Last week, we wrote that the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to block South Carolina’s recently passed voter ID law was probably good news for North Carolina’s voting-rights advocates. Now Bob Hall, director of Democracy North Carolina, writes in a column in the Elizabeth City Daily Advance that supporters of a N.C. voter ID bill may as well not bother, since “the racial gap of a photo ID requirement is even larger in North Carolina” than was the case in S.C. Hall’s word carries some weight in N.C. political matters; Democracy North Carolina is the outfit that exposed both Democrat Jim Black’s crooked dealings and Republican Art Pope’s $40 million campaign to take over the state legislature.
The Justice Department rejected S.C.’s voter ID law because the state’s own statistics revealed that the photo ID requirement would have a much greater impact on non-white residents. A Democracy North Carolina analysis of N.C. state records found that African Americans are twice as likely as whites not to have an N.C. photo ID, which, says Hall, is “a much greater racial disparity than found in South Carolina,” and “suggests that the NC legislation would also run into trouble [from a federal review].”
The federal government is required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to review and rule on any attempts to change election rules in states with a strong history of racial discrimination at the polls. Forty N.C. counties are covered by the Voting Rights Act, so the feds will rule on any new voter regulations passed in Raleigh. The N.C. General Assembly passed a voter ID bill last year, and although Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed it, GOP leaders managed to reintroduce the bill this year.
Hall estimates that if the voter ID bill became law in N.C., around 100,000 of the state’s 6.2 million voters would face a needless hardship, with most of that hardship falling on “those who have historically been pushed away from voting: the poor, people of color, the young and those with disabilities.”
Voting rights supporters have been pointing out that voter fraud through impersonation of another voter — the only kind of fraud covered by the voter ID bill — is the most difficult to pull off, as well as the least efficient in swaying elections. That probably explains why confirmed instances of voter impersonation are nearly non-existent. Voter fraud does show up, though, in absentee ballots. Absentee-ballot fraud is not covered by the voter ID bill, however. We imagine it’s probably just a coincidence that absentee voters generally favor the GOP, while the voters most impacted by the bill traditionally favor the Democratic party. That can’t be deliberate, right?
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This article appears in Dec 27, 2011 – Jan 2, 2012.
What we actually need to reduce fraud is to get rid of political parties.
It is much harder to engage in power plays when you don’t have giant national organization to co-ordinate it and distribute the money.
This article is rife with inconsistencies and disregard of common sense. I am uncertain of the author intending it that way or just didn’t fact check things, but no real documental support for anything, except to say that the justice department rejected the SC law.
Two years ago I went in to vote early and wasn’t even asked for an ID, I just said this is who I am, and they said go ahead, no request for confirmation of my identity. That is ridiculous! So it’s shown that it is NOT, “difficult to pull off”.
The real discussion is that there are precious few rights in this world (life), but many privileges, and being a citizen of the USA is one of them (privilege). Carry that logic all the way down to State-County-City. You have to prove you deserve it. And a photo voter ID mandate is totally legitimate.
Also there is no “needless hardship” in obtaining them. It is just as difficult for me to go the DMV and wait in line and pay $20 for an ID as it is for everyone else. That hardship cannot be labeled as needless, or in this case, claim that only this certain group of people have it, when everyone equally does. Plus by doing it they show proof that they respect and prize as precious their citizenship.
As far as the law goes, I agree that it is probably toast, because they way politic lobbyists work now-a-days is to appeal to all those people who want handouts, and they push the ruling politicians (in this case the justice department; yes they are politicians too) make it so the masses have to do as little as possible. And when the people have to do as little as possible they become weak, and thus need to continually look to the governing class for handouts.
If anything it is a vicious cycle where these so-called “non-white residents” as labeled in this article, although I declare it to be more expansive than racial discrimination and include all those who are of a class “the have-nots” are kept in “the have-nots” because they are told to stay there by the governing politicians (including justice department) who say “stay where you are”, “don’t work hard”, “you don’t need a better life”.
Essentially they are advocating and lobbying for people to be enslaved. Enslaved to an attitude of complacency and dependency upon another (them). That is why this law is such a good thing, it advocates everyone taking a step forward, and progressing to a higher level. You can do it if you want, or not, your choice, but if you really want it that badly, if it is really important to you, if you want to make a difference, then do it.
Anyone who honestly believes that requiring an individual to show simple photo identification in order to vote is going to disenfranchise poor voters is a moron. The real reason Democrats are against this is it will cut down on people voting for someone else or voting more than once or in fact voting when they are not even residents. Last time I checked an NC photo ID issued by the DMV cost $10.
Getting rid of political parties is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. What needs to be changed is the monopolistic hold the major political parties maintain, through their public offices, on the processes of establishing political parties, ballot positions and voter eligibility.
Have the people who are attempting to modify the voter eligibility laws ever worked at the polls on election day? Rather than rely on anecdotal stories they need to volunteer at their county board of elections, or with their county political party to work at the polls – participation not laws are needed.
The citizens who volunteer at their local precincts usually know most of the people who come to vote. Like the ushers at church “know” some people take out of the collection plates, they also know to absolutely prevent it would defeat the purpose of the collectin.
“Getting rid of political parties is akin to throwing the baby out with the bath water. “
I strongly disagree. If you believe that your favorite politician cares what YOU want you are living in a dream world. He/she cares what the party leaders want. Look at the record of votes on any issue. They go mostly right down party lines. Wouldn’t it be better if the Senator from NC cast his vote based on the needs and desires of the people of NC rather than the desires of his party?
President Washington pointed out the dangers of political parties.
Partisanship is a blinding mental disorder.
Political parties seize upon this mental disorder and manipulate it to fit THEIR needs (needs which RARELY have our nation’s best interests in mind).