HOW THE ESTABLISHMENT IS KILLING VOTERS

Here's how it worked for New Yorkers;

The Kings County Board of Elections purged 126,000 registered Democratsfrom the voting rolls in Brooklyn, prompting an outcry from Mayor Bill de Blasio and an audit from Comptroller Scott Stringer. “It has been reported to us from voters and voting rights monitors that the voting lists in Brooklyn contain numerous errors, including the purging of entire buildings and blocks of voters from the voting lists,” de Blasio said. “The perception that numerous voters may have been disenfranchised undermines the integrity of the entire electoral process and must be fixed.”

Polling places didn’t open on time, voting machines malfunctioned, and voters showed up to find their names weren’t on the rolls. Some voters had their party affiliations mysteriously switched from Democratic or Republican to independent or non-affiliated and couldn’t vote in the closed primaries. And 3 million New Yorkers, 27 percent of the electorate, didn’t get to vote because they weren’t registered with the Democratic or Republican parties, and the deadline to change party affiliation was an absurd 193 days before the April 19 primary, as I reported on Monday.

As a result, only 19.7 percent of eligible New Yorkers cast a ballot, the second-lowest voter turnout among primary states after Louisiana, according to elections expert Michael McDonald. There were over 900 calls from frustrated voters to the Election Protection Coalition, more than in any other primary state. 

Why There May Be Trouble This November at Your Polling Place 

In reporting on some of the voting issues that have risen during the party primaries in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Arizona these past few months — namely waiting lines as long as five hours and confusing new voter ID rules — The Nation’s Ari Berman often reminds his readers that the 2016 election is the first in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act. His 2015 book, Give Us the Ballot, chronicles the events that led to the creation and passage of the landmark civil rights law, and the decades-long effort to undermine it.

The Fight to Vote, another book published just last month, explores the history of suffrage even further, all the way back to America’s founding. Author Michael Waldman, president of New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, notes that from the very beginning, and at every step along the way, Americans have sought the right to vote and others have fought to stop them.

Throughout this tumultuous primary season, writer Ari Berman, author of the book Give Us the Ballot, has been keeping a knowledgeable eye on the impact of voting laws old and new. He is vigorously reporting on issues of disenfranchisement at the polling place and investigating the difficulties of registering and voting under a cloud of recent restrictive legislation, keeping all of us aware that what has happened so far could be a harbinger of big trouble ahead as we approach the actual November general election.

 Arizona

• There Were Five-Hour Lines to Vote in Arizona Because the Supreme Court Gutted the Voting Rights Act
  Reducing the number of polling places in Phoenix had catastrophic consequences in the March 22 primary. (March 23, 2016)

New Hampshire

• New Hampshire’s New Voter-ID Law Could Lead to Longer Lines, Voter Intimidation
  The controversial new voting restriction was in full effect for the first time during Tuesday’s presidential primary. (February 9, 2016)

New York

• New York Had the Second Lowest Voter Turnout So Far This Election Season
  When you are only beating Louisiana, something is very wrong. (April 21, 2016)

North Carolina

• North Carolina’s Voter ID Law Could Block 218,000 Registered Voters From the Polls
  The controversial restriction takes effect for the first time in the March 15 primary.(March 15, 2016)
• Meet the 94-Year-Old Civil-Rights Activist Who Is Now Challenging North Carolina’s Voter-ID Law
  Can Rosanell Eaton succeed in getting the new voter-ID law blocked before the 2016 election? (January 26, 2016)

Texas

• Voters Were Blocked From the Polls on Super Tuesday by New Restrictions
  The 2016 election is the first in 50 years without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, and voters in Texas and Arizona experienced problems. (March 2, 2016)

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin’s Voter-ID Law Could Block 300,000 Registered Voters From the Polls
  One of the country’s toughest voting restrictions takes effect for the April 5 primary.(April 4, 2016)
• A Black Man Brought 3 Forms of ID to the Polls in Wisconsin. He Still Couldn’t Vote.
  Three hundred thousand registered voters in Wisconsin lack a government-issued photo ID, and many have faced great difficulty obtaining one. (April 14, 2016)