Interesting op-ed in the New York Times today on the history of vote suppression over the life of the republic. Key observation:
The targets of exclusionary laws have tended to be similar for more than two centuries: the poor, immigrants, African-Americans, people perceived to be something other than “mainstream” Americans. No state has ever attempted to disenfranchise upper-middle-class or wealthy white male citizens.
We should make it easier to vote, not hard. Voting by mail, now possible in Oregon and Washington, should be universal. Early voting should be more widely conducted for longer hours. Some, you know who you are, fear more voting means more participation by people don’t deem qualified to make such important decisions.
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