Pennsylvania Proves Government Can Work! (At Passing Laws That Suppress The Minority Vote)

 
 Remember all that conspiracy around the election when Democrats were saying that Republicans were trying to suppress democratic voters and Republicans were all, “Naw, mang, we just really care about voter fraud from predominantly minority populations.” But then officials kept accidentally spilling the beans on the true intent, like Pennsylvania GOP House Leader Mike Turzai who said that the new voter ID law, “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania.” Whoopsie.

Now it turns out that the voter ID law meant to purely prevent fraud actually did help suppress (oppress? repress?) Democratic voters, according to Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason (via ThinkProgress ):

As Pennsylvania’s GOP Chairman Rob Gleason told Pennsylvania Cable Network earlier this week, the party “cut Obama by 5 percent” in 2012 and “probably Voter ID had helped a bit in that.”

Good thing we have that Voting Rights Act* to protect voters. HAHAHA, JUST KIDDING motherfuckers because the Supreme Court said the Voting Rights Act was unconstitutional!! More good times ahead.

That’s right, Wonkeroos, the voter ID law “helped” cut the support that Obama received in Pennsylvania last election. Because fraudulent voters were lining up to cast a ballot for Our Guiding Sun of Kenyan Muslim Socialism? OF COURSE NOT. The law is being challenged in court and:

[S]tatistician Bernard Siskin testified on Monday that the measure would disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of registered voters, disproportionately affecting “Democrats and members of minority groups.” “By his calculations, Democrats are three times as likely as Republicans and minorities are about twice as likely as whites to lack a valid ID,” the Huffington Post’s Saki Knafo reported.

The law was specifically passed to reduce the number of Democrats able to vote for Pres. Obama, and IT WORKED!!!1! Maybe the lesson here is that government can really get things right if legislators put their mind to it and really focus on disenfranchising minorities and political opponents. See, government really can be “of the people,” so long as you define “people” as white Republicans.

Maybe this is just Republicans being Constitutional Originalists, trying to ensure that 100% of white folks can vote and 3/5ths of minorities can vote. The Founding Fathers would be proud, Pennsylvania. Especially all the slave-owning ones.

In sum, we at Wonkette sincerely hope that minorities enjoyed voting while it lasted.

* Yes, we know that Pennsylvania was not one of the states that had to pre-clear changes to their voting laws. But the broader fact remains that SCOTUS finding the VRA unconstitutional will likely make it harder for minorities to vote, SO FUCKING BACK OFF about technicalities, k? Thanks.

[ ThinkProgress ]