Did Prichard Alabama Crack White Minority Voting Strength?

A simple question: Did Prichard Alabama intentionally crack up white minority voting strength in 2011 redistricting and thereby violate the Voting Rights Act or 15th Amendment?

Another question: Did the Eric Holder Justice Department conduct a Section 5 review that made a single inquiry into any racial intent in Prichard’s redistricting?

Have the attorneys assigned to Alabama made a single inquiry if there might be a Section 2 violation in Prichard, especially given the number of phony “Section 2″ investigations the Section “initiated” a few months ago in response to sunshine and discontent among the groups?

A final question: why doesn’t this Prichard review show up in STAPS?  Might this be one of those special files that sit on desks in corner offices?

Holder Holds Back Facts

Holder justified the continued existence of Section 4 triggers this way this week:

“Holder said the states “with documented histories of discrimination” still should be required to gain “pre-clearance” from the Justice Department or a panel of federal judges.”

Naturally he makes no mention of Euclid Ohio, Boston, Osceola (FL), Philadelphia, Blaine County, Montana or all of the places not covered by Section 5 which gave rise to discrimination lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.  In fact of the last 16 Section 2 cases brought by the Department of Justice, only 3 were in states covered by Section 4 triggers.  One of those was U.S. v. Ike Brown and involved a discriminated against white minority, a victim class DOJ won’t protect in a Section 5 review whether in Noxubee County or in Pritchard, Alabama.  Only Georgetown (SC) and Long County (GA) were covered jurisdictions. 

The View From Behind the Counter

“Yet today, laws requiring would-be voters to verify that they are indeed eligible to vote are being challenged and overturned. This seems ludicrous to me. Convenience store operators train their employees to check identification before making tobacco, alcohol or lottery sales. Failure to do so can cost thousands of dollars; repeated violations can cause a store to be closed. But if you ask someone for their identification before they vote you could get your butt hauled into court.”  The National Association of Convenience Stores.

Guilty Plea: Voter Fraud in Arizona

“Court documents indicate that Hays was registered to vote in both Mohave County and Coconino County. He used a campaign worker’s address in Kingman along with that of a shooting range, also in Kingman, when he filled out paperwork to run for sheriff. But prosecutors say he was actually living in Flagstaff and working for the Arizona Department of Corrections in Winslow.”  Link.

Coons Supports Centralized Control of Elections by Feds

Chris Coons of Delaware issued this statement into the Congressional Record supporting his effort to centralize more control over state elections with the federal government, this time cloaked with the stated purpose of shortening lines.

Among the bad ideas in the legislation that will never pass:

1. Mandatory early voting on the states imposed by federal law.
2. Mandatory no-excuse absentee voting imposed by the federal government on states.
3. Mandatory same day voter registration imposed by a federal government mandate.

98% of Mississippi Voters Have Photo ID



A new study shows that more than 98 percent of Mississippi voters who voted in the November general election have a valid photo identification that would satisfy the state’s new Voter ID law, which is on hold pending U.S. Department of Justice preclearance.


 


“The study of 5,965 voters from all demographic groups showed 98.3 percent of voters interviewed after exiting polls had at least one of the eight forms of photo ID outlined as acceptable under the Voter ID law.”

These numbers, plus the state’s proactive efforts to issue free IDs to the few voters who lack them, ought to improve the law’s prospects for preclearance.  Sixty-two percent of Mississippi voters approved Voter ID back in 2011.  


More here and here.