STUDY: In 2008, Voter ID Laws Blocked 1200 Votes in Two States Alone

By Aviva Shen posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jul 9, 2012 at 8:00 pm

Just in time for the Texas voter ID law’s court date today, the Associated Press has released a study finding that hundreds of legitimate votes have been rejected due to strict voter ID laws:

As more states put in place strict voter ID rules, an AP review of temporary ballots from Indiana and Georgia, which first adopted the most stringent standards, found that more than 1,200 such votes were tossed during the 2008 general election.

During sparsely attended primaries this year in Georgia, Indiana and Tennessee, the states implementing the toughest laws, hundreds more ballots were blocked.

The numbers suggest that the legitimate votes rejected by the laws are far more numerous than are the cases of fraud that advocates of the rules say they are trying to prevent. Thousands more votes could be in jeopardy for this November, when more states with larger populations are looking to have similar rules in place.

Voter ID’s supporters justify them by claiming they are necessary to prevent voter fraud at the polls, but such fraud is so rare that someone is more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud. One study, for example, found just seven examples of voter fraud out of the three million votes cast in Wisconsin during the 2004 election, a fraud rate of 0.0002 percent. Similarly, the Supreme Court could only identify one example of in-person voter fraud in the past 143 years in a decision approving Indiana’s ID law in 2008. Even a Heritage Foundation expert arguing for voter suppression laws could not cite a single example of voter fraud during a TV interview on the subject. And as a 2007 report by the Brennan Center for Justice found, many allegations of individual voter fraud can be chalked up to clerical errors like typos in names or addresses.

So voter ID laws target no legitimate problem, but they are effective in skewing the electorate rightward. Voter ID laws disproportionately affect young, poor and minority communities. Indeed, in 2005, the sponsor of the Georgia law, Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta), defended the discriminatory effect, saying if black people in her district “are not paid to vote, they don’t go to the polls,” and that if fewer blacks vote as a result of the new law, then they were blocked from casting fraudulent ballots.

More than two dozen states have some form of a voter ID law, with 11 passing new rules over the past two years.

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NEWS FLASH

Barbour Says Mitt Romney Should Release More Tax Returns | During an appearance on CNN’s Situation Room Monday evening, former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) appeared to agree with Democrats who are calling on Mitt Romney to release more tax returns. Asked, “should he release the tax returns,” Barbour quipped, “I would, but should it be an issue in a campaign? I don’t think it matters to diddly.” Watch it:

NEWS FLASH

Gov. Chris Christie: The War On Drugs ‘Has Been A Failure’ | New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) spoke out against the country’s decades-long War on Drugs during a speech at the Brookings Institution today, saying, “The war on drugs, while well-intentioned, has been a failure. We’re warehousing addicted people everyday in state prisons in New Jersey, giving them no treatment.” Christie is a proponent of mandatory drug treatment programs rather than jail time for first-time, nonviolent drug offenders. Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) also recently described the War on Drugs as a “failure.”

LGBT

Media-Hyped ‘Rift’ In Ex-Gay Movement Irrelevant To Ongoing Harm Of Sexual Orientation Rejection

By Zack Ford posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Jul 9, 2012 at 5:56 pm

A protest of Exodus International in 2009 at its annual convention Wheaton College.

The media continues to be excited by the fact that Exodus International — the world’s largest umbrella organization of ex-gay therapy ministries — is no longer going to practice conversion therapy. The group’s head, Alan Chambers, conceded that gay people can’t actually change their sexual orientations and that they should stop trying. Both the New York Times and NPR picked up on the story on Friday, describing a “rift” in the ex-gay movement as the evangelical community takes a “more open view of homosexuality”:

NYT: [Chambers] said Exodus could no longer condone reparative therapy, which blames homosexuality on emotional scars in childhood and claims to reshape the psyche. And in a theological departure that has caused the sharpest reaction from conservative pastors, Mr. Chambers said he believed that those who persist in homosexual behavior could still be saved by Christ and go to heaven.

NPR: But Chambers at Exodus International says conversion therapy does not help. Rather, it damages, because it makes people feel sinful for their natural inclinations. Worse, he says, the church can make people feel like outcasts. “I believe we’ve been hypocritical,” he says. “I believe that we have looked at the issue of same-sex attraction differently than we look at anything else.”

But both of these stories, like others before them, bury the crucial question: If Exodus is no longer going to offer reparative therapy, what is it going to offer? At the bottom of the NYT piece, Chambers says that “many Christians with homosexual urges may have to strive for lives of celibacy.” NPR admits toward the end of its story that “Chambers compares same-sex attraction to adultery or pride,” believes that “homosexual acts are a sin because the Bible calls for heterosexual marriage,” and says that “gay Christians must either be celibate, or if they want to marry, it must be with someone of the opposite sex.”

