Michigan Republicans get into the Voter Suppression Game with new Voter ID law
25% of Blacks Lack Photo ID [MORE]
From [HERE] Michigan is poised to become the latest state to pass harsh new restrictions on voting. On Tuesday, the Republican-controlled House passed three laws, largely along party lines, that will require voters to show ID, make it harder for groups like the League of Women Voters to hold registration drives, and make it harder to remain a voter if you fail to respond to an inquiry about your registration status.
As in other states, the Republicans argue that the new laws are designed to combat voter fraud. But, again as in other states, there really isn't much voter fraud in Michigan.
As Ezra Klein pointed out when filling in on The Rachel Maddow Show, the Republicans cite votes by 1000 dead people and 100 prisoners between October 2008 and June 2011, as proof of voter fraud. But elections officials have determined that every incident was the result of clerical error.
On Maddow, Reverend David Bullock, of the Highland Park NAACP and the Michigan Rainbow Push Coalition, told Klein that "this legislation restricts voter behavior. We should be making it easier for people to vote and participate in the process, not harder for them to exercise their rights."