Melowese Richardson, a Cincinnati poll worker who admits to voting for Barack Obama multiple times in the last election.

Check out this video and story from Eric Shawn of Fox news where an Ohio poll worker, Melowese Richardson, admits to voting multiple times for President Obama, perhaps as many as six times. She is one of 19 potential cases of voter fraud being investigated in Hamilton County alone where the city of Cincinnati is located.

It’s amazing, but the cases of non-existent voter fraud from the progressive left keep cropping up. Weird!

Opposition leaders from the Republican Party are justifiably upset, but who believes that this little old black grandmother will be prosecuted, especially under this administration and an Eric Holder Department of Justice? It was Holder’s DOJ remember that refused to prosecute New Black Panther Party members who showed up at the polls in the last election in Philadelphia to intimidate voters. Those gentlemen were emboldened by Holder’s lack of action and had the audacity to show up again this election season.

In Minnesota, voters defeated a bill aimed at eliminating voter fraud by requiring photo ID at the polls, (or did we?)The integrity of the election system is continually under assault by people who will stop at nothing to get the politicians they want. How can we believe that the rights of the so called minority are being upheld if we don’t really know who the minority is? There may be some truth to the notion that Barak Obama failed to win any state with a voter ID election law. Does that mean those laws are working or is it because those laws ‘disenfranchise’ certain voters?

With issues such as health care, drones targeting American Citizens abroad, civil rights and gun control on the table, how can any of us afford to be disenfranchised by voters who cheat? Something has to be done to keep these fraudsters at bay or we will lose our representative republic forever.

It doesn’t matter what party commits fraud, voter fraud hurts all of us.

But I digress.

Photo by Todd Wiseman, www.texastribune.org

As one Internet meme that sprung up in the months leading up to the election pointed out, ID is required to vote in Mexico. I mean, heck, even PBS wrote about this fact in July of this year. I did some (admittedly minimal) research to try and find out what other countries might require ID in order to vote in order to protect the integrity of elections. I found out that in Northern Ireland in the UK, ID is required to vote. Along with that little tidbit, it appears Argentina, Sri Lanka, Estonia, Israel, South Africa, and Uruguay all require identification in order to vote.

What was even more interesting, at least in my mind, were the responses I got from two friends on Twitter. The person with the duck avatar you’ll see below lives in Germany, while the person with the My Little Pony avatar resides in Italy.

First, my German friend:

@foolishreporter @coffeinintake of course. but we ALSO can’t lose our right to vote bc of e.g. being in jail or convicted

— Justice Duck (@_Golden_Rule_) December 6, 2012

I like how she used “of course”, like it’s perfectly normal and logical to understand that when a person goes to vote, it should be clear to all that person is exactly who they say they are. Again, not sure why this is such a difficult issue for the professional left of academia and media to understand here in the U.S., but so it goes, I suppose.

And here’s the response from my Italian friend:

@foolishreporter yes, it is mandatory. identity card or passport, driver’s license is considered not valid as identity proof.

— Francesca (@madamebroom) December 7, 2012

So in two European countries typically considered more liberal and libertine than the United States, the necessity of identification for voting seems well understood. But, here in the United States, you would hardly know that the rest of the world sees voter ID as a common sense precaution to maintain election integrity. Instead, you get cries of “JIM CROW REBORN!” , “RACISM!”, and “DISENFRANCHISEMENT!”

When election time ramps up in two years again, and when this fun little subject comes back to the forefront of the left’s collective psyche, just make sure to remind them that numerous countries around the world require ID to vote. And then, the fun, part… Ask them:

So, are all those countries RACIST?!

Crossposted from the AmericanMillenniumOnline.com. Video by Jeremy Griffith

blackplastic (CC)

And if it would turn out there is no real fraud, I for one will not believe it. Over the years, I have seen so many irregularities at the polls that made me wonder whether or not certain individuals had been visiting several polling stations to cast ballots. But hey, maybe I misunderstood it when I’d overhear people talking about visiting several polling stations in one day, and casting provisional ballots at each one. But, that’s not fraud, right? Well, it’s not the sort that can stand up in court.

