Conservatives Are Finally Admitting What Voter Suppression Laws Are All About
—By Kevin Drum
| Mon Aug. 26, 2013 10:55 AM PDT
North Carolina's new voter ID law is ostensibly designed to reduce voter fraud. That's the official story, anyway. But if that's the case, why did North Carolina also pass a whole bunch of other voting restrictions, including limits on early voting?
Phyllis Schlafly, the doyen of right-wing crankery, explains that the reason was simple: "Early voting plays a major role in Obama's ground game....[It] is an essential component of the Democrats' get-out-the-vote campaign."
Steve Benen comments:
Have you ever heard a political figure accidentally read stage direction, unaware that it's not supposed to repeated out loud? This is what Schlafly's published column reminds me of.
For North Carolina Republicans, the state's new voter-suppression measures are ostensibly legitimate — GOP officials are simply worried about non-existent fraud. The response from Democrats and voting-rights advocates is multi-faceted, but emphasizes that some of these measures, including restrictions on early voting, have nothing whatsoever to do with fraud prevention and everything to do with a partisan agenda.
And then there's Phyllis Schlafly, writing a piece for publication effectively saying Democrats are entirely right — North Carolina had to dramatically cut early voting because it's not good for Republicans.
Remember, Schlafly's piece wasn't intended as criticism; this is her defense of voter suppression in North Carolina. Proponents of voting rights are arguing, "This is a blatantly partisan scheme intended to rig elections," to which Schlafly is effectively responding, "I know, isn't it great?"
more:
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2013/08/schlafly-voter-suppression-laws-partisan
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