The co-director of the Advancement Project provides a useful summary of the status and impact of proposals to restrict voting across the nation: “This year, democracy itself was on the ballot – and America chose it in droves. Latino voters made a historic showing at the polls, comprising 10 percent of the electorate, up from nine percent in 2008. We also saw heavy African American turnout, with their numbers in Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida exceeding 2008 levels. What makes this turnout more remarkable is that it happened amid the biggest rollback on voting rights in more than a century. . . . Yet the plan backfired. . . . Restrictive voter ID laws were proposed in 38 states. In the end, only Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana and Kansas ended up with strict voter ID laws – thanks to gubernatorial vetoes of photo ID laws in six states, and court or Department of Justice orders blocking restrictive photo ID laws for 2012 in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas, Mississippi and South Carolina. Yet there are additional roadblocks ahead.”
In North Carolina, the emboldened Republican leadership in Raleigh is gearing up to adopt a host of restrictive measures to make voting harder for citizens they’d rather not see involved in politics. NC Policy Watch has an assessment of the decision these leaders face: pass a strict photo ID law that could be overturned in a legal challenge or adopt a less harsh proposal that does plenty of damage but may not satisfy the hard-liners in the Republican caucus.
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