The GOP Latest Movement: Voter Suppression.

by Staff July 10, 2012 3 Comments News Opinion Politics Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) The latest strategy of the GOP throughout the nation is to hi-jack the upcoming presidential election. It is very suspect that the GOP is overly concerned about voter fraud when in most of the states that they are forging this issue have little to no evidence of fraudulent voter practices. Conveniently the population mostly affected by this new Trojan horse move is the African American community.

The main provision of this Voter Suppression measure is to require voters to provide a valid Id upon receiving a ballot. Whereas in the past, voters who did not have an Id could sign an affidavit clarifying their identity. In some states, voters who do not have an Id can sign a special form and then they have a few days to return back to the voting officials to validate their identity, totally ineffective.

How does this affect the African American community?

Persons who do not have a driver’s license or a picture Id cannot vote. This includes the elderly, (most likely to vote), young people who do not have a college Id. If this voting bloc, elderly and young voters, are restricted in exercising their voting rights it will negatively impact the 2012 election as it relates to President Obama.

What must we do as citizens to counteract this suppressive movement?

1. African American pastors of churches all over the United States should ensure that their congregations all have photo Ids. In addition, they should have photo Id events to ensure the people in their surrounding community have an Id to protect their right to participate in the upcoming election.

2. Civic and social organizations (fraternities, sororities, etc…) should ensure that their members all have appropriate Ids.

3. Historically Black Colleges and Universities should ensure that their Ids are within the guidelines of their states’ Id requirements for the sake of their students and employees.

4. NAACP, Urban League and other organizations concerned about the rights of African Americans must reach out to their members and the communities that they serve to ensure they are aware of the new restrictions and provide the necessary Ids.

5. Be a committee of one. You the individual should ensure that your Facebook friends, MySpace friends, Twitter followers and other social media contacts all vote and have the necessary Id to vote.

It is absolutely imperative that every eligible person, young and old, exercise their right to vote. Regardless of how hard the GOP seeks to make voting difficult, we must do everything that we can to counteract by taking the necessary time to get the proper Id required to vote.

If our ancestors had the fortitude to face dogs, water hoses, lynchings, insults and many the ultimate price, death, then surely by any means necessary we can ensure that each person in our lives have the necessary Id to vote so that our ancestors sacrifices are not taken for granted.

Staff Writer; Kevin M. Jackson

To read more articles by this Christian brother feel free to visit; Life Lessons For My Sons.

3 Comments

hoodgirl says:

July 12, 2012 at 3:04 pm

Go to any housing project and you’ll find Lexus, Infiniti, BMWs and of course the daddy of them all Cadillacs parked in the complex. Visit any homeless shelter or drug treatment center and it’s soooo apparent that the Dems have handicapped these people to the point that they are clueless about productivity.

Now DEMS are fighting against IDs, the cornerstone of livelihood “gameful employment” to generate and grow income to restore dignity and respect which is what every black community had in the 50s and 60s.

Just as Herman Cain suggested, it’s time to escape the plantation!

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Kevin says:

July 12, 2012 at 9:34 am

Thank you Eric for your comments. However, I do not think you understand the purpose of the article. Recent research has found that their is little to no voter fraud based on identification in the United States.

One would be oblivious to the tactics of the GOP only if you embrace their beliefs. One Pennsylvania politician is quoted on video saying that one of the GOP’s strategies was to suppress voters in that state to ensure a win for Mr. Romney. Is that American?

It is my view, that the same Id requirements that were used during the 2008 Presidential election should continue for the upcoming election. That’s all!

So Eric, no one is suggesting that illegal immigrants vote we are talking about African Americans, college students and the elderly which represent people of all races.

Whatever issues you have with Mr. Holder is between you and Mr.Holder. He is simply exercising his right to sue. That’s American.

Finally Eric, since you do not have any knowledge of the financial situations of the persons you negatively provide a laundry lists of generalizations, it would be more proper to simply focus on something you are more knowledgeable about. In fact, go visit a housing area and learn first hand rather than repeat what you have possibly seen on t.v.

The bottom line Eric, as fellow Americans we should be supportive of protecting the rights of all people to vote. We as African Americans have ancestors who died trying to get the right to vote when it was denied only a few decades ago.

Let’s not argue over the right the vote, the opportunity to vote, let’s join forces in ensuring that ALL people who have a right to vote in this election, get the opportunity to vote without people trying to put in place new standards to prevent them from voting. Let’s do that as Americans.

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Eric says:

July 11, 2012 at 6:29 pm

This is ridiculous!!! How is requiring people to show identification to vote, voter suppression? With all the voter fraud going around, I think it’s imperative that we show id when voting. That way, our votes cannot be stolen. First of all the reason college students can’t use a college id to vote, is because some college students aren’t from the state they go to school in. If those students were allowed to vote in that state, they could influence the outcome of local elections, which would have affects on the people who live in that community. That would be unfair to the locals!!!!! Also they are always allowed to vote with absentee ballots for their home state. Nothing is stopping them from doing that. If the military can do it, so can they. And if allowed to vote in the states where they go to school, who says they won’t vote twice, when it comes to national elections? That means they could vote in their school state and then use an absentee ballot for their home state.

Also, valid id’s don’t cost an arm and a leg to get. We have people in the projects that have expensive clothes, electronic items, go out to eat, go to the clubs and do other things with the money they get, so why cant they just use a little money to get an id? Poor and elderly people need a valid id to drive a car. Is that transportation suppression? They need a valid id to cash a check. Is that banking suppression? Come down to the border states where we experience first hand, the reason why valid id is needed to vote. Illegal immigrants are everywhere down here. Also, it’s funny that Eric Holder and the doj is bringing a law suit against Texas because our state govt wants to pass voter id laws. He had a function today in Houston and guess what???? People going inside had to show valid id to get in!!!!! Is that suppressing the right to assembly??????

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