Voter Suppression and the Voting Rights Act: It’s not the intent that matters, it’s the effect

As always, another great point made by Chris Hayes. On today’s Up with Chris Hayes the topic of voter suppression was at the top of the show. Texas is defending it’s undemocratic photo ID law and they want to be free from the restrictions of the 1965 voting rights act. Hayes tells us that the purpose of the voting rights act was not to police intent, but rather the effects. So if a state passes a restrictive new law that requires photo ID in order to vote, the test of whether that is allowed under the voting rights act is not the intent. We don’t need to know why the Republican legislators in Texas passed their restrictive law in order to judge it’s lawfulness. We don’t need to know if they are racists (which some most certainly are), and we don’t need to know if the reason Republicans passed these laws was to make the process of voting a more difficult task for minorities who are more likely to vote Democratic. Like Hayes said, “nobody has to do any mind-reading,” in order to enforce the voting rights act.

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PA Voter ID Law Will “Allow Governor Romney To Win The State” According To Mike Turzai

Liberals and progressives already know voter suppression is the goal of the strict new voter ID laws passed by Republicans in many states. Republicans say the laws are needed because of voter fraud. This is of course bullshit because there is no voter fraud problem. No, the real goal is voter suppression. Republicans don’t care to win over minorities, instead they will do their best to make sure minorities (who overwhelming support Democrats) are unable to vote this November. Old, white Republicans see the writing is on the wall. They know how the demographics are shifting in this country. Instead of embracing change and trying to gain support of minorities, especially African-Americans, Republicans are instead doubling down on racism, bigotry and well, just plain old being an asshole.

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Pennsylvania Sued By 93-Year-Old Woman Over Discriminatory Voter ID Law

Yes, Pennsylvania’a new voter ID law (and similar laws in other states) is in fact discriminatory. I don’t care about rationalizations, because the Republican lawmakers responsible for these laws know exactly what they are doing. Their rationalizations might have convinced Republican voters that voter fraud is a serious problem, but for the rest of us these laws are a big steaming pile of horseshit.

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