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Handel: Voting Rights Act is ‘a ridiculous solution in search of a problem that left the South decades ago’

1:25 pm May 7, 2009, by jgalloway

Updated at 5:02 p.m. Thursday

In a weekly e-mail newsletter sent last night to supporters of her Republican run for governor, the campaign of Secretary of State Karen Handel described the Voting Rights Act as “an antiquated vestige of the Reconstruction era” and “a ridiculous solution in search of a problem that left the South decades ago.”

Here’s the portion in question:

A challenge currently before the U.S. Supreme Court should lead to a decision on whether or not all changes to the election laws in several Southern states will continue to require the blessing of federal bureaucrats. The law – an antiquated vestige of the Reconstruction era is, as Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel puts it, “pure politics in its worst form and a ridiculous solution in search of a problem that left the South decades ago.”

Her statement on the topic follows:

The continuation of the Voting Rights Act has nothing to do with ensuring fairness in elections. It is pure politics in its worst form and a ridiculous solution in search of a problem that left the South decades ago. If the goal of this antiquated act were to truly ensure fair elections, it would immediately be imposed upon the state of Minnesota where missing ballots were found in a car trunk last year. It is unconscionable that Georgia should be treated as a poorer and less capable cousin to Minnesota. It is, in a word, unfair.

While the creators of the VRA were noble in their intentions, the continuation of its control exists for the sole reason of Washington bureaucrats control over the people of Georgia and other states – especially those that tend to vote for Republican candidates.

This is not about fairness or competency. Georgia has proven that time and again with its election fairness. Rather it is to gain a political advantage through what Democrats call the “administrative firewall” of elections. The disparity between Georgia and Ohio illustrates this perfectly. Because Ohio is not covered by the VRA, its Secretary of State was able to unilaterally move to same-day registration to vote when such a move promised to be politically advantageous for Democrats. Georgia would have had to await pre-clearance, as we currently are doing on our recently-passed law to require proof of citizenship to vote.

We are being discriminated against by the federal government and for no just reason….

After reading the above, Ed Kilgore of the Democratic Strategist — a native of this state — sent this link to paragraphs he’d written on the topic just yesterday. To wit:

No matter what the Supremes do in this case, there’s no question that in the court of public opinion there are plenty of white folks north and south who’d like to put all these messy racial questions behind us once and for all. As a white southerner who has spent a lot of time outside that region, I understand the resentment many feel about the hypocrisy involved in attributing racially discriminatory motives to us crackers exclusively (though there are VRA remedies other than preclearance for challenging voting rights violations outside the South).

But southerners do have to face their own history honestly, and get over the resentment. When will it be appropriate to stop presuming that voting rights violations might be especially prevalent in the former Confederate States? I’d say that fine day will arrive when there’s no longer a large cohort of living Americans who can remember being denied the right to vote altogether, along with the right to attend integrated schools or sit alongside white folks in restaurants or movies theaters or buses. That was a lot more humiliating than the current indignity of having to run voting changes through some lawyers at the Justice Department.

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19 comments Add your comment

Lucas

May 7th, 2009
1:31 pm

She’s not really making her case, is she? She makes it sound like it would just get worse if they repealed the VRA.

ANT

May 7th, 2009
1:56 pm

LMAO- another dumbass republican.If you’re trying to make a case,don’t use the state not covered by the act screwing up to prove your point.

NickNick

May 7th, 2009
2:01 pm

Karen Handel is, herself, a problem that should have left the South decades ago… ROLFMAO!

Amused

May 7th, 2009
2:11 pm

She also has her facts wrong. The law did not come out of the Reconstruction era. It was born just four decades ago during the Civil Rights era. That’s why I will be voting for someone who went to college.

Chuck Eaton

May 7th, 2009
2:47 pm

It’s an antiquated law whose time has gone. During the entire argument, nobody has given an intellectual reason as to why it should apply to Georgia, but not other states like Minnesota or Ohio. The law should be repealed, but if not, then it should apply to all the states. Paraphrasing Justice Kennedy, why should Ohio’s sovereignty be valued more highly than Georgia’s.

Lucas

May 7th, 2009
2:53 pm

Yeah, I’d be in favor of applying it across the board. But repealing it? No freaking way.

Copyleft

May 7th, 2009
3:30 pm

Yeah, it’s great that we’ve completely conquered racism in the South and nobody’s still trying to block poor and brown people from voting any more.

Problem solved, all right! No racism left in OUR system, no siree!

copyleft is an idiot

May 7th, 2009
4:17 pm

Boston is known to many and to those in the know as one of the most
racist cities in the Union. Yet, the voting rights act doesn’t apply to Massachusetts.
MMMMMM
What about real equality and lets have all the same rules in all 50 states. Too hard
for you to wrap your government educated mind around that isn’t it.

14th Amendment

May 7th, 2009
4:31 pm

Doesn’t anybody know about the 14th Amendment’s “equal protection clause” – Yes, the VRA scrutiny of fairness should absolutely be continued BUT this fairness scrutiny should be applied to all 50 states; otherwise, the old Confederacy is still be occupied by Yankees!

The Snark

May 7th, 2009
4:39 pm

The fairness of all 50 states WAS scrutinzed. That’s precisely the reason why the VRA only applies in certain states — the ones found to have a history of voter suppression.

