Marching To Defend Democracy And Voting Rights
Dec 10, 2011
Thousands of New Yorkers crowded the streets in front of the Koch Industries offices at Madison Avenue and East 61 Street. That was the beginning of a loud and spirited march to defend voting rights that would end with a rally at the United Nations. The march began at the Koch brothers' offices because Koch-funded groups have been lobbying state legislators with tens of millions of dollars to persuade them to pass these anti-democratic, restrictive laws.
And so they have: Some 30 states, under the thumb of right wing legislators and governors, have passed new, restrictive laws that some experts say can disenfranchise as many as five million voters. Given the closeness of recent electoral races this is nothing short of an attempt to limit participation in elections to ensure continued domination by the Right. Under the pretense of ending voter fraud - a non-issue since electoral fraud is virtually non-existent - it seeks to turn the country back to the days of Jim Crow literacy tests and poll taxes which were used to keep African Americans from voting in the deep south in the last century.
Today's election thieves have the same aims as yesterday's but their tools are different: the rolling back of early voting and Sunday elections, the end of motor voter registration and requirements for state-issued photo ID's and the barring of ex-convicts from the voting booth are being used in state after state to prevent voters from participating in elections.
Here are photos from Saturday's march.
Read MoreThousands of New Yorkers crowded the streets in front of the Koch Industries offices at Madison Avenue and East 61 Street. That was the beginning of a loud and spirited march to defend voting rights that would end with a rally at the United Nations. The march began at the Koch brothers' offices because Koch-funded groups have been lobbying state legislators with tens of millions of dollars to persuade them to pass these anti-democratic, restrictive laws.
And so they have: Some 30 states, under the thumb of right wing legislators and governors, have passed new, restrictive laws that some experts say can disenfranchise as many as five million voters. Given the closeness of recent electoral races this is nothing short of an attempt to limit participation in elections to ensure continued domination by the Right. Under the pretense of ending voter fraud - a non-issue since electoral fraud is virtually non-existent - it seeks to turn the country back to the days of Jim Crow literacy tests and poll taxes which were used to keep African Americans from voting in the deep south in the last century.
Today's election thieves have the same aims as yesterday's but their tools are different: the rolling back of early voting and Sunday elections, the end of motor voter registration and requirements for state-issued photo ID's and the barring of ex-convicts from the voting booth are being used in state after state to prevent voters from participating in elections.
Here are photos from Saturday's march.
