Former Secretary of State Colin Powell warned Republicans on Sunday that the strict voter identification laws they’re pursuing around the country will damage the party’s standing with growing blocs of voters.
“[H]ere’s what I say to my Republican friends: The country is becoming more diverse,” Powell told Bob Schieffer on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “You say you want to reach out, you say you want to have a new message. You say you want to see if you can bring some of these voters to the Republican side. This is not the way to do it.”
“The way to do it is to make it easier for them to vote and then give them something to vote for that they can believe in,” Powell added.
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down a key portion of the Voting Rights Act, Republicans in states like North Carolina, Florida and Texas have sought voter restrictions that critics, including Powell, say will disproportionately hurt minorities at the polls. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed legislation earlier this month that requires voter identification, rolls back early voting hours and ends a state-supported voter registration drive. Powell condemned that particular law at an event in Raleigh last week.
Powell pointed out that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, the very premise of the identification statutes.
“You need a photo ID. Well, you didn’t need a photo ID for decades before,” Powell said. “Is it really necessary now? And they claim that there’s widespread abuse and voter fraud, but nothing documents, nothing substantiates that. There isn’t widespread abuse.”
Powell predicted that such measures will blow up in Republicans’ faces.
Do you agree with Colin Powell? Is there wide-spread voter abuse? Is it all happening on the Democrat side?
I agree with Powell. I haven’t seen evidence of wide-spread voter fraud. Roadblocks seem to be a tactic of a party that is running scared. It screams “we don’t have anything that’s appealing to voters so we’ll block as many groups which we’ve offended as possible.”
What kind of political party is it that runs from the electorate? This attitude that so many of our fellow Republicans have about trying to squeeze down the vote is a symptom of terminal illness. If these new voter ID measures were accompanied by a very robust effort to register new voters and to raise participation at the polls, I might be more charitable, but one doesn’t see that at all.
Without that kind of effort, and without any evidence that voter ID fraud has had any impact in any election, one has to assume that this is voter suppression, pure and simple. A healthy political party would necessarily be embracing the electorate, not walling itself off from the citizens.
If I’m not mistaken, those states that have used “voter fraud” as their excuse have not been able to substantiate their claim. I agree with Scout- it seems the Republicans are doing everything they can to drive voters from their door. They must believe their base, plus constsnt gerrymandering of district, is strong enough to carry the day. Both 2014 and 2016 should be very interesting election years.
I must say I wholeheartedly agree with Scout …
I will add that Ted Cruz is not doing the Republicans any favors either – add his “defund Obamacare or shut down the government” rants which are tearing (what’s left) of the Republican Party apart and it seems that the Republicans are trying to become a 3rd party.
Who do you see as the two major parties?
Democratic Party and the Let’s-Get-Something-Done-for-the-Nation-Party, a party that I formed earlier today while walking my dogs. The Ds are pretty tired and use up (see, e.g., Terry McAuliffe) but the Rs have opted out of the America political process. I miss them, wish it hadn’t happened, believe that non-Rs got their hands on the levers and veered off the cliff, but we’ve got a state and a country to govern in a democratic process. Rs have run off in a corner somewhere to play with slogans. If the Rs want to get back in the game, I will welcome them, because they have a rich distant history of governing on a high plane in the public good. But that is history, not a present fact. Right now, the whole thing is run by 20-something copywriters using two-decade old marketeering pamphlets.
My new party sees a challenging world environment, a necessity for intelligent people without ideological blinders to find solutions to complex problems, and a value in reflecting on what made America a special place of fairness, hope and rationality in a chaotic world of humans bent on using political power to project their specific hates, suspicions, and insecurities. With any luck, we’ll get someone elected dog catcher in some small to middling town in the next couple of years.
Maybe you could shorten the name.
I like Terry McAuliffe. He is growing on me. Every day I see that sneering Cuccinelli’s face I like Terry better.
I also like Northam and Herring a LOT.
BTW, General Powell is a great American of my generation. I feel fortunate to be a neighbour of his in Northern Virginia and to have lived in the same American times as he does. He would have made an excellent Republican president, as did General Eisenhower before him.
Some are deluding themselves believing if they pass laws, diversity will go away.
@Moon-howler
I don’t see another party replacing the Republican Party. I guess I should have elaborated on my comment — what I meant was that it seems the Republican Party is hell-bent on relegating itself to winning in areas of concentration (read: gerrymandered districts) but not at the national (read WH or Senate) level. It’s unfortunate.
@Scout @21:43
I find myself agreeing with Scout again! 🙂
Scout pretty hard to disagree with, I have found. He and I disagree on one issue that I am aware of. That’s a pretty good batting average if you ask me.
Having seen entire vans of “Democrat” voters going from poll to poll in New Orleans….. I’m all for voter ID. I don’t care if it “backfires.” The idea isn’t being presented to prevent votes. If the minorities get mad, go get ID, and go vote, that’s a good idea.
