Author: Sylvia Burley
According to the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to impersonate another voter, so why are Republican Governors so obsessed with Voter ID laws to combat supposed voter fraud? In other words, who’s REALLY trying to stop the vote?
This was the question posed on MSNBC’s NOW with Alex Wagner whose panelists included former Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA) and Brennan Center’s Executive Director, Michael Walden.
There appears to be little to no evidence of massive voter fraud. Alabama State Representative Jay Love told Rev. Al Sharpton that three people have been convicted of voter fraud over three years “…and what I am trying to do as a state representative is protect the sanctity of that vote”. Sharpton practically laughed in Love’s face at the absurdity of this claim. The South Carolina Attorney General claimed that nearly a thousand people had committed voter fraud in a previous election, but when pressed for proof, it was discovered that the real problem was bad information in the state records on deceased citizens.
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In the wake of this non-problem, seven out of eight strict voter ID laws have been signed by Governors in Republican-held states (Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin) justifying the charge of partisanship. While some may view the law as a reasonable request, it is believed this would be a hardship for many including seniors and students who don’t drive. A whopping 11% or 21 million citizens do not have a government issued ID.
Charges of partisanship seem valid when Texas won’t accept student IDs, but concealed carry gun permits are allowed in order to vote. This presumes that one will go out of their way to fraudulently attend school, but not to get a gun. Also, if a student goes to school in Texas but is from Michigan and has a Michigan license because he wants to maintain a Michigan residency, will he then be allowed to use that Michigan license to vote in Texas, or will other proof of residency be required (e.g., current lease, bill, paycheck, etc.)? If you are an out-of-state student, these are the types of questions you need to be asking now, before the Presidential election in November.
The sad thing is, we DO have problems with our voting system (George W. Bush’s illegal election proved this). According to Walden, we have “a ramshackle voter registration system all over the country” and need to move to a more modern system where people are registered to vote by the government which would add millions of people to the voter rolls and eliminate voter fraud if indeed it did exist.
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As usual, instead of focusing on fixing REAL problems, a half dozen states have eliminated voter registration drives, election day registration, reduced early voting, and implemented other measures designed to make it harder to vote.
Governor Ed Rendell (D-PA), says we should be increasing voter participation by not only making sure there is early voting, but also allowing Saturday voting, more absentee voting, and other laws to make it easier to vote.
“If we want to eliminate the impact of special interests in this country, the way to do that is to get more and more people voting, not less,” said Rendell.
The courts are starting to take notice and label these laws unconstitutional and illegal.
This is certain to anger those who want to turn back the clock on voting rights. They will continue in their efforts to disenfranchise the masses and we must do all that we can to counter this effort by being informed and following the law (even if we don’t agree with it) so that we can exercise the right so many fought and died for.
Stay tuned.
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