WaPo Editorial Board: Virginia Voter ID Bill Example of State's 'Institutional Racism'
On Saturday I noted how Washington Post staffer Laura Vozzella front-loaded her February 4 Metro-section front-pager with overheated rhetoric from liberal Democrats suggesting that voter ID bills pushed by Republicans were the second-coming of Jim Crow. As I wrote my critique, I wondered what sort of news editor would allow such extremely biased dreck to go to publication.
Today's Washington Post editorial blasting the voter ID bills may very well answer my question. In "How to discourage Virginia voters," the Post editorial board today suggested that Del. Mark Cole's bill to make the state's voter ID law stricter is evidence of "institutional racism" in the Old Dominion.
"Step one: Invent a problem. Step two: Draft a discriminatory solution," snarked the subheadline to the Post editorial.
"For decades Virginia has allowed residents who lack proof of identification or whose IDs have been lost or stolen to vote, provided they are listed in the voting rolls and sign sworn statements attesting to their identities. Now, in response to no known problem, Republicans are backing a change... that would allow such citizens to cast only provisional ballots, which would be counted only if their identities were subsequently verified with IDs," the Post noted.
Of course, such legislation is perfectly legitimate and constitutional, and many states have similar requirements regarding provisional balloting. But because a 2006 study shows that "11 percent of voting-age citizens nationally lack photo IDs" and that number is "significantly higher among African Americans (25 percent)," the Post editorial board groused that the "effect" of the legislation 'would be to disenfranchise voters who helped Democrats, including President Obama, get elected in Virginia."
The Post, of course, failed to note that even some Obama-supporting liberal Democrats like Jimmy Carter believe photo ID laws are an appropriate bulwark against voter fraud, perhaps all the better to service its conclusion that the Commonwealth of Virginia would prove it "had [not] outgrown its history of institutional racism" and therefore should not "be released from Justice Department oversight" under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Of course it's racist to the
Submitted by motherbelt on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 5:43pm.
Of course it's racist to the WaPo editorial board. They think blacks are too stupid and lazy to manage the herculean task of obtaining proper identification.
Come on, editors! Just how many people who show up to vote without ID do you think have "lost" it or had it stolen?
We Virginians have weird ID laws.
Submitted by Buzzy on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 5:43pm.
Just the other day I had to show the Deputy my ID before he unlocked my car- I had left my only keys inside.
The bank harassed me because they wanted my ID to make a withdraw, they even wanted my ID for a loan application- but I'll take my poor credit elsewhere. DMV twice asked my daughter for an ID to take her learners permit test- she failed the first time and, even though DMV saw the ID then, she had to show it again. The mailman had the gaul to require my ID to sign for my love letter from the IRS.I am afraid to order anything illegal over the internet because of the travesity that is an ID. But the real danger, the possibility of all 57 states requiring an ID for Americans to ensure the most fundamental right of voting is being conducted honestly. :)
Where there is smoke ...?
Submitted by Fredy on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 5:56pm.
As Washington, and news outlets, continue to attack Virginia for daring to ask voters to identify themselves, I wonder how many people that live in DC go to Virginia to fraudulently vote?
While the number of fraudulent ballots are always claimed to be insignificant, the protests have become so loud that it seems there must be a relevant source of voting fraud.
NO! It's called:
Submitted by P. Aaron on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 6:34pm.
"How To Discourage Dead and Unregistered Virginia Voters".
voter ID bills pushed by R's were the 2nd-coming of Jim Crow
Submitted by Gary Hall on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 6:52pm.
Thank you Ken for inserting former Pres Jimmy Carter in the discussion. From the piece you linked (and thanks - thought I'd have to go find all of this again):
. . a 21-member bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter, advocated just such a policy in 2005.
The commission, also co-chaired by former Secretary of State James Baker, called voter identification one of “five pillars” that would “build confidence” in the integrity of federal elections. Only three of the 21 commission members voted against requiring photo identification of voters.
What a test of media bias. The issue is on the "our agenda" list of the national media - that would be their agenda to attack any such proposals. Seeing as the national media so holds dearly the views of Carter, one might think they would be quick to invite him, and like-minded liberals on for the discussion.
Not. They don't do that. Same for discussions on the issue of abortion. Carter and the Dalai Lama not welcome to share their views here either.
