Legislative Fraud

When you vote on November 6, there may be an Elephant in the room.

The Pennsylvania Senate yesterday passed a voter ID law that will require voters to show photo identification when the go to the polls in November. It passed 26-23, with three Elephants breaking ranks with their party to vote against it. It is expected to pass in the Elephant-controlled House, and Governor Tom Corbett has said that he supports it. The ACLU of Pennsylvania has stated that the law is unconstitutional since it discriminates against the poor and the elderly. They have promised to challenge the law to prevent it from being implemented.

Here's a case where thinking slowly might help. If the Elephants are sincere, it's hard to find a clearer example of irrationality in the political process. Those who claim that voter fraud is real are usually referring to other types of irregularities that either don't involve actual voters, such as voting machine tampering, or don't involve actual fraud. The Brennan Center for Justice has thoroughly investigated cases of alleged fraud at the polls. Those that are not false rumors usually involve mistaken identity, clerical error, or unintentional violations by people who do not realize they are ineligible to vote. In a brief filed in an 2007 Indiana case, they state, “(N)ot one of the citations offered by Indiana or its allies refers to a proven example of a single vote cast at the polls in someone else's name that could be stopped by a pollsite photo ID rule.”

A bit of slow thought reveals why it is rare for unauthorized people to attempt to vote. It's a ridiculous way to try to affect an election. The perpetrator risks a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison in order to cast a single extra vote. If ineligible persons had ever attempted to vote in numbers large enough to influence the outcome, it would surely have been detected.

Of course, it's disingenuous to pretend that the Elephants are unaware that voter ID bills are "a solution in search of a problem." Their real purpose is voter suppression. Voter ID laws have been enacted or are are pending in at least 26 states. As many as 5 million legitimate voters could be deterred from voting by these laws. And they discriminate against the elderly, the poor, minorities and young people—groups that typically vote for Jackasses. Nationwide, about 18% of seniors and 25% of African-Americans don't have photo ID. The partisan nature of this "debate" is revealed by the fact that recent votes in state legislatures have been almost completely along party lines.

The latest defense of the indefensible by proponents of the bill is the claim that it will alleviate fears of voter fraud.  But the only reason there are fears of voter fraud is their own disinformation campaign.

In one respect, Pennsylvania's voter ID law is less objectionable than those of most other states. It permits college students to use university ID cards as a valid photo ID for voting purposes. College students are likely to favor Obama by a large majority. How could the Elephants have let this happen?