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Friday, March 29, 2024
HomeCommentaryVoter ID laws create stink everywhere

Voter ID laws create stink everywhere

I have been crying “foul” on the voter ID law since it was first proposed in Tennessee. Now, an election law expert in Washington has expressed alarm at the number of states enacting such laws. The Tennessee law took effect July 1 this year.

In a U.S. Supreme Court challenge to an Indiana voter ID law, 250 cases of alleged voter fraud cited, only nine involved a person allegedly voting under someone else’s name.

Across the country, the situation is essentially the same. Even where there is some evidence of voter fraud, it rarely involved someone voting under an assumed identity. Voter fraud most often involves vote buying, ballot-box stuffing, absentee ballots, or felons voting in situations prohibited by state election laws. Voter ID laws don’t address any of those problems.

As I pointed out previously, the local election commissioner told me that her office is getting better communication from the courts system in providing names of felons who should be removed from voter lists. That system has its own flaws, but the voter ID law won’t help it as Sen. Bill Kitron insists it will.

Across the nation, it is clear that voter ID laws most likely will disenfranchise blacks, Hispanics, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and the poor. Blacks faced poll taxes before in our history, especially in the south. The poor also were most likely impacted by poll taxes and voter competency tests early in the last century. Senior citizens generally have the highest percentage of voters of any age group.

The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed poll taxes
The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawed poll taxes

Guys like Bill Kitron and his comrade Jim Tracy are convinced that anyone of Hispanic descent is an illegal alien. As Tracy said in his single-plank campaign platform, “If we don’t stop them, they will just keep coming.”

Voting is a right that shouldn’t be unnecessarily encumbered. When it is, there usually is a reason behind the hurdle that has noting to do with the voter’s eligibility.

Frank White
Frank Whitehttp://www.mediaworksdesign.com/
Frank White is a native of east Tennessee and reveres the hills and nature of the Cumberland Plateau and east Tennessee. He enjoys backpacking, canoeing and flyfishing. He and his wife, Natalie, have been Clarksville residents since 1979. Frank is the owner of MediaWorks, a design and printing company in Clarksville, TN. He earned a BS in mass communications and political science from Middle Tennessee State University and a master of arts in journalism from the Indiana University School of Journalism at Bloomington. He is a distinguished military graduate from ROTC at Indiana University and is retired from the U.S. Army Reserve having also served in the Tennessee Army National Guard. He served with the U.S. Army VII Corps in Operation Desert Storm. Frank is a passionate follower of Christ and seeks to mentor others in exploring the endless depths of grace.
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