Republicans do cherish their little practical jokes – the leaflets in African-American neighborhoods warning that voters must pay outstanding traffic tickets before voting; the calls in Virginia in 2006 from the mythical “Virginia Election Commission” warning voters they would be arrested if they showed up at the polls. The best way to steal an election is the old-fashioned way: control who shows up. It’s widely known that Republicans do better when the turnout is lighter, whiter, older and richer; minorities, young people and the poor are easy game for hoaxes and intimidation . . .
. . . How about a bill making clear that every American who is not under active sentence for felony has a right to vote for those who will govern the country? The bill could go on to say that states could require reasonable identification for new registrants, but outlaw onerous provisions like Missouri’s, which would, for example, have required that married women produce legal documentation of their name change. (I reviewed the Missouri law with my mother, who has voted in every election since 1944. We determined that, had she lived in Missouri, she would have been barred from the polls in 2006.) . . .
. . . The real issue is the right of every American citizen to vote, the right of the people to choose their rulers, rather than the reverse. Who can really oppose that, if asked about it in the light of day?
Full Salon.com article