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Kris Kobach
This week on CounterSpin: Corporate media have moved beyond rhetorically balancing right-wing claims of voter fraud with documented evidence of voter suppression, but have they taken the next step—to acknowledging the voter fraud pretense as part of the voter suppression effort? The federal trial over voter fraud mouthpiece Kris Kobach’s effort to change registration laws in Kansas is a good test case. We talk about it with Orion Danjuma, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program.
Transcript: ‘They Don’t Want Certain Voters to Participate in the Political Process’
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Gina Haspel (photo: CIA via Salon)
Also on the show: “I don’t envy her trying to get through confirmation,” says a CIA lawyer quoted in the New York Times, talking about Gina Haspel, the agency’s current deputy director, now nominated by Trump for the top spot. The source, and to some extent the article, focused on the difficulties Haspel may face getting the job, as if her involvement in so-called “counterterrorism” programs that included torture were, above all, a potential career impediment. We get a different view from Maha Hilal, the Michael Ratner fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and an organizer with Witness Against Torture.
Transcript: ‘Those Who Committed the Crime of Torture Actually Get Promoted’
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And Janine Jackson takes a quick look at Hollywood and guns.
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This documentary about Thomas Ferguson’s works speaks some about fluctuations in voter turnout over time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwbKcVy6JWE . He mentions someone named Burnham, and how in the middle 1800s participation went from 20 something percent to over 90 percent. Then at the end of the century he describes a “stupendous decline” in turnouts; in the South this is due, he says, to taxes, tests, requirements, and intimidation, but elsewhere he identifies “the spread of industrialization” as a big part of the story. Ferguson’s work looks into how investors come together around candidates to gain control over institutions and control policy directions. Here in Burlington, Vermont, we had a recent mayoral election in which three people faced off; the two independent candidates got more votes combined, than the Democratic Mayor, who was reelected. The Mayor had most of the major local investor money, over a hundred thousand dollars, and the other two had much less. The least funded candidate was a well known, formerly incarcerated, African American activist, who got 16 percent of the vote. This is a state with same day voter registration, but still only 32 percent of potential voters participated. This is up from less than 30 percent in the last election.
I haven’t researched much but it looks like a birth certificate in Kansas costs $15. Is this really preventing people from voting? How does someone without such a basic document function in society? How can they access any government services without identification? I can’t see how asking for a birth certificate to prove citizenship is that big of a deal.
When you registered to vote were you required to produce a birth certificate?
$15 isn’t much money unless you do not have it. Apparently you don’t understand how so many don’t even make enough money to pay for their rent, utilities and other necessities.
The point is there is no significant voter fraud problem to be so all worried about to begin with. It is a false narrative only created to justify hurdles for the prospective voter to overcome.
Thanks for your reply. Ok, I get the main point of the article about whether non-citizens voting is even an issue. However, I still can’t see how someone can not afford a once in a lifetime expense of $15 for a critical piece of identification. You mention people not being able to pay their rent or utilities… agreed and it is unfortunate that there are people in such a situation. If they’re paying rent, they must have a lease, and I don’t know any companies that would offer a lease to a person with no ID. Same goes for utilities- no utility company would provide an account for someone without knowing who their customer is. Or, perhaps these people are just renting a room from someone on an informal basis, fair enough. But if they are that poor they would definitely qualify for some government subsidies- how do they identify themselves for payments from the government? How would they even open up a bank account (for cheque deposits) without any ID?