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Hundreds
call on
Legislature
to
oppose
'Voter
Suppression
Bill'
LANSING,
MI –
Hundreds
of
residents
along
with
members
of the
activist
organization
Good
Jobs Now
disrupted
a state
House
Committee
hearing
Tuesday,
challenging
the
legislators
to
oppose
bills
the
group
believes
would
lead to
voter
suppression.
Shouting,
“RESPECT
OUR
VOTE!
RESPECT
OUR
VOTE!”
residents
and
activists
from
Southeast
Michigan
protested
during
the 9
a.m.
meeting
of the
House
Committee
on
Redistricting
and
Elections.
The
panel
held a
hearing
on
Senate
Bills
751, 754
and 803,
all of
which
would
make it
more
difficult
for
community
organizations
to run
registration
drives
and also
require
more
identification
at the
polls.
Despite
the
protest,
all
three
bills
were
voted
out of
committee.
Pastor
W.J.
Rideout
III was
among
those
who made
an
impassioned
plea to
the
committee.
“Have a
heart,”
Rideout
said,
pointing
to the
legislators.
“Think
about
the
people.”
Despite
claims
that the
bills
will
help to
avert
voter
fraud at
the
polls,
studies
have
consistently
shown
that
such
instances
are
rare:
• A
2007
study by
the
Brennan
Center,
for
example,
found
that
most
allegations
of fraud
turn out
to be
baseless,
and that
the type
of
individual
voter
fraud at
the
heart of
many
recent
legislative
efforts—especially
efforts
to
require
certain
forms of
voter
ID—simply
does not
exist.
• Tova
Wang, a
fellow
at Demos
and the
Century
Foundation,
said in
an
April,
2012
interview
with
U.S.
News and
World
Report
that,
“we do
not have
a
serious
problem
with
fraud in
this
country,”
as it
relates
to voter
fraud at
the
polling
place.
• A 2011
Brennan
Center
study of
14
states
that
passed
laws or
executive
orders
restricting
voting
found
that the
laws
could
make it
harder
for 5
million
eligible
voters
to cast
ballots.
Those
voters
are
largely
persons
of
color,
young
people
and
seniors.
ABOUT
GOOD
JOBS
NOW:
• Good
Jobs Now
is a
broad
coalition
of
community
groups,
faith
leaders,
concerned
citizens
and the
labor
sector
that is
committed
to
solving
the
issues
facing
our
neighborhoods
and
holding
decision
makers
and
elected
officials
accountable
for
creating
jobs.
www.goodjobsnow.org
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