Slumgullion #44 -- Voter ID edition

Here's a bunch o' links on the issue of voter identification, specifically photo ID, and how it impacts disabled people and other folks:

"Take This And Weep" -- Steve Kuusisto at Planet of the Blind comments on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling allowing Indiana's requirement of photo ID for voters in that state.

"The (GOP's) War on Voting Right" -- Perry Dorrell at Brains and Eggs offers a collection of statistics on which Americans are most effected by photo ID requirements. (The League of Women Voters says up to 11% of Americans lack photo ID.)

"More of the Same" -- Mark Siegel at The 19th Floor notes that the story of a South African woman who was denied ID because she has no arms and local bureaucrats required her to submit fingerprints isn't dissimilar from his own experience five years ago here in Minnesota. In both cases, disabled people clearly weren't expected to ever show up and participate in their community as officials had given absolutely no thought to their existence.

"The Politics of Mobility" -- Ruth Harrigan at A Different Light relates the recent story of the elderly nuns in Indiana who were turned away from the polls for lack of proper ID to lack of mobility for many different Americans.

"Is the Supreme Court trying to swing the election?" -- Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman at AlterNet write about how the ruling on Indiana's photo ID requirement disenfranchises mostly Democratic voters.

"Was Justice Stevens' Water Spiked?" -- Archcrone at The Crone Speaks wonders what the hell Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens was thinking when he joined the majority in the vote.

"Voter ID law disenfranchises Americans" -- Mai Thor writing for the Minnesota Daily also summarizes the impact of the Supreme Court ruling.

Got another link about photo ID and voting? Share it in the comments.

And here's an important new(ish) link to check out:

Crimes Against People With Disabilities is a new blog designed to document and catalog the crimes often considered unrelated to disability prejudice and ableism. It joins the recent UK Disability Now magazine Hate Crime Dossier in an effort to connect the stories of abuse and death to show the larger picture of hate crime against the disabled.