Photo I.D. hoopla misrepresented
For years, Republicans have been trying, unsuccessfully, to get a government-issued photo I.D. requirement for voting through the Legislature. It has failed, largely, because it smacked of Jim Crowism. Enough legislators in the past have seen the photo I.D. requirement as just a new burden to disenfranchise black citizens who for decades suffered voter oppression under the racist 1890 Constitution.
On Nov. 8, bypassing the Legislature and using the initiative ballot route, the GOP-led movement may accomplish its goal and win adoption of an I.D. constitutional amendment.
Besides having racial undertones, the hoopla that a photo I.D. is needed to prevent voter fraud is grossly misrepresented. It aims to stamp out a problem that doesn’t exist. Yes, there have been some cases of voter fraud in the past, but not one of them involved someone misidentifying himself at the polls. No one whose name, for instance, is Joe Blow, showed up at the polls and said he was Lou Blue.
Bill Minor
6/8/11