Sin, celibacy, and fake marriages do not constitute progress from ex-gay therapy. The difference between “don’t be gay” and “don’t act gay” is merely semantic, negligible in practice and unsupported by any scientific research. Exodus-affiliated groups are still working to instill internalized anti-gay stigma while erasing the existence of any kind of sexual orientation diversity. Their desire to not do harm is admirable — and with this change, they may in fact do less harm — but that doesn’t change the fact that anything short of sexual orientation affirmation is still harmful.

Box Turtle Bulletin’s Jim Burroway attended the Exodus International national conference last week and believes that “there really are significant changes afoot at Exodus.” But when ex-gay groups first formed in the 1970′s after homosexuality was declassified as a mental illness, they targeted people with “unwanted same-sex attractions” with a goal of encouraging the “unwanted” and discouraging the “same-sex attractions.” It’s unclear if Exodus can exist without those priorities, which calls to question whether any change that isn’t the end of the organization itself could truly warrant praise.

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Economy

House Farm Bill Would Kick 280,000 Low-Income Children Off Of School Meals Program

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 9, 2012 at 4:21 pm

Members of the House Agriculture Committee this week will be marking up a “compromise” version of this year’s farm bill, which includes cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — i.e. food stamps — that would result in two to three million people losing their food assistance. 45 percent of the proposed cuts to federal spending in the bill come from reductions in the food stamp program.

The bulk of the cuts would be a result of eliminating what is known as “categorical eligibility,” which gave states the flexibility to enroll families in SNAP even if their assets (such as a car or modest savings) or income push them barely above the line to qualify for assistance. According to the Congressional Budget Office, such a move would not only boot 1.8 million people off of food stamps, but would knock 280,000 children off of the free school lunch program:

The legislation would restrict categorical eligibility to only households receiving cash assistance. Based on data from the Department of Agriculture, CBO estimates that about 1.8 million people per year, on average, would lose benefits if they were subject to SNAP’s income and asset tests. In addition, about 280,000 school-age children in those households would no longer be automatically eligible for free school meals through their receipt of SNAP benefits. Assuming enactment on October 1, 2012, CBO estimates that this provision would lower direct spending by $11.5 billion over the 2012-2022 period.

These families’ free lunch benefits are tied to their receipt of SNAP funds. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities noted, “A typical working family that qualifies for SNAP benefits due to categorical eligibility is a mother with two young children who has monthly earnings just above the program’s monthly gross income limit ($2,008 for a family of three in 2012).”

Republicans have mounted quite the campaign to convince the public that food stamp spending is somehow out of control, and this “compromise” bill buys into the worst of that rhetoric. Many House Democrats are voicing their objections. “This is a bill that robs the poor to pay the rich,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). “This bill is an outrage.”

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Justice

Lobbying Group Holds ‘White Trash Reception’ On Capitol Hill

By Annie-Rose Strasser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jul 9, 2012 at 3:33 pm

Washington may seem dead in the Summer, but there is one event happening on Capitol Hill next week that will cause at least a bit of a stir. The health care lobbying group Strategic Health Care will be holding a “White Trash Reception” on July 19th:

Strategic Health Care says that it regularly throws themed parties where lobbyists and people in the health industry can mingle with Capitol Hill staffers. This event’s theme, however, drives home an image of high-paid Washington lobbyists gathering to snicker at low-income, white Americans. And the event particularly stings because health care lobbyists at Strategic Health Care profit from pharmaceutical companies that make their money on expensive drugs that low income Americans of all races frequently have to turn their pockets inside out to pay for.

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Health

Rick Perry Announces Texas Won’t Implement The Affordable Care Act, Leaving Millions of Texans Uninsured

By Guest Blogger posted from ThinkProgress Health on Jul 9, 2012 at 2:33 pm

Early Monday morning, Gov. Rick Perry (R) announced that Texas won’t create a state insurance exchange nor accept expanded Medicaid funds outlined in the Affordable Care Act. In a statement, Perry said, “Neither a ‘state’ exchange nor the expansion of Medicaid under this program would result in better ‘patient protection’ or in more ‘affordable care.’”

Perry’s announcement is an especially harmful move because Texas will benefit more from the Affordable Care Act than any other state. Texas was recently ranked worst in the country for health care delivery by the federal Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, scoring “weak” or “very weak” in nine of 12 categories. Perry’s office discounted the study as overly broad, and has argued that Texans’ real problem is personal health choices, not lack of health insurance.

More than 25 percent of Texans – 6,234,900 people – are uninsured, the highest rate in the nation. After five years of health reform, Texas would be able to insure 1,798,314 more Americans under the Medicaid expansion alone – more than any state in the nation. Setting up a state health insurance exchange would enable the remaining millions of uninsured Texans to purchase affordable health insurance. Thus, despite Perry’s claims, implementing the law would result in better patient protection and greater access to coverage.

Though the Supreme Court ruled that states can reject the expanded Medicaid funds without any penalty, any state that refuses to set up a health insurance exchange will have one set up for them by the federal government. This doesn’t lessen the impact of Perry’s decision to deny 1.8 million uninsured Texans the opportunity to be covered under Medicaid. He joins other Republican governors across the country in pledging to or considering turning down $258 billion in Medicaid funds and leaving 9.2 million Americans uninsured. A new study by the Brookings Institution found that states led by Republican governors have the most uninsured Americans, making political moves like Perry’s particularly harmful to Americans’ health.

