Tea Party Confab Plans Voter Intimidation at the Polls [Audio]

by Rebekah Spicuglia on May 11 2012, 10:30AM

A Tea Party group who gained notoriety in recent elections for harassing and intimidating Houston voters has spun off into an organization called “True the Vote.” It plans to swarm polling stations nationwide on election day, with claims to be…

Topics: Brentin Mock, Colorlines Press

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Voter Suppression Groups Plot a Million-Person Army to Swarm Polls

by Brentin Mock on May 10 2012, 9:07AM

The campaign’s leader described how voters should feel while under the gaze of its observers: “Like driving and seeing the police following you.” The right casts this as the real civil rights battle of our time.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics, Voter Suppression

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Is ALEC on the Ropes? As Companies Flee, Critics Target IRS

by Kai Wright on April 23 2012, 11:37AM

Another bad day for the secretive conservative group that’s spread pro-corporate and Tea Party-style legislation around the country. Common Cause challenges its tax exempt status.

Topics: /NOW Blog, Politics, Schools & Youth

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How Gender Identity May Determine the Right to Vote in 2012

by Brentin Mock on April 16 2012, 9:06AM

Thanks to strict, new voter ID laws that have swept through states, transgender citizens and others whose gender identities don’t match the state’s declaration of it may not be ale to vote in November.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Gender & Sexuality, Politics

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Are Voter ID Laws the New Jim Crow?

by Brentin Mock on March 27 2012, 9:53AM

Photo voter ID laws are bad policies, and they have serious potential to suppress voter turnout for millions of people, mostly people of color, low-income citizens, elderly populations and college students. But this is not the equivalent of Jim Crow.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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Hans Von Spakovsky’s False Conclusions About Georgia’s Voter ID Impacts

by Brentin Mock on March 23 2012, 1:42PM

Increase in Georgia’s minority voter turnout was due to large increases in voter registration and the excitement around the Obama campaign, *despite *the voter ID law, but not because of it.

Topics: Politics

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Latino Support v Latino Access to ID For Voting Purposes

by Brentin Mock on March 21 2012, 5:00PM

Discriminatory impacts rely more on whether people of color can access something and almost not at all about whether they support it.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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47 Years Ago, Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson Called for Voting Rights

by Brentin Mock on March 15 2012, 4:25PM

States like Texas and South Carolina have blamed the federal government for imposing on their state’s sovereignty, but President Johnson, emboldened by the heroic efforts of African Americans, had an answer for that. Watch his 1965 speech.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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Pennsylvania Photo Voter ID Bill is Now Law, HBCUs in the Crosshairs

by Brentin Mock on March 15 2012, 9:14AM

College students have had a hard time voting in Pennsylvania, especially black college students. Things just got a lot harder for them thanks to the voter ID laws sweeping the nation.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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DOJ Texas Voter ID Ruling Is No Surprise Given State’s Faulty ‘Colorblind’ Policies

by Brentin Mock on March 13 2012, 10:11AM

Yesterday’s DOJ ruling was not a surprise to Texas. They sued the federal government last year in anticipation of it. Nonetheless, Texas Republicans were appalled yesterday. Sen. John Cornyn said it “reeks of politics,” which is, at best, dishonest.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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Swing State Strategy? Pennsylvania May Be Next to Restrict Voting Rights

by Brentin Mock on March 12 2012, 9:58AM

A glance at other legislation pushed by the bill’s sponsor this session reveals a flock of efforts to curtail rights of minorities: an “illegal immigration” bill, a “right to work” anti-union bill, a “14th Amendment Misapplication” bill, and more.

Topics: Brentin Mock, Politics

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The Wealthy One Percent That’s Behind Minnesota’s Voter ID Push

by Brentin Mock on February 10 2012, 9:45AM

The perennial swing state’s wealthiest finance institutions and conservative political operatives are banding together to disenfranchise millions of voters, according to a new report.

Topics: ALEC, Brentin Mock, Politics

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Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank Execs Funding Pols Behind Minnesota Voter ID Push

by Jorge Rivas on February 8 2012, 2:16PM

TakeAction Minnesota says that executives from Minnesota’s three largest banks—Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank and TC—have bankrolled the politicians who are working to restrict voter rights in the state.

Topics: /NOW Blog, Politics

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Attorney General Eric Holder Says He’s Ready to Protect Voters

by Jorge Rivas on December 14 2011, 11:10AM

And he’ll have to back up his words in 2012.

Topics: /NOW Blog, Politics

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5 Reasons Why You Should Care About New Restrictive Voting Laws

by Jorge Rivas on November 8 2011, 12:29PM

As restrictive new voter registration laws sweep the country, advocates are pressuring the Justice department to step in.

Topics: Politics

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The Maddening Effect of South Carolina’s Proposed Voter ID Law

by Jorge Rivas on October 25 2011, 11:44AM

Poor black people in the South have to jump through hoops to be able to vote in 2012.

Topics: Politics

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Report: New Restrictive Voting Rules Could Hurt 5 Million Americans

by Jorge Rivas on October 4 2011, 2:00PM

New restrictive voting laws across the country could affect up to five million voters from traditionally Democratic demographics in 2012, a new report has found.

Topics: Politics

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Voter Suppression in Wisconsin—a Sign of What’s to Come in 2012?

by Jorge Rivas on August 3 2011, 3:20PM

AlterNet’s Adele Stan spots shady poll tactics from a group backed by billionaire David Koch.

Topics: Politics

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Wisconsin Special Elections Preview 2012’s Voting Rights Showdown

by Jamilah King on July 28 2011, 10:19AM

Millions of black and Latino voters may be turned away from polls in states that have passed or are weighing strict new photo ID rules. Watchdogs say its the culmination of Republican’s decade-long effort to manufacture a voter fraud problem.

Topics: Politics

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Wisconsin Leads on 2012 Campaign Tricks with Voter ID Law

by Julianne Hing on March 18 2011, 10:20AM

Dozens of states are already gearing up efforts to surpress voting among people of color and youth.

Topics: Politics, Wisconsin

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