GOP Chair Benkiser Sings Praises Of Voter ID

Republican Party of Texas Chairwoman Tina Benkiser was singing the praises of Voter ID bills last Thursday in Sherman.

This from the Sherman Herald-Democrat:

Republican Party of Texas Chairman Tina Benkiser spent some time in Sherman Thursday talking about a bill that could require Texas voters to show photo identification when they cast a ballot.

Grayson County Republican Party Chairman Clyde Siebman introduced her at the party headquarters and said her topic was, “a very important issue to Grayson County and the State of Texas.” Benkiser said the handful of bills seeking to require voters to provide photo identification when voting are aimed at “safeguarding (our) right to govern (ourselves) specifically concerning election integrity.”

She said this nation’s right to choose its own leaders is “really the strength of who we are as a people and the growth that we have had as a nation.”

Evidently, Benkiser was asleep a few weeks ago when studies showed that Voter ID significantly hampered voter turnout, especially for minorities.

Of course, Benkiser thinks Voter ID “safeguards our rights:”

“It is just common sense that when someone comes to the polls, they should present a photo identification,” Benkiser said.

She reminded those who attended the early morning stopover that they probably have to provide a photo id to rent a movie or cash a check, yet they don’t have to do so when exercising one of the most basic rights American citizens claim.

I don’t know what turnip truck this lady fell off of, but this analogy has got to be the worst Voter ID analogy in the history of Voter ID analogies.

First of all, renting a damned video at Blockbuster is not a constitutional right. Voting is a constitutional right.

So why, pray tell, should we be required to show ID to exercise a constitutional right? You don’t need an ID to exercise a myriad of other constitutional rights. Last time I checked, free speech didn’t require an ID. And, I’m sure they’re not asking for a driver’s license when you head on into First Methodist (or wherever) to exercise your freedom to worship on Sunday morning.

So, why in the hell do we need a Voter ID bill? A voter registration card is enough.

Oh, wait! I remember! It’s that “voter fraud” argument. Evidently, Tina Benkiser loves flying in the face of reason, because there is no evidence to suggust that Voter ID will do anything to combat “voter fraud,” which isn’t exactly a mammoth problem anyway:

Mounting evidence, however, suggests that voter ID laws actually do very little to ensure polling-place integrity, while very clearly suppressing turnout among constituencies that have traditionally struggled to gain a voice in the democratic process.

Just last month, the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University presented new research findings to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission that suggest Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans are less likely to vote as a result of increasingly restrictive voter ID requirements. The Eagleton study examined the 2004 election and concluded that in states requiring voters to present an ID at the polls, voters were 2.7 percent less likely to vote than in states where voters were merely required to state their names. Latinos were 10 percent less likely to vote, Asian-Americans 8.5 percent less likely to vote and African Americans 5.7 percent less likely to vote. Since the research depended on the November 2004 Current Population Survey (CPS), a data set that has been criticized for its small sample size of minorities, it may actually understate the impact of ID requirement on minority voters.

The Eagleton Institute research is supported by findings from a poll conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law in November 2006. Their poll, “Citizens without Proof,” found that as many as 11 percent of Americans—more than 21 million individuals—do not have a current, government-issued photo ID. Elderly, poor and minority Americans are more likely to lack government-issued ID. Polling results suggest six million elderly Americans do not possess a government-issued photo ID, 15 percent of voting-age citizens earning under $35,000 a year do not possess such ID and fully 25 percent of voting-age African Americans do not possess this ID.

While proponents of restrictive voter ID requirements argue that they are needed to combat voter fraud, there is no evidence that the type of fraud that these requirements address—voters who misrepresent their identity—has occurred at any point since records have been kept. In fact, since 2002, the Department of Justice found only 38 cases of any voter fraud worthy of prosecution in the entire country. According to Barnard College Professor Loraine Minnite, the available state-level evidence of fraudulent voting, culled from interviews, reviews of newspaper coverage and court proceedings, yields similarly negligible results. Minnite’s comprehensive analysis, “The Politics of Vote Fraud,” was recently released by Project Vote.

Sadly, I don’t even need to go read that report to know the real reason Texas Republicans want Voter ID: they want to disenfranchise the poor and minorities.

There. I said it. But, damn it, someone had to, since people have been pussyfooting around the argument for two legislative sessions now.

In a state where our minority (and, sadly, our working poor) population is continuing to grow, and in a state where those groups are voting Democrat, it is to the Republicans advantage to make it more difficult for them to vote.

Why? Simple: so Republicans can continue to win elections. That is the cold, hard, reality.

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