America making it harder to vote? WTH?

That's how I read it too but I figured I had to be missing something because this just makes me goddamn sick.

I have never been an "I hate America" or a "Rah! Go America!" person but seriously.... making it so that people have a hard time voting? That is seriously messed up.

Since Republicans gained control of so many state legislatures in 2010, they've been working to pass laws that make voting harder. We've been asking on the show whether they've made voting hard enough, in enough places, to change the landscape in 2012.

Now, from the Brennan Center for Justice, comes the beginning of an answer:

The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.

In those states, minority, student and poor voters are most likely to feel the pinch from the new rules. As many as one in four African-Americans don't have the kind of photo ID needed to vote. In Maine, after finding almost no evidence of voter fraud, the Secretary of State sent college students a letter saying they might be in violation of the law. And in Wisconsin, you can get a free photo ID from the Department of Motor Vehicles -- if you know to ask for it.

On the Brennan Center map above, states in red attempting to pass new restrictions on voting. The ones with other symbols succeeded. A quick key: "ID" means new requirements for showing photo ID at the polls. A star means proving citizenship. The hand and pen stand for restrictions on voter registration; the envelope for shortened windows on absentee and early voting; and the gavel for executive orders that make it harder to restore voting rights.

Executive Summary

Over the past century, our nation expanded the franchise and knocked down myriad barriers to full electoral participation. In 2011, however, that momentum abruptly shifted.

State governments across the country enacted an array of new laws making it harder to register or to vote. Some states require voters to show government-issued photo identification, often of a type that as many as one in ten voters do not have. Other states have cut back on early voting, a hugely popular innovation used by millions of Americans. Two states reversed earlier reforms and once again disenfranchised millions who have past criminal convictions but who are now taxpaying members of the community. Still others made it much more difficult for citizens to register to vote, a prerequisite for voting.

These new restrictions fall most heavily on young, minority, and low-income voters, as well as on voters with disabilities. This wave of changes may sharply tilt the political terrain for the 2012 election. Based on the Brennan Center’s analysis of the 19 laws and two executive actions that passed in 14 states, it is clear that:

These new laws could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.
The states that have already cut back on voting rights will provide 171 electoral votes in 2012 – 63 percent of the 270 needed to win the presidency.
Of the 12 likely battleground states, as assessed by an August Los Angeles Times analysis of Gallup polling, five have already cut back on voting rights (and may pass additional restrictive legislation), and two more are currently considering new restrictions.

States have changed their laws so rapidly that no single analysis has assessed the overall impact of such moves. Although it is too early to quantify how the changes will impact voter turnout, they will be a hindrance to many voters at a time when the United States continues to turn out less than two thirds of its eligible citizens in presidential elections and less than half in midterm elections.

This study is the first comprehensive roundup of all state legislative action thus far in 2011 on voting rights, focusing on new laws as well as state legislation that has not yet passed or that failed. This snapshot may soon be incomplete: the second halves of some state legislative sessions have begun.

Supreme Court throws out judgment on electronic voting machines in Texas
By Associated Press, Updated: Monday, October 3, 10:34 AM

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has thrown out a ruling on the use of a certain electronic voting machine in Texas.

The high court without comment declared moot an appeal of a ruling against Dallas County, Texas. That county was sued by the Texas Democratic Party over the use of iVotronic machines.

They allow people to vote straight-party tickets, but if the voter subsequently touches any of the candidates in that party on the screen, their vote for that person is rescinded.

Officials say the Justice Department approved the machines, but federal courts in Texas say the straight-line voting change was not explicitly approved. Chad Dunn, the lawyer for the Texas Democratic Party, said now the county must get preclearance from the Justice Department before using the machines.

The high court declared the case against the machines moot since the Justice Department has now cleared the machines, and ordered another part back to court to decide a fight over attorney fees.

Before machines, Dallas County used paper ballots. If a voter selected a straight ticket, and that party’s candidate, his or her vote for that candidate would count.

The cases are Dallas County v Texas Democratic Party, 10-755 and 10-1183.

Tuesday, Sep 27, 2011 6:01 AM Mountain Daylight Time
Diebold voting machines can be hacked by remote control
Exclusive: A laboratory shows how an e-voting machine used by a third of all voters can be easily manipulated

It could be one of the most disturbing e-voting machine hacks to date.

Voting machines used by as many as a quarter of American voters heading to the polls in 2012 can be hacked with just $10.50 in parts and an 8th grade science education, according to computer science and security experts at the Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois. The experts say the newly developed hack could change voting results while leaving absolutely no trace of the manipulation behind.

“We believe these man-in-the-middle attacks are potentially possible on a wide variety of electronic voting machines,” said Roger Johnston, leader of the assessment team “We think we can do similar things on pretty much every electronic voting machine.”

The Argonne Lab, run by the Department of Energy, has the mission of conducting scientific research to meet national needs. The Diebold Accuvote voting system used in the study was loaned to the lab’s scientists by VelvetRevolution.us, of which the Brad Blog is a co-founder. Velvet Revolution received the machine from a former Diebold contractor.