But, this is supposed to be about stupid people that shouldn’t vote. At this point, it’s become fairly obvious that the only people in Pennsylvania that should be having any difficulty with getting a Voter ID are either functionally illiterate, or otherwise mentally incapable of completing a simple form with a legal name and birth date. One no longer needs to prove residency anymore to get the precious little photo now – that I personally find objectionable, of course. And to keep things in perspective, one must remember that Pennsylvania is control state, as in all liquor sales are funneled through the Commonwealth. We only recently started being able to purchase beer in our supermarkets, and at least in the ones near my home, one must provide a state-issued photo ID just to get a brew at the grocery store. It doesn’t matter what age someone is because the cash register system will not permit the transaction to go through without the cashier scanning the barcode on the back of all ID’s. So, if you are so stupid that you can’t manage to get an ID so you can buy a six-pack at the grocery store here, I sincerely question whether or not you should be permitted to vote. Yes, I said it. Voting is a right, and thanks to this nonsense here in Pennsylvania, I’m moving to the point where I think it should be a privilege. If people can’t manage to do simple things like obtain a photo ID, they really shouldn’t be voting at all. I’d go farther and suggest that if people can’t pass a basic test that shows they understand the offices they are casting ballots on, they shouldn’t be permitted to vote. I can just hear the left-wing screaming foul on that last one, since they wouldn’t be able to rely on welfare-dependent, illiterate constituents to keep them in office.

Davis and Emmer of Twin Cities News Talk AM 1130

Twin Cities News Talk radio hosts Bob Davis and Tom Emmer visited the RNC in Tampa Florida Tuesday and spoke with The BlazeEditor-In-Chief Scott Baker. The primary topic of discussion was the battle of grassroots activists vs. the establishment party over the rights of the states to choose their own delegates in the rules committee.

Former Minnesota Gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer explained to Baker what was going on inside the rules committee where it seemed the establishment Republican Party attempted to strip the states of the right to choose their own delegates to be seated, solidifying the power of the party bosses and freezing out the grassroots members like the Tea Party and Ron Paul independents.

It was all “inside baseball” and probably wouldn’t make a difference either way in the nomination of the candidate this year, although it did show a nasty rift within the party where the Tea Party and Ron Paul supporters don’t trust the establishment party and where the establishment appeared to want to strip the states of their power.

Emmer also talked about the decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court determining that the constitutional amendment to require photo ID at the polls will be on the ballot in November for a vote. View an article on Twin Cities News Talk website on the Voter ID decision here.

Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Attorney General Lori Swanson opposed the ballot initiative and Ritchie changed the name of the ballot initiative contrary of the will of the legislature. Governor Mark Dayton vetoed a previous bill passed by the legislature. A constitutional amendment passed through ballot would have the power to bypass any veto. The Supreme Court of Minnesota’s decision basically established that the decision to require Voter ID ultimately will be decided by the voters, not the Secretary of State, Attorney General or any special interest group.

Watch the video of the interview here below.

(Cross-posted from the Americanmillenniumonline.com)

Holder said:

“Let’s be frank, much of the anthropological data [the Justice Department] has acquired concludes that people of certain ethnicities are simply biologically incapable of obtaining voter identifications.” [emphasis mine]

He actually said that when responding to questions about why the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues to file lawsuits deigned to stop voter registration roll updates and the enforcement of state laws requiring voter identification. Florida is currently trying to update its voter rolls to in order to eliminate dead people and/or ineligible voters. Pennsylvania has had success in requiring voter identification. Numerous states, such as South Carolina and Texas, passed laws requiring voter identification, but DOJ filed lawsuits and the state laws were eventually stuck down. In total, 33 states now have some type of voter identification requirements.

Holder also said:

“Throughout history minorities and the poor have been prevented from voting by means such as ‘poll taxes’ and literacy tests … and requiring voters to produce government-issued IDs today is in the same vein of those discriminatory practices back then.”

Now we have Holder equating “government-issued IDs” to poll taxes and literacy tests. Can anyone cite an instance when “government-issued IDs” tried to ascertain the literacy of its possessor, or tried to collect a poll tax? There are those that will argue that requiring a voter identification with a photograph is tantamount to a poll tax. That could be true only if the required voter identification photograph cost the potential voter money. But several states, such as Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, and Georgia, have already addressed the photograph voter identification cost issue.

