Hey, happy summer solstice, folks!
Today is a much slower day in voting rights news. As the standoff between the U.S. House Oversight Committee, the Department of Justice and the White House sucks all of the energy out of the traditional digital-political commentary, it seems that all the usual fever surrounding some of our regular search terms has faded.
Even yesterday’s incredibly popular story about the voter registration forms mailed to a dead dog in Virginia has slowed, which probably says just as much about the limited attention span of the 24-news cycle as it does about the story’s merit — or lack thereof.
We’ve still got some good reads for you here, and the surprising return of an April poll about voter ID and disenfranchisement.
What We’ve Been Reading
“Florida Voters Back Voter Purge, Stand Your Ground, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Gov. Scott’s Job Approval Still Very Low,” (Quinnipiac University, 06/20)
“Voter ID groups release first fundraising numbers,” (Catharine Richert, 06/20, MPRNews)
“The Public Eye: Capital-area voter fraud suspects have criminal histories,” Brad Branan, 05/13, Sacramento Bee)
“The Voice of New Rochelle: A League of Their Own,” (Bob Marrone, 06/20, NewRochellePatch)
“Young People, Minorities, Unmarried Women and Dead Dogs,” (Ed Kilgore, 06/19, Washington Monthly)
Twitter Trends
The most curious trend today regarding voting rights and voter ID on social media search engine Topsy.com is the inexplicable tweeting and retweeting of a Rasmussen Report poll from April 2012 that shows 73 percent of likely U.S. voters think that voter ID requirements do not discriminate and that 64 percent think voter fraud is a somewhat serious problem.
An interesting poll, to be sure, but it’s from more than two months ago, and it’s being retweeted by a lot of Spanish-language accounts. We’re not certain where this trend is coming from, but it could have something to do with the announcement Tuesday of a federal voter ID law introduced by Rep. Joe Walsh, R-Ill.
The “Mitt Romney voting rights” tweet continues to surface here and there, and we’re still waiting on a Twitter response from the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
To see if Romney ever does respond to the demands of the anonymous Twitter hordes — and for the latest in voting rights news — be sure to follow us @WhoCanVote.