Wal-Mart ending membership in conservative group
By Jessica Wohl, May 31
(Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world’s No. 1 retailer and the biggest seller of firearms in the United States, is dropping out of a U.S. conservative advocacy group that has been a lightning rod over voting and gun laws.
Read the full story here.
Posted by afgeunion on May 31, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/from-reuters-wal-mart-ending-support-of-alec/
By Adam Peck, May 29
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) has directed his administration to purge the state’s voting rolls of thousands of registered voters prior to the November election. But his list, which purports to include only “non-citizens,” targets mostly Democrats and Hispanics and, as ThinkProgress has documented, may disenfranchise hundreds of citizens who are eligible to vote.
The story of a sitting governor of a state with a history of presidential election shenanigans knowingly purging his own, eligible constituents from the voter rolls is the definition of major news, and yet remarkably, in the first five months of the year, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today have published a total of zero articles about Scott’s actions. The New York Times did slightly better, printing one story on page 16 of the Friday, May 18th edition. The article ran under the credulous headline: “Florida Steps Up Effort Against Illegal Voters.”
Read the full story here.
Posted by afgeunion on May 31, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/31/from-thinkprogress-virtual-blackout-from-national-media-on-voter-suppression-in-florida/
Meet Bill: The 91-Year-Old Decorated WWII Veteran Targeted By Florida Governor Rick Scott’s Voter PurgeBy Judd Legum, May 29, 2012
Bill Internicola is a 91-year-old, Brooklyn-born, World War II veteran. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and received the Bronze Star for bravery. He’s voted in Florida for 14 years and never had a problem.
Three weeks ago, Bill received a letter from Broward County Florida stating “[Y]ou are not a U.S. Citizen” and therefore, ineligible to vote. He was given the option of requesting “a hearing with the Supervisor of Elections, for the purpose of providing proof that you are a United States citizens” or forfeit his right to vote.
This decorated World War II veteran is just one of hundreds of fully eligible U.S. citizens being targeted by Governor Scott’s massive voter purge just prior to this year’s election, according to data obtained from Florida election officials by ThinkProgress. The purge list, according to an analysis by the Miami Herald, targets mostly Democrats and Hispanics.
The Advancement Project, a voting rights group in Florida, has asked the Justice Department to investigate, alleging that Scott’s voter purge violates federal law.
Bill appeared at a press conference this morning with Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL), who has called on Scott to “immediately suspend” the voter purge.
Posted by afgeunion on May 30, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/from-thinkprogress-wwii-veteran-ineligible-to-vote-in-florida/
From ThinkProgress’ Pinterest page–companies that have stopped supporting ALEC, the organization behind many of the voter ID laws. Click on the photo below to see which companies no longer support ALEC and to read why.
Posted by afgeunion on May 29, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/companies-that-no-longer-support-alec/
By Gary Fineout, published May 16, 2012
TAMPA, Fla. — Florida’s local election supervisors on Wednesday sounded skeptical, and even distrustful, of a push by the state to remove thousands of potential non-U.S. citizens from the voting rolls just months before the critical 2012 elections.
The supervisors, meeting at their annual summer conference, peppered state election officials with questions about the list of more than 2,600 people who have been identified as being in Florida legally but ineligible to vote. That list was sent to supervisors recently, but state officials have also said there may be as many as 182,000 registered voters who may not be citizens.
State election officials want the state’s 67 county election offices to reach out to those on the list, determine their citizenship status and remove them from the rolls if they are not U.S. citizens.
But election supervisors – including Democrats and Republicans – asked a range of questions about the level of proof that state election officials had regarding the citizenship status of voters which was culled by comparing voter registration lists to a state driver’s license database. They said they wanted more information before they purge someone from the voting rolls.
“I’m feeling really uncomfortable about this,” Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes told officials with the state’s Division of Elections.
Read the full story here.
Posted by afgeunion on May 29, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/from-the-palm-beach-post-fla-election-chiefs-skeptical-of-voter-purge/
Below is another informative, interactive map from the National Conference of State Legislatures to help you and the public understand voter ID laws in each state. Click on the map below to learn more.
Posted by afgeunion on May 24, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/another-informative-interactive-map/
Posted by afgeunion on May 23, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/watch-afl-cios-executive-vice-president-arlene-holt-baker-on-current-tvs-war-room/
By Janell Ross, published May 17, 2012
Less than two months after a Florida effort to identify and purge ineligible voters from the state’s rolls began, opponents say it seems likely to disqualify a disproportionate share of eligible Latino voters.
About 180,000 people — a group roughly equal to the population of Tallahassee, Fla. — are at risk of being purged from the state’s voter rolls because they have been identified as possible noncitizens, the Miami Herald reported. Looking at a smaller sample of 2,600 suspect voters initially identified by the state, the newspaper found about 58 percent to be Latino. Hispanic voters constitute just 13 percent of the state’s electorate, according to federal data.
Florida often grabs national attention because it’s home to 11.3 million voters and wields 29 Electoral College votes. But Republican secretaries of state elsewhere, including Colorado and New Mexico, have also launched aggressive efforts to identify noncitizens on their voter rolls. Critics contend that many of these purges have relied on questionable methods and allow public officials to make inaccurate claims about the number of ineligible people who have actually obtained and used voting credentials.
The purges have significant legal and political resonance.
Read the whole story here.
Posted by afgeunion on May 23, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/from-the-huffington-post-latino-voters-likely-to-bear-brunt-of-floridas-voter-rolls-purge/
Posted by afgeunion on May 9, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/koch-brothers-exposed/
1. At the top of the sidebar, there is a link to the AFGE Defends Democracy Facebook page and an option to “like” the page.
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Posted by afgeunion on May 9, 2012
https://afgedefendsdemocracy.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/new-tools-on-afge-defends-democracy-blog-sidebar/
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