Two great leaders born on this date and laid to rest in Springfield

Happy birthday to Abraham Lincoln and John L. Lewis! Both historic leaders were born February 12 and both currently reside in Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Illinois.

Everyone knows about Lincoln, of course, but it's odd that Springfield often overlooks the local connection to the most important labor leader in American history. Lewis idolized Lincoln and lived in Springfield while he lobbied the legislature on labor issues.

The AFL-CIO website describes how Lewis helped form many of the nation's largest unions.

President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1920 until 1960 and founding president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), John Llewellyn Lewis was the dominant voice shaping the labor movement in the 1930s. The CIO owed its existence in large measure to Lewis, who was a tireless and effective advocate of industrial unionism and of government assistance in organizing basic industry.

Saul Alinsky's biography of Lewis is a classic of movement organizing literature.


This must be why everyone will be out partying today with beads and such, right?

I've witnessed voter fraud. Many times.

While catching up on a few Democratic convention speeches I missed I had to watch John Lewis. He's a national hero. No one can speak about voting rights with more authority than a man who has been beaten and literally risked his life to defend those rights.

He spoke about the Republican attempt to swing elections by making it more difficult to vote. This is nothing new.

I've been an election judge, poll watcher, or precinct worker in almost every election since I first voted. In nearly every election I have personally witnessed voter fraud when people were denied their Constitutional right to vote by pointless bureaucratic barriers. Denying someone that right which many Americans have fought and died for is the worst form of voter fraud.

The most common method of denying voting rights in Illinois, like many other states, is the requirement that someone register to vote or update their new address at least a month before the election. Most people aren't aware of the early deadline and have plenty of other things to worry about when planning a move. 

I've seen people in this situation get very upset after being told they can't vote. Sometimes they're sent to another polling place where they may, or may not, be allowed to vote. Sometimes they're given a federal-only ballot, or more likely, a provisional ballot that probably won't be counted. But too often, they leave disappointed without having voted at all.

Unsurprisingly, I've seen election judges enforce this rule more aggressively at college campus precincts. Election officials may ask every potential voter if they're still at the same address listed on their registration or if they have an ID with their current address. Since most students move between semesters, the answer is often "no." An ID is not required to vote in Illinois but election judges have the discretion of asking for one, and they often do near college campuses. Even students living in the same precinct, who only moved to a new dorm room in the same building, have been turned away.

Low-income renters and college students move more often than other citizens. They also vote more Democratic. Restricting their right to vote is a way to manipulate the outcome of an election.

I've run voter registration drives in Illinois and Arkansas. Illinois made it much more difficult to register and vote. The voter fraud boogie-man is used as justification to deny thousands of people their Constitutional right in every election. In fact, real historical cases of voter fraud are almost always committed by election officials themselves, rather than thousands of people roaming from precinct to precinct voting multiple times. Most of the restrictive barriers placed on individuals voting would do nothing to resolve the kind of voter fraud that has actually happened.

Illinois finally reformed its restrictive registration rules a few years ago. More reforms should be made, like same-day registration, but the days when Jim Edgar and Ron Michaelson fought tooth and nail against the Motor Voter Act are gone. Like John Lewis, I don't want to go back. No state should.