The Associated Press provides one of their best “gee, ya think so?” headlines of the year: Push to register felons to vote could aid Obama
Undaunted by the heat, James Bailey spent his late-summer afternoons walking Virginia’s bleakest neighborhoods on the hunt for ex-cons — each a potential voter who might cast the decisive ballot in this hotly contested state.
Finding them isn’t the hard part. It’s getting them to admit that a past mistake has kept them from the ballot box.
“People are really, really reluctant to say, ‘I lost my rights to vote,'” Bailey said of his quest, which continued in the run-up to Monday’s registration deadline in Virginia for the November election.
Nationally, there are roughly 4 million released felons whose convictions have cost them the right to vote at least temporarily, if not permanently. To return to the ballot box, felons must negotiate suffrage laws that vary from state to state, in many cases working with election officials who can be both unfamiliar with the law and hostile to former convicts seeking to register.
Such challenges matter little to Bailey and others trying to return former criminals to voter rolls, an effort they consider crucial in light of the results of the past two presidential elections: A shift of a few hundred votes in Florida in 2000 would have changed the outcome of the presidential race, and the results in 2004 came down to a margin of 119,000 votes in Ohio.Â
The nonprofit groups and individual activists making the push on felons’ behalf agree the effort is broader this year than in previous elections, even if they aren’t necessarily making a coordinated push. They expect that effort to benefit Barack Obama more than John McCain, given that the population of former felons is disproportionately black.
First, they still can’t get over Bush’s two presidential wins. Sad, really.
Second, it always seems to be the case that giving felons the right to vote helps Democrats, and it is not just because so many are Black. A good guess would probably be that criminals know that punishment for what they do is much less under Democrats, usually along the lines of a short sentence, which is then reduced as “time served,” and some therapy.
Third, have you ever noticed that the Democrat Party keeps up the pressure to register the most politically clueless, along with those who are offering nothing to society? Felons, the homeless, college kids who think they will get free drinking money, illegal aliens, etc. If someone was really interested in the issues and in voting, well, they would get their butts out there and register themselves. It really isn’t that hard. If you do not have the will to go register yourself, maybe you should sit on the sidelines and watch.
Oh, and in Ohio register-and-vote land
What must a voter do to prove they’re a qualified, eligible voter when they register and vote at the same time?
Anyone who registers to vote must fill out the same paperwork, whether they do it in person minutes before voting or at any other time. You are not required to show identification, but must provide either your driver’s license number or the last four digits of your Social Security number.Â
Maybe if people would be required to show ID, it would only be a tiny problem. You know, that thing you need to show to pass a check, use your credit card (not that companies taking your CC look at them that much anymore), and are required to have on your person when you drive. Something that is rather easy to get and not that expensive. But, we can all infer why Democrats do not want people to have to show ID to vote.