(;~> gary
PS: In a poll conducted by Rasmussen, 75% of American voters believe photo identification should be required at the polls. 85% of Republicans, 77% of voters not affiliated with either major party, and 63% of Democrats support voter ID. The survey also found that support for voter ID is "high across virtually all demographic groups."
Seems to be representative of most straight polling on the issue.
Phony Study
Submitted by Schofield Kid on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 7:36pm.
I love it when they just throw out "a 2006 study" with no source. Who are these 11% of "citizens" with no ID? If they are too stupid to get some form of ID, they're too stupid to vote. I've got a feeling, WaPo as well as every other left winger squawking about "voter rights" being violated and Jim Crow laws knows damn well they're really protecting illegals and others with no right to vote in the first place.
WAPO loves it's deceased voters... alot.
Submitted by Mark81150 on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 7:56pm.
Look, when we have example after example after example of democrat run counties in multiple states, having more registered voters than actual residents... when we find out that the deceased often in some counties never stopped voting... we discover, that ACORN is in voter registration fraud up to it's neck, and we see nearly every single liberal grassroots group, oppose every single effort to purge the rolls of illegal voters and the deceased..
Democrats... oppose removing dead people from the voter registration list.
and then, they say we can trust them..
I'd trust a half starved snake first, at least you don't get smirking platitudes, get called racists and are told idiocies, like a picure ID, which you need to sign up for every welfare program, and food stamps, is a terrible burden so severe nobody could bare the thought of ever having to actually aquire one.
The stories are always local, the national press will not address the notion democrats use fraud as insurance. If the race is close they can steal them more easily.. and save the denials dems.. we saw Forida where everbody saw how blatantly they gamed the system, had their own paid for state courts aid and abet the open theft of the presidency.. only fact national scrutiny was focused on that state prevented them from being successful. That, and the SCOTUS who stepped in to preserve what was left of the publics trust, after the democrats openly spit on it....
The diehards in democrat politics still say they was robbed, that they were the victims.. and that the Election was really their victory..
That every single independent recount by newspapers openly hostile to Bush backed up that Florida was his.. doesn't make a dent. They want what they want when they want it, and no law is going to stop them from getting their way, no matter how many ballots they destroy, judges they buy off, and TV anchors who openly shill for them.
Motor voter was an open license to commit voter fraud, they knew that up front, and screamed racist at everyone who pointed it out.
Now, they do it again,.. anyone who questions their motives, is racist, points out how easily they can cheat, is racist, anyone who suggests common sense reforms, is racist, and anti-democratic. Because damn it all.....
dead people should vote too..
apparently......
They do occasionally mention fraud happens, then sneer it's insignifigant... they also never mention 9 out of ten cases, are democrats caught cheating, they always say it's meaningless.. yet a few hundred votes have turned some very important elections....
They don't want you to know that, the WAPO guardians of election rules....
might make democrats look too much like what they really are.
My $.02*
Submitted by cajun2 on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 8:17pm.
It's called projection. The democrats accuse the republicans of something they are about to do. I strongly suspect that after Nov elections, if the dems win again, they will be jamming down our throats a National ID.
And on that ID
Submitted by Boudin on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 8:42pm.
Will be your race, religion, sex "preference", and political affiliation.
A 2006 Brennan Center study?
Submitted by drsamherman on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 8:18pm.
You mean the one produced by the institution that denies conservatives exist because they don't personally know any?
Yep, 2 steps for liberals to combat common sense rules
Submitted by mang on Mon, 02/06/2012 - 9:08pm.
Step 1: Cheat, overtly if you have to.
Step 2: If people see you cheating, call them racists.
The Paradox
Submitted by Defuze1 on Tue, 02/07/2012 - 11:54am.
I get carded if I try to by alcohol or cigarettes. I get carded if I try to enter a night club. I have to have a drivers license to legally drive. I need photo ID to cash a check or use my credit card. I need a photo ID to even get past security at an airport.
So are the same buffoons who claim it is "RACIST!!" to require photo ID to vote, claiming that all of the already mentioned acts are also RACIST!!!!!? I thought not.
So if you are "poor," exactly how do you prove who you are to obtain government aid? Do you just make up a name and if asked to prove it, simply claim the system is racist?
Since the ease of illegal voting has already been shown recently in New Hampshire and Florida, it is amazing that many claim this is not a problem. But, what can you expect when the media and a vocal segment of the population love the Chicago based White House. It is well known by the citizens of Chicago that the dead of Cook County routinely rise from the dead to vote Democratic.