{"id":10114,"date":"2018-10-28T14:25:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T21:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=10114"},"modified":"2018-10-28T17:45:13","modified_gmt":"2018-10-29T00:45:13","slug":"how-voter-suppression-could-swing-the-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/10\/28\/how-voter-suppression-could-swing-the-midterms\/","title":{"rendered":"How Voter Suppression Could Swing the Midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fullBleedHeaderContent\">\n<header class=\"css-gtzst8 e1ymo3g0\">\n<div class=\"css-r802te\">\n<div class=\"css-6cn7ki\">\n<p class=\"css-8ij4wd etcg8100\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/opinion\">Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"css-zeqekx ewc5vgb0\">Campaigns are in the final dash to make sure people show up at the polls. But that doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re being systematically disenfranchised.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"Story-bylineTimestamp--3V6o6\">\n<div class=\"css-acwcvw\">\n<div class=\"css-pqwbx7 e1hs04dy0\">\n<div class=\"css-1baulvz\">\n<p class=\"css-1bsd9ka e1x1pwtg1\">By\u00a0<span class=\"css-1baulvz\">Ari Berman<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"css-qsaw8 e177ar5d0\">\n<p class=\"css-zilts3 e177ar5d1\">Mr. Berman is a journalist who specializes in voting rights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"css-lyagax\">\n<li><time class=\"css-1wnyjki eqgapgq0\" datetime=\"2018-10-27\">Oct. 27, 2018 (NYTimes.com)<\/time><\/li>\n<li class=\"css-6n7j50\">\n<div class=\"\">\n<div class=\"css-hn080\" role=\"toolbar\" aria-label=\"Social Media Share buttons, Save button, and Comments Panel with current comment count\" data-testid=\"share-tools\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-4w7y5l\">\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">In the weeks before an election, political campaigns are focused on getting voters to the polls \u2014 holding rallies, knocking on doors and making phone calls to make sure people show up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">In Georgia and other states, the question in this election is not just about which candidates voters will support, but whether they\u2019ll be able to cast a ballot in the first place. The fight over voting rights in the midterms is a reminder that elections are not solely about who is running, what their commercials say or how many people are registered to vote. They are about who is allowed to vote and which officials are placing obstacles in the way of would-be voters.<\/p>\n<p>The issue of voter suppression has exploded in recent weeks, most notably in the Georgia governor\u2019s race between Stacey Abrams, a Democrat, and Brian Kemp, a Republican. While running for higher office, Mr. Kemp, as secretary of state, also enforces Georgia\u2019s voting\u00a0laws. This month, The Associated Press reported that Mr. Kemp\u2019s office had put more than 53,000 voter registration applications in limbo because the information on the forms did not exactly match state databases. Seventy percent of the pending registrations were from African-Americans, leading Ms. Abrams to charge that Mr. Kemp was trying \u201cto tilt the playing field in his favor.\u201d Mr. Kemp claimed a voter registration group tied to Ms. Abrams had \u201csubmitted sloppy forms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">Since the 2010 election, 24 states overwhelmingly controlled by Republicans have put in place\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brennancenter.org\/new-voting-restrictions-america\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new voting restrictions<\/a>, such as tougher voter ID laws, cutbacks to early voting and barriers to registration. Republicans say these measures are necessary to combat the threat of widespread voter fraud, even though study after study shows that such fraud is exceedingly rare. Many of these states have hotly contested races in 2018, and a drop in turnout among Democratic constituencies, such as young people and voters of color, could keep Republicans in power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-18sbwfn StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-4w7y5l\">\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">This month, the Supreme Court upheld a law in North Dakota that could block 70,000 residents who don\u2019t have a qualifying ID from the polls, including 5,000 Native American voters. The law is particularly burdensome for Native Americans because it requires an ID with a \u201ccurrent residential street address,\u201d but some Native Americans live on reservations and\u00a0get their mail through post-office boxes. This is worrisome news for Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, who is trailing her Republican opponent in the polls. She won election to the Senate in 2012 by\u00a03,000\u00a0votes,\u00a0thanks\u00a0largely to 80 percent support from the two counties with large Indian reservations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-14jsv4e\"><\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-13nfagi\">\n<section id=\"blocking-voters-can-swing-elections\" class=\"interactive-embedded interactive-size-scoop css-n9cold e10adaur1\" data-id=\"100000006181510\">\n<header class=\"css-cl76n0 interactive-header\">\n<h2 class=\"css-1su19vv interactive-headline\">Could Blocking Voters Swing Elections?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-1vs7yia interactive-leadin custom-leadin\" data-testid=\"leadin\">A comparison of winning vote margins in recent elections and voter restrictions or purges in those same states.<\/p>\n<p data-testid=\"leadin\">\n<\/header>\n<footer class=\"css-dhvrga interactive-footer custom-footer\">\n<div class=\"interactive-graphic css-17ih8de e10adaur0\">\n<div id=\"g-berman-box\" class=\"ai2html ai2html-box-v5\">\n<div id=\"g-berman-600\" class=\"g-artboard\" data-aspect-ratio=\"0.833\" data-min-width=\"600\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"g-berman-600-img\" class=\"g-aiImg\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2018\/10\/25\/berman\/946ba448b709e2186d4d5136d8a39caecc60a977\/berman-600.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/newsgraphics\/2018\/10\/25\/berman\/946ba448b709e2186d4d5136d8a39caecc60a977\/berman-600.png\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-1\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle0\">MARGINS OF VICTORY VS. DISENFRANCHISED VOTERS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-4\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Lacking voter ID required by new law<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">70,000 people<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-5\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle5\">North Dakota<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-6\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Heidi Heitkamp,<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">2012 Senate race<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle7\">2,881 votes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-7\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Including these Native Americans<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">5,000<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-8\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle5\">Wisconsin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-9\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Donald Trump, 2016<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle8\">22,748<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-10\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Disenfranchised in 2 largest counties by voter ID law<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">Up to 23,000<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-11\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle5\">Kansas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-12\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Kris Kobach, 2018<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">primary for governor<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle8\">350<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-13\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Blocked from registering by proof of<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">citizenship law (later struck down by court)<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">35,000<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-14\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle5\">Georgia<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-15\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Nathan Deal,<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">2012 governor\u2019s race<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle8\">200,443<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-16\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Purged from voter rolls, 2012-2016<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">1.5 million<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-17\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Pending voter purge<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">53,000<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-18\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle5\">Florida<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-19\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle3\">Ex-felons who can\u2019t vote<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle4\">1.6 million<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-20\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Rick Scott, 2010 governor\u2019s race<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle8\">61,550<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-21\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle9\">Amendment 4, on the ballot in Florida next month, would restore the right to vote for people with felony convictions, except those convicted of murder or a felony sexual offense, upon completion of their sentences, including parole and probation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"g-ai1-22\" class=\"g-Text g-aiAbs g-aiPointText\">\n<p class=\"g-pstyle6\">Rick Scott, 2014 governor\u2019s race<\/p>\n<p class=\"g-pstyle8\">64,145<\/p>\n<p>To view the original chart, click on this link:\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/27\/opinion\/sunday\/voter-suppression-georgia-2018.html\">https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/10\/27\/opinion\/sunday\/voter-suppression-georgia-2018.html<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>By Bill Marsh\/The New York Times | Sources: Dave Leip\u2019s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; Brennan Center for Justice; The Sentencing Project; Elections Research Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Ballotpedia; Times and other news reports<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In Florida, where Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, is running for governor \u2014 he would be the state\u2019s first black governor \u2014\u00a01.6\u00a0million ex-felons\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2018\/10\/inside-the-unlikely-movement-that-could-restore-voting-rights-to-1-4-million-floridians\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">won\u2019t be able to vote<\/a>\u00a0in this year\u2019s election,\u00a0including almost half a million African-Americans. Florida is one of only four states that prevent ex-felons from voting unless they\u2019re pardoned by the governor. The architect of the current law, Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, is running for the Senate. Mr. Scott\u2019s predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican who later switched parties, restored voting rights to 155,000 ex-felons; of those who registered to vote in 2012, 59 percent signed up as Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">But Mr. Scott, who won two elections as governor by just 60,000 votes, reversed that policy and has restored voting rights to just a little more than\u00a03,000\u00a0people while in office,\u00a0with white ex-felons twice as likely to have their rights restored compared with African-Americans. He\u2019s now locked in a dead heat with Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat. Though there\u2019s an amendment on the ballot that would restore voting rights to up to\u00a01.4 million\u00a0ex-felons in the state, those directly impacted by Mr. Scott\u2019s felon disenfranchisement law won\u2019t be able to vote this year.\u00a0Nearly 100,000 people who were on track to get their rights restored under Mr. Crist lost that chance when Mr. Scott changed the rules\u00a0\u2014 a stark example of the precariousness of voting rights.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">Voter suppression isn\u2019t just a potential problem in 2018 \u2014 it seems to have already had a decisive impact in recent years. In 2016, the year of the first presidential election with Wisconsin\u2019s voter ID law in place, the state saw a plunge in black voter turnout,\u00a0which undoubtedly helped\u00a0Donald Trump carry the state. A study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that the ID requirement kept up to 23,000 people from voting in\u00a0two of the state\u2019s most\u00a0Democratic counties, Milwaukee County and Madison\u2019s Dane County; African-Americans were\u00a0more than\u00a0three times as likely as whites to be deterred from voting by the law. Mr. Trump won the state by\u00a023,000\u00a0votes. \u201cIt is very probable,\u201d Milwaukee\u2019s top election official, Neil Albrecht,\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.motherjones.com\/politics\/2017\/10\/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told me<\/a>\u00a0last year, that \u201cenough people were prevented from voting to have changed the outcome of the presidential election in Wisconsin.