Bill O'Reilly Defends Voter ID Laws: 'Every African-American I Know Has An ID'

Talk show host claims restrictions don't hurt minority voters.

Conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly has no problem with voter I.D. laws because “every African-American I know has an I.D.”

Speaking Tuesday night on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News, O’Reilly lauded the Supreme Court’s decision not to act in an Ohio case that removed the state’s “Golden Week” in which citizens could register and participate in early voting on the same day.

In comments posted online by Media Matters, O’Reilly claimed there “never has been” any evidence of voter disenfranchisement from these restrictions and reiterated his support for stricter voter I.D. laws:

“You have to show an I.D., you know, and then, ‘oh, no. You can’t do that. Oh, no, no, no. Then African-Americans won’t’ ― I’m saying to myself, ‘every African-American I know has an I.D.’ And not only that, the states that want that will send you an I.D. They’ll come to your house with the I.D. and ice cream. They’ll give you ice cream with the I.D.”

Supporters of voter I.D. laws, mostly Republicans, claim they are needed to combat fraud. However, a study of more than 1 billion votes showed just 31 cases of “voter impersonation.”

According to the Washington Post, another study found that voter ID laws decreased turnout among both Democrats and Republicans, but the biggest impact was on Democrats ― especially black and Latino voters.

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