The following piece was produced by the Huffington Post's OffTheBus project.
Two weeks ago, September 25th, the United States Supreme Court agreed to consider a case on voter ID laws. The case, appealed in the seventh circuit court, requires registered voters in the state of Indiana to provide a government-issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot. Proponents of the law will tell you that photo IDs are necessary to combat voter fraud, which is pervasive and insidious. They will readily speak about "illegal immigrants" who are inundating our polling places and casting illegitimate votes without providing any identification. They will also just say that there is no good reason why someone should not have photo identification; after all, you need one to drive a car, fly on an airplane, cash a check, or even to rent a movie.
What proponents of the bill will not tell you is that, shocking as it may seem, not all Americans drive cars, fly on planes, or even go to Blockbuster. The actual evidence of this "rampant" voter fraud is minimal. Arizona, where voter ID laws were implemented in November of 2006, has 2.7 million registered voters, "238 [of whom] were believed to have been non-citizens in the last 10 years" according to Joyce Purnick in a Sept. 26, 2006 article in the New York Times. On top of this, any undocumented immigrant who is foolish enough to try to vote illegally will likely receive incarceration if not deportation for such actions--risks that are clearly not worth the reward.
In its attempt to cordon the throng of illegal immigrant phantom voters, voter ID laws sacrifice the poor, the elderly, the young, and many minorities as collateral damage. The bill is tantamount to a modern day "poll-tax," that forces many eligible voters to pay for a government-issued photo ID. Furthermore, proof of citizenship often comes in the form of a birth certificate, another document unobtainable or even nonexistent for many people born outside of hospitals. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan estimates that in her state alone, some 200,000 eligible voters do not possess driver's licenses or any similar forms of photo identification. Many senior citizens have let their driver's licenses expire and many young people have not yet applied for them, while poor citizens often cannot afford to drive cars or purchase state approved IDs and passports.
Requiring photo IDs also increases confusion for election administrators. In a hearing held by the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) this past July, several college students testified about the inability to prove domicile in their college districts merely because their photo ID was from a different part of the state or another state entirely. Photo ID laws can therefore prevent out-of-state college students from registering in the district where they attend school. Were this the case ubiquitously, nearly all young voters would be forced to vote absentee, making the registration process more bureaucratic, time-consuming, and cumbersome.
Voter ID laws also seem paradoxical after the House and Senate overwhelmingly reauthorized the Voting Rights Act of 1965 two summers ago, prohibiting state and local governments from establishing laws or policies that would have a discriminatory effect on the ability of certain groups to vote. In a nation where voter participation is already extremely low--48.3 percent (in average since 1945) according to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance‹our laws should attempt to augment turnout rather than disenfranchise legal citizens. One could argue that voter ID laws are more about partisan politics than cleaning up elections, as they primarily affect demographics that suggest a particular party affiliation.
Most disturbingly, voter ID laws hardly scratch the surface for legitimate solutions pertaining to voter fraud. As the 2004 election indicated, electronic voting glitches, machine malfunctioning, absence of paper trails, excessively long lines and voter intimidation are the actual threats to our democracy.
With that said, if there is anyone culpable of fraud, it is the highly partisan election administrators who instate draconian registration rules, improperly purge voting lists, unevenly distribute voting machines and unlawfully deny provisional ballots to certain citizens. It is imperative that our judicial system address the actual failures in our voting systems and decide in the favor of an accessible democracy when considering this discriminatory law.
Matthew Segal is the founding executive director of the Student Association for Voter Empowerment (SAVE) and the National Democracy Coordinator for the Roosevelt Institution -- the nation's first student think-tank. He can be reached at Matthew.Segal@savevoting.org
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I'm really disappointed by some of the comments I've read. The problem of eligible voters being prevented from voting is much more rampant that ineligible voters. The facts bare this out. The FACTS!
I want election observers at every polling place, and no voting machines without a paper trail.....
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whomung : Draft Gore
Also --I want a cut-off date for "purging voter roles" --like 4 months before the election, so there is time for independent review and fact checking.... Not Bullshit like we've seen before
After 2000, you guys don't get to "purge" the roles on the day of the election....
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whomung : Draft Gore
Do Vote by mail like we do in washington and oregon. Plenty of time to research the issues and make sure you understand the voting forms.
Of course, this ID hype is just another Rovian way to steal the election. It's a non-problem.
Of course, this ID hype is just another Rovian way to steal the election. It's a non-problem.
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Exactly! It's disappointing (yes, I said disappointing) that so many refuse to see this.
Anyone who sees a problem with voter ID cards is a on the left and afraid that the lazy goofs in the country won't vote. The measures for Id cards include ways for the eldery, poor and others to get them, at no charge.I would walk miles to vote because it is that important.You stop all fraud in voting no matter how small. I believe the numbers put forth above are highly underestimated and Id cards would help alot.
Thanks, True Red American, ... I was waiting for someone to give us the Fourth Reich's take on the card thing. I know, ... Why don't we just tattoo the ID on a person's arm, ... you know, ... kinda like a bar code for human beings. Why not just say that only Rich Reichpublicans can vote, ... cut straight to the chase, eh? Who needs the poor and the elderly to vote, right?
Ron PAul --NOT ON THE LEFT-- is the candidate speaking against the REAL ID act---the national ID card already enshrined in law!
I don't know Dr.Paul's position on state voter-ID laws. It's plain as day that those laws are meant to discourage legitimate voters from participating, since there is no significant evidence of anything other than rare and isolated instances of cheating by voters.
On the other hand, there is chapter and verse on systematic election fraud and manipulation by the republicans, over the past decade.
The fact that Democratic HACK leaders have failed to make an issue out of Republican election fraud, out of the denial of free and fair and honest elections, out of the claim by Rehnquist that Americans HAVE NO CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO VOTE, etc.---failing to fight on this front will cost the Dems the White House and control of congress next year.
Why are Dem FAKE leaders afraid to put the Thugs on the defensive over DENYING the right to free, honest, open elections in the USA??
The Dem LOSER leaders are beneath contempt. Betrayed by our representatives, we have only one real weapon left: GENERAL STRIKE.
No matter how you twist it, it's hard to argue that it's OK to let non-citizens and/or minors vote.
No matter how you twist it, it's insane to trust elections to private companies whose vote-counting equipment is secret and unauditable, and whose company owners and officers not only make huge money contributions to the Republican party and its candidates, but even state in writing that they are committed to helping the election of the Republican candidate.
That's the true scandal. Add into it the active intervention of the U.S. Department of Justice to achieve these same partisan goals for the REPUBLICAN PARTY, and how do you "twist" that???
It's hard to argue that those actions are OK--but you will, of course, since ANYTHING in pursuit of Republican power is justifiable to the loyal fascisti.
POINT: It is already illegal for non-citizens and/or minors to vote. NOBODY says it is OK. Your straw man is rotten.
But is it OK for Dept.of Justice to play partisan politics and subvert the Voting Rights Act? Is it OK for there to be no way to verifiably recount votes cast electronically? Imposition of these ID laws is a gimmick the same in spirit and design as the poll tax. It is the Republican politicians telling the citizens: you are not the sovereign in America anymore. You serve the Republican government, it doesn't serve you.
In my utopia, voters would have to show a hell of a lot more than a valid ID. How about some knowledge of the issues they are voting on?
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Posted October 11, 2007 | 07:45 AM (EST)