refuting his claim. (The Brennan Center for Justice has concluded that many more people are struck by lightning than commit in-person voter fraud.) Rep. John Lewis -- a civil rights hero who bled to get all Americans the right to vote -- describes von Spakowsky as waking up every morning thinking "What can I do today to make it more difficult for people to vote?"

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/04/opinion/ho...?sr=reddit

[jaxx]

Heads need to fly over this voter suppression by the GOP. They have blatantly tried to stop people from voting and if they're not stopped, they'll do it again. Husted and Scott both need to be brought up on charges, along with the True the Vote nuts.