Holder continued:

“It’s a simple matter of respect. Either we can honor the traditions of ethnicities in the U.S. who have no historical cultural demand they prove who they are, or we can take a step back to the days of Jim Crow and force people who have no familiarity with proving who they are to do so in a most uncomfortable setting [voting]. After all, this is America; we’re founded on ‘inclusion;’ on making people from other nations and cultures feel comfortable. How else can we achieve that unless we allow Hispan … I mean, uhh, ‘people’ to practice the traditions of the native lands they came from? Anything less would be discriminatory.” [emphasis mine]

I think that, in view of President Barack Hussein “kill list” Obama’s recent actions regarding Hispanics, illegal immigrants, and the Dream Act, Holder almost let the truth slip out.

Note that California, with 55 electoral college votes, and New York, with 31 electoral college votes, have absolutely no voter identification requirements at all. Both states went to Obama in 2008. And Florida, with 27 electoral college votes that went to Obama in 2008, has a photograph voter identification requirement, and is currently leaning toward Romney, has its voter registration roll purge challenged by DOJ.

Kinda makes you wonder what DOJ is really up to. Kinda also makes you wonder the MSM is on this.

But that’s just my opinion.

Please visit RWNO, my personal web site.

Yep, Buddy the voting dog. That is the most recent one, of course. Over the years there have been many stories of this kind, with people registering pets, and if memory serves, I think someone actually registered an inanimate object to vote. Now, the Dems might be trying to argue that voter fraud is not a major problem. It is true that a very small number of fraudulent ballots or voter registrations are caught each election cycle. However, it is foolish to think that is the real extent of fraud, because the current laws are far too lax to get an accurate picture of the problem. (Seriously folks? The fact that people can get away with registering their pets to vote doesn’t make you think twice on this?)

Here in Pennsylvania, I will have to present my ID in order to vote. This is laughable to me, considering the fact that out of five poll workers at my poll, only one didn’t hold me as a baby, and she’s known me for over a decade now. Sure, it’s funny, but necessary. Not everyone votes in a precinct where they count voters in the hundreds. And while those ladies that really do know who I am go through the motions and make me show them ID, some of their brethren will be refusing to enforce the law. Personally? I think anyone that says that should be fired.

Now, while the left is frothing at the mouth about disenfranchising dogs, and people that are living so far under the radar that they can’t manage to get a free ID to vote in Pennsylvania, this administration is working hard in Ohio to make sure that the military votes won’t necessarily end up being counted. First, beyond the fact that this is reprehensible, I should point out that this is yet another politically motivated move – the Obama camp is worried that the military folks might be ticked off at their man, and won’t vote for him. Ohio is a Heroes Vote All-Star state. There are only 15, and bluntly, people should be screaming to find out why there aren’t 50. You want to yell about disenfranchising, how about yelling about suppressing military votes? And if you think it’s not insulting to our active military that there’s even an argument about requiring at least as much as it takes to buy a brew or a pack of smokes to cast a ballot….

But hey, this isn’t 2000 anymore. I’d be willing to bet that there would be Dems lined up everywhere demanding Voter ID laws then.

On Thursday Mike Parry, Republican State Senator from Minnesota spoke to Tea Party Patriots in Rochester to discuss the latest news regarding the ballot initiative. This same week, Secretary of State Mark Ritchie-DFL, who opposed the ballot question from the beginning, changed the name of the ballot question without the consent of the legislature, resulting in an immediate law suit.

On Friday, Sen. Parry scheduled a hearing to question three individuals on the voter ID matter, including Attorney General Lori Swanson, who also is campaigning against the ballot initiative, Secretary Ritchie, and Minnesota Campaign Finance Board Executive Director Gary Goldsmith. It is rumored that the Secretary of State declined to show and Senator Parry promises to ask for a vote to issue a subpoena if the Secretary fails to show.

Also on Thursday, political activist John Rouleau, field director of ProtectMyVote.com, spoke to the same group to educate them on what is going on with voter ID in the state and to dispel rumors. Below you can find videos of what was said at the meeting.

ProtectMyVote1 from Jeremy Griffith on Vimeo.

Senator Mike Parry-R Minnesota addresses Tea Party Patriots at gathering in Rochester

Political activist John Rouleau of ProtectMyVote.com addresses Rochester Tea Party Patriots Thursday

WASHINGTON, May 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/

“Governor McDonnell’s signature of this voter ID bill is a step in the right direction for the Commonwealth of Virginia and sends a message that the integrity of each and every vote matters,” said Michael Thielen, executive director of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA). “The RNLA applauds Governor McDonnell for his leadership and support for election reform.”

