GWC – Voter ID only nibbles at the edges of fraud
Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann announced last week that it would be 2011 before a statewide referendum on voter ID would make it to the ballot, if it makes it at all.
Those gathering signatures, spearheaded by the state’s Republican Party, were not going to have the required number in time to make it on the 2010 ballot.
Some have speculated that the delay is intentional. With statewide elections coming in 2011, GOP officials may be counting on a voter ID referendum to help boost its turnout. There is arguably a lot more at stake for the party in 2011 than the congressional elections in 2010.
That said, the delay could serve a useful purpose if it focuses the public’s attention and that of lawmakers on where the problem of voter fraud really lies — absentee balloting.
There may be some folks who vote in other people’s names at the polls on election day, but their number is miniscule compared to the cheating that goes on with absentee ballots — a problem that voter ID does not address at all.
Greenwood Commonwealth
9/28/9
Magnolia Tribune