\u201d\u00a0The ID requirement remains in effect today, and its biggest cheerleader, the Republican governor, Scott Walker, who claimed it was \u201ca load of\u00a0crap\u201d that the law kept people from the polls, is locked in a close race for re-election against\u00a0Tony Evers, a Democrat.<\/p>\n<p>Kris Kobach, former vice chairman of President Trump\u2019s election integrity commission, is also running for governor this year. A voter ID law Mr. Kobach championed led to a 2 percent decrease in turnout in 2012, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office, with the largest drop-off among young, black and newly registered\u00a0voters. Mr. Kobach won his primary in the governor\u2019s race by just 350 votes and is now in an extremely tight race against Laura Kelly, a Democrat, and an independent candidate, Greg Orman, so even a tiny reduction in participation among Democratic constituencies could put him in the governor\u2019s mansion. Since Mr. Kobach became secretary of state in 2011, more than 1,200 ballots have been tossed because voters showed up at the polls without a sufficient ID, a much larger number than the 15 cases of voter fraud his office has prosecuted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">Nowhere have hopes for high Democratic turnout collided with the reality of suppressive voting laws more than in Texas.\u00a0In 2016, there were\u00a0three million unregistered voters of color in the state, including 2.2 million unregistered Latinos and 750,000 unregistered African-Americans. Though Texas set a new voter registration record this year, it\u2019s unlikely that the number of unregistered Latinos and African-Americans has changed much. Texas has the most\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/texass-voter-registration-laws-are-straight-ou\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">restrictive voter registration law<\/a>\u00a0in the country \u2014 to register voters, you must be deputized by a county and can register voters only in the county you\u2019re deputized in. The number of unregistered voters of color is a major obstacle for the Democratic candidate Beto O\u2019Rourke in his race against Senator Ted Cruz. Though the demographics of the state suggest that it should be trending purple, the state\u2019s voting rules\u00a0help keep it red.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">Chief Justice John Roberts, in the 2013 Supreme Court ruling he wrote that gutted the Voting Rights Act, dismissed the idea that voting discrimination was still \u201cflagrant\u201d and \u201cwidespread.\u201d Instead he wrote, \u201cOur country has changed.\u201d Yet since that decision, state and local governments that formerly had to approve their voting changes with the federal government, like Georgia and Texas, have closed\u00a0<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/news.vice.com\/en_us\/article\/kz58qx\/how-the-gutting-of-the-voting-rights-act-led-to-closed-polls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">20 percent more polling places<\/a>\u00a0per capita than other states have,\u00a0many in neighborhoods with large minority populations. More than half the states freed from federal oversight have put in place new voting restrictions in recent years. The 2016 election had the unfortunate distinction of being the first presidential contest in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act; in 2018, the threat of disenfranchisement has gotten worse, in the South and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">People tend to focus on obstacles to voting when they believe it will affect a close election, as in Georgia. But efforts to erect barriers to the ballot box are wrong regardless of whether they decide the outcome of an election. If Democrats turn out in large numbers on Nov. 6, as the early-voting data suggests is happening in some key states, it will be in spite of these barriers, not because they didn\u2019t exist or didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1xl4flh e2kc3sl0\">Despite rampant suppression efforts, there is some hope. In seven states, ballot initiatives would restore voting rights to ex-felons, make it easier to register to vote and crack down on gerrymandering. If these pass, we could see 2018 as a turning point for expanding voting rights, instead of an election tainted by voter suppression. But first people need to have the right to cast a ballot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-mxagel e1kwarht0\">Ari Berman (<a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AriBerman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AriBerman<\/a>), a senior reporter for Mother Jones, is the author of \u201cGive Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-mxagel e1kwarht0\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">Follow The New York Times Opinion section on\u00a0<\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nytopinion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">Facebook<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">,\u00a0<\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/NYTOpinion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">Twitter (@NYTOpinion)<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">\u00a0and<\/em><a class=\"css-1g7m0tk\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/nytopinion\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">Instagram<\/em><\/a><em class=\"css-2fg4z9 ehxkw330\">.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/footer>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"bottom-of-article\">\n<div class=\"css-1jhku0n\"><em>A version of this article appears in print on\u00a0<time class=\"css-10rvbm3\" datetime=\"2018-10-28T04:00:00.000Z\">Oct. 27, 2018<\/time>, on Page\u00a0SR1\u00a0of the New York edition\u00a0with the headline:\u00a0Blocking the Ballot Box.\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytreprints.com\/\">Order Reprints<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/pages\/todayspaper\/index.html\">Today\u2019s Paper<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscriptions\/Multiproduct\/lp8HYKU.html?campaignId=48JQY\">Subscribe<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opinion Campaigns are in the final dash to make sure people show up at the polls. But that doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re being systematically disenfranchised. By\u00a0Ari Berman Mr. Berman is a journalist who specializes in voting rights. Oct. 27, 2018 (NYTimes.com) In the weeks before an election, political campaigns are&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2018\/10\/28\/how-voter-suppression-could-swing-the-midterms\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10114"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10125,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10114\/revisions\/10125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}