Maybe you will see this differently. To me it looks like fraud.
Thirty-four states have passed laws (or are trying to) to stop voter fraud. To stop people from voting illegally. They mostly ask voters to show a photo ID at the polling station.
Attorney General Eric Holder calls for an end to these laws. He feels they will keep qualified voters from voting.
The ACLU is challenging Wisconsin’s law. It claims thousands of poor, black and elderly will not be able to vote. It claims such laws take us back to restrictions on blacks during segregation.
The Democratic National Committee is attacking these laws. It claims they will restrict voting rights. It claims they “violate fundamental rights”. And, of course, it blames the Republicans for pushing such laws.
I have problems with all this. First problem is that clearly we have had voter fraud. There is a lot of evidence ACORN practiced it wholesale. In many elections, various areas have reported more votes than they have voters. Chicago is famous for delivering votes on demand. How many do you need?
Second problem is that we know how important a few votes can be. Not long ago, a few votes in Florida decided who would be president. There is fair evidence the Chicago machine created the votes that won Illinois and the presidency for Kennedy.
Eric Holder, by the way, refuses to enforce federal voting laws to reduce fraud. The laws call for local voting officials to cull dead people from their rolls. And to take other ineligibles from their rolls. Seems reasonable enough. Eric’s Justice Department refuses to force local officials to do this.
So it seems clear that sensible efforts to reduce the fraud are in order. And it seems clear that while justice is supposed to be blind, Eric Holder is particularly blind when it comes to voter fraud.
Third problem is that the people mentioned above are in fact waging this war against photo IDs at the polling booth.
You need photo ID to fly to Kalamazoo. You can barely go to a bathroom in an airport without photo ID. You need photo ID to ride Amtrak. You need one to check into Holiday Inn. These guys are not protesting any of this.
You need photo ID to get a Social Security card. You need one to collect welfare. And to collect food stamps. And to collect various other government benefits. No protests from the ACLU over this.
You need photo ID to make various large purchases. You need one to pick up your Viagra – or other prescriptions.
You need photo ID to be checked into some hospitals. Or to be seen at some clinics. Or to even visit patients in many hospitals. You cannot get into trials or many court houses without showing your photo ID.
One columnist wrote that he asked his medical people why they insisted on seeing photo ID. To prevent fraud, they told him. He asked the woman who checked him in if this wasn’t an imposition on people. Requiring them to have photo IDs. She answered “Everybody has photo ID.”
I believe she is right. Without photo ID you will be stopped from a number of routine activities in this country. Among them, driving. And getting into many office buildings.
Looks like fraud to me. Looks like some people don’t want anything to stop or hinder the voter fraud that now takes place. And that, in itself, is fraud.
Sure, they dredge up the odd soul who does not happen to have any photo ID. They claim that he or she will be disenfranchised. To those few, I suggest something simple. If you want to vote, get some photo ID.
And to those who insist that voter ID laws infringe on the rights of American voters, I say “Feed that to the petunias. It will help them grow.”
From Tom ... as in Morgan.                  
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