Maddow: Coordinated effort to keep first time voters from

[wiggs]

voting in 2012.

She listed the many states that are trying to enact some version of 'true the vote' rules....ie have to have passport or birth certificate to register. No more registering in front of the supermarket after shopping...unless you carry your birth certificate around. Students trying to register where they go to school will have to make extra effort to register, since they don't normally have those documents. (In some states, they are trying to make it so students have to vote in their home states, not their school states) If you've misplaced your birth certificate or don't have it where you are living...no registering for you. This is dastardly, undemocratic, and wholly planned by the gop, big money supporters, and think tanks.

She goes on to say that the coordinated 'birther bill' trend is ALSO an attempt to keep Obama from getting elected. He will have to battle those states that seek to keep him off their ballots...keep first time voters (68% of whom voted Obama) from the voting booth....keep Obama distracted or OFF ballots.

Pretty heinous stuff. Missed what the dem party guest was to say about how to combat these efforts to suppress votes. Would also like to know what is being done about caging, under-equipping dem precints, and paper trails for voting.

All this is ON TOP of an obstructionist congress, a relentless lying popular media, 90% of all talk radio hours dedicated to de-legitimizing Obama, citizens united, an economic downturn created largely by the opposition party, a gop willing to stoop to very low tactics, two wars arguably created by the opposition party, and more. I really hope dem leaders have answers for what is an assault on democracy coming at them (us) from all angles, funded with billions of private dollars and now public dollars.

[OHdem10]

1. Democrats are going to have to develop a real Party with

activities that hold the Democratic rank and file interest
year round. It means people will have to start early
and I mean early to gert people registered.

[snot]

2. The only Dem pols who might care are the few who have actually made an effort to DO something

about "a relentless lying popular media, 90% of all talk radio hours dedicated to de-legitimizing Obama, citizens united, an economic downturn created largely by the opposition party, a gop willing to stoop to very low tactics, two wars arguably created by the opposition party, and more."

And you can count those on one hand.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. I agree with Michael Moore

that we need to go with the Canadian model- You're "registered" to vote the second that you're born (your name is on the list and you can immediately exercise your right to vote when you are of legal age).

[vroomvroom]

4. I'm Baffled the U.S. does it any other way.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. In the US, each State makes rules for their elections

Some States have long lines at polls and such because the people who live there allow that to be. They could make change, but they don't. There is no 'US voting method' and that which is done in Michigan or Arizona would not happen in other States. I live in Oregon, we vote by mail, it is extremely easy to register to vote, and a breeze to cast the vote, we have no polling day just a deadline day, we have no polling places, we do it at home or where we like. We have large turnout even in 'smaller' elections. Our neighbor State of Washington just joined us in voting by mail. Any State could. They just don't.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. I wonder why it was decided that each state create its own rule for federal elections

I would think that it would make more sense for their to be a uniform system, at least for federal elections- but then we'd have the tenthers wailing and gnashing their teeth about "states rights" (which only apply to things like Obamacare they don't like but have no problem with things like DOMA that they DO like). :banghead:

[DirkGently]

14. Yes. There should be easy, one-step federal voting registration. Enough already.

[Hippo_Tron]

13. Doesn't vote by mail compromise the secret ballot, though?

It's still secret if you want it to be but you have the option of showing it to somebody else and that can lead to vote buying and selling.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

9. I'm baffled

that we do all kinds of things the way we do. We like to think of ourselves as the bestest country in the world and, in some ways, that may be true, but, frankly, a lot of other countries have a MUCH better standard of living than most of us do- and it's not for a lack of intelligence either. The problem IMHO is that we have way too many people holding us back from making necessary commonsense reforms and, in some cases, trying to push us backwards. :banghead:

[Stuart G]

5. Is there a link to this ??? thanks..nt

[wiggs]

8. maddow show link

check out april 19 'tilting the field'

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/

[lonestarlib]

7. "dem leaders"??????

Yeah, let's watch our non-existent dem leaders provide answers. We sit on our asses expecting someone else to do something. Dems have already lost more than one battle in the war against democracy and don't even realize the war's been going on for some time.

[wiggs]

11. Hate to say it...I watched the Wasserman-Schultz clip that followed Maddow's

piece on tilting the playing field (by suppressing voters and keeping Obama off the ballot), and Maddow asked point blank what dems are doing to combat these tactics. And...I didn't hear anything encouraging. The closest she got was saying that Nadler called out Bush administration justice dept hacks who kept trying to say their was rampant voter fraud. This was years ago. I like Debbie, and she clearly understands the problems and described the low gop tactics well, but she was not encouraging.

I hope her vague answers were due to a desire to keep the big plans a secret...not because there are no plans.

[Kurovski]

12. In districts with computer voting you will never, ever know what the true outcome was

until you demand the right to see the source code, and a knowledgeable person(s) are allowed to claim it legit. the overwhelmingly republican corporations consider your voting process to be their own private "secret" protected by law. Good luck!

That's the name of the game.