Open Left – Voter ID laws unequal
Mississippi has battled voter ID in the state legislature for years and-in an attempt to circumvent the legislature in 2010-had plans to put an initiative on the state ballot for voters to decide. However, last week, Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann announced that a Republican sponsored voter ID referendum would not be on the ballot until November 2011 due to complications with state law regarding signature gathering, according to the Associated Press. Hosemann’s office collected almost 19,000 signatures while the state Republican Party has 40,000. Ninety thousand signatures are required to put the voter ID initiative on the ballot.
The postponement of the referendum is raising suspicions among some. “With statewide elections coming in 2011, GOP officials may be counting on a voter ID referendum to help boost its turnout,” a Mississippi publication, the Greenwood Commonwealth editorialized Monday. “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.”
Open Left
10/5/9
Magnolia Tribune
