Today, for the second time in recent months, the DOJ rejected the voter identification law that passed in Texas last year (it recently rejected South Carolina's voter law, too). It claims the laws are "discriminatory against Hispanics, African-Americans, and low-income people because they are less likely to have a driver's license or personal state-issued photo ID." Obviously not everyone needs a driver's license, but anyone here in this country legally can easily obtain state-issued identification. It seems that not having a state-issued ID should be the first indicator that someone may not be a legal voter.
Demographics and polling have historically shown that Hispanics, African-Americans, and low-income people tend to vote democrat, and the DOJ is aware of this. As for people in the country illegally, a Pew Hispanic Center report states that about 57 percent of illegal immigrants in America are from Mexico. With an estimated illegal immigrant population of 11 million people, the Democrats see this as roughly 6 million potential votes for them should these illegal immigrants be able to find a way to register and vote.
According to a report issued by the Commission on Federal Election Reform in 2005, at least 35 non-eligible foreign citizens applied for and received voter cards in 2004 in just one county in Texas. That same year, the Washington State gubernatorial election was decided by 133 votes while it was found that 1,678 votes were cast illegally. The election was upheld because there was no way to determine which candidate received the illegal votes.
Because states that have and enforce voter id laws have lower incidents of fraud, it makes sense why proponents of photo id laws say the requirement can combat voter fraud. Opponents say there is little evidence of voter fraud. If that's the case, then how do they explain the above-mentioned findings? How can they ignore investigations that revealed in 2006 that 2,600 votes were cast in New York by people who were deceased? A 2008 study in Florida reported that 65,000 ineligible and duplicate voters were on Florida's registration rolls. In Connecticut, a study found that 8,500 dead people remained registered to vote, and in Indiana, it was discovered that ACORN had registered dead people to vote. At the actual voting stations, election workers only have the names of registered voters - it does not indicate whether the person is alive or not, so how easy would it be for someone to simply show up at a voting booth, claim to be the deceased person and vote since they don't have to show any id?
"The announcement by the DOJ... is not based on accurate data or the merits of the argument; instead, it appears that some Democrats and far left groups believe the more lawful an election, the less likely they are to emerge victorious," said David Norcross, Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chair. "Neighboring New Mexico, the state with the highest percentage of Hispanic voters, requires voter ID for city elections in Albuquerque without any problems. Just as some liberals defended corrupt election groups like ACORN, now others are attacking processes that will make it harder to cheat on Election Day."
November's election is about seven months away. That's plenty of time for legal, eligible citizens to get the id they need. Then states that do have voter id laws need to enforce them (Michigan, for instance, requires photo id, but www.michigan.gov says signing an affidavit swearing you forgot your id is sufficient to vote).
You would think photo id is a matter of basic common sense (which it is). But if Eric Holder and the Department of Justice feel their side cannot win the November election based on the failed policies of this administration, then they need to rely on getting votes through other means. Allowing people to vote without showing photo id is one of those means they seek.
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