“Paul Schurick’s recent conviction for voter fraud is a sad coda to the 2010 Martin O’Malley-Bob Ehrlich gubernatorial rematch,” writes UMBC political science professor Thomas Schaller in his latest Baltimore Sun column. Schaller notes that was saddens him most is a broader trend that Schurick’s actions exemplify: an increase in efforts to suppress U.S. voter turnout.
Schaller writes: “In the past year, 19 new laws and two executive orders were issued in 14 states to create stricter voter identification requirements.” Citing the Brennan Center for Justice, Schaller argues such restrictions “disproportionately disfranchise poorer and nonwhite voters, as well as senior citizens and college-age students” — populations that would be more likely to vote Democratic. Read the column for Schaller’s full argument.
