Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Voter Suppression in New Jersey

Today’s Supreme Court decision is historic. Lest you think voter suppression is a problem for the Deep South, and not a problem in New Jersey, think again. A lot has been written about today’s Supreme Court decision effectively rescinding Congress’ power under Section 2 of the 15th Amendment. In a conference call this afternoon, Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP summarizes today’s decision as follows (audio): Governor Chrisite may not be as blatant about voter suppression as his buddy Ted Cruz, but he’s an acolyte of the GOP line of restricting access to the ballot box. He vetoed an early voting bill, claiming that it would cost too much (even though he concocted another costly voter suppression scheme by holding the Senate vote 20 days prior to his attempt to maintain his power in the State House.) Governor Howard Dean minces no words in describing today’s Supreme Court Decision. And the re-election of Governor Christie will certainly exacerbate the right to vote here in New Jersey as he takes a sharp tack to the extreme right in his quest for the White House.

1 comment:

  1. The decision had no effect on New Jersey, as it is not one of the states affected by the stricken section of the VRA. So I have two questions on the ruling:
    1) Do you agree it should take extraordinary circumstances before the federal government can assert veto rights over any voting related legislation passed by a state or local government?
    2) If so, does it make sense that those circumstances should be measured by a jurisdiction's voter turnout in the 1972 general election?

    And do your really think Chris Christie and Ted Cruz are buddies? I think that would come as a surprise to both of them.

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