A little chat about voter fraud, since my conservative friends are so concerned with it. Especially since were resorting to decorating peoples Facebook walls with the contents of our diapers. Voter fraud happens. Yes, it does. Its rare, and it is seldom systemic enough to disrupt even one election, but it occurs. However, the Republicans and the Tea Party are not overly concerned with some types of potential for abuse. They are concerned only with the kind of abuse that occurs when one person impersonates another and casts a ballot in that persons name. They believe that requiring photo ID at the voting location will fix that problem. Or so they say. The Democrats say that the Republicans are merely trying to stop the most impoverished among us from voting, on the theory that those who are poorest are also most likely to vote Democrat. The Democrats must agree that the poorest do indeed vote Democrat, because they go on massive voter registration drives into the poorest neighborhoods every election cycle, and they organize, drive people to the polls, and so on. So I think we are all agreed that the poorest people tend to vote for the group that promises to give them stuff. Now, voting is a right of US citizens. Like all of our civil liberties, they can be restricted and even curtailed, but the general concept is that they should be restricted to the least amount possible, and only when there is a defined and existing threat; a real threat, not a make-um-up one. This is something that both Democrats and Republicans have a lot of trouble grasping. Democrats dont seem to get the notion that restricting 2nd amendment rights is not going stop criminals from getting guns, and Republicans dont seem to get the notion that restricting voting rights isnt going to stop criminals from voting. But lets take a deeper look at the GOP claim that they just want to stop voter fraud by requiring voter ID at the polls. First, they point to cases of voter fraud which have involved things like stuffing ballot boxes and poll worker fraud where votes have been thrown out, ignored, or intentionally miscounted. Thats voter fraud, yes. But will requiring photo ID at the polls stop that? No. So that kind of voter fraud will keep on happening. Then, they claim that voter photo ID will stop illegal aliens from voting. Many states now issue drivers licenses to illegal aliens, so that kind of destroys that notion. You could, I suppose, require a piece of federal photo ID to vote, which would require a person to prove their citizenship in order to obtain it, like a passport, but I dont see any big GOP push to get something like that, do you? And lets talk about the actual type of voting fraud that photo ID can prevent; which is impersonation. Lets say someone wants to steal my vote. They have to first get a copy of my voter registration, so they know my name and my address and my polling place. Then they have to go to the polling place before I get there. Then they commit a felony by pretending to be me, and they vote in my place (and imagine if I were actually a Democrat and were going to vote their way anyway, what a waste of time)! That would work *if* I was registered to vote but never bothered to show up. However, I personally vote, so a few hours after this fraud, I show up and try to vote, but Im told I already voted (because they cross your name off the rolls when you vote). I protest and say I did not vote yet. So either a mistake has been made, or someone has impersonated me. NOW I have to prove who I am, which I do. I am allowed to cast a ballot, and the fake ballot is discarded. A crime has been committed and one would presume the government would investigate it. No? Theyre not going to investigate? Well, if it was MASSIVE voter fraud, as the GOP claims is happening, there would be hundreds if not thousands of people just like me, howling their outrage that someone voted in their name. It would be all over the news. Why is it not all over the news? Because voter impersonation does not happen on a massive scale. Thats not to say it doesnt happen, but certainly not in a way that would influence an election. Now lets take another high level look at voting in general. Many states have (or had) early voting. This was intended to help people vote if they were not able to get off work on the actual day of the election. Kind of like absentee voting, but in person. For example, when I lived in NC, I could go down to the voting department any time up to a week before the general election and cast my ballot. Probably more strictly administered than general elections, because it was state employees and not volunteers who were checking my voter registration card and safeguarding the ballot box, etc. But thats gone now. Why? Because the GOP is against that kind of voting. Why would the GOP be against that kind of voting? I assert that its because once again, early voting allows people who are of lower income or who might not be able to get out on voting day cast a ballot at a more convenient time or place. The kind of people who tend not to vote for Republicans. And yet, the GOP is absolutely in favor of no-reason absentee voting. That is, you request a ballot by mail, fill it out and send it back in. No photo ID required. Youd think that sort of thing would be tailor-made for voter fraud, but not according to the GOP. To ask them, its as safe as houses. No fraud in the mail, harrumph! And why is this? Because the evidence appears to support the notion that people who vote absentee are military and the elderly, both of which traditionally vote heavily Republican. Oh dear. How inconvenient. These are my opinions. I am sure there are rank-and-file Republicans who only want to prevent what they think is massive voter fraud by Democrats, and they think that requiring photo ID at the polls will do that. I am also sure that the GOP and the Tea Party are not at all of that belief. At those levels, they know exactly what they are doing; they are trying to engineer election wins, by any means necessary. And if that means keeping the poor from voting, then yes, absolutely. I dont want Democrats to win elections. I also dont want to see our voting system subverted and peoples civil liberties restricted to combat a menace that does not exist. Im still enough of an American to prefer to truth over winning. I apply the same logic to the 2nd amendment, which pisses off the Democrats instead of the Republicans, so apparently, I make everybody angry. Oh well. This is the truth as I see it. Believe it or dont.
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 14:09:37 +0000
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