It's time for Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele to resign or be fired

They can't pretend any more.  It is now common knowledge that the Republican Party is actively trying to suppress the vote in Pennsylvania.  But not everyone's vote.  They are targeting specific groups that they don't want to vote this November.  Whose votes are they trying to suppress?

• Senior citizens
• African-Americans
• Latinos
• Urban voters
• Students
• Low income people

Why are they targeting these groups?  Because these demographics traditionally vote for Democrats.

This is not partisan speculation. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Turzai admitted that the reason they pushed the Voter Suppression Act (HB 934, called "Voter ID" by the GOP) is because it is "going to allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."[1]

Also, last week, Governor Tom Corbett's administration admitted that they had deceived the people of Pennsylvania in order to rush through the Voter Suppression Act in March.[2]

When Corbett was trying to pass the bill, his main spokesperson, Secretary of the Commonwealth Carol Aichele, said that less than 1% of Pennsylvanians did not have the proper ID.[3]

Now they admit that the real total is 758,000--about one in 10 voters--who lack the proper ID to let them vote.  In Philadelphia, a Democratic stronghold, about 1 in 4 registered Democrats could be prevented from voting.

There are only 2 ways to explain this discrepancy.  Either Aichele and the Department of State are entirely incompetent, or Corbett and Aichele lied. 

In either case, it is time for Carol Aichele to be removed as Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Please tell Aichele and Corbett that she needs to resign or be fired.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth should be protecting our right to vote, not assisting in the suppression of votes for partisan gain.  Aichele has proven that she is unable to protect free and fair elections in Pennsylvania, so she must leave.

Removing Aichele is important, but it does not stop the Voter Suppression Act from being implemented.  In the coming weeks we will ask you to take more actions to stop this attempt to steal the 2012 election.  But we need to start holding people accountable, and Aichele is responsible for the misinformation that allowed this bill to pass.

Please join the thousand of others who have already asked for Aicele's resignation.  Take action and spread the word to others.

For our Republic,

Michael Morrill
Keystone Progress

Need more evidence?

• The Commonwealth of PA's website that is supposed to help Spanish speaking voters understand the Voter Suppression Act is written in English[4]
• Tom Corbett gave a $249,660 contract to a Mitt Romney fundraiser to produce a video that justifies their attempts to suppress the vote.[5] This video was called "The Most Orwellian Voter ID Ad You've Ever Seen" by Slate.[6]
• Alice Stewart, former advisor to Rick Santorum, said we shouldn't get upset about this because "Voting is a privilege."[7] In order to justify voter suppression, the GOP no longer considers voting a right.