Six Extreme Right-Wing Attacks by ALEC

Steam and smoke rise over a coal-burning power plant in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, 10/23/10. (photo: Martin Meissner/AP)

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By Lisa Graves, Center for Media and Democracy

28 July 11

Model" bills voted on by corporations through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) touch almost every aspect of American life. The Center for Media and Democracy has analyzed and made available over 800 ALEC model bills to allow other reporters and the public to track corporate influence in state legislatures across the country (and in Congress) at http://www.ALECexposed.org. Here is a quick summary of six of the many "hot" topics on the ALEC corporate-politician agenda this year.

Disenfranchising American Citizens Through Voter ID

In the wake of the highest general election turnout in nearly 60 years in the 2008 presidential election (particularly among university students and African-Americans), ALEC's "voter ID" legislation has been rapidly moving in state legislatures. Shortly after the election of the nation's first black president, "Preventing Election Fraud" was the cover story on the Inside ALEC magazine, and ALEC corporations and politicians voted for "model" voter legislation in 2009. Voter ID is a hot issue this year, in advance of the 2012 presidential election.

In many of states, voter ID legislation has ALEC's fingerprints. In forty-seven states, legislation was introduced requiring specific kinds of identification to vote or making existing requirements more onerous. These laws have the effect of disenfranchising many of the elderly, people with disabilities, people of color, and students, among others who do not have driver's licenses, but who typically have other proof where they live in a voting precinct (like a utility bill, which has traditionally been accepted for voter registration).
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