Do you think that presenting identification when voting is racist? Or do you think that it is simply common sense? This is an issue that has liberal heads spinning.
Is It 'RACIST' To Require Voters Show Their ID Before Voting?
Here are two different columns, one claiming that it is racist and one claiming that it isn’t.
According to the LA Times, who accuses the voter ID requirement of being racist:
Are voting laws requiring photo IDs inherently racially discriminatory, asSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg maintained in her blistering dissent Saturday morning?
A team of politician scientists from Appalachian State, Texas Tech and the University of Florida took on that question for an article just published in Political Research Quarterly(h/t: Justin Levitt). Their conclusion is that the claims of proponents that they’re just upholding the principle of ballot integrity can be discounted; the photo ID laws aim to disenfranchise Democratic voters; they cite findings that the raised cost of voting imposed by photo ID requires “falls overwhelmingly on minorities.” In other words, the answer is yes.
The researchers are William D. Hicks of Appalachian, Seth C. McKee of Texas Tech, and Mitchell D. Sellers and Daniel A. Smith of Florida. They observe that voter ID laws in general and photo ID laws specifically surged in 2006 and later, when the electorate became highly polarized.
In 2000, four states–Arkansas, Georgia, Michigan and North Dakota–had enacted ID laws, none of them photo-based; they aimed to clarify voting rules, part of a trend that led to the Help America Vote Act, which was passed by a bipartisan vote in Congress in 2002. At the time, the idea of straightening out confusing differences in voting rules was noncontroversial: “why would any member of Congress oppose helping Americans vote?” the authors ask.
The atmosphere soon changed. In 2001, only 14 states required identification to vote, of which only four specified photo IDs; by 2014, 34 states had ID laws, including 17 photo ID laws. In 2011 alone, six states added a photo ID requirement.
What happened? The GOP, they say, recognized that its homogeneous white, male, older and Southern electoral base was competing against “a racially and ethnically diverse, younger, secular, liberal, and Northern-based Democratic Party.” Moreover, the demographic changes bringing more Latinos, African Americans, and Asians into the voting population were working strongly against the GOP and strengthening the Democratic coalition.
The GOP could have evolved to meet these voters on their turf, but chose not to. “Rather than altering issue positions as a means to attract new supporters, the GOP has turned to restrictive voter ID laws to disproportionately deter the participation of current Democratic Party supporters,” the researchers write.
Read more: LA Times
According to RNN, who says that the voter ID laws are just common sense:
Put another way, voter ID laws are Jim Crow laws like Oasis is the Beatles.
And the idea that voter ID laws exist so that racist southern governors can prevent minorities from voting is absurd on its face: Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware and Washington State all require some form of identification to vote.
The record amongst other nations is even more telling. Our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada, requires citizens to show proof of address to vote.
Sweden, Switzerland and Ireland all require some proof of identification to vote.
In the Netherlands, where practically everything is legal, voters need to show both a government issued polling notification and a photo ID in order to vote.
That’s Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands – hardly a roll call of institutionally racist countries.
Indeed, most other countries in the civilized world look at the United States in disbelief that we don’t require proof of identification to vote.
Even our own bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended a voter ID requirement when they issued their comprehensive recommendations in 2005. Their report called voter identification one of “five pillars” that would “build confidence” in the integrity of federal elections. Only three of the 21 commission members voted against requiring photo identification of voters. Of course, that Commission was co-chaired by notorious right-wing hack Jimmy Carter.
America’s history of institutional racism at the ballot box is very real. But it’s also history. National opinion polls continually show about 70% support for voter ID laws. Does anyone really believe that 70% of Americans want to suppress minority voting rights?
Read more :RNN
