Saturday, December 10, 2011

A Challenge for #Occupy - Voter Registration that is otherwise impossible.

Jim Crow has returned to some states in the USA in the way of a poll tax. The states are making a legitimate run as inhibiting people that usually vote Democratic to vote in 2012. There are a variety of venues for the alienation of voters from their BIRTH RIGHT, but, one of the most egregious states is Georgia. Literally, the Georgia legislature has made it nearly impossible to register unless the voter does so in person and even then they will obligated to bring photocopies of themselves.

In Georgia, the new laws state a photo identification has to accompany the voter registration. So, how does an organization attempting to register voters without taking them to a city or county building do that?
It seems to me if #Occupy wants to accelerate their cause and make their footprint count registering voters is a good idea. If I was faced with such a challenge, a non-profit status would be good, seeking funding, taking donations and then planning a way to carry out the voting registration requirements as the new laws dictate as expeditiously as possible.

Above is an iPhone or cell phone or digital camera that took a picture of a check. With a vehicle that is carrying a portable printer or photo processor a voter registration in Georgia could be taken along with a picture of the required photo ID of the voter and processed to attach it to the registration form. I hesitate to believe the digital photos could wait until they could be processed and then attached to the registration because there is a greater chance of error. But, if the printer of the photograph were at the place where the registration was being taken, all the requirements could be completed at once.

I believe voter registration, especially on college campuses, is consistent with the #Occupy vision, purpose and mission. It solves the problem of human rights violations in the USA as it defeats the return of Jim Crow. The states attempting to disenfranchise voters have passed hideous laws, but, they can be served if they aren't overturned before November 2012.

The #Occupy organizations that already have their 501(c)3 have a better start then the organizations that have achieved that standard yet, but, I am confident there is funding available. I wish everyone luck. It might be interesting to check in at local election headquarters to say hello and be sure everything is in place to facilitate voting including 'free rides' to the polling places. OR. Absentee ballots delivered to residents that are unable to travel and want to vote. There is a lot be done before November 2011.
...Despite the real progress (click titel to entry - thank you) that has been made in the United States towards eliminating the legacy of Jim Crow, as the ACLU and other civil rights/human rights organizations have documented, racial and ethnic minorities -- and especially peoples of African descent (i.e., black Americans) -- "continue to face intentional, structural, and de facto forms of discrimination which manifest in unequal access to quality education, housing, health services, and employment, as well as electoral disfranchisement and discrimination in the criminal justice system." For example, recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that 36 percent of black children are living in poverty, the highest rates of any racial group (by comparison, 33 percent of Hispanic children and 12 percent of white children are living in poverty)....