Democrats believe in getting the non-voters registered and involved.
Republicans believe that this massive push to register voters is a push towards voter fraud and want laws to require some form of Official ID'S be used to guarantee people only vote once.
The dis-enfranchisment refers to this argument between the parties. Democrats just want people to vote, Republicans just want people to vote properly.
Simply one more way that American politics is screwed up.
i would generalize it a bit and say non-republicans want everyone to vote, or even non-conservatives want everyone to vote. it is the most basic right in the US, from which all the other rights are derived, unfortunately only one political party in this country thinks it should be reserved only for those who vote their way.
"That's the trouble with political jokes in this country... they get elected!" -- Dave Lippman