SLY Pretentions About New Voter ID Laws – An Innovative Body Cleansing Technique
Every now and then when I need a TOTAL body-cleansing session from eating way too much junk food, I put a TRIPLE-lined wastebasket by my side, turn on the television and watch FOX News. The other night I came upon the FOX News “On the Record” show hosted by Greta VanSusteren subtitled “Voter Protection or Suppression? New Fallout over Voter ID Laws”. To my surprise, the show started out SOUNDING like it was, actually, going to be “fair and balanced”! As I gradually eased my wastebasket away with my foot, Griff Jenkins from FOX News’ “Griff on the Ground” started talking. Griff opened his segment by listing situations requiring photo ID “in our daily lives” - airport security checkpoints, library card, liquor store; hotel check in and FOX visitor passes, but Griff was very careful NOT to state the SPECIFIC types of ID required for each of the above situations. Maybe it’s because his examples had NOTHING to do with the NEW voter ID laws suppressing the votes of Latinos, African-Americans, the poor, college students and senior citizens. (I gradually started easing my wastebasket closer to my chair).
Then Griff interviewed Pennsylvania’s REPUBLICAN Chief Election Official, Secretary Carol Aichele. He opened their conversation with the statement “Critics say this is all about voter suppression, what do you say?” Secretary Aichele issued a CRAFTILY WORDED response commenting that voter suppression is “overplayed by the press” citing evidence from studies “across the country” - specifically mentioning the “University of Delaware and University of Nebraska at Lincoln” - WITHOUT stating when the studies were conducted, what voter ID laws were examined, or which state(s) the studies covered. Anyway, Ms. Aichele referenced that those studies proved that voter ID laws don’t “have the negative effects that we’ve been talking about.” closing her commentary with the statement “If there were disenfranchisement , in states that had photo ID laws for a number of years, I think we would have heard about it.”
I reached for my wastebasket and put it on my lap because I couldn’t figure out why Secretary Aichele was talking about voter ID laws that were imposed “for a number of years” when the current problem is with NEW VOTER ID LAWS that were, SPECIFICALLY, established to suppress votes for the 2012 General Election. You see, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law found that “five states passed laws THIS YEAR scaling back programs allowing voters to cast their ballots before Election Day. OHIO’s Republican governor and Republican-majority legislators passed a law eliminating early voting on Sundays. FLORIDA’s Republican governor and Republican-majority legislators eliminated it on the Sunday before Election Day. MAIN’s Republican governor and Republican-majority legislators voted to stop allowing people to register to vote on Election Day.” The Brennan study, also, revealed that In FLORIDA, a NEW law imposing restrictions on voter registration drives has led the League of Women Voters, a nationally recognized, nationally respected NONPARTISAN group that registered voters for SEVENTY-TWO YEARS to call a moratorium on new registration drives in the state, citing NEW penalties that groups face under the NEW law. I couldn’t help asking myself the question - Why did Griff and Secretary Aichele NOT point out that these NEW voter suppression laws had NOTHING to do with photo ID’s?
As I held the wastebasket in my hands poised for the body-cleansing to begin, I recalled that the National Conference of State Legislatures issued a listing of Voter Identification Requirements for all states. For example, in SOUTH CAROLINA, the “existing law” requires 1) a voter registration certificate; 2) South Carolina driver’s license; 3) South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicle photo ID card. The “new Law” requires 1) a South Carolina driver’s license; 2) other form of photo ID issued by the SC Department of Motor Vehicles; 3) passport; 4) military ID bearing a photo issued by the federal government, 5) South Carolina voter registration card with a photo.
In TEXAS, the “existing law” requires 1) voter registration certificate; 2) driver’s license; 3) Department of Public Safety ID card; 4) a form of ID containing the person’s photo that established the person’s identity; 5) a birth certificate or other document confirming birth that is admissible in a court of law and establishes the person’s identity; 6) U/S. citizenship papers; 7) U.S. passport; 8) official mail addressed to the person, by name, from a governmental entity; 8) a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the person’s name and address; 9) any other form of ID prescribed by the secretary of state. The “new law” requires 1) driver’s license; 2) election identification certificate; 3) Department of Public Safety personal ID card; 4) U.S. military ID; 5) U.S. citizenship certificate; 6) U.S. passport; 7) license to carry a CONCEALED HANDGUN issued by the Department of Public Safety.”
Why would states like South Carolina and Texas need NEW voter registration laws when THEIR STANDARD “voter registration certificate ,alone, requires DOCUMENTED PROOF of U.S. citizenship; DOCUMENTED PROOF of being a resident of the country; DOCUMENTED PROOF of being 18 years old; DOCUMENTED PROOF of not being a convicted felon (unless a person’s sentence is completed, including any probation or parole, and DOCUMENTED PROOF of not being declared mentally incapacitated by a court of law. What more proof of identity would they need – a lie detector test AND an airport body scanner?
The real clincher is that NONE of the 33 states requiring NEW photo ID requirements can offer ANY CONCRETE EVIDENCE of voter fraud resulting from fraudulent voter ID’s!
As you may have guessed, by the end of “On the Record”, my total body cleansing was complete. You can get more REAL “FAIR AND BALANCED” information on NEW voter ID suppression laws at…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/think-you-have-the-right_b_1396822.html?ref=impact&ir=Impact
http://www.aclu.org/maps/2011-voting-rights-under-attack-state-legislatures