But, at least SOMEBODY is trying to protect the vote. I have to show an ID at my polling place. What’s the problem?
If the problem is that it might cost the voter money, then make it an ID that is free. I don’t mind tax money for that.
How about what is happening in North Carolina? College students aren’t being allowed to vote on campus. If that isn’t voter suppression, I don’t know what is.
I don’t mind having to show an ID but at what point is too much information required.
I have not seen proof of wide-spread voter fraud and abuse.
I can’t comment on what happens in NO. why didn’t someone stop them if it was that obvious?
I feel confident we don’t have that here.
I don’t know anything about the NC situation. How can I find it?
It wasn’t stopped in NOLA because the Democrats in charge were the ones running the operation.
@Cargosquid
What are we protecting the vote from?
Democrats! Students voting!
CS: there’s no inherent problem with voter ID (although I very much doubt that voter fraud in the US is a factor in any state or federal election). The problem comes in the transition from one requirement to another. If a government changes the requirements, then it has to be aggressive about going out to the entire electorate to ensure that no one is disenfranchised. One doesn’t see that happening, even rhetorically, in all these recent Republican-backed changes in ID requirements. Quite aside from the obligation to actively make sure not a single vote is lost in these changes, it is very clear from the rhetoric of many Rs these days that they really do want to suppress the turnout with these changes. That is evil in a democratic republic. It is also stupid for a political party to gravitate toward an institutional fear of voters.
Again, I agree with Scout.
So far North Carolina is the most egregious that I have heard about.
PS: when did these voter vans operate in New Orleans? Of course politics in Louisiana generally are very colorful (Earl Long, at first dismayed when he was shown a voting machine demonstration, is reputed to have said something to the effect of “Leave me alone with that thing for an hour and I’ll be playing it like a Stradivarius.”). But, if this was relatively recent and you witnessed it (I assume your testimony is not just that you saw vans going to polls, but the same people voting multiple times in the same election at different stations), there probably is a lot of press coverage of that.
@Scout
Oh…about 1979, 1980….. a while ago on local news…..nothing ever came of it. The news reported it and then never mentioned again.
Nothing much has changed in New Orleans elections.
Then it must be an isolated situation. I sure don’t see anything like that in Virginia.
I bet no one saw anything like that in North Carolina either.
@Confused
Multiple voting.
@Moon-howler
What’s going on in NC? Got a link or something I can hit google with?
Rachel Maddow did a huge expose on it. I will see if I can find it. Remind me tomorrow.
@Cargosquid
How many incidents of proven multiple voting take place every year? Is voter fraud an issue? Have any statistics (with references I can read) that support your allegations?
I’ve never seen any data suggesting that multiple voting by the same voters in the same election is a real-world problem. CS says he witnessed it directly in a New Orleans election. I’m not stupid enough to make any sweeping statements about the purity of elections in Louisiana, but I nonetheless would be surprised to have anyone come in here with links to reliable data showing that multiple voting has been a statistically significant problem in any major election. Again, the problem isn’t with voter ID programs. They can go totally biometric for all I care IF (and this is the IF that isn’t present in the current wave of changes) those imposing increased standards for ID also provide the means and methods to get out into the electorate to make sure that everyone eligible has the new IDs, that there is no cost, and that no one loses the franchise in the transition.
Cargo, here’s a pretty good site on voting law changes: http://www.brennancenter.org/analysis/election-2013-voting-laws-roundup
7 states so far have passed laws making registration harder. 7 states so far have passed laws limiting early voting. So far 2 states have passed laws making it harder for students to vote. 22 states have passed laws requiring photo I.D. Most all these states are in total GOP control, and all the changes above affect mainly minority and student voters, whose vote skews strongly Democratic. It’s pretty clear what’s happening.
Btw- no GOP elected official attended the commemoration of the March on Washington yesterday- they WERE invited…
Btw, one doesn’t have to look too far away to see problems with voting. In the last election, right here in PWC, the longest wait times to vote were in the districts that skewed heavily minority and Democratic. Long lines are one way to discourage voters…
yet we were told nothing was amiss. Of course the chairman of the investigation committee was Mr. Uber Republican who is known far and wide for name calling those with whom he disagrees, regardless of party. Somehow I am not convinced.
R leaders invited pleaded scheduling conflicts. One would think that the smart call would have been to tell their schedulers to cancel whatever else was going on, apologize profusely, but say I have to be on the Mall for this.
Agree, Scout. Who didn’t show up that should have?
McCain, Boehner, three Bushes, Cantor, Ryan were all invited at least 12 days prior.
Btw, Bill O’Reilly lied about this on his show Wednesday in a lengthy piece, saying they weren’t invited and blaming the Dem’s for not being inclusive. After MSNBC “outed” him, he “apologized” on his show Thursday at the very end in a one-minute segment. How much you want to bet that many of his viewers still think that the GOP was excluded?
Bill’s a real pro at this stuff…