Six Extreme Right-Wing Attacks by ALEC in State Governments
Wednesday 27 July 2011
by: Lisa Graves and Brendan Fischer,
PRWatch | Report
“Model” bills voted on by corporations through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) touch almost every aspect of American life. The Center for Media and Democracy has analyzed and made available over 800 ALEC model bills to allow other reporters and the public to track corporate influence in state legislatures across the country (and in Congress) at http://www.ALECexposed.org. Here is a quick summary of six of the many “hot” topics on the ALEC corporate-politician agenda this year.
In the wake of the highest general election turnout in nearly 60 years in the 2008 presidential election (particularly among university students and African-Americans), ALEC’s “voter ID” legislation has been rapidly moving in state legislatures. Shortly after the election of the nation’s first black president, “Preventing Election Fraud” was the cover story on the Inside ALEC magazine, and ALEC corporations and politicians voted for “model” voter legislation in 2009. Voter ID is a hot issue this year, in advance of the 2012 presidential election.
In many of states, voter ID legislation has ALEC’s fingerprints. In forty-seven states, legislation was introduced requiring specific kinds of identification to vote or making existing requirements more onerous. These laws have the effect of disenfranchising many of the elderly, people with disabilities, people of color, and students, among others who do not have driver’s licenses, but who typically have other proof where they live in a voting precinct (like a utility bill, which has traditionally been accepted for voter registration). In Wisconsin, for example, those without state-issued photo ID include 23 percent of all elderly Wisconsinites over the age of 65, 17 percent of white men and women, 55 percent of all African American males and 49 percent of African American women, 46 percent of Hispanic men and 59% of Hispanic women, 78 percent of African American males age 18-24 and 66 percent of African American women age 18-24. Although Wisconsin’s voter ID law offers free IDs (just like the ALEC bill), Governor Scott Walker subsequently announced plans to close as many as 10 offices where people could obtain IDs, allegedly located in Democratic districts.
Out of the forty-seven states where Voter ID bills have been introduced, twenty states had no voter ID requirement at the beginning of 2011 but legislation to require it was introduced this year; it became law in three. Of the remainder, twenty-seven had voter ID (but not photo ID) requirements at the beginning of 2011; fourteen of these states saw legislation that would require photo ID at the polls, and the proposals became law in four states. This disproportionate focus on the specter of voter fraud belies the statistical reality that such fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare, even though such legislation will have a statistically significant effect of depriving many American citizens of their right to vote. The idea of limiting the number of people who vote is closely associated with ALEC’s founder, Paul Weyrich. Among the many statements of Weyrich over the years that were tailored to advance the agenda of white fundamentalists, in 1980 he gave a particularly illuminating and disturbing speech on voting. He expressly told a group of religious conservatives: “I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
(More here.)
by: Lisa Graves and Brendan Fischer,
PRWatch | Report
“Model” bills voted on by corporations through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) touch almost every aspect of American life. The Center for Media and Democracy has analyzed and made available over 800 ALEC model bills to allow other reporters and the public to track corporate influence in state legislatures across the country (and in Congress) at http://www.ALECexposed.org. Here is a quick summary of six of the many “hot” topics on the ALEC corporate-politician agenda this year.
In the wake of the highest general election turnout in nearly 60 years in the 2008 presidential election (particularly among university students and African-Americans), ALEC’s “voter ID” legislation has been rapidly moving in state legislatures. Shortly after the election of the nation’s first black president, “Preventing Election Fraud” was the cover story on the Inside ALEC magazine, and ALEC corporations and politicians voted for “model” voter legislation in 2009. Voter ID is a hot issue this year, in advance of the 2012 presidential election.
In many of states, voter ID legislation has ALEC’s fingerprints. In forty-seven states, legislation was introduced requiring specific kinds of identification to vote or making existing requirements more onerous. These laws have the effect of disenfranchising many of the elderly, people with disabilities, people of color, and students, among others who do not have driver’s licenses, but who typically have other proof where they live in a voting precinct (like a utility bill, which has traditionally been accepted for voter registration). In Wisconsin, for example, those without state-issued photo ID include 23 percent of all elderly Wisconsinites over the age of 65, 17 percent of white men and women, 55 percent of all African American males and 49 percent of African American women, 46 percent of Hispanic men and 59% of Hispanic women, 78 percent of African American males age 18-24 and 66 percent of African American women age 18-24. Although Wisconsin’s voter ID law offers free IDs (just like the ALEC bill), Governor Scott Walker subsequently announced plans to close as many as 10 offices where people could obtain IDs, allegedly located in Democratic districts.
Out of the forty-seven states where Voter ID bills have been introduced, twenty states had no voter ID requirement at the beginning of 2011 but legislation to require it was introduced this year; it became law in three. Of the remainder, twenty-seven had voter ID (but not photo ID) requirements at the beginning of 2011; fourteen of these states saw legislation that would require photo ID at the polls, and the proposals became law in four states. This disproportionate focus on the specter of voter fraud belies the statistical reality that such fraud in the U.S. is exceedingly rare, even though such legislation will have a statistically significant effect of depriving many American citizens of their right to vote. The idea of limiting the number of people who vote is closely associated with ALEC’s founder, Paul Weyrich. Among the many statements of Weyrich over the years that were tailored to advance the agenda of white fundamentalists, in 1980 he gave a particularly illuminating and disturbing speech on voting. He expressly told a group of religious conservatives: “I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
(More here.)
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