Voting Rights Violators: Voter Suppression, Early Voting, and the 17th Amendment?

In 12 weeks we go to the polls again to reelect President Obama. Republicans know that they aren't going to gain the support of the American people, so instead they're going to strip them of the right to vote:

• Just to kind of set the tone, Judson Philips, founder of the Tea Party Nation, responded to the question of whether it was really worth throwing five million legitimate voters off the voting rolls to potentially stop five thousand illigetimate voters by saying: "It is worth making sure people who are allowed to vote, CAN vote and people who are not allowed to vote, DON'T vote."  You know, in the same way that our legal system is designed to imprison a hundred innocent people rather than let a guilty one go free.

• Republican Governor of Pennsylvania Tom Corbett puts it more simply, "We want to make sure that they don't get to 50% [voter turnout].  Keep that down." Which is why Pennsylvania's Republican Majority Leader Mike Turzai admits that they passed Voter ID laws because they are "gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."  Even if that means disenfranchising more than 9% of the state's voters.

• Rush Limbaugh has declared war on Early Voting, declaring it "a recipe for cheating.  It's one of the reasons it exists."  Sure that doesn't really make any sense since Early Voting gives more time to verify that the people voting are actually the voter, but that's not going to stop Congressman Allen West from doubling down, "I think that this early voting thing was something we provided and now some people see it as an entitlement, which is really not consistent with constitutional voting practices and procedures."  That's of course extra special since Early Voting is especially prevalent in West's home state of Florida, where Pews to Polls is used to significantly increase African American voter turnout.  Of course it's not really surprising given that the former Chair of the Florida Republican Party, Jim Greer, has testified that Republican Party "consultants and staff" had meetings to plan "voter suppression and keeping blacks from voting."

• Of course if you can't eliminate Early Voting, you might as well make sure it benefits you.  Which is why Ohio Republicans are shortening the hours that Early Voting will be available in Democratic counties, while increasing the number of hours in Republican counties.

• Finally, while everything above might sound crazy, really it's just evil.  Crazy is Missouri Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin calling for the repeal of the 17th Amendment because people shouldn't be allowed to vote for US Senators.