In addition to signing the voter ID bill, Governor McDonnell signed an executive order.

Thielen added, “The executive order goes above and beyond addressing the concerns of opponents of voter ID, even though it has the support of Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Even liberal Democrats in Rhode Island and former President Jimmy Carter support measures such as this. Should the Obama Department of Justice attack this common sense law much like it has in South Carolina and Texas, it would remove any doubt that Attorney General Eric Holder is anything but an ideologue bent on opposing election reforms irrespective of the law.”

The order does the following:

• Send every Virginia voter an identification card before Election Day;
• Engage in a voter outreach campaign between now and the November general election to educate voters about the changes to Virginia’s voter identification requirements; and
• Inform general registrars and electoral boards that they may contact individuals voting provisionally without an ID about the need to provide one.

For more information on this new law or voter ID generally, check the RNLA blog at http://rnla.org/Blogs/blogs/public/default.aspx

Whether or not the Federal Government has any business in determining the Constitutionality of States’ Voter ID laws in general is another matter. First, it is necessary to dispel misinformation on the Pennsylvania law itself.

When Governor Tom Corbett (PA) signed the Voter ID bill into law, he said one thing that seems to have been forgotten in all of this – “one man, one vote.” That is an ideal that theoretically should have been handed down to us from our Founders. In principle, this law is purely to preserve that ideal. In practice, it is to prevent voter fraud.

In Pennsylvania, both sides of the aisle concede that fraud isn’t considered a significant problem. However, we do have a problem with citizens that are not registered to vote showing up at the polls, and demanding to cast a ballot in particularly contentious races. Additionally, we are in the process of updating our voting systems throughout the Commonwealth. Many counties have stepped into the 20th century, and started using computerized systems, but there are still a few outposts where they rely on the old manual machines. While it’s not being mentioned by Corbett now, it is not unreasonable to assume that this law is part of a larger plan of creating a standardized modern system for voters in the future.

Voter registration has been attached to photo ID applications for some time now here in Pennsylvania. According to the FAQ on driver’s licenses and ID’s, people are asked if they want to register to vote when getting their pictures taken for their ID’s. They can also change their voter registration address via the online ID system.

If someone in the Commonwealth does not have photo ID, all is not lost. The procedure includes the completion of an “Oath/Affirmation Voter ID Form” at the polls. Once one has completed this form, that individual can obtain photo ID free of charge, since the normal $13.50 fee will be waived. As for what one needs to get a photo ID in the first place, the Commonwealth requires a Social Security Card, proof of citizenship, and proof of residency in the form of utility bills, lease or mortgage agreements, or tax statements. Now, that would exclude a very small percentage of the population, primarily individuals that could not prove citizenship or residency. In either case, those individuals’ right to vote in the first place would be in question.

While the timing of this law might be questionable, given the fact that it will cost the Commonwealth a fair amount of money to implement it, it is necessary. Contrary to what the left might want to make everyone think, this is not about denying legitimate voters the ability to cast a ballot. It is about preventing ineligible persons from stuffing the ballot box. What really lies under all of this is the desire on the left to grant voting privileges to non-citizens. That adage Corbett stated needs modernized as well – “one legal citizen, one vote.”

When: Thursday, March 15th, 10pm Eastern/7pm Pacific

Where:Streaming Internet Radio

What: Join independent political commentators Rich Mitchell and guest host Kira Davis of The Dark Side as they discuss issues impacting Americans.

Tonight: Obama’s “energy” policy and racist VoterID

Show recording: 

Yet when it comes to the science of photography, Democrats are the party of schizophrenia.

On one hand various liberals want to place lurid photos of cancerous lungs on the front of cigarette packs, Photoshopped images of diabetic amputees on candy bar wrappers and the skull & crossbones on individual M&Ms — all in an increasingly fanatical effort to prevent individuals from doing potential harm to themselves by exercising free choice.

But when it comes to photos that may prevent individuals from doing actual harm to others, Democrats quickly lose interest in prevention and move to immediate opposition.

