Ever since the Bush – Gore election and the hanging chads, voting accuracy and voter fraud has been an issue in many parts of the nation. Electronic balloting has been vamped and revamped in an effort insure that all the votes get accurately counted. Closer scrutiny has been placed on tabulating absentee ballots. And yet there are still allegations of inaccurate counting and voter fraud.
In response, several states have passed laws requiring voters to have a photo ID. One would think that all politicians and political parties would get behind such laws to insure that the integrity of the election process would be maintained.
However that is not the case.
The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Governors Association, along with a number of leading Democratic leaders including former President Bill Clinton, have launched campaigns to fight against the passage of voter ID laws.
Earlier this month, Cleta Mitchell, president of the Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA), wrote an article supporting state laws requiring a photo ID for all voters. Mitchell’s article indicated that the RNLA believes that voter fraud still exists in some areas and that measures should be taken to guard against it.
Shortly after Mitchell’s article appeared in print, Melanie Sloan, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) responded with an opposing view against photo ID laws for voters. Even though CREW is a 501(c)3 tax exempt, it is apparent that they have jumped onto the Democratic bandwagon to keep the doors open to possible voter fraud.
Interestingly, in this author’s region of the country, there is a debate on whether to allow homeless individuals and others without an address of residency to vote. This has raised the issue of possible voter fraud in allowing non-addressed individuals the ability to vote in more than one precinct or county. Those behind the measure are local Democratic leaders and groups.
While it seems that the Democrats are collectively fighting voter ID legislation, that is not necessarily the case. Rhode Island is one state that has recently passed a voter photo ID requirement. Rhode Island’s state legislature is 80% Democratic and their law was sponsored by black Democratic State Senator Harold Metts.
Former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, who currently serves as the co-chair of the Commission on Federal Election Reform, has openly endorsed voter photo ID laws and has been encouraging lawmakers around the nation to pass such laws.
With Chicago’s history of voter fraud over the past century, is it a coincidence that Chicago’s own former US Senator Barack Obama is so adamantly opposing legislation to stop voter fraud? And why are the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Governors Association and current Democratic leaders including Clinton so adamantly fighting against this legislation?
It makes one wonder what the Democrats have in mind for the next election.
