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At election time, here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts where I live, I can walk into any polling
station, give the name and address of any registered voter and I can then cast a ballot – whether or not I am the actual
registered voter. Here in Massachusetts, I do not have to produce a positive voter Identification (ID) to
vote! I simply have to state a name and an address.
“All states have voter identification requirements, ranging from simply announcing one's name to
showing an official photo ID card. Rules vary widely from state to state, and voter ID has been a source of political
controversy in the United States for nearly two decades.
“Supporters of more stringent voter ID requirements argue that these will deter voter fraud and
instill confidence in the integrity of the electoral process. Opponents argue that voter fraud is extremely rare, so the
only effect of strict ID requirements is to raise the barriers to voting in ways that disproportionately affect citizens of
low socioeconomic status.” (Ref. 1)
After the chaotic elections of 2020, Americans wanted common-sense reforms to strengthen the security
of elections. One of the most common-sense reforms, already the law in most states, is requiring voters to prove they are who
they say they are by providing a photo ID.
Georgia was one of the states that enacted voter ID as far back as 2005. After 2020, it extended
verification requirements to mail-in ballots.
This simple requirement that voters use a numeric code unique to each voter caused some on the left
to go into a frenzy. It was 1958 all over again, we were told.
Opponents of voter ID are content to marginalize so many racial minorities to the fringes of American
life. Being content with so many not possessing a photo ID is being content with so many not being able to get married, fly
on a plane, check into a hotel, or buy a firearm.
In the 2022 election, data show that turnout in Georgia went up. The Peach State had a record
early-voter turnout in both the general and runoff elections in 2022. It seems that more people participate in a process
when they trust that process. If voters believe in the integrity of the outcome, they will cast a ballot no matter the
outcome.
Georgia is not the only state to enact a voter ID law. Florida, Texas and, most recently, Ohio have
similarly passed voter ID laws.
This is good news for the integrity of our elections. Not only does voter ID ensure that a
voter is who he says he is but it also increases voter confidence in our election process. It is also one more
protection against a repeat of the unfounded Donald Trump claim that the election was stolen from him.
Voter ID is the most basic election reform a state can make to increase the security of their
elections. We need to ensure that everyone voting is who they say they are. That is why voter ID is so popular with the
American people. According to a Monmouth poll, 80% of Americans support requiring voters to show photo identification
in order to cast a ballot.
There are other benefits to having a voter ID law in place. For example, election crime
investigations for double voting have not proceeded because there was no voter ID law. It is harder to prove that someone
actually cast a ballot when the state does not require proof of identity.
Voter ID also speeds up election check-in and reduces long lines. In Florida, for example, every
driver’s license has a QR code that links to the state voter database, requiring only a second or two for voters to check in
and receive a ballot.
We can all agree that we only want legal votes to count. With photo ID, we can ensure that everyone
voting is who they say they are, while at the same time improving the administration of the election
process.[2]
Here in Massachusetts, I need positive ID to obtain a prescription at a pharmacy; I need a license
to drive a motor vehicle; I need a license to own a firearm; I need identification to get into a major airport; and I need
positive ID to obtain medical treatment in a hospital. BUT, I don’t need positive ID to vote in Massachusetts and I also
don’t need positive ID to vote in some other states.There is something wrong here! Americans deserve better than
this!
As previously noted, changes to voter identification laws and election administration resulted from
the 2020 presidential election, in which many Americans opted to vote by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic. The election
spurred an expansion of vote by mail eligibility throughout the country, but also led some Trump supporters and some
Republicans to doubt the veracity of the election and to worry that voter fraud was rampant because of absentee
ballots.
As a consequence of this skepticism about the security of absentee ballots, several
Republican-controlled legislatures increased identification requirements for mail-in ballots - in many cases, adding them
when they had previously been nonexistent. Examples of laws passed early in 2021 were those enacted in Georgia, Florida,
and Montana. Rather than requiring a copy of one’s photo ID, per se, these bills required those returning mail-in ballots
to supply their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Voter identification laws have recently been the subject of intense scrutiny from the scholarly
community. One topic of great interest has been the disparate impact photo ID laws have had on racial minority groups and
turnout.
Research in which voter rolls have been matched against driver’s license lists has confirmed a
disparity that photo ID laws have had on racial minority groups and turnout in states such as North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
Whether the lack of voter IDs leads to a decrease in turnout is still open to dispute. Some early
studies found no statistical association between strict ID laws and decreased turnout. A more recent study has shown a
negative correlation between strict photo ID laws and turnout. However, it appears that there is no clear-cut
correlation.
While it might seem obvious that voter ID laws would depress turnout, scholars have made important
arguments that the very presence of voter ID laws can have a counter-mobilizing effect that encourages greater turnout among
voting populations that are targeted by those laws.
One important research issue is whether ID laws are implemented consistently as written. Based on
studies involving close observation of poll workers, at least two articles on the topic suggest that inconsistent
implementation of the laws may be common.
Another aspect of voter ID laws is the effect of these laws on the confidence of voters. Research
into this question was partially inspired by the argument of the Supreme Court in Marion County, Georgia that a rational
justification for a state passing a strict ID law is to instill greater confidence in the electoral process. However, the
research conducted on this question has not found a consistent correlation between the presence of strict ID laws and an
increase in voter confidence (or a decrease in the belief that fraud is rampant). Scholars have also studied factors that
lead states to adopt strict ID requirements. Strict ID laws are fairly popular among all elements of the mass public,
including Democrats, minority groups, and liberals. Still, Republicans, conservatives, and whites are more likely to approve
of these laws. What prompts a state legislature to adopt a strict photo ID law appears to be a confluence of three
factors:
1. a Republican takeover of the state government after years of Democratic control,
2. being a “battleground state” (i.e., a state hotly contested by the political parties), and
3. being racially heterogeneous.
While these factors are not present in all states that have adopted strict photo ID laws, they are
common to most.[1]
Opposition to voter ID laws comes primarily from liberals and Democrats. For instance, the liberal
American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) argues against stricter voter ID laws as follows. Judge for yourself whether or not the
ACLU arguments have any validity. Here are some of the arguments against voter ID laws presented by the liberals and the
Democrats:
Voter identification laws are a part of an ongoing strategy to roll back decades of progress on
voting rights. Thirty-four states have identification requirements at the polls. Seven states have strict photo ID laws,
under which voters must present one of a limited set of forms of government-issued photo ID in order to cast a regular
ballot – no exceptions.
Voter ID laws deprive many voters of their right to vote, reduce participation, and stand in direct
opposition to our country’s trend of including more Americans in the democratic process. Many Americans do not have one of
the forms of identification states acceptable for voting. These voters are disproportionately low-income, racial and ethnic
minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities. Such voters more frequently have difficulty obtaining ID, because
they cannot afford or cannot obtain the underlying documents that are a prerequisite to obtaining government-issued photo
ID card.
Underlying documents required to obtain ID cost money, a significant expense for lower-income
Americans. Also, the travel required to obtain ID is often a major burden on people with disabilities, the elderly, or
those in rural areas without access to a car or public transportation.
Based on one 2014 study, the ACLU claimed that voter ID laws reduce voter turnout. Also claimed was
the charge that minority voters disproportionately lack ID.
Some states were charged with excluding forms of ID in a discriminatory manner. Also, voter ID laws
were reportedly enforced in a discriminatory manner in some states.
Another objection to stricter voter ID laws was the argument that In-person fraud was vanishingly
rare.
The ACLU argued that voter ID laws are a waste of taxpayer dollars, claiming that states incur
sizeable costs when implementing voter ID laws, including the cost of educating the public, training poll workers, and
providing IDs to voters.
The ACLU has led the charge against Voter ID in several states, challenging voter ID laws in in
states such as Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.[3]
Arguing on the other side of the issue in mid-2022 was Pamela Denise Long, a Black trainer and
consultant for implementing trauma-informed care and anti-racism.
Within 24 hours of Independence Day in 2022, President Biden's Department of Justice (DOJ)
announced its plan to sue Arizona for a state law that required proof of American citizenship to vote in presidential
elections.
You read that right: The Democratic president and his administration had ordered the DOJ to
sue Arizona for making sure that people who aren't citizens of the United States don't vote in our elections.
Reasonable Americans may be surprised to learn that the cost of having noncitizens vote in our
elections is controversial. Yet from New York City to parts of Maryland, California and elsewhere across America, liberals
are attempting to let noncitizens steer our election results.
The truth is: Not protecting our elections from non-citizens is what hurts the
Black community. Blacks have struggled for equal voting rights for as long as they have been American - only to have the
Left invoke the Blacks’ fight in the name of extending what is rightfully theirs to those who are not citizens.
Average Americans understand that. Support for a voter ID requirement has increased from
less than 70 percent of likely U.S. voters in 2018 to 90 percent of Republicans and 60 percent of Democrats in 2021.
Americans across the board believe that an ID requirement maintains the integrity of our elections - and this includes
Americans descended from slaves. In a survey by Monmouth University Polling Institute, well over 80 percent of non-white
participants supported voter ID requirements; another study found that this included 66 percent of Hispanic respondents,
56 percent of Black respondents, and 61 percent of those who did not self-identify as White, Hispanic, or Black.
So why are Democrats and Liberals still calling a voter ID requirement racist?
According to Democrats, voter ID laws disproportionately affect Black people and "communities of
color" and are therefore racist.
Democrats and their Liberal supporters have chosen to fetishize the problem, cultivating a victim
consciousness and nurturing a delusional savior complex. The truth is: the war the Democrats are waging against voters
identifying themselves as U.S. citizens is not about discrimination against Blacks and other minorities. It's about them -
specifically, a tacit (and sometimes not so tacit belief) that relaxing these laws will help the Democratic chances at
victory.
And yet, it is undeniable that allowing noncitizens to vote weakens the power of Americans to decide
our destiny. What could hurt Black Americans more?
It's mythical to believe liberals can hurt descendants of slaves without harming the whole citizenry,
and vice versa. Nowhere is the interdependence of Americans clearer than in the outcomes of our electoral process. We must
ensure equal protections under the law - including when it comes to voting.[4]
Just hours after Gov. Mike DeWine (R-OH) signed a new voter ID law in Ohio , the firm of a Democratic
super-lawyer announced plans to litigate against it. A lawyer almost immediately echoed the Left’s evidence-free canard that
"voter suppression is, unfortunately, alive and well" in Ohio.
The truth?
Besides Ohio, 18 other states already require photo ID to vote, out of a total of 35 states that have
some form of voter ID laws. In addition to requiring stricter photo ID for voting, Ohio's new law eliminates early voting on
the Monday before Election Day to allow county election boards time to prepare for Tuesday elections. It also shortens the
deadline to apply for absentee ballots from noon on the third day before Election Day to the close of business on the seventh
day before Election Day to ensure adequate time for applications to be processed.
This change makes Ohioans 17 or older eligible for a free state photo ID card.
Despite dire warnings from the voter suppression hysteria industrial complex, there was never
evidence that voter ID laws prevented eligible voters from casting a ballot.
That’s one reason why voters across all demographics support voter ID laws in virtually every
poll by almost 80%. This typically includes more than 60% of Democrats. While the Left routinely claims that voter ID
disproportionately harms minority and low-income voters, 64% of black voters, 77% of Hispanics, and 76% of low-income
voters support voter ID laws, according to a poll conducted by the Honest Elections Project.
After Republicans won control of state legislatures across the country in 2010, many states passed
voter ID laws, and the Left wailed. But nine of the 11 states that added voter ID laws in 2011 had an increase in turnout
from the 2012 election to the 2016 election.
Voter ID laws can stop multiple types of fraud, such as impersonating another registered voter,
preventing noncitizens from voting, and stopping out-of-state residents or someone registered in multiple jurisdictions.
A National Bureau of Economic Research study from 2019 examined 10 years' worth of turnout
data from across the country and concluded that voter ID laws have "no negative effect on registration or turnout overall or
for any specific group defined by race, gender, age, or party affiliation." The same study also determined ID laws have "no
significant effect" on preventing fraud, but prevention-based laws could be based on proving a negative.
The majority of the public gets it! The unanswered question is whether the American Left and the
Democratic Party take their own arguments seriously.[5]
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References:
- Voter identification, electionlab.mit.edu/, 10 June 2021.
- Americans want voter ID laws, why don’t Dems, J. Christian Adams, Boston Herald,
14 January 2023.
- OPPOSE VOTER ID LEGISLATION - FACT SHEET, ACLU, Accessed 15 January 2023.
- Voter ID Laws Are Patriotic. They Protect Black Americans, Pamela Denise Long, Newsweek,
7 July 2022.
- Voter ID laws are popular for good reasons, Fred Lucas, Washington Examiner,
13 January 2023.
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