Attorney General Eric Holder says the voter registration system is antiquated. Ed Schultz talks to Caroline Heldman, professor of politics at Occidental College, about how new voting laws are affecting citizens, and how the voter registration system can be reformed.
Last night, Ed called it "one of the most important stories in America, and I am committed to following it."
He was talking about voter suppression -- a strategy to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing people from exercising their right to vote.
New rules in more than a dozen states, enacted after Republicans won control of their legislatures in the 2010 mid-term elections, could make it harder for as many as five million eligible voters to participate, according to a study by New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice.
The states affected, including the critical battlegrounds of Florida and Ohio, account for 171 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the presidency, the center said in its October report.
Just in the last year, legislation to change voting rules has been introduced in 34 states, fourteen of which have actually enacted new laws. Eight (including South Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin) enacted new photo ID laws. And five (including Florida and Ohio) have cut back on early voting.
Republicans know 2012 is going to be a tough election and they are trying their best to block the vote. These laws affect key Democratic constituencies, including the poor, the elderly, college students and people of color and people in rural areas.
Fortunately, the Justice Department is reviewing voter laws in several states.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the issue at a speech in Texas earlier this week, saying the voter registration system is out of date and is leaving millions of folks behind.
Of the 75 million adult citizens who did not vote in the last presidential election, 60 million were not even registered.
"All eligible citizens can and should be automatically registered to vote," Holder said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential library in Austin, Texas, Tuesday. "It should be the government's responsibility to automatically register citizens to vote, by compiling - from databases that already exist - a list of all eligible residents in each jurisdiction."
But is it too late to solve this problem for the 2012 election?
Joining Ed to discuss this tonight at 8pET will be Mike Papntonio, host of the Ring of Fire radio program, Caroline Heldman of Occidental College and Hilary Shelton of the NAACP.
You can join the conversation by commenting on Facebook or tweeting with the #edshow hashtag so we can share your thoughts on the show!
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http://www.aclu.org/voter-suppression-america
The republican creeps think they are going to get away with it. They crushed Acorn with their bright bark lies and we are not going to take it any more.
http://www.rollinstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
Posted before I could make correction
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-gop-war-on-voting-20110830
http://www.blog.rockthevote.com
The onus has to be placed on the voters. In 2010 the voters should have done their due diligence and voted for those that truly represented their best interest. Those that voted did not do this and others just did not feel it was important to vote. Voting is the only way we can keep our country democratic. We cannot let the GOP/Tea Party supported by ALEC( Koch brothers) to turn this country into a libertarian society where only the wealthy and large corporations have a say as to how this country is to be run and the rest of us loose our rights and monies. Help is needed from the Department of Justice but we need to do our part as well. My hope is that we, the 99ers, will take the necessary actions and VOTE in the next election for those who want to represent its real constituents instead of the extreme 1%ers.
Each one of us needs to talk to our children,our relatives,peolple we work with and everyone we come into contact with to stress how very important it is for all of them to do whatever they must to get registered and to vote. It is more important now than at any time since our country was created. We must stop the republican effort to take the most basic of our rights away from us. They will start with tis but will proceed until; they creat their plan of dictatorship by the ruling plutocracy.
most voters do not pay close enough attention-they THINK they ARE doing due diligence.
also when scott walker and the baggers who ran for office lied about their agenda, not mentioning ending collective bargaining, and voter suppression, voters were duped. not that this is an excuse, but people are busy. they trust people who are running for office to look out for the needs of the american people. also, it is a natural response when the economy is bad, and things aren't turning around fast enough, people speak their dis-satisfaction with the only voice they feel they have-their vote.
voters need to be educated, yes, but politics can be dirty.
As a white male property owner of middle income means, that has never really experience any oppression, or discrimination may I say: Freedom is not guaranteed, and has never been for free. People got to keep vigilant, there will always ALWAYS be those out there who want absolute control. Now that is a guarantee. VOTE while you still can. And if you cannot because that right has been taken away, fight for that right any way you can, as an American it is not your right, it is your duty and obligation.
Obama 2012 / Recall Walker
For the conservatives who do not like Obama, I have plans for tonight and do not plan on getting back to this crack board and play ping pong until later. LC, TAP 6er Just try to realize that your not the 1% rich and your best interests do not lie with them. Mit & Newt are the 1% and are looking out only for the 1% the proof is in their lies and truth. The republicans still have Ron Paul [crazy old coot] but still I believe has the interest of the people in mind. And Jon Huntsman who likewise I think has our best interests in mind.
If it's acceptable to ask people to purchase a document, be it a certificate or an id in order to vote, a right granted by the constitution and protected against any poll tax (go figure how the GOP can justify that), then it should be ok to ask people to purchase health insurance, there's no constitutional right involved in the purchase.
Another fraud by the GOP, but it's not surprising, the GOP is one fraud after the next.
I wonder, if the Tea Party is all about government not getting involved, how come there's 100% Tea Party support for this? See what I mean? Everything in the GOP is a fraud!
The argument is you can travel by car, or get on a bus, or walk, or ask for a ride, you can travel, a few means of transportation require you show ID. You don't have a constitutional right to buy tobacco or beer.
You DO have a constitutional right to vote my friend, and one the Constitution itself protects against any form of taxation. You can't institute a price or a burden to vote, that is a poll tax if you cannot guarantee everybody qualified will get an ID and will get it for free and without an undue burden. And no government on the face of the earth can make such a promise.
Range and righty you're both wrong, the states that have more complicated voter suppression laws requires people to have a government issue picture ID. Not just any ID card will do.
these laws are a political game. There is no doubting this.
even if the cases that have been sighted in other posts are true, which they aren't, it wouldn't matter because the number of law breakers would still be the same fraction of a percentage in federal elections.
Acorn come back to roost. You got what you deserved by cheating at the polls
And your getting what you teabaggers deserve. Being voted in the minority....Again
Ed you forgot a state that requires photo ID. The last election in Oklahoma photo ID was required for the first time.
get ID its the american way!!! you cannot function in america without ID.
AND IF YOU CANT GET ID... YOU DONT BELONG IN THE U.S OF AMERICA!!!!!
ITS REALLY VERY SIMPLE,EVEN YOU LIBS CAN UNDERSTAND THAT,I THINK!!!!!
OMG.....We understand you think your opinion is more important than any ones. I can only conjure up in my imagination what kind of fog you live in. There are a lot of people functioning in this country who do not have ID's. Take off the blinder and look around.
"get ID its the american way!!! you cannot function in america without ID.
AND IF YOU CANT GET ID... YOU DONT BELONG IN THE U.S OF AMERICA!!!!!"
Wow! what an intelligent comment...so you really believe that American citizens can show their patriotism most, by having photo I.D.s?? Is that really the most important aspect of being a "good American?" What an ignorant and shallow way of thinking! The Republicans should be proud of you!
Yep = He Is a DEAC !!!! Know what I Mean !!!!
many of the new voting restrictions force people to have a government issue picture ID and the government does not create ID cards for free. So since you need to buy one of these cards the new laws are like a poll tax
furthermore people in major cities like New York rarely have driving permits because of public transportation.
Our leaders have no right to write laws to stop problems they can't even prove exist.
PLEASE!!! Save me the Bull on MSNBC . I grew up POOR but, my Mom had I.D. In fact everyone had I.D. and they are liberals. But, they did have to cash a check sometimes.
You know, when they got payed from a job.
And one has never had to show the kind of I.D. they're requiring now at any other time in US history so unless you have clear evidence of widespread voter fraud(and you don't) then don't be surprised that there are some of us who don't believe government should be playing political games with our rights...but you want the politicians to have control of your life and right vote go ahead but others will not
Yeah Republicans what happen to jobs, jobs, jobs?
looks like it went the way of 999.....
This is pretty simple...EVERY American is guaranteed by the Constitution the right to vote in all elections. That's it! However, not every American citizen has a photo I.D. So by preventing Americans who don't have a photo I.D. from voting, they are violating their constitutional rights. I don't have all the detailed information, but I believe you must have a birth certificate in order to acquire a photo I.D. Since millions of American citizens, disproportionately poor, elderly, people of color (All demographics that tend to vote democrat) don't have a birth certificate, they are not able to acquire a valid photo I.D. and therefore will NOT be allowed to vote in many states. Additionally, I believe there is a cost involved with either receiving a photo I.D. and/or receiving a duplicate birth certificate. Therefore, the new voting laws are putting a "polling tax" on voters which is unconstitutional, not to mention extremely immoral and disgraceful!. If republican candidates are so confident in their positions and their ability to win elections, why wouldn't they want as many American citizens as possible to be able to vote? That should be the goal of ALL candidates for ALL elected positions. Considering the fact that similar measures enabled W. Bush to steal the 2000 presidential election, it's obvious that G.O.P. candidates are not confident at all that they can win a fair election. I'm ashamed of the democratic party for allowing the G.O.P. to once again be in position to steal another election!
My 88 year old mother's expired driver's license with a picture ID would prove she is who she says she is. But it won't let her vote.
perfectly said
Every Citizen has the right to carry guns, but they must show ID before they are allowed to purchase a hand gun.
A right is a right. If you want to vote. Get off your lazy ass and get the proper ID to vote. Far too long the Negro Leaders..and I am a Nego..make excuses for all black people. We are not victims. We can abide by the Laws. And should promote abiding by the Laws.
OK I believe they cant get I.D.
Unless I gave them a check for a $100.00
I'm a sixty-year old stroke victim, but I was a UFW boycott organizer 35 years ago, and I can't help but thinking about how big Occupy protests we see today should grow if in two years we have a Republican president who came into office after and election with 5 million fewer voters than in the 2008 election.
Edgar , thanks for taking stand as we all must do now to protect all we hold dear. I like you can see this nation coming to the streets In mass numbers if a Bush type election outcome happens again. We will be as the people of Russia against Putin. The nation and the world is watching whats happening here. We are suppose to be the beckon of hope and a country who is just. What happen where did it go?
What is at stake is the ScumacRATS want to let illegal immigrants the ability to vote.
I love when the righties start the name calling....
Two things: They are getting nervous and do not know how to react to the fact their chances in the elections are slim to none..
by name calling it shows what their party truly is: BULLIES, because that's what BULLIES do!
Enodot, in case you haven't noticed, BOTH sides are quite adept at name calling.
Pay attention a bit better and you will see it quite easily.
so says the patriot........and I notice it more often than not starts with the right.
Unfair and Unbalanced
Well Enodot, yes I do say that, and since you are on "one side", it's not surprising your imagine the name calling begins on "the other side" more often.
Could this be due to your own bias, just as it is on the other side? From where I'm sitting, there's no question about it, both sides do it equally, they merely pick and choose on what subject and how to do so.
The facts speak for themselves, When asked to come up with proof of voter fraud, no one can come up with much. The biggest fraud was committed in Florida in 2000 when the Sec. of State took home several thousand uncounted votes and when she brought them back most were for Bush. It's really not worth the money or time to require voter ID's but that will be the only way for the Repub's. to take over the complete control of government. Sorta reminds me of Russia and China where you have one party rule. Is it getting time for a revolution in this country.
No proof of voter fraud as our right wing friends have been kind enough to inform us the fact there is no widespread proof from any group claiming that fraud influences local and or federal elections proves it exists and influences local and federal elections
I mean come on Johnny lack of evidence is always conclusive proof only someone brainwashed by the liberal media would say you need stats and facts to back up your case
I'm sure you also believe that if your palm fits over your face that it isn't a sign you have cancer or that there aren't really pots of gold at ends of every rainbow
or that Michelle Bachmann has had a long history of stupid statements which is obviously not possible
After all if Hannity and Limbaugh and Republican state legislatures across the country tell us to believe it we totally should because there's no way they have an underlying agenda or that they could any way be using this to help their chances on election day
You know as I toured so many countries that were behind the Iron curtain before it fell. I would always thank the good Lord that I never lived in a country where I was"nt free. We take so much for granite here. My vote is a personal thing to me. When I vote its not just civic duty but it SCREAMS I am free to pick who I want to represent me. Never could I have dreamed we ,you and I would be debating our right to vote here in America could be taken away. I have often wondered as I toured countries who lived without freedom and would ask. What if you woke up tomorrow and all you held dear was gone. What if you were not free? How close are we to loosing all we hold dear ? What will we do if we go to the polls to vote and they say sorry you can"t ! The sad thing is here in Ohio one of the voter suppression rules is the poll worker can not tell you if your at the wrong precinct. If we cannot note vote for our leaders then we truly are no longer free.
"The sad thing is here in Ohio one of the voter suppression rules is the poll worker can not tell you if your at the wrong precinct."
That's how know it's not about honest voting it's about cheating because they know that with candidates like Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, or Michelle Bachmann they know they honestly don't have much of a chance of gaining a landslide victory
They talk so much on the right about the constitution but when one examines their views, their belief that they can and should pass laws to stop the voter fraud that they can't prove exists, or that congress should have the right to pick you will be on the bench based on whether or not congress likes their rulings, or that the president should just go to congress or the supreme court and tell what they're going to do or how they're going to vote, or that the U.S. needs to launch a war on Islam
these republicans are very against the law set forward in the nation's founding documents
We all should show proof of who we are when we cast a vote. We have to show picture ID to get a gun license. Which is a Constitutional Right. No one is restricting a person the right to vote. Only saying you must show picture proof
Ed - I hope the gov. of wisconsin is recalled soon along with gov Kasich of Ohio. They must have had many telephone calls between each other to come up with the same insanity of cutting union negotiation discussions for education, police, firemen, etc. They are sweet talking in front of thei constitutiants but are back stabbing when out of sight. It will be a sweet day when they are both out of office.
So funny how all of the Dems and Libs are affraid to show proof of who they are to vote. As a Negro American, I am proud to prove that I am who I say I am when I have to vote.
BTW, why are'nt the Libs and Dems in an up roar about the states who restrict the rights to own guns?
Because there has not been any significant measure to take gun rights away from millions of Americans with the hopes of scewing an election based on the desire of our elected officials to stop a problem they can't prove exists(voter fraud)
yeah, with the rich like the Koch brothers on the ALEC board helping keeping people from early voting and or restricting the voting with Jim crow type rules, and the crook republicans redistricting the voting areas where only 20% of the crooked republican at most are voted out post in the state congresses and in U.S. congress. Then the Republicans just last year at around this time pulled a stunt to keep taxes cuts for the rich, and now they don't care if 160,000,000 American(hard working real tax payers:not the crooked rich) are homeless, starving, and probable won't have any Christmas. Does the movie scrooge not worry them. Have the Republican got a soul? I guess not. They will go to hell and take the USA with them.
There is voter fraud by the Republicans by trying to pass laws to fix problems that there is no evidence or any reality of. All republican do every time is try to rig the voting rules to get an unfair advantage. This is hurting all America because we need to throw the crooks out whether it be republican or democrat. An what is it with gerrymandering. We need to let American people set the rules of redistricting the voting district not some crooked politician or corrupted vested interest corrupt rich. I watch the million dollar penny on you tube and everyone should watch it. I think walls street heads and all involved should be indicted and convicted now because the problem is not fixed and continues to bleed money. If this is not repaired the USA will implode. This problem must be fixed by the government or by all of the American people one way or another. I hope it is by contract and not by the knife, the gun, or by weapons. We are a country that prides itself on being civil. So folks lets be civil and work out these problems. I support the unions and the union called the United States of American, but the union is not only for the rich, it is for the poor too.
no, no one is afraid to show their ids but it the double standards that the republicans keep putting on the USA that upsets everyone. no voter ids needed in the republican caucus in Iowa. i can't believe that there are so many blind and dumb voters still left in this country. they have to be down right pure liars, rich, don't care about the USA or all above. i just call them the group called the republicans. if you are poor and a republican maybe your are just an obtuse or ignorant person. i just cannot believe that a poor republicans have their full faculties. you must be stubborn and ignorant. that is a lethal combination for the USA.