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Senate Democrats, Republicans battle over voting laws

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats and Republicans sparred Wednesday over whether voter ID laws, attempts to purge voter rolls, and restricted early voting were legitimate efforts to stop fraud or mainly Republican strategies to hold down Democratic votes.

Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, and former Florida governor Charlie Crist, a former Republican who recently turned Democrat, said the state GOP aimed its efforts at Hispanics and African-Americans. They cited as one example the elimination of early voting on the Sunday before the election, when members of those groups historically vote after church.

Comments

Here in FL the local GOP 'leaders' have been brazenly bragging of their success in shutting down voting on the Sunday before election day. We need early voting because they never man the polls properly anyway, and this year some people waited up to 7 hours. They did so with resolve because the GOP made it so very clear why hours and days were cut:  to defeat the president they had to keep supporters from the polls.  Our con-man governor can talk a script about "voter fraud" all he wants in Washington, but at home his supporters don't even bother with the ruse. They just openly admit that they will do anything to keep Blacks and Hispanics from voting.

Now they have a new bogeyman in Charlie Crist, who expanded early voting in the first place and speaks out in support of returning to the earlier 15 days (including that key Sunday). And the GOP is at him with vengeance - just watch how nasty they'll get in the coming months but they'll try putting the blame on "illegals."  There aren't any illegals involved here, except the GOP operatives who already admitted to voter fraud while falsifying registration forms in Tampa.

Sen. Grassley is so detached from reality that he doesn't even realize how cartoonish he's become with his "fraud" argument.

Don't you realize these Republicans have the purest of motives?  They love everybody and want all people to vote!  Only those of you who are "uppity" think there is some mischief going on!