If Republican philosophy is so worthy, why do they have to fix the game in order to win elections? The recent Voter ID Law awaiting the Governor's signature in North Carolina is structured to restrict particular groups from registering to vote. By using demographic gerrymandering, rather than geographic gerrymandering, the law can target traditionally Democratic groups; students, minorities, the poor and the elderly more effectively than the results achieved by drawing precinct boundaries around poor or minority neighborhoods. The law is supposed to prevent voter fraud (rare) but has obviously been fashioned specifically to deny Democrats the ability to register and vote. This is both un-American and unpatriotic and as a former election official and voter registrar, something I find deeply offensive.
The overturning of the Voting Rights Act along with restrictive laws passed nationwide by Republican state legislators recently are both depressing and alarming. I believe we are seeing the last desperate acts by the demographically doomed Old White Man Party in the hopes they can change enough voting laws to remain permanently in power.
I'm a life long Democrat, but I used to respect the balance between the parties and how each side countered the other's most extreme members. No More. The narrative against Bill Clinton as an illegitimate President because he didn't receive a majority of the vote in his first election started a trend that exploded and metastasized with the election of Barack Obama. And the shock that Republicans received when President Obama won re-election by five million votes has caused a major freak-out. This law is one result.
The North Carolina law reduces early voting from 17 days to 10, disallows same-day registration and cancels a program that yearly registered tens of thousands of high school students before their 18th birthdays. It also requires presenting a government-issued ID at the polls (no student ID is considered valid). So by making it extremely difficult for students to register and vote, along with anyone without a driver's license, Republicans are creating a voting environment that is ever-harder for Democrats and ever-easier for Republicans. William Yeomans, former Chief of Staff for the Justice Department said this:
It is clearly designed to suppress the vote. It is clearly designed to reshape the electorate to suit the needs of the Republican party. One of the ways they are going to do that is by disenfranchising minority voters.
The term "Demographic Gerrymandering" can become shorthand for this ugly tactic. We must do everything we can to push back against this disgusting effort. I'm counting on my fellow Kossacks to do what we do best and cause a big ruckus nationwide as these laws are proposed.