Feb 09 Fight Back for Voter ID

Election Integrity is Under Assault

When you’re taking flak, it means you’re over the target. By the extraordinary reaction by anti-integrity forces to the introduction of a Voter ID Constitutional Amendment, it seems that we’re very close to the target. It also seems that many groups are looking to protect the constituency of illegal voters and they’re pulling out all the stops.

The anti-ID rhetoric is reaching a fevered pitch, with members of Isaiah (a radical left quasi-religious coalition) calling Voter ID “a devilish enterprise" at a recent Capitol press conference. They’re holding rallies. The League of Women Voters is touring the state with a breathless (but completely unfounded) message about Voter ID preventing grandma, minorities, students and soldiers from voting.

A letter to the editor campaign is in full swing and our opponents are getting 10 letters published for every one in favor of Voter ID.

They are lobbying legislators against passing the Voter ID amendment in large, organized numbers.

They packed a recent committee hearing to pitch lies about the amendment ending absentee voting and Election Day registration.

The truth is Voter ID will not eliminate Election Day registration – only vouching. It will not eliminate absentee voting – only require proof of the voters identity (such as a verifiable ID card number on the ballot envelope). It will not prevent any eligible voter who desires to vote from doing so.

Groups like the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Isaiah, the ACLU and NAACP are making ludicrous claims like 700,000 Minnesotans will be unable to vote if photo ID is required. They’ve engaged in this kind of hyperbolic speculation before, but when met with the challenge of proving their claims in court, their arguments fall to pieces.

Here’s what the Indiana Supreme Court said about the League of Women Voters’ challenge of that state’s voter ID law when the Court heard the League’s appeal in 2010:

“The relief the plaintiffs seek is a declaration that it was beyond the power of the legislature to require any voters to identify themselves at the polls using a photo ID. Voters have long been required to identify themselves at the polls by announcing and signing their names. Neither of the constitutional provisions the plaintiffs invoke prevents the legislature from promulgating a new way for voters to identify themselves. It is within the power of the legislature to require voters to identify themselves at the polls using a photo ID. The plaintiffs' claim for relief cannot be granted and dismissal was appropriate. No individual voter has alleged that the Voter ID Law has prevented him or her from voting or inhibited his or her ability to vote in any way.”

The League is persistent with their disproven arguments, though. When they teamed up with two other anti-election integrity organizations, Common Cause and the NAACP to try to stop Georgia’s Voter ID law, they made the familiar claims that scores of voters would be disenfranchised because of some inexplicable inability to obtain free state-issued photo ID. They took their claims to federal court and won a temporary restraining order based on the apocalyptic scenario they painted, but on the merits of the case, the League was again rebuffed. On examining the evidence, the Court upheld the Voter ID law and decreed:

“Plaintiffs’ failure, despite their efforts, to uncover anyone who can attest to the fact that he/she will be prevented from voting provides significant support for the conclusion that the Photo ID requirement does not unduly burden the right to vote.”

Where the bogus claims of disenfranchisement have been repeatedly disproven in court, the reality of the threat of voter fraud has been proven in the courts with criminal convictions in record numbers of late.

James O’Keefe, whose undercover videos helped take down ACORN and who exposed the ease of voting in the names of dead people was in Minnesota recently and released a new video exposing how vulnerable Minnesota’s election system is (see video above or check it out at WeWantVoterID.com).

We know the truth, but right now, it’s being buried by an avalanche of misinformation and Propaganda.

Minnesota Majority is asking supporters of the Voter ID Amendment to take the following actions:

• Contact your legislators and tell them to pass the Voter ID amendment.
• Write a letter to the editor of the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press or your local paper. We’ve provided a tool to make it really easy to write and submit your letter.

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Minnesota Majority.