A Charlotte Observer op-ed by the chairman of FairVote.

Jesse Jackson’s conference call last week with reporters had this tidbit: “I think Florida may be ground zero for the voter suppression movement,” Jackson said in a conference call Friday with Florida reporters.

Apparently Ground Zero is no longer Texas, as it was a few months ago with the debates on Voter ID there.  Neither is it Wisconsin anymore.  Perhaps might it be Rhode Island next with its recent passage of voter ID?  Unlikely.  The bill was sponsored by an African-American Senator and signed by a Democrat governor.

What is the law that qualifies Florida as “ground zero for voter suppression?”  Rearranging the days of early voting despite keeping the same amount of hours available to vote before the election, and, requiring third party voter registration groups to turn in the forms they harvest in a timely fashion.

With over the top statements like this, pretty soon folks might not take Rev. Jackson very seriously on these issues.

Rev. Joseph Darby in the Charleston Post and Courier:

“old time bigotry has been repackaged and is being re-marketed” and “old Jim Crow in a new political suit.”

The SEIU said hundreds of thousands of Ohioans may be without photo identification to use at the polls in conformity with the new voter ID law.  There’s one little problem, the data don’t agree.  Columbus Dispatch:

“But records from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles show about 8.83 million voting-age residents have an Ohio driver’s license or photo ID – about 28,000 more than there are voting-age residents in the state, according to the 2010 census.”

Of course the opponents of voter ID argue that some people have multiple driver’s licenses or might have moved away.  But they don’t have any social science data to back up that assertion, yet.

JTA.com.  It seems the Voting Rights Act is impacting Jewish representation in Congress, in a negative way:

“‘It is not good for Jews,’ said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York Democratic political consultant, warning that redistricting reform efforts could ‘undo’ Jewish power in Congress.  Two veteran Jewish Democrats already have received some bad news from California’s new independent redistricting commission, whose proposed congressional maps set the stage for a potential battle royal between Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman, both pro-Israel stalwarts.”

Politico reports that Rep. John Conyers survived the civil rights era, a spot on President
Richard Nixon’s enemies list and his wife’s conspiracy conviction. After
all that, it might be redistricting — and a fellow Democrat — that ends
his storied political career.

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Video here.

 Jesse Jackson to feds: Voting rights eroding in Michigan.

Interview on military voting on American Radio Journal.  There is a nationwide broadcast schedule here.

Rev. Jesse Jackson hits the road and will protest the new Florida election law in Tampa.  The new law changes early voting days and requires voter registration forms to be turned in within 48 hours of execution and delivery to a third party.