Author Archives: J Christian Adams

Hey Southerners – You’re Racist!

Rick Hasen’s Election Law Blog has posted a study quantifying that southerners are more racist.  Heady stuff.

“The MRP model suggests that the six fully covered states in the South are, by our measure, six of the seven most prejudiced in the nation. . . . our findings are not entirely unexpected, other ways of aggregating the NAES prejudice questions, or of modeling responses, may yield different rankings of the states (to say nothing of other ways of measuring prejudice). We will present additional results at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in April.”

Link to Professor Hasen’s blog with the data establishing southerners are more racist can be found here.

Chicago Tribune: The South is Transformed

“Judging from the questions posed by justices in the oral arguments, the court may very well decide that the law is no longer a fair or reasonable way to uphold the rights of minority voters. The Voting Rights Act’s differential treatment of some states was not meant to be forever — only until minority voters had secured their full rights once and for all.

Like the rest of the nation, the South is far from immune to racial conflict and prejudice. But it has changed beyond recognition, and it’s about time for the law to change as well.”

Link.

Bipartisan Election Commission recommends photo ID system to increase access and integrity of system

In 2005 it was the answer of 21-member Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform:

“We are recommending a photo ID system for voters designed to increase registration with a more affirmative and aggressive role for states in finding new voters and providing free IDs for those without driver’s licenses. The formula we recommend will result in both more integrity and more access.”

In 2013, it is Jim Crow racism and the reason to keep Section 5.  

Republicans should take heed.  No new recommendations until the previous recommendations are adopted.


“Long lines at the polls become a national ‘crisis’”

My latest at the Washington Times.


“President Obama’s State of the Union address last month provided the latest national crisis to be solved by Washington, D.C.: waiting in line to vote. The president shared the emotional saga of Desiline Victor, a Florida centenarian who waited six hours to vote. He announced a presidential commission to address the matter.


Unfortunately, the president didn’t tell the whole story about long lines and why he has suddenly become concerned.


Simply, this is a federal solution in search of a problem. Long lines to vote were very rare last November. They were certainly not sufficiently widespread to merit intervention in the nation’s capital. . . .



There are local solutions to these rare problems. No utopian federal proposal can fix a problem with local election administration. Election officials and their constituents are best suited to fix any problems.


This didn’t stop the coordinated campaign by leftist groups calling for expansive federal mandates to fix a problem that is not widespread. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s Justice Department has joined the coordinated effort. Mr. Holder’s controversy-plagued Civil Rights Division has been tasked with providing government-funded cover to the effort by the activist groups. . . .

Pay attention to the federal mandates that the presidential commission might consider. No doubt they will be intrusions into state legislative choices, such as guaranteed vote by mail, or federal mandates for early voting.


If the long-lines commission is really looking for widespread disenfranchisement, it should focus attention on the sorry state of military voting.


The Obama Department of Defense has failed to follow federal law mandating that military recruitment centers also serve as voter registration offices — just like a welfare office. Might it be because registering those dependent on food stamps helps Democrats win elections?”

FULL article at LINK