The Voting Rights Act is being argued in the Supreme Court today. If I were supreme, I would not only refuse to repeal it, I would make it applicable to all fifty states.
In the last election, attempts to suppress the vote, along with gerrymandering, continued a long tradition of discouraging voting and discounting the votes of people the power elite don’t want to vote.
It didn’t work in the presidential race in 2012, in fact it backfired; but it worked in the House, where Republicans received fewer popular votes than Democrats, but held onto power because of redistricting by Republican state legislatures.
We won’t have a transformative African-American candidate every election, and without oversight we can’t fight every state and county determined to manipulate the vote.
normatalksabout. . . 
Assuming that Obama has been transformational, unifying, and- no more red states or blue states by this time in his administration, why are we still fighting this battle? Why does this remain to be an issue? I am living here in the deep south. I work with and have many Afro American friends and co workers. Never have I heard that any of them express dismay because they have been denied the vote. Ever….
TN went for Obama in 08. It did not in 12. Perhaps job performance was an issue?
My very point. Mississippi is among the best states in voters’ rights today. The trouble has spread outside the south.
And let’s not talk about manipulating the vote. Not a good idea….ever!
Voter suppression is alive and well in Florida.
I got my social security card in 1946 when I joined the union to work in the salmon industry in Washington state. Since then I have never been asked to show anyone that card, but simply stated my SS number.
In December of last year I renewed my Florida driver’s license and was required to show them my SS card. It was not easy to find. I am 84, and my disused card had gone astray.
Getting a replacement is very difficult in Miami.
Finally found the old card in the back of a drawer.
Voter suppression is the only logical reason for the requirement to show a card, or am I missing something.
To say that it is not a good idea to talk about manipulating the vote will not make it go away.
I have grown up believing voting to be such a fundamental American right that it could not be threatened, but I felt the same way about Social Security and now it, too, is being eroded away. I went to fill a prescription and the cost on MediCare had gone from $100.00/month to $600.00/month. I felt I was being told to go home and die because I would no longer be able to afford to live. I did vote and through “sequestering” my vote counted for nothing. The voice of the majority of the people is being ignored through manipulation. That is the same as manipulating the vote. I believe much of the non-cooperation with the President is due to racism. The other side simply will not admit to it. That is disgraceful behavior in the 21st century and that, too, is manipulation.
Amen.
I wish I knew what to do. Feeling helpless and hopeless is a terrible place to be. It seems more and more that in this country money talks. That’s what I don’t have. This country is supposed to be the place where anyone can have rights, be equal, be taken care of, but it’s becoming less and less true. It reminds me of stories of the time before the French Revolution. Ordinary people have very little to lose these days. There is no middle class left. Jobs are so scarce. The government has put us in a hole and taken away our means of digging our way out. What are we to do? How do I pay my taxes?