– Ben Sherman

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Security

Romney Fundraiser Host Bankrolled Right-Wing Group That Wants To Bomb Iran

By Ali Gharib posted from ThinkProgress Security on Jul 9, 2012 at 1:11 pm

Daniel S. Loeb

Yesterday, Mitt Romney held three fundraisers in the Hamptons, the exclusive beach towns known as a playground to super-rich New York City financiers. According to the Los Angeles Times, one event was co-hosted by Daniel Loeb, a hedge-funder who turned against President Obama and bankrolled a neoconservative pressure group that called last month for the U.S. to attack Iran. The Los Angeles Times reported:

At Romney’s luncheon with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at the Creeks, supporters were asked to contribute or raise $25,000 per person for a VIP photo reception. Among the co-hosts were lobbyist Wayne Berman, a former bundler for George W. Bush, as well as financiers Lew Eisenberg and Daniel Loeb.

Loeb supported Obama’s first run for president, raising $200,000 for him in 2008. But, comparing Obama to an abusive spouse to the hedge-fund industry — “[Obama] really loves us and when he beats us, he doesn’t mean it,” he told friends in an e-mail — he turned away from Obama and began supporting partisan, right-wing causes.

Among the beneficiaries of Loeb’s shifting political allegiances was a right-wing pressure group called the Emergency Committee For Israel (ECI). According to FEC filings, Loeb remains the largest single overall donor to ECI’s PAC.

Led by neoconservative don Bill Kristol, ECI is best known for publishing patently dishonest attacks on Obama, smear campaigns against its ideological opponents, and attempting to paint the Occupy Wall Street Protests as anti-Semitic (trying to discredit Occupy seems a natural move for a hedge-funder).

Last month, ECI launched a television ad calling on Obama to bomb Iran. Watch it here:

Kristol quickly followed-up on ECI’s pro-war ad with a long article in the Weekly Standard calling for Congress to authorize war with Iran — only the latest in a long line of such calls from Kristol.

Romney’s Iran policy is more difficult to nail down. The presumptive GOP nominee regularly employs militaristic rhetoric toward the Islamic Republic, and many of his top foreign policy advisers often call for war with Iran. But when asked how Romney’s Iran policy would be a change from Obama’s, his campaign has a hard time trying to differentiate.

One wonders, though, how quickly the divide will be bridged now that Romney and Kristol are feeding from the same trough.

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Economy

Why Letting The Bush Tax Cuts For The Rich Expire Will Not Hurt The Economy, In Three Graphs

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jul 9, 2012 at 11:43 am

President Obama is planning to call on Congress today to extend the Bush tax cuts for another year, but only for those making less than $250,000. The Bush tax cut package is scheduled to expire at the end of the year, and of course, Republicans have said that they are only interested in extending all of the cuts, including those for the wealthy. That would mean spending billions of dollars on cuts where more than half of the benefit accrues to the richest 5 percent of households.

The administration, however, claims that it will oppose any extension that does not include the $250,000 cut-off. Obama adviser Robert Gibbs insisted yesterday that Obama is “100 percent committed” to ending the tax breaks for the wealthy.

Republicans, of course, will charge that raising taxes on the rich will inevitably harm economic growth and job creation. However, history has revealed that that’s simply not the case. As this chart shows, annual economic growth has been strongest when the top tax rate was higher than it is today:

Job creation has also been stronger when the top tax rate was higher:

Already, taxes on both the rich and investment income (which for the last few decades has been taxed at a lower rate than wage income) are at historic lows, but they didn’t lead to the job creation that was promised by the Bush administration:

So Republican claims about tax increases on the rich destroying the economy — which they make every time such a policy is suggested — are just fearmongering, with no evidence backing them up.

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Health

GOP Congresswoman Wants To Repeal Obamacare Every Day: We’d Do It ‘Again And Again And Again’

By Amanda Peterson Beadle posted from ThinkProgress Health on Jul 9, 2012 at 10:46 am

On Wednesday, the House will vote for the 31st time to repeal President Obama’s health care reform law. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) defended the repeal vote on CNN’s Starting Point, arguing that it is more than “political theater,” and that she wishes they could vote to get rid of Obamacare every day:

RICHARD SOCARIDES (CO-PANELIST): You’ve voted [to repeal] 30 times already this year!

BLACKBURN: And we’re going to do it again. We’re going to do it again. We’re going to do it again.

SOCARIDES: How many times?

BLACKBURN: I wish we’d go do it every single day. It is a terrible piece of legislation.

Watch it:

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that if Republicans eliminated Obamacare in its entirety, more than 30 million Americans would go without coverage, “people would end up paying more for health insurance,” “the average insurance policy in this market would cover a smaller share of enrollees’ costs,” “premiums for employment-based coverage obtained through large employers would be slightly higher,” and the deficit would grow by $230 billion.

Igor Volsky contributed to this report.

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