Voter ID Laws: What they really mean

When we talk about elections we always hear talk of turnout. The phrase whoever energizes their base the most will win the election. In the old days of Chicago we would hear that the Chicago machine would steal elections by having dead people vote and of course anyone who knows the story of LBJ knows that he was called Landslide Lyndon when he stole his original election to the Senate in 1948 down on the Mexican border.

So, voter fraud has always been an issue. Democrats want a high turnout and Republicans usually hope for a low turnout. Over the last ten years Republican Governors have purged voter rolls in an effort to do everything possible to limit minority voter turnout, we see that the most ineffective and most prone to breaking down voting equipment is usually the that which is in the low income minority areas.

This year however the attempts in some states have been more blatant and brazen than before. Pennsylvania, always a key state, has just passed a Voter ID law that is one of the most restrictive in the nation. It was just upheld by a state judge so, while appeals are still proceeding, there is a good chance it will be in effect in November.

How many people do you know without a picture ID. Not many. The truth is these are usually young people, minorities, or very old people who no longer drive. It does not take a genius to know what way the majority of these voters lean. Republicans while acknowledging that their have been no rashes of voter fraud simply claim to want to make sure none happen.

It is all such, pardon the phrase, bullshit. Republicans want to keep people from voting because they know their people will vote. Democrats want everybody to vote, because the majority of those who do not often vote, will, if they do vote, vote Democratic. Cannot we just say that. Everyone knows it. Yet we dress it up in voter fraud hyperbole.

I have not seen many examples of voter fraud in the last couple of decades, there have been numerous examples of voter suppression over the last few election cycles. These are continually from the right.

This election will be very close. If the right can win Pennsylvania by limiting voter turnout in Philadelphia alone it could sway the state and thus the national election. These issues matter.