As always, the following is gleaned from a compendium of multiple media accounts supplemented by my personal opinion, where indicated.
Once again, the Dems are espousing the wrong side of an 80-20 issue. It should be surprising that they keep finding themselves in this position, but it seems to be their modus operandi. It seems that they can’t help themselves. Their TDS overrules all rationality. Anything President Trump is for they must be against regardless of the will of the people. The current issue is whether or not a person should be required to produce proper identification in order to vote.
Before 2006, no state required a person to present ID in order to vote. However, in 2006 Indiana became the first state to pass a law requiring voters to produce ID at the polls. Its legality was challenged, but eventually, the Supreme Court upheld this requirement as long as the laws were “neutral and did not significantly burden voters.” According to Wikipedia currently thirty-six states have implemented voter ID laws with varying degrees of stringency. The other 14 states plus Washington D.C. still allow voting without ID. Support for voter ID laws is often fueled by concerns over voter fraud. A 2013 poll disclosed that 43% of voters believed that voter fraud was “relatively common,” and a 2010 survey revealed that some 80% of respondents supported some form of ID requirement. At the present time various polls have reported bilateral support. Some 80% of the public, including some 70% of Dems, support voter ID laws.
Critics of strict voter ID laws argue that they disproportionately affect minority, low-income, and elderly populations. Furthermore, they claim it is a “non-issue” as voter ID fraud is “exceedingly rare.” I don’t subscribe to these arguments. Our history is replete with instances of elections whose results were tainted by suspicions of voter irregularities, if not outright fraud. For example, for years there were suspicions that “machines” such as NYC’s Tammany Hall perpetrated such irregularities. In the 1960s it was suspected that Chicago Mayor Richard Daley padded Dem votes. The joke was that in Chicago even dead people voted. The 2000 presidential election results were tainted by irregularities such as the infamous “hanging chads” in Florida. Eventually the Supreme Court had to weigh in. To this day, many Gore supporters insist he was the real winner. Most recently many Trump supporters have questioned the validity of the 2020 presidential election.
The arguments against voter ID laws had some validity in the South during the “Jim Crow” period when voter suppression of Blacks was common. Nowadays, I don’t believe that is an issue. In fact, many minorities view the Dems’ opposition to voter ID as an insult and racist in and of itself. The implication is that Dem politicians such as Chuck Schumer, Kamala Harris and Jamie Raskin, to name a few, consider minorities and women to be incapable obtaining a valid ID via the DMV or the internet. Schumer has even characterized voter ID laws such as the Trump sponsored SAVE America Act as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Pollsters who have queried minorities regarding this matter have generally been met with puzzlement or indignation.
Let’s be honest. We all know the real reason for the Dems’ opposition. They want legions of non-citizens to be able to vote. They feel that most of them would vote Democrat in order to continue to get freebies from the government, and that would result in Dems having a better chance to win elections. I and many others firmly believe that that was one of the reasons why they pursued the open borders policy during the Biden Administration.
Conclusion
Voter ID requirements are necessary in order to engender confidence that elections are fair and equitable. Furthermore, one is required to produce ID for a myriad of routine activities in everyday life such as driving a car, flying on an airplane, gaining employment, applying for or receiving government benefits, getting a marriage license, and age-restricted purchases such as alcohol or cigarettes. Why not for voting, which in my view is the most important act for a citizen.
Fair and equitable elections are one of the cornerstones of our democracy. If the public does not have confidence in election results our entire system of government would dissipate.
We Built It Blog by Larry Jacob 