WE NEED A NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRY NOW

Not two weeks before the 2012 elections

“The Speaker of the [New Hampshire] State House was notoriously caught on tape telling a Tea Party group that he supported the bill because students tend to vote Democratic.”
-- Report, Brennan Center for Justice

“Republican strategists think that Democrats can’t win if they cripple our voter registration activity; if students, minorities, and working Americans aren’t allowed to cast ballots, and if they can disqualify 5 million Americans from voting.

That’s why the Koch brothers and their corporate allies are backing a coordinated effort to manipulate the rules in 2012. Their plan for taking the Senate and the White House is simple: Force us to fight with one hand tied behind our backs.

Republicans are hitting us where it hurts, trying to cut the legs out from under the grassroots organizing that has helped Democrats win close, tough races for years. With 23 seats to defend — and Republicans needing only four to take the majority — this is a serious threat.

Our Election Protection Project is up and running — challenging the legality of these voter suppression tactics and expanding our turnout program to account for the new rules. But we need to raise $100,000 before midnight Sunday. Can you chip in $5 right now to help us fight back?

It’s no accident that these new laws — making it harder to register new voters, cutting back on early voting that allows working Americans to cast their ballots, even specifically targeting students and minorities — are aimed at disenfranchising Democrats.

And it’s no accident that Republicans are targeting states like Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Virginia — presidential battlegrounds with marquee Senate races in 2012.

The powerful, corporate-backed, right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is pulling the strings here. And they know exactly what they’re doing. If their voter suppression can push the four states I just mentioned into the GOP column, they take the Senate. And the states they’ve targeted could swing more than enough electoral votes to take the White House.

Our Election Protection Project is our best chance to stop this voter suppression campaign and make sure 2012 is a fair fight — but we must reach our goal by midnight Sunday. Can you help by sending a $5 contribution right now to help us reach $100,000?

Early grassroots support has made it possible for us to fight back, formally asking the Department of Justice to step in and researching every possible way to stop these rules from taking effect. But we can’t keep up the fight if we can’t fund this project.

And with so much at stake in 2012, the truth is that we have to find a way to win whether it’s a fair fight or not. We’re going to have to work that much harder to bring voters to the polls despite the Republicans’ voter suppression program. It’s going to be harder. It’s going to be more expensive. We’re going to have to ask more of you.”(*)

https://dscc.org/give2?donate_page_KEY=12552&amount=x

Frankly, what is think is needed is the creation of an on-line voter registration entity that will ensure that those voters who have been disenfranchised at the state level by their far-right governors and legislatures will be able to participate in the Federal elections…which would include Congressmen, Senators and of course President and Vice-President.

This is imperative if we want to preserve our democratic process; it is incumbent upon us and our government to make sure there is more participation in the voting process, not less. If those Governors and State Legislatures insist on disenfranchising voters at the municipal and state levels they can do so but it is going to be a very negative reflection on their stance in favor of democracy.

This can all be done by a Presidential directive to instruct the attorney general to come down on states that are disenfranchising voters with the most severe penalties of the law as well as guaranteeing that a voter registration drive is instituted against whatever laws those individual states have enacted to the contrary.

Furthermore, this is no less risky or prone to voter fraud any more than on line banking is and we all entrust our crooked banks to hold our money and to allow us access to it via internet without any security risks…there are passwords, identification procedures and the ability to double check which is now possible in this day and age of the computer.

WE NEED ON-LINE VOTING NOW!

(*) SOURCE: Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee