A Long Hot Summer

With all of the enthusiasm about the Democratic ticket, I hate to be the party pooper, but we should consider who-can-vote-problems BEFORE the general election. I am thrilled about the possiblity of a woman or a Black person winning the White House. However, there are many who are not excited about this prospect: frankly, they abhor it. While the Republican party is a little scattered about who to back (I understand that Mitt Romney is suspending his campaign), I don't underestimate how badly they would like to (1) keep the White House and (2) make sure people of color and women don't have access to that level of power. We know that Republicans in Ohio and Florida have tampered with voter lists as a means of disenfranchising people. Let's really think about what this entails.

One way that voters are regularly disenfranchised is that if their names resemble those of people who are in jail, they are prevented from voting. If the States withdraw the right to vote from someone who has served time in prison, for life, if your name is just like that person's, you cannot vote. There doesn't seem to be a way to say "I'm not that John Bean, I'm John Bean on Main Street". Unfortunately, this has a disproportionate impact on Black people and seriously compromises our ability to vote.

Further, if a state reinstates the right to vote if someone leaves prison, if that prisoner has not taken efforts to reinstate their names, again, people with the same name are often prevented from voting. These issues require proper training of poll workers and making sure that States properly indentify those who are no longer able to vote and make sure that people who have not run amock of the law can exercise this right. Unfortunately, people who have similar names to those who have been disenfranchised have also been denied the right to vote and even more Black people are prevented from exercising their rights at the voting box.

Identification is also a means of preventing people from voting. All voters need to be sure that they bring their state issued identification card, preferably with a current address, to the polls to ensure they can vote. I don't think that people who are serving jail terms can hold passports and this form of identification should immediately provide evidence of legitimacy when voting.

Finally, there have been significant issues about making sure that people can register to vote in the first place. Everyone needs to make sure that they follow their states' procedures in getting this done. If you are required to use heavy cardboard to submit your registration application, please do so (remember Ohio in 2004?). We all need to follow up with our Boards of Election to make sure we're on their systems and have voter registration cards if necessary. Frankly, our parties should ensure that this can be accomplished and we should put pressure on them to make sure things go well so that we can exercise this ever more important right.

One wonders if we had taken these precautions whether there would have been a first Bush term - (1) no Iraq war; (2) no change in the Supreme Court; (3) no destroyed economy; (4) no wiretapping U.S. citizens, and the list goes on. Ultimately, these details cannot escape examination in our exuberance about the ticket. I know that my right to vote was compromised because either the DMV or the Board of Elections, or both, here in New York State, did not do their job. We all need to take responsibility for it. It's not too early . . . it easily becomes too late to handle these problems.