In Virginia it appears a law requiring women to view an ultrasound before deciding to execute her baby will finally pass this session and be signed into law. The prospect of women being exposed to more information before the decision to abort has predictably driven the Party of Death into a frenzy.

Sen. Janet Howell (D–Planned Parenthood) was in such an uproar she couldn’t even produce a relevant legislative metaphor. The Senate defeated Janet’s amendment to the ultrasound bill that would’ve required men who wanted a Viagra prescription to undergo a rectal check and cardiac stress test.

Anyone with even a minimal knowledge of equivalency — and not blinded by abortion obsession— would have known the proper sex–specific amendment would have required men in the market to enhance their structural integrity to first buy a copy of American Baby.

That amendment would have had a much better chance of passage and left both sides of the gender divide better informed regarding the consequences of their actions.

The second example of photo–phobia involves requiring voters to show a valid photo ID. Judging by the Democrats response to this bill you would have thought someone was trying to stop an abortion!

NAACP Director Benjamin Chavis screamed that Republicans were trying to “lynch democracy” by instructing voters to show ID. That’s strange. Are hotels trying to “lynch sleep” when they require a photo ID before allowing you to check in?

Is the bank trying to “lynch currency” when you must show a photo ID before cashing a check?

Is 7/11 trying to “lynch parties” when they ask for a photo ID before selling you the MD 20/20?

Yet people check into hotels, cash checks and get hammered every day even with the photo requirement.

Voter fraud in the US is much more real than earthquakes from hydraulic fracking, manmade global warming or Keystone pipeline environmental devastation, yet Democrats will do nothing to prevent the occurrence.

A federal investigation in Chicago estimated that at least 100,000 illegal votes had been cast in the 1982 gubernatorial election and that voter fraud was routine for years. In Atlantic City Democrat campaigns regularly request absentee ballots for the homeless and then cast those ballots fraudulently. And in Louisiana I’ve personally seen the man who carries cash and a .45 to pay the vote haulers.

Before its demise, ACORN was notorious for producing fraudulent voter registrations, which are a precursor to fraudulent voting, just as buying a wheelbarrow of Contac is the precursor to meth.

Yet hysterical Democrats claim voter ID laws are designed to prevent students and the elderly from voting.

Is that a fact? When is the last time you saw a student without a driver’s license? When is the last time you saw a senior citizen who had never in their entire lifetime had a driver’s license?

Even if they had never had a license in the past, DMV will issue ID for voting and other identification purposes to seniors and students. I’ll concede grandma may have lost a step over the years, but even the pokiest should be able to get an ID with a two–year lead time.

Anyone who doesn’t place a high enough priority on voting to obtain the proper ID before the election is probably someone who’s input the Republic can limp along without.

The judicious use of photos can preserve life and the integrity of the voting process. In fact, using photos during many decision–making processes can add much to the quality of life in Virginia.

I’m going to contact my legislators and ask them to introduce a bill requiring all potential tattoo customers to first examine a photo of what that tattoo will look like on their saggy old behind when they reach the age of 65, BEFORE they go under the needle.

Gym, beach and public pool customers can only benefit.

Any talk of election reforms must include stiffer, mandated criminal charges to dissuade vote fraud from corrupting our electoral system. Many States have in fact, enacted stiffer voting laws to prevent vote fraud and abuse, yet these new laws are being challenged across the land by Democratic activists and sympathetic judges, including the top partisan political hack at the DOJ, Mr. Eric Holder. To hear these Democrats tell it, it is also a terrible injustice for States to require proper voter registration that allows enough time to prevent election day registration fraud, and it is also supposed to be an attack on minorities to make them show an ID to vote. Those same minorities can show ID to drive , receive welfare benefits and open bank accounts, but somehow we are supposed to believe they can’t produce an ID to vote? Get real folks. The very same people who are promoting vote fraud through denying State’s rights to demand Voter ID, are in fact, none other than the Party of Liberal Democrats and their operatives. To witness, the following slideshow puts some faces to proven cases of Democratic Party vote fraud. Below the slideshow link, are the related proven cases of vote fraud explained and linked.

The Faces of Vote Fraud

Slide #1- Four Wade County, North Carolina Democrats admit to voting for Barack Obama twice in 2008. See this,  local news report.

Side #2 - 12 Democrats charged with absentee ballot voter fraud in Georgia. The defendants include people who worked in the voter registrar’s office and some school board members.

