How the Koch-Funded ALEC Works to Deny Voting Rights; Brave New Film Highlights Voter Suppression
Submitted by Lisa Graves on November 8, 2011 - 3:38pm
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After the 2008 presidential election -- in the wake of the highest general election turnout in nearly 60 years (particularly among university students and African-Americans) -- corporations and politicians on ALEC's "Public Safety and Elections" Task Force voted to approve "model" voter ID legislation as a policy priority for members. (The "private sector" co-chair of that task force at the time was the National Rifle Association.)
ALEC also devoted time to disseminating talking points that pushed the pretext for changing voter laws, the meme of "Preventing Election Fraud," which was the cover story of the Inside ALEC magazine.
Voter ID legislation based on ALEC's template was introduced in states across the country and passed in at least fourteen states. The ID requirements had been kicking around for years since they were initially pressed for by white Southern politicians after President Clinton's national voter registration legislation led to increased percentages of African Americans registering to vote. But this discredited legislation had little traction until ALEC took it up to promote in 2009. (Even then state representative Scott Walker, then an ALEC legislator, tried to get into the act a decade ago, but his effort to echo Alabama's legislation went nowhere in Wisconsin.)
Despite all the hype about voter fraud, the statistical reality is that such fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare. Voter suppression legislation based on ALEC's "model" will, however, have a statistically significant effect of depriving many American citizens of their right to vote.
According to a recent report,
approximately five million eligible voters across the country will be adversely affected by the new requirements, particularly the elderly, people with disabilities, people of color, and students.
What this means is that huge numbers of Americans will be blocked from exercising their fundamental right to vote as a result of ALEC's efforts and the self-serving politicians that have forced these changes into law.
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http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/11/...hlights-voter-