Throughout the country in states where radical Republicans control the legislature they are passing a number of bills that would enact laws to restrict the franchise or at the least suppress the turnout of those demographic groups that have not be tending to vote Republican in the past few years. These groups are considered to be the poor, the working poor, students and other young voters, African-Americans and Latinos. Due to two hundred years of progress at the federal level, and in many states, the radical Republicans face federal and state constitutional impediments to their efforts to reduce turnouts and assure their re-elections. They are limited to constitutional means which include redistricting and election laws that on their face and application affect all citizens equally.
The most popular radical Republican excuse for laws that make voting and registering harder and more exclusive is to prevent voter fraud. These radical Republicans are adept at the use of language and often hide their ideas behind misnomers. When Bush stole the election in 2000 he proposed the Help Americans Vote Act which pushed most of the counties in America to paper ballot reading equipment that made the ballots less secure under the guise of having paper to read in a recount - remember that Florida had mostly paper (punch card) and Bush opposed the state wide recount.
Where is the evidence of this voter fraud. It doesn’t exist. There are almost no instances of record in the past decades of individuals impersonating voters and trying to vote more than once. This was a practice before the WWII called floating and urban machines often paid floaters to vote more than once by claiming to be people who hadn’t voted yet. With personal voter registration that practice disappeared. Voters sign in at their local polling place, receive their ballot or enter a machine, and vote.
So now the radical Republicans, to prevent this mythical voter fraud, want to require every voter to carry photo ID when they go to the polls. Why? Well in big cities (that today vote Democrat) as many as 75% of the residents don’t have drivers licenses and even in states such as PA that allow you to get a non-drivers ID card most non-drivers don’t’ go through the hassle (and it is a hassle I know because I got one after three tries). Most urban residents who don’t drive are African American and Latino. Some of the states are enacting voter ID that doesn’t even recognize a student ID card with a picture even if issued by a state college - why because students today vote mostly Democrat. The newest voter suppression idea is to require students not only to show student ID but also the last semester tuition receipt (which if you know anything about college loans and parent payments is not always in the possession of the student at college). Voter ID bills do no attack Voter Fraud they are simply a means to discourage poor, urban dwellers, minority voters and young people from voting. There is no Voter Fraud problem on election day and there is no need for a solution to a non-problem.
Some states like North Dakota now have same day registration. You can show ID on election day and vote. If the radical Republicans are serious about Voter ID let them support election day registration.
To make their attempt to control American elections even more obvious and their efforts more blatant, in Wisconsin, where the voters are allowed to recall legislators and they have petitioned to hold recall elections in July against six state senators, the Republicans have passed a number of new elections laws and procedures including photo ID to take effect immediately before the recall elections. They refused to budget any funds to help educate the voters on the new rules. I serve on the Delaware Co, PA Board of Elections - when you change the rules you have to extensively retrain the poll workers and let the voters know - and that costs money truly a waste of tax dollars if the education is is to discourage voters from going to the polls.
5-30-2011
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