[EL] Rhode Island, outlier
Lorraine Minnite
lminnite at gmail.com
Sun Jul 29 05:53:24 PDT 2012
I think an institutional analysis and a more informed understanding of
American political history is in order. It's important to look beyond
parochial politics here. What ties the recent wave of voter ID laws
together is what ties them to past efforts to suppress voting, and that
is, the strategic maneuvering of political parties to gain advantage by
manipulating access to the ballot. Both parties have done this and one,
in particular, continues the tradition. They've even worked together to
obstruct voting for third parties, as when, for example, Democrats and
Republicans in New York City got together in the 1940s to do away with
proportional voting because voters were electing too many minorities and
Communists.
Sometimes the institutional logic of the two-party system causes parties
to mobilize voters, but more often than not - because mobilizing voters
is difficult, messy and disruptive to existing party coalitions - it has
meant using the rules (among other tactics) to suppress the vote for
opponents. There is an institutional logic to this in the incentive
structure of a competitive two-party plurality/winner-take-all system.
(My co-authors and I elaborate on the logic in _Keeping Down the Black
Vote: Race and the Demobilization of American Voters_, The New Press,
2009.) The logic also applies to one-partyism because factionalism or
insurgency or racial conflict create divisions ripe for exploitation and
vote suppression by the rules (efforts by northern urban Democratic
machines to suppress voting and thwart the electoral aspirations of
liberal, black insurgent Democratic mayoral candidates in the 1960s
provides one important example).
In terms of partisanship and race, the Rhode Island case is an important
outlier, but as an exception it does not make the rule that voter ID
bills have been overwhelmingly introduced, voted for and signed into law
by Republicans, often against very strong, even dramatic opposition by
Democrats. That's why the focus has been on Republicans.
I think as has been mentioned on this list before, the Rhode Island
voter ID law is distinguished from other recently enacted photo ID laws
by the ease with which voters can comply - for example, my understanding
is that unlike any other state with a photo ID law, a student ID from
any educational institution in the U.S. will be accepted, and for voters
who lack ID, a signature match on a provisional ballot will suffice (the
law doesn't go fully into effect until 2014). Rhode Island experts
should weigh in to confirm.
Lori Minnite
On 7/29/12 7:41 AM, Soren Dayton wrote:
> I will point out that the sponsor in both the state House and the
> state senate were African American Democrats.
>
> It is fascinating to me how the Rhode Island case is neglected in
> every discussion of this. It is comical to read the NYT attacks on
> Republican voter ID at every step and listing states, but
> conspicuously ignoring RI.
>
> Similarly the New America Foundation did a recent event and skipped
> Rhode Island and talked about voter ID like it started in Texas,
> completely ignoring Georgia and Indiana. One might think that SCOTUS
> clearance of a voter ID bill, written by one of the liberals, would be
> important.
>
> I guess not. It is hard to make that politics.
>
> On Sun, Jul 29, 2012 at 7:25 AM, Gaddie, Ronald K. <rkgaddie at ou.edu
> <mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>> wrote:
>
> OFFLIST
>
> Hi Chandler-
>
> The size of the non-white population in Rhode Island increased
> 2000-2010,from 15% of the population to 25% of the population.
> Most of that growth is non-citizen, Latino population. I'd be
> curious to see whether there are other states with similar
> minority population growth, and also Democratically-controlled.
>
>
> Here are the details of the Rhode Island law:
>
> The following documents can be used to demonstrate identity to
> vote: Rhode Island driver's license; voter identification card;
> U.S. passport; Identification card issued by a U.S. educational
> institution; U.S. military identification card; Identification
> card issued by the U.S. government or state of Rhode Island;
> Government-issued medical card.
>
> Until 2014, one can also use these forms of ID: Birth
> certificate; Social security card; Government-issued medical card.
>
> The voter can also cast a provisional ballot.
>
>
> Best,
> Keith
>
>
> Ronald Keith Gaddie, Ph.D.
> Professor of Political Science
> Editor, Social Science Quarterly
> The University of Oklahoma
> 455 West Lindsey Street, Room 222
> Norman, OK 73019-2001
> Phone 405-325-4989 <tel:405-325-4989>
> Fax 405-325-0718 <tel:405-325-0718>
> E-mail: rkgaddie at ou.edu <mailto:rkgaddie at ou.edu>
> http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/G/Ronald.K.Gaddie-1
> http://socialsciencequarterly.org
>
> ________________________________________
> From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>
> [law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
> <mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu>] on behalf
> of Chandler Davidson [fcd at rice.edu <mailto:fcd at rice.edu>]
> Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2012 6:14 AM
> To: law-election at uci.edu <mailto:law-election at uci.edu>
> Subject: [EL] Rhode Island, outlier
>
> RI is the only one of 10 states to adopt a photo ID voting
> requirement since 2011 that did not have a Republican governor and
> legislature. What are the most significant differences between
> RI's new law and that of the other nine?
>
>
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