October 20, 2014 7:06 AM

Voter ID: If you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a six-page dissent early Saturday morning, blasting the court’s decision to allow Texas to use its new voter ID law in the November elections. She was joined in the dissent by Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor…. “The greatest threat to public confidence in elections in this case is the prospect of enforcing a purposefully discriminatory law, one that likely imposes an unconstitutional poll tax and risks denying the right to vote to hundreds of thousands of eligible voters,” Ginsburg wrote. Ginsburg disputed the Fifth Circuit court of appeals’ argument that it was too close to the November election to stop the law. Early voting begins on Monday in Texas.

There are few things more threatening to the integrity of our democracy than Voter ID laws. Regardless of the state, Voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. Voter fraud is so rare as to be virtually nonexistent. No system is perfect, nor can it be, but Republican governors and legislatures have determined that elections, being imperfect, must be “fixed” in order to “protect” the “integrity” of our electoral system.

The “fix” is infinitely worse than the “problem,” because there’s no intent to repair anything that might be wrong with the system. It’s about excluding those who don’t vote the “right” way from the process. The “solution” to the “problem” of voter fraud is to pass laws that effectively disenfranchise minorities, the poor, the elderly- even college students. That these groups tend not to reliably vote Republican has nothing to do with anything, of course. It’s purely coincidence…he says as airborne pigs violate Saudi Arabian airspace.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, right?? How do we know that Voter ID laws AREN’T about voter suppression? Silly wabbit; because Republicans tell us so!

Ginsburg argued that the Fifth Circuit was remiss to ignore the findings of a full trial in district court, which found that the law was “enacted with a racially discriminatory purpose and would yield a prohibited disriminatory result.”

District Court Judge Nelva Gonzalez Ramos struck down the law earlier this month on the grounds that it would serve as a deterrent to a large number of registered voters, most of them black or Hispanic. “Based on the testimony and numerous statistical analyses provided at trial, this Court finds that approximately 608,470 registered voters in Texas, representing approximately 4.5% of all registered voters, lack qualified SB 14 ID and of these, 534,512 voters do not qualify for a disability exemption,” Gonzalez Ramos wrote.

The truth is that voter fraud isn’t a problem. Anywhere. In most states, the rates of demonstrable fraud at the polls is significantly less than 1%. That being the case, why couldn’t Election Day procedures be tweaked and tightened to eliminate the few problems that might crop up? Because that wouldn’t allow Republicans to tilt the playing field in their direction.

For Republicans to claim that Voter ID isn’t about racism or voter suppression is ludicrous. If it’s not, then why are the constituencies impacted ones that tend to vote for Democrats? Why were these laws crafted to create requirements that place undue burdens on classes who don’t vote the “right” way? Because when Republicans know they’re unlikely to win, they resort to their fallback: they cheat.

Justice Ginsburg is spot on in her assertion that Texas’ Voter ID requirements will disproportionately impact minorities:

The potential magnitude of racially discriminatory voter disenfranchisement counseled hesitation before disturbing the District Court’s findings and final judgment,” Ginsburg wrote. “Senate Bill 14 may prevent more than 600,000 registered Texas voters (about 4.5% of all registered voters) from voting in person for lack of compliant identification. A sharply disproportionate percentage of those voters are African-American or Hispanic.”

Texas officials claim that these numbers are meaningless, because every Texas resident is able to obtain an acceptable form of ID. While it’s true that ID can be obtaiuned, in most cases there’s a cost, which, it can be argued, constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax:

“Even at $2, the toll is at odds with this Court’s precedent,” [Ginsburg] wrote. “And for some voters, the imposition is not small. A voter whose birth certificate lists her maiden name or misstates her date of birth may be charged $37 for the amended certificate she needs to obtain a qualifying ID. Texas voters born in other States may be required to pay substantially more than that.”

In a democracy, a system where “one person, one vote” should be paramount, any impediment to a voter exercising their franchise should be considered reprehensible…or in this case, Republican. When the lust for power trumps the commitment to democracy, we’ve come to a place where democracy ceases to exist.

Texas cannot credibly claim that their Voter ID law isn’t racist in intent and execution. While advertised as a way to combat voter fraud, Texas is providing a solution to a nonexistent problem…and disenfranchising upwards of a half million voters in the process. As Ginsburg stated,

[R]acial discrimination in elections in Texas is no mere historical artifact. To the contrary, Texas has been found in violation of the Voting Rights Act in every redistricting cycle from and after 1970.”

We’re not talking about a state that’s suddenly become slightly overzealous in its attempt to ensure the integrity of its elections. Texas is a state with a long and not so proud history of working to disenfranchise minorities and the poor. This controversy is nothing new, which is sad, because I would have hoped that Republicans by now would have developed their platform and messaging into something robust enough to persuade voters. Turns out they decided early on that disenfranchising more than a half-million Texans was WAY less work.

(Interestingly, a concealed handgun license is considered legal identification for voting purposes…but a student ID is not. Hmm…that wouldn’t have ANYTHING to do with the fact that gun owners are FAR more likely to vote Republican…would it??)

If you can’t beat ‘em, cheat ‘em.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on October 20, 2014 7:06 AM.

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