If you’ve been watching the show over the last few weeks, and in particular, if you've been following our This Week In Voter Suppression segments, you might be feeling a little shook. I know I am.
You might be having nightmares about state Republican legislators passing laws that could disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of students, people of color, poor people, and seniors.
You may be feeling a little anxiety about attempts to purge thousands of people from voter rolls in states like Florida and Ohio.
You can even be forgiven if the plans of organizations like True the Vote to send one million volunteers out to intimidate voters at the polls on election day make you feel a bit of hyperventilation coming on.
It’s okay. The idea of an organized effort to block the vote, steal and election, and most importantly, undermine our democracy, is scary stuff. But here’s the thing, when you turn on the light, they boogeyman goes away. And in this case, the light for the American electorate is knowledge and information.
As of today, we can all rest a little easier because resistance against restrictive voting laws has blocked or weakened those laws in more than a dozen states. But that still leaves several states with new voter laws that will be in effect on election day.
If you live in one of those states, don't get scared. Get ready. Do your homework. Find out what the law is, so you can make sure you've got everything you need to exercise your right to vote on November 6.
You can start with the Map of Shame you see above, courtesy of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. It breaks down what you need to know about voter-ID laws -- whether you need an ID in your state, what kind is valid, and whether or not you're required to show an ID if one is requested of you.
If you're a new voter, or have to change your registration for any reason, you might be affected too. Most registration deadlines have already passed, but to find out if there's still time for you to get registered, check out the list of deadlines here.
Today, Melissa chatted with Barbara Arnwine, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Ms. Arnwine is going to be dropping all kinds of knowledge about how you can volunteer to be a part of efforts to stop voter suppression.
She'll tell you what to do if you get challenged by a monitor on election day. And she's even got a hotline for you to call if you witness some voter intimidation shadiness going down at your local polling place -- 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
So shake off that shook feeling. Remember: voting is your right. You have the power.
Ed. note: You can find the first segment of Saturday's edition of This Week in Voter Suppression!™ below the jump.
The Buckeye State takes the center stage of Melissa Harris-Perry's "This Week In Voter Suppression" series. Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, joins the panel to explain.
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As an Ohioan I am totally, unbelievingly disgusted by the voter suppression efforts in my own state let alone the whole country. As a phone-caller and door-to-door canvasser for the Obama campaign here in Ohio, we make as many phone calls and knock on as many doors as we can regardless of what the courts decide, we knew in advance that the voting issue wasn't going to be settled fast. We don't let what the state government is trying to do, beat us back in advance. We are working hard!!! And we are going to work harder than imaginable to get out the vote the last weekend and Monday and election day, regardless of what courts end up doing.
Citizens like Frankie make the difference. My impression is that the nationwide Republican voter suppression effort isn't getting as much airplay outside of MSNBC. Pundits ponder Biden's chuckles, criticize his unrestrained expressions of outrage. But the sustained, well-funded and organized plot to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters is -- well, breathtakingly outrageous. It's a cynically open and intentional abuse of the system on a scale that stinks of the desperation in the GOP's morbid demographics. Frankie voices a level of revulsion that resonates completely in my world, but where is the national roar of stunned disbelief that these operations are not only in play, but topics of smug satisfaction for GOP pols? Where are the headlines, congressional hearings, alarmed investigative reports? Why isn't this story stirring the dirt like Edwin Edwards's dead girl or live boy?
Or am I still just too naive?
Carry on, MHP. Bless you and the rest of the MSNBC crew for keeping this issue under a hot light.
After watching your show today, 10/14, I thought of an idea that might be worth doing. I wonder if it would be good to start telling voters that if you are being filmed or questioned, those involved and those around should take action by using their cell phone to film it all. Even if there are those that don't have a cell phone that will film, even the action of appearing they are filming could be deterrence. I think this action would give power to those in line. I am envisioning one person with a camera filming and 10 cell phone users taping that person. I think it then turns the intimidation feeling into power against the single person filming or questioning.