What better way to eliminate the infinitesimal amount of voter fraud in the United States than by disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of people? That is basically what the Republican craze of “voter-ID” laws will do. These laws will overwhelmingly impact students, minorities and the poor — interestingly-enough, all reliable Democratic voters.
Funny how the statehouses and governors who back voter-ID laws are all Republican. Go figure. They just want to save our democracy and increase turnout, right? Never mind that a Reagan-appointed judge slammed voter-ID laws and made Swiss cheese of the whole charade.
Courts, supporters and opponents of voter-ID will be wrestling over these laws right up until the election, now just weeks away. It’s a game of musical chairs, and depending on where you are when the music stops, you may or may not have the right to vote. In the words of Judge Richard Posner of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals:
“There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud, if there is no actual danger of such fraud, and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens.”
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The views expressed in this post are the author’s alone, and presented here to offer a variety of perspectives to our readers.
