Day 47...Dear Mr. President...Voter fraud or another GOP scam?

Day 47

Dear Mr. President,

We are rapidly approaching the 2012 elections, and it’s very disturbing to see so many states making it more and more difficult for people to vote. And once again, the GOP is behind this new approach to bypassing the old Jim Crow voting laws, which outlawed poll taxes with the 24^th Amendment.

The new trick, which the GOP tries to disguise by claiming it will be eliminating ‘voter fraud,’ is nothing more than an assault on poor people, young voters, African Americans, and Latinos. By requiring voter I.D. cards, shortening the early voting period, ending same day voter registration, and ending registered voters right to change their address on voting day at the polls. In addition, states are imposing restrictions on voter-registration drives. All of these things will effectively discourage the poor, the young and people of color.

The premise of eliminating ‘voter fraud’ is completely false, there have been in-depth studies conducted on this issue and voter fraud has not been found to be a major problem. In fact, I can’t even imagine an illegal immigrant heading to the polls to cast a vote when all they want to do is fly under the radar as much as possible so they are not deported. So who are the people that are supposedly perpetrating this conspiratorial voter fraud? Are the poor people hitching rides to the polls so they can cast an illegal vote? Are those without an ID flocking to the polls just to see if they can ‘change’ the outcome of the election? All of it is patently absurd.

So what is the real ‘game’ going on here? Since the GOP won back the House in 2010, they have been changing the laws to benefit themselves. One need only look at what’s going on in Wisconsin, Kansas, Texas, and South Carolina just to name a few, that have passed laws that would effectively discourage mostly Democratic voters. Why else would Texas pass a law that allows a person to use a handgun license for registration, but will not accept a student ID?

As we all know, a huge number of  ‘new voters’ were registered before your election in 2008, and most of those were Democrats. It was a vastly successful voter drive that energized this country in a profoundly positive way. Unfortunately, much of that work is being systematically dismantled by the GOP, so my question is… what are you doing to expose the real ‘fraud’ by the GOP in its assault on new voters? We don’t see much about it from the main-stream media, and we certainly aren’t hearing about it on the evening news. This needs to be shouted from the rooftops, loudly and clearly.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… the real agenda of the GOP is to elect a Republican President so they will have the next 4 years to pack the courts with conservative and ultra religious judges. This will be a disaster for this country, for women, for the poor, and anyone that may need federal assistance for a variety of reasons. We simply cannot let this happen. We need to expose the ‘fraud’ of the GOP before it’s too late. This is America, and we should not stand for this type of trickery.

Most Respectfully,

Your Gadfly Granny