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Title: The Return of Jim Crow Laws? Post by: Howey on July 07, 2011, 11:19:20 am Once again, a topic we've discussed here a month ago is now being picked up by the mainstream: (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/164893-dnc-chairwoman-republicans-literally-want-to-revive-jim-crow-laws) Quote Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) accused Republicans of trying to resurrect Jim Crow laws in the form of stricter laws at the state level that could limit access to ballots by some voters. "Now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally — and very transparently — block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidates than Republican candidates," she told host Roland Martin on "Washington Watch" this weekend [emphasis hers]. "And it’s nothing short of that blatant." A series of state legislatures, now under the control of Republicans after the wave election in 2010, have enacted reforms to ballot access laws, which could shape the 2012 vote at the margins. The laws are ostensibly nonpartisan, but Democrats and watchdog groups have warned that they would have the impact of depressing turnout for constituencies typically loyal to Democrats... Even Bill Clinton (now even more revered than Ronnie) jumped in the fray yesterday: (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58419.html) Quote “I can’t help thinking since we just celebrated the Fourth of July and we’re supposed to be a country dedicated to liberty that one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today is the disciplined, passionate, determined effort of Republican governors and legislators to keep most of you from voting next time,” Clinton said at Campus Progress’s annual conference in Washington. “There has never been in my lifetime, since we got rid of the poll tax and all the Jim Crow burdens on voting, the determined effort to limit the franchise that we see today,” Clinton added. Clinton mentioned Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s move in March to overturn past state precedent — including under former GOP governors — that allows convicted felons to vote once they’ve served they’ve finished probation periods. “Why should we disenfranchise people forever once they’ve paid their price?” Clinton said. “Because most of them in Florida were African Americans and Hispanics who tended to vote for Democrats. That’s why.” Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58419.html#ixzz1RQurku71 |