Slide #3 – 8 arrested for absentee ballot voter fraud in Madison County, Florida.

Slide #4 – Daytona Beach City Democrat Commissioner and his Campaign Manager arrested for absentee ballot vote fraud in his own election bid.

Slide #5 – Seven Democrats arrested for absentee ballot vote fraud in N.Y. 4 plead guilty and 3 are awaiting trial, according to this report , in which their method of operation is revealed: “So far seven elected or appointed officials and operatives have been charged in the two-tear probe into allegations that scores of absentee ballots were forged to benefit Democratic candidates in the 2009 Working Families Party primary. Most voters targeted lived in Troy Housing Authority apartments ( government subsidized housing) and rarely, if ever voted. They were allegedly targeted because they were unfamiliar with the process.” (emphasis added)

Slide #6 – Democrat Anthony DeFiglio ( with attny) plead guilty in his role in the above-mention NY absentee ballot vote fraud case. In Nov. 2009, he told N.Y State police investigators that “faking absentee ballots was commonplace and an accepted practice in political circles”. ( Make that “Democratic political circles” in N.Y. State)

Slide #7 – Prominent Democratic leader and former state Rep. Mike Marshall and son Chris ( shown attending Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2009,) along with Democrat John Cook have been indicted on multiple counts of vote fraud. forgery, and perjury in Indiana. The state of Indiana is also embroiled in a “Right to work” battle against powerful Labor Union/Democratic party operatives, who we have now learned are quite adept at vote fraud. Preventing vote fraud in all forms is not only critical to our electoral system, it is also crucial to watch out for it in petition drives such as this one against Governor Walker in Wisconsin.

Slide #8 – The scary looking fellow lady in slide #8 is none other than NAACP executive Lessadolla Sowers, who now resides in prison after being convicted on 10 counts of absentee ballot vote fraud in Tunica County, Mississippi. As The Daily Caller explains: “While NAACP President Benjamin Jealous lashed out at new state laws requiring voter ID for voting, an NAACP executive sits in prison, sentenced for carrying out a massive voter fraud scheme.”  That would be the same President of the NAACP that says there is no vote fraud in America, therefor Voter ID laws are not needed today.

Slide #9 – Fox News has the scoop on Democratic party chairman, Butch Morgan resigning amid an investigation into hundreds of fake signatures on petitions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the Indiana state primary of 2008. Here is the method of operation the democrats used to sneak these fake signatures through the system: Among the fake signatures found was that of former Indiana Governor Mel Kernan. Mr. Kernan told the South bend tribune that neither version of his signatures that appears on the documents are anything like his own. The ST. Joseph Counter voter registration office had both a Democratic and a Republican member who sign off on petition changes submitted for review. Low and behold Republican Linda Silcott was out of the office on bereavement leave when the fake signatures passed through her office. Silcott’s signature was applied by rubber stamp, while the Democrat’s signature was hand written. Amazing coincidence there isn’t it?

This is just the tip of the iceberg into the vote fraud in America today. A simple browser search also shows us that 5000 non-U.S. Citizens voted in Colorado  in 2010, Democrats caught validating dead people voting in the NH primary,  and 953 dead people voting in S.C. , all of which are all well-documented cases of proven vote fraud. To add insult to injury, we see blatant leftist propaganda like this, saying once again, that there are no proven cases of voter fraud, that it is all being blown out of proportion, and that we do not need voter ID laws.

What will Americans believe, that there has been, in fact, proven vote fraud as outlined in this article for all to see, or Liberal Democratic propaganda that insists that there is no vote fraud, therefor there is no need for Voter ID laws? Demand that your state install and enforce Voter ID laws and make your vote count in 2012!

Update1- In the Troy N.Y. voter fraud trial, several witnesses have now come out and admitted that they were paid to commit vote fraud  by Democrats.

