"What's going on about voting rights is downright evil."
So said ABC's Cokie Roberts on Sunday's This Week (video follows with transcript and commentary):
COKIE ROBERTS: You know having grown up in the deep south in the era of Jim Crow, the difference is dramatic. And the fact that Andy Young was Mayor of Atlanta and John Lewis is a member of Congress from Georgia is a great testament to the fact that when you do something like pass a voting rights bill, that it makes a difference. Which is why, at the moment, what's going on about voting rights is downright evil, because it's something that really needs to keep going forward, not backwards.
Downright evil? Really?
Maybe Roberts should consult former President Jimmy Carter, who along with former Secretary of State James Baker co-chaired the 2005 Commission on Federal Election Reform which amongst other things recommended the following:
[T]o make sure that a person arriving at a polling site is the same one who is named on the list, we propose a uniform system of voter identification based on the "REAL ID card" or an equivalent for people without a drivers license. To prevent the ID from being a barrier to voting, we recommend that states use the registration and ID process to enfranchise more voters than ever. States should play an affirmative role in reaching out to non-drivers by providing more offices, including mobile ones, to register voters and provide photo IDs free of charge. There is likely to be less discrimination against minorities if there is a single, uniform ID, than if poll workers can apply multiple standards. In addition, we suggest procedural and institutional safeguards to make sure that the rights of citizens are not abused and that voters will not be disenfranchised because of an ID requirement. We also propose that voters who do not have a photo ID during a transitional period receive a provisional ballot that would be counted if their signature is verified.
Is Jimmy Carter evil, Cokie?
Or how about the 74 percent of respondents to a 2012 Washington Post poll who said IDs should be required to vote in this country?
Is 3/4 of the nation evil, Cokie? Because they disagree with you?
That Post poll also found that more people are concerned with voter fraud than voter suppression.
As such, and not surprisingly, a liberal media member's views are totally diametric to those of the majority of the nation.
Maybe she should rethink her definition of evil!
