A Big Smelly Red Herring

Posted by Mary Mancini on April 17, 2007 under Uncategorized |

Yesterday, the Tennessee State Senate passed SB0227, which would require a photo ID to vote. From the bill:

Under present law, a valid voter’s registration certificate, Tennessee driver license, social security card, credit card bearing the applicant’s signature, or other document bearing the applicant’s signature is required as evidence of identification for purposes of comparing the person’s signature on the application for ballot. This bill revises the acceptable forms of identification to allow only those forms with a photograph of the person. Accordingly, this bill removes voter registration certificates, social security cards, and credit cards as acceptable forms of identification. This bill adds as acceptable forms of photo identification cards and employee identification issued by a state or the federal government, department of safety-issued identification cards, U.S. passports, and U.S. military identification cards.

The House companion bill, HB0938, is on its way to the House sub-committee on State and Local Government. The members of the committee are Ulysses Jones - Chair, Eddie Yokley - Vice Chair, Gary Moore - Secretary, Robert Bibb, Jim Coley, Vince Dean, Jimmy Eldridge, Joey Hensley, Curtis Johnson, John Litz, Jimmy Matlock, Steve McManus, Larry Miller, Joe Pitts, Mary Pruitt, Randy Rinks, Park Strader, Harry Tindell, Curry Todd and Ben West, Jr..

Another, SB1611/*HB0409, would require voters to present either of the following in order to register to vote:

(1) One form of identification that bears the name, address and photograph of the voter; OR
(2) Two different forms of identification that bear the name and address of the voter.

and changes the requirements of registration forms:

This bill requires proof of U.S. citizenship to vote. This bill requires that printed registration cards also include the following information regarding the applicant:

(1) Occupation;
(2) Father’s name or mother’s maiden name;
(3) A statement that the registrant has not been convicted of treason or a felony;
(4) A statement that if an applicant declines to register to vote, the fact that the applicant has declined would remain confidential and would be used only for voter registration purposes, and a statement that the office where the applicant submits the application would remain confidential and used only for voter registration purposes; and
(5) A statement that the applicant must submit evidence of United States citizenship with the application and that the register will reject the application if no evidence of citizenship is attached; and
(6) Party preference.

Wait. What? Why does the election commission need to know my party preference? How is that connected to my citizenship? Fortunately, action was deferred today on HB0409 and it was sent to the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, “a bipartisan forum for the discussion of intergovernmental issues and may initiate studies resulting in legislative proposals and constitutional amendments.”

These bills are part of Tennessee Republican lawmakers’ plan to introduce 40-odd pieces of immigration reform legislation they say will protect Tennessee from a broken federal immigration system. Really, though, they’re nothing more than a clever way to manipulate the electorate by capitalizing on the manufactