UK: Does the end really justify the means?

The Guardian

Voter suppression is the last resort of these stop-at-nothing Republicans

As millions of ad dollars have failed to put Mitt Romney ahead, his allies are trying to rig this election in worst Jim Crow tradition

• Hadley Freeman

But if you can't get people to pay attention to the ads, or change their mind, you could just stop them from voting at all. And it is here that accusations of election thievery both stick and might have more cause for concern.

There has been much anxious talk about voter fraud from the conservatives and the rightwing media, so much so that Fox News even has a "voter fraud unit". To prevent this terrible crime against democracy, the Republicans have been striving to implement voter ID and voter suppression laws, focusing particularly on the crucial swing states, with eight states already passing the law that people must provide a state-approved document and photo in order to vote. This move will, as it happens, mainly affect minority groups, the poor, the elderly and students when it comes to voting – not because it's illegal for them to vote, but because these are the groups that most commonly don't have photo ID, such as driving licenses and passports. As it happens, these are also the groups more likely to vote Democrat than Republican. And, of course, the Republicans know that: Mike Turzai, the Republican state representative for Pennsylvania, said in a talk in June:

"Voter ID, which is going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania? Done."

Read it at The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/26/voter-suppression-last-resort-republicans