For the past two years, Teapublican state legislatures have passed measures calling for photo IDs for voters. They claim that, if you are required to have a license to drive, you should be required to have a photo ID to vote. (Of course, they don’t feel the same about those who carry guns.) They say their only interest is to eliminate voter fraud, especially by illegal immigrants.
Given the fact that there is virtually no proven voter fraud in this country that seems unlikely. And anyone who is familiar with illegal immigrants knows that an attempt to vote is much too risky. They would never take the chance of calling attention to themselves for fear of getting caught. For example, I recently asked a County Recorder in Arizona how many illegal immigrants have tried to vote in the county. The answer was none. Moreover, I asked how many instances of voter fraud the county had uncovered in recent elections. The answer was five. All were caught.
Lets get to the real reason for these new voter laws: Stealing elections.
Many of the voters who do not have photo IDs are likely to vote Democratic. You see, many people in large cities, particularly in the inner cities do not have need for a drivers license or a passport. They are often elderly, poor or students. In the past, they have voted using voter registration cards, student IDs and other forms of identification. Unless, the Department of Justice steps in, that will change. And millions of voters will not be allowed to vote unless they obtain the proper kind of photo ID in time for this fall’s elections.
In Pennsylvania, its estimated that 750,000 eligible citizens do not currently possess identification cards issued by the state Department of Transportation. Thats 9.2 percent of the vote!
To illustrate how unfair and absurd this new bill is, it will prevent all of the states Amish from voting, since their faith does not allow them to have their pictures taken.
Of course, Pennsylvania is not alone. Voter purges are continuing in many other states, as well. If theyre allowed to get away with it, we could see a repeat of 2000 when Vice-President Al Gore won the popular vote and lost the electoral vote as the result of voter suppression and dirty tricks in Florida.