Republicans Don’t Have to Worry About Winning Over Voters, They’re Just Going to Rig Elections

August 24, 2013 

Gerrymandering, new restrictive voter ID laws, mythical voter fraud fear mongering—I’m sick to death of all of it.  The outrage over this Republican attempt to rig elections that’s going on all across this country isn’t nearly loud enough.  This should be the headline every single night on every single news channel, website and blog.
Republicans aren’t trying to “win” elections, they’re trying to rig elections—period.
And don’t even give me this rhetoric about voter fraud.  Actual cases of voter fraud have been so rare you’re far more likely to be struck by lightening than witnessing voter fraud.
And this isn’t about requiring an ID to vote.  That’s total bullcrap and they know it.  If a valid ID is the answer to this non-existent issue of voter fraud, then why hasn’t the requirement to have a valid ID proving an individual is 21 years of age put an end to underaged drinking?
Simple.  Because if someone wants to break a law, they will.  A fake ID isn’t hard to obtain and if someone is hell bent on fraudulent voting, they’re going to vote fraudulently.
But this has nothing to do with having an ID to prove a valid vote.  If it was, that’s all these laws would contain—but they don’t.
Inside many of these laws are provisions which make the requirements to vote tougher.  Measures which restrict voting dates and times.  Cuts in funding which force the closure of DMV’s (you know, the offices through which most people obtain a valid ID) which make it harder for people to get a valid ID.


Then there are the laws which change residency requirements so many college students are unable to vote, because these laws require an individual to maintain a residence of at least 12 months.  Something many students don’t do due to the fact they live at school when class is in session and back at home when it’s not.
Oh, then there are the laws which say a state-issued student ID isn’t valid for voting.  Tell me, in what alternate reality could that possibly make any sense whatsoever?
It’s a clear strategy to prevent many college students from being able to vote.  And who do college students tend to vote for much more often?  Oh, that’s right, Democrats.
Then there’s the whole issue of it being illegal to charge a poll tax for residents to vote.
Now I can hear the Republican response already, “But you can get ID’s for free!”  No—not really.
Sure, some states offer a free ID for individuals that fall below a certain income bracket, but free isn’t free—they’re still paid for by taxpayers.  Not only that, but what if some of those individuals don’t have a copy of their birth certificate?  Well, that does cost money.
And it’s not always easy to get to an office to obtain a copy of a birth certificate.  In some counties there’s only one location for an entire county.  Think of a rural county where someone doesn’t own a car, they have no public transportation system where someone lives some forty or fifty miles from the nearest office to obtain a birth certificate.  How are they supposed to get one?
Voting sites are often within a couple of miles, even in rural areas.  But DMV’s and offices to obtain a birth certificate are often must less accessible.
So there’s no circumstance where a prospective voter, who lacks a birth certificate and an ID, wouldn’t be required in some way to pay to obtain the right to vote.
And that is a poll tax—which is illegal.
It doesn’t even matter how much money someone makes, if they have to pay for an ID (with an ID being required to vote) that is still charging someone for their right to vote.  The level of individual income has no bearing on laws.  If anyone is in anyway charged in any manner prior to being given the right to vote—that is a poll tax. 
Then there’s the out of control gerrymandering Republicans have been doing for years.  You know, the gerrymandering similar to that being done in Texas.  A state that recently admitted that they were specifically redrawing districts to weaken the power of Democrats in Texas.
You see, what Republicans like to do is take a district which usually votes for Democrats, split it up, pair it off with conservative-leaning districts then create 2 (or more) conservative-leaning congressional districts instead of one liberal-leaning one.


It’s how Democrats won the popular vote in Congress this past November by over one million total votes yet still don’t control the House of Representatives.
Get it now?  Republicans don’t need to win elections—they’ll just rig them.  They’ll simply redraw districts to blatantly favor conservative voters or pass voting laws which directly target the voting patterns of specific demographics which often don’t vote for Republicans—or both.
It’s a deliberate attempt by Republicans to undermine our voting process under the guise of “fighting rampant voter fraud.”
Except, there’s absolutely no evidence of any “rampant voter fraud.”  A fact that they’re well aware of, they just simply don’t care.  Anyone who really thinks these laws are about fighting non-existent voter fraud is either an idiot or simply in denial.  Because Republicans couldn’t be more obvious about what they’re trying to do—and that’s rig elections.
Because conservatives are quickly realizing they’re soon not going to be able to actually win them fair and square.