Former Congressional Black Caucus chair Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California said on the House floor that voter ID laws are designed to prevent certain voters from voting thereby stealing elections. She claimed voter ID laws would prevent 1 in 4 blacks from voting, and 1 in 5 Hispanics and Asian Americans. She said the laws are a return to voter suppression seen in the 2000 presidential election.
If 1 in 4 African-Americans do not have a valid photo ID, how do they function in life? How can you cash a check? Get a lease? Use a credit card? Enroll your children in school? State issued ID cards are cheap and easy to get. Most states that have voted for these new laws offer ID’s for free.
Voter ID laws are simply to prevent voter fraud. Representative Lee claims many times in her speech that the fundamentals of our democracy are under attack. We are not a democracy. We are a republic. And requiring all voters to prove who they are prior to allowing them to vote is no more racist then requiring all airline passengers to prove who they are before they fly, or all little league players to have proof of who they are before they play. Is it racist of Wal-Mart to ask me for a photo ID before I charge my new TV on my Visa card?
Voter ID laws are not about race or voter suppression. They are all about voter fraud and the integrity of our Republic. And they are long overdue.
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