Quote (ThinkProgress)

Last week, the first election in 50 years without the full protection of the federal Voting Rights Act propelled Donald Trump to the White House.

Trump will assume the presidency because of the Electoral College’s influence — nearly a million more people cast ballots for Hillary Clinton as of November 15. The election was also marked by low turnout, with tens of millions of eligible voters choosing not to participate at all. Yet there has been relatively little discussion about the millions of people who were eligible to vote but could not do so because they faced an array of newly-enacted barriers to the ballot box.

Their systematic disenfranchisement was intentional and politically motivated. In the years leading up to 2016, Republican governors and state legislatures implemented new laws restricting when, where, and how people could vote — laws that disproportionately harmed students, the poor, and people of color. In several instances, lawmakers pushing such policies said explicitly that their goal was suppression of voters who favor the Democratic Party.

Three such states serve as case studies for the effectiveness of these voting restrictions: Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Florida.

All three elected staunchly conservative governors during President Obama’s terms. All three implemented voting restrictions that affect millions of people. President Obama won all three states in 2008, and won all but North Carolina in 2012, while Hillary Clinton lost all three of those states this year.

...

After last week’s election, these barriers — and others like them — will likely multiply. Missouri, for example, voted last week to enshrine a voter ID law in its state constitution. State officials estimate that 220,000 otherwise eligible voters could be disenfranchised by the policy. Republican Jay Ashcroft, the son of George W. Bush’s Attorney General John Ashcroft, will take over as Missouri’s Secretary of State, and has promised to strictly enforce the voter ID requirement.

This year, the GOP expanded its control to 32 state legislatures and 33 governorships. With all three branches of the federal government and a majority of states now under Republican control, American voters can expect to face more barriers and restrictions in the coming years.

Quote (majorblood @ Nov 21 2016 01:05am)

Just reading the quote here but does the article go into detail about what laws are being introduced to affect when, where, and how people can vote other than by voter ID laws? I don't disagree with voter ID laws in the slightest.

Quote (ThinkProgress)

In the final weeks leading up to the election, voting rights groups discovered that Wisconsin officials at local DMV offices were giving false information to voters attempting to get the proper ID, putting those officials in violation of a federal court order.

Quote (Voyaging @ Nov 20 2016 10:06pm)

The article is fairly short but gives Wiki-style links, much of which direct to other sites, for more information.

Quote (Arsenic_Touch @ Nov 20 2016 10:14pm)

Disheartening, but I can't say I'm shocked. The spin from the right is going to be hilarious though and not in a "that's funny" kind of way.

Quote (Goomshill @ Nov 21 2016 12:08am)

"Voter turnout was low not because people hate hillary, but because of the evil racist jim crow-esque voter suppressing republicans~"