“Despite all the controversy involving voter ID requirements, their impact is probably minimal,” Bullock said, pointing to his research which showed that “no more than a thin sliver of prospective voters would be rejected.” And he said, “There is no evidence that minority turnout in Georgia declined following implementation of the voter ID requirement -- indeed to the contrary, black participation has reached unprecedented levels.” Nonetheless, the claim of discriminatory impact will encourage Democrats to go to the polls, Bullock said. A Democratic voting rights push in 2014 “may succeed in offsetting some of the fall off in turnout that usually occurs in midterm years. It may help Democrats avoid the large losses that usually come in a president’s second midterm.” Anzalone agreed that changes in voting procedures may inspire Democratic turnout as Republicans may face backlash from more motivated Democratic voters. But Republican strategist Guy Harrison, who was executive director of the National Republican Congressional Committee in the 2010 election cycle when Republicans took back the House, dismissed the backlash theory: “Democrats are looking for any reason they can find to figure out why voters would come out for them in the mid-terms. They’re already having a bad first six months of the second (Obama) term.”
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 12:41:55 +0000
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