The only evidence I could find to substantiate Holder’s (and Jealous’) claim that voter ID laws hurt minorities is provided here. In a paper entitled, “VOTER ID REQUIREMENTS AND THE DISENFRANCHISEMENTS OF LATINO, BLACK AND ASIAN VOTERS” by Matt A. Barreto, Stephen A. Nuño, and Gabriel R. Sanchez, presented at the 2007 American Political Science Association Annual Conference, they state, “Derived from economics, Downs’ theory is based upon the ideal that ‘every rational man decides whether to vote just as he makes all other decisions: if the returns outweigh the costs, he votes; if not, he abstains (Downs 1957: 60).’ The registration process is one of the largest sources of cost to rational minded voters. Therefore, the more permissive registration laws are, the lower the time, energy, and informational costs of voting (Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980). Attempts to analyze the impact of restrictive laws on voter registration have consistently concluded that turnout rates are higher when costs associated with registration are low (Campbell et al. 1960; Wolfinger and Rosenstone 1980; Katosh and Traugott 1982; Jackson 1993; Blank 1974; Kim, Perocik and Enokson 1975; Bauer 1990).” The authors continue, “This perspective suggests that voting may be less costly for those with greater levels of political resources such as money, time, English language abilities and education. Therefore, any increases in costs associated with voting should have the greatest impact on those with the fewest political resources – racial and ethnic minorities, the less educated, immigrants, and the less affluent to name a few.”  [emphasis mine]

43 U.S.C. § 1973 (The Voting Rights Act of 1965 [VRA]), states,

• (a) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision in a manner which results in a denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color, or in contravention of the guarantees set forth in section 1973b (f)(2) of this title, as provided in subsection (b) of this section.  [again, emphasis mine]
• (b) A violation of subsection (a) of this section is established if, based on the totality of circumstances, it is shown that the political processes leading to nomination or election in the State or political subdivision are not equally open to participation by members of a class of citizens protected by subsection (a) of this section in that its members have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice. The extent to which members of a protected class have been elected to office in the State or political subdivision is one circumstance which may be considered: Provided, That nothing in this section establishes a right to have members of a protected class elected in numbers equal to their proportion in the population.  [again, emphasis mine]

• (a) mentions section 1973b (f)(2). So here it is: (f) Congressional findings of voting discrimination against language minorities; prohibition of English-only elections; other remedial measures. (2) No voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote because he is a member of a language minority group.  [again, emphasis mine]

Not a word in there about money, time, and education, factors cited as disenfranchisements of latino, black, and asian voters. In fact, 43 U.S.C. § 1973 states specifically “on account of race or color.” So while latino, black, and asian voters may, indeed, be disenfranchised, the causes are NOT covered under the VRA, except in the case of language. But this language disenfranchisement factor has NEVER been mentioned by Holder! His entire argument has focused on voter id.

Holder’s remarks are notable because they come as the Department of Justice (DOJ) is reviewing voter ID laws in Texas and South Carolina for “preclearance” under the VRA. So what Holder is doing has been deemed legal by the Supreme Court. But the Supreme Court has also found voter IDs to be legal! The states’ plans require voters to present photo ID like a driver’s license or passport to vote, a measure endorsed by the Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker in 2005 to protect the integrity of the ballot. Holder says the Civil Rights Division, headed by Thomas Perez, will review the policies and impartially “apply the law.” If true, Mr. Perez’s job should be easy: In 2005, Justice approved a nearly identical law in Georgia. In 2008′s Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (in Indiana), the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that an Indiana law requiring photo ID at the ballot box was constitutional. Then-Justice John Paul Stevens, wrote for the majority that Indiana’s law “is unquestionably relevant to the State’s interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process.” Indiana offered free voter ID cards to all citizens, so the inconvenience of picking up an ID at the Department of Motor Vehicles wasn’t an undue burden and was reasonably balanced by the state’s interest in reducing fraud.

In a Reuters article, we learn that the South Carolina [voter ID] law required voters to show a state-issued photo identification card to cast a ballot in an election. DOJ blocked the law after ruling it could hinder the right to vote of tens of thousands of people. It noted that just more than a third of the state’s minorities who are registered voters did not have a driver’s license. But both Holder and Reuters are being disingenuous. A driver’s license isn’t the only acceptable form of identification. State ID cards – issued free of charge to those who can’t pay for them – are also accepted, as are passports, military ID, and a voter registration card with photo.

Holder and the DOJ raise all of this voter ID furor in the name of “free access to vote.” But in 2009, Holder and the DOJ dropped a voter intimidation case against the Black Panther Party, in which members stood outside a polling place brandishing nightsticks and threatening voters.

But that’s just my opinion.

Access to other articles like this one can be found at RWNO, my personal web site.