(May 1, 2015 at 9:09 pm)Hatshepsut Wrote: Elizabeth Drew in New York Review of Books notes that Republicans are using voting restrictions (valid photo ID, etc.) to pare the opposition's margins, as Demo voters among minority groups and the elderly are more likely to be excluded by the provisions. The number of voters affected, while relatively small, can nonetheless turn close elections and may have done so in North Carolina's 2014 Senate race.
This is in addition to the usual gerrymandering. Utah carved its sole Democratic enclave in Salt Lake City into three pieces so that every Democrat now votes in a House district that is overwhelmingly of the Cowboy Caucus. Reapportionment got rid of the pesky former District 2 that occasionally went blue, ensuring a solid red Congressional delegation for eternity to come.
For the democrats, the perfect world scenario, would be their campaign workers being able to vote on behalf of uninterested constituents. The reality is the "Valid photo ID" is primarily keeping away people who don't really give a shit. But the democrats need the people in their base who don't really give a shit to vote. In fact, that's the key to winning for them. Voter ID laws shouldn't keep anyone interested in voting away. In North Carolina, you basically have 2 years notice to go to the DMV and get a free ID. If you can't climb over a bar set that low, maybe voting isn't for you?
Even worse, 'turnout' entrenches the two party system even more. The more people who don't know what's going on, but will vote if you have the money to tell them who to vote for, and give them a ride to the polls, the more it is about money and organization. The people who are paying attention are a minority. The people who are intelligently paying attention, an even bigger minority. To the point, that it's basically now a waste of time to spend money trying to convince truly independent people, when you could be spending that time registering some more morons.