The argument put forth by “14th Amendment” is like saying that cold medicine should be administered to ALL people, not just those with colds!

Goldenstater

May 7th, 2009
6:00 pm

Do people like Handel and Purdue think that no one will this act of desperation in the wake of the huge black voter turnout of 2008 for what it is?

Trust conservatives to be consistent in one thing: THEY CONSISTENTLY ASSUME THE PUBLIC IS STUPID!

nowayjose

May 7th, 2009
8:05 pm

And that’s why the Republican Party is where it is at. I am sure they’ll be there claiming that anti-lynching legislation was overstated and that the 10th Amendment says they can secede. Keep it up, idiots.

TANSTAAFL

May 7th, 2009
10:08 pm

I can understand Sec. Handel’s outrage over the heavy hand of VRA scrutiny of Georgia’s evolving elections laws.

It’s quite similar to my outrage over our fair states draconian ballot access laws for third party candidates. Like Sec. Handel, I do not understand why a law passed in 1943 under the direction the legendary Democratic Gov. Eugene “I stole them for you” Talmadge, specifically designed to eliminate the possibility of third party political competition to the Democratic or Republican parties in Georgia continues to stand today. I note that the threat of the Communist party gaining support is often cited for Gov. Talmadge’s concern, but I wonder if the numbers of returning black service men from the rigors of World War II also had a place in his thoughts.

In any event, the deal crafted in the smoke filled backrooms of Jim Crow politics in 1943 has stood the test of time. There has not been one third party candidate since then who has managed to meet the State of Georgia’s petition requirements and qualify for a run at a US House of Representative seat. Not one.

I will not detail the stringent requirements set down by the State of Georgia, they are a matter of public law and a prodigious amount public comment by groups like the Libertarians, the Greens, the Communists and a host of voices that have been squelched for the last 66 years.

The time has come for change. And change is needed in the State of Georgia’s ballot access laws. Will Sec. Handel be the agent of change? Time will tell.

The REAL GodHatesTrash, Superstar

May 8th, 2009
6:46 am

Since Nixon, the GOP has been the party of the skeered, stupid, superstitious white moron voter.

Therefore, they will always be the majority party in Georgia and most of the rest of Dicksea. McCain won the white moron vote in Jawjaw going away – just like he did in Appalachia and the Ozarks.

So why sweat this Karen?

Eli

May 8th, 2009
7:43 am

I am constantly amazed at the ignorance of Karen Handel. She is uniquely uneducated. How the administrator of our elections could not know the VRA in its entirety astounds me.

I encourage all of you to read Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is the “Bail out” section that outlines the process by which a state (county or municipality) can go about removing itself from Sectin 5 preclearance provisions.

Had GA been rid of its racist election practices for decades (note the use of the plural: decades) then GA could have Bail Out of Section 5 preclearance at least ten years ago.

I am so glad Handel will not be running for reelection. I hope we do not get somebody that is worse. Many of my fellow democrats voted in the ‘06 GOP primary to make certain that Ralph Reed wouldn’t be the Sec of State. I have my fingers crossed that we need not act accordingly next year.

vuduchld

May 8th, 2009
8:59 am

I seem to remember southern states doing all they could in denying the rights of African-Americans to vote. If other states above the Mason-Dixon did the same, then they too should have been subjected to these laws.

Karen Handel is an idiot who should not even occupy any credible office, let alone run for Governor. Time after time the G no P has shown itself to institute revisionism to support their bogs beliefs. Karen Handel should stick to things that she is best suited for, like cleaning toilets!!

Eli

May 8th, 2009
12:55 pm

vudu,

There are several counties and municipalities in New York and even in California that are covered by Section 5.

Karen Handel will not talk about that…it would be self defeating. It is her prerogative to make the VRA appear to be picking on the Southern States. Remember, this is from the right wing of the party…they want the public to know as little as possible so that it is that much easier to take advantage of them. Machiavelli wrote about this 500 years ago.

GOP lost int space

May 8th, 2009
9:46 pm

Sure the right wing nut want to end the vra. The GOP wants it to end but they put bill to supress the vote. They know and we know if they would not supress the vote they would lose more then they would win. Remember Jim crow laws ?
listen to the right wing confederated GOP like Rush ,Hannity, Ann coulter, people of color has no place for power in there views. GOP you clown need all kinds of people and views. look at the world they are made up of all kind of people we need them and they need us.
The USA is not what she use to be and that is she owned the money system and that is changing. The man with the GOLD makes the rules and do we make any thing or have any money as a country.
People talk about how bad the government is I say in 2009 Big business sux as for running there business they only make CEO rich and use worker up and to helping every day Joe not in the card. Business in in it to make money not help people. Law maker know they are out for big business .
That is why they will keep trying to keep the little guy from vol ting because law maker are lobbied by these clowns to keep the little guy down and brain washed and most of all out of power! If we all work together it could be a lot better but the party of HELL NO want there views put on us and they want all the power. There is enough power to go around but you clowns want it all. That why you will lose until you clown change or you clowns will die!! The confederated GOP is F-CK up and dieing!! They have no ears to listen and a heart of stone and full of greed!!!

Mad Man

May 8th, 2009
11:09 pm

Maybe she should get a degree and educate herself.