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Monday, August 3rd, 2015

The GOP wants to jail the vote: How the prison-industrial complex is directly undermining democracy

Author:     Sean McElwee
Source:     Salon
Publication Date:     Sunday, Aug 2, 2015 07:30 AM PDT
 Link: The GOP wants to jail the vote: How the prison-industrial complex is directly undermining democracy
Stephan:   The Founders didn't believe in universal suffrage in 18th century America, but they did believe the entirety of the defined voter class should be able to vote, an important distinction. And recognizing the world changes, they built in a very specific way to redefine the voting class. Gradually voting evolved and now, as this report describes, the Republican Party at the state level, and its drive to privatize what are properly public institutions, such as prisons, is actively attempting to subvert that evolution to bias the election outcome. This is real scumbaggery.      
Governor Rick Scott Credit: Eric Risberg

Governor Rick Scott
Credit: Eric Risberg

In 2014, voter turnout hit new lows for a midterm election: The most recent census data suggest turnout was a measly 41.9 percent. It’s likely that turnout was even lower, since the census data, while the best we have, is slightly inflated by the fact that people overreport socially positive behaviors like voting. Data that directly examines the number of votes counted suggest that turnout was around 36.6 percent of the voting-eligible population. But, while census data aren’t perfect, they allow us to examine turnout among different demographic groups (though even here, there are flaws). Looking at the data, I find a pretty stunning gender gap among one racial group: Black men are far less likely to vote than black women, and this is likely the legacy of mass incarceration.

The numbers are stark. In 2014, turnout among non-Hispanic white men was 45 percent, but among black men it was 36 percent (among Asian men it was 26 percent and among […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Monday, August 3, 2015 at 10:20 am

    If that is not a real conspiracy, then the word is just misunderstood by everyone. These poor people who have already suffered enough already by doing their time, yet cannot vote for the rest of their lives is despicable.