Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 08/28/2013 3:58:52 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
As I wrote earlier this month, the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to sue to stop Texas’s voter ID law has little to do with an attempt to prevent actual discrimination. The outcry from the administration on the voter ID issue as well as the manufactured outrage about the Supreme Court’s decision upholding but modifying the Voting Rights Act is predicated on the false idea that these measures are a new version of discriminatory Jim Crow laws. Given the night-and-day difference between the world of Jim Crow that drew Americans to the 1963 March on Washington and the America of 2013, this is an obvious effort to both revive flagging interest in civil-rights organizations and to brand President Obama’s critics as racists. But opponents of voter ID do have one seemingly rational argument: the problem that voter ID laws seek to solve—preserving the integrity of the vote—is imaginary. To that end, they have told us ad nauseum that voter fraud does not exist in the United States.
The assumption that voter fraud is nonexistent requires us to not only ignore most of American political history; it also obligates us to forget everything we know about human nature. Given that photo ID is now required for virtually every sort of transaction or service, most Americans rightly see it as a commonsense measure. But discussions about shady elections don’t require us to explore the distant past. Examples abound in our own day that place the desire to tighten up new rules that more or less allow anyone to show up on Election Day without proof of their identity or having previously registered, or to vote early or get an absentee ballot in a different context than Holder’s specious arguments about Jim Crow. One such comes from the bankrupt city of Detroit, where the August 6 primary is still unresolved due to the fact that more than 20,000 write-in votes are currently in dispute and may or may not be counted depending on the decisions of the courts. Fraud has not yet been proved and may not be directly related to false identity, but this latest instance of electoral hijinks illustrates what happens when results are called into question by shady practices.
The struggle to be the top official in an insolvent city whose government has been taken over the state is not the most compelling political fight of the year. But regardless of the office’s value, those who voted deserve to have their ballots counted. Indeed, though few if any Americans are denied the right to vote today the way many were prevented from going to the polls under Jim Crow, a crooked election is, in effect, one that denies the franchise to everyone.
Regardless of whether those who showed up to cast write-ins did so legally or of the political motivations of those who threw those ballots out due to technicalities, the nationwide drive to police elections is based in fact, not prejudice. In an era when safeguards against fraud have been thrown out willy-nilly in order to make it easier to vote via early voting, liberal granting of absentee ballots, and same-day registration, it has become almost impossible to guarantee the integrity of the results. To think that politicians and parties do not try to take advantage of this situation is hopelessly naïve. Reforming this situation requires states to make sure that those who vote are who they say they are and that regulations that prevent safeguards from being put in place are re-written to ensure the integrity of the process.
No matter who gets the dubious honor of running Detroit, voters there have a right to know their votes are counted and not being cancelled out by fraud of any kind. The same is true in Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and every other state that has attempted to deal with this mess. Instead of crying racism, those entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring that voting rights are protected should be seeking to uphold the obligation of the state to stop cheating.
Voter fraud is why Obama got back in 2012.
This is not an issue of “the distant past”. It is an issue of today. A poll worker here in Cincinnati made no effort to hide the fact that she voted six times in the last Presidential election, voting for Obama. To this city’s credit, she is now serving a jail term. Such is not the case in Lake Country, Indiana where not only do people vote multiple times, some of them are actually dead. If the DOJ fails to enforce voting ID and other safeguards, this Republic is finished.
LOL I was going to mention Detroit.
Operation White out is well underway. (Mike Duggan is the white guy who won, then didn’t)
“There is no voter fraud” has become a ubiquitous Dem talking point. There is, and it has been documented, and people have been convicted. You have to carry this proof around with you to fend off the liars and the deceived.
How about all States make their EBT cards into photo IDs. Lets see how many LIV can’t manage to get one!
Yeah, I’m sure running the worst possible candidate wasn’t the real problem there. But keep practicing the voter fraud excuse. You’ll need it after hillary beats rubio or bush or whatever hack the establishment hangs around your necks in 2016.
Voter fraud is why Obama got back in 2012...
...please provide proof of that...it does little good to toss about unsubstantiated claims, regardless of political persuasion...
Excellent suggestion Mr. Devil!
I view the ridiculous argument that voter ID laws are discriminatory as a symptom of something far more dangerous. The political elite are buying time and if I’m right, it means that very shortly, the entire point will be moot.
Could be an excuse, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Rule of law is more important than an election result.
The Dems shamelessly use Big Lie propaganda techniques at every turn.
Not to the communists.
Yeah, I’m sure running the worst possible candidate wasn’t the real problem there...
...actually, Mitt wasn’t the worst...Gingrich or Palin would’ve lost the additional 16 North Carolina EV’s...I know that assessment will get me in trouble on this forum, but that’s how I saw it...
But keep practicing the voter fraud excuse.
...no need to preach to me about that...I know that fraud exists, and has existed as long as electoral politics has been around...and I know that all sides involved have practiced it, and would practice it all the more given the chance...and I know that people sitting around moaning about it after an unwanted election result is a pathetic sight...much like college football fans blaming referees for the team losing a big game...
Voter fraud is rampant. I can tell you if you look at the voter rolls you will see multiple names at the same address sometimes just a slightly different spelling. The trick is to vote multiple times on an easy to acquire absentee ballot and then once in person. Very few get caught.
Before the last election the Indiana SOS decertified the use of a specific brand of voting machine for us in the last election. There is a two hundred plus report explaining the particulars
It is my understanding that the machines could be manipulated and were targeted for use in the purple states thereby throwing the election
The report should be available thru the FOI law. Wish someone cared enough to expose it!
Well, obviously. I meant it was a legitimate subject for discussion, even in regard to the last election, even if some are using it for an excuse.
How about all States make their EBT cards into photo IDs. Lets see how many LIV can’t manage to get one!
A fantastic idea!!!
It’ll also cut down on food stamp fraud too.
Its not just the ID. In 2004 white republican observers were removed from Cobo hall where ballots were being counted (and created).
Something like 100 ballot counters were being watched by only 5 observers and observers said that counters had stacks of new ballots which were being filled out as old ones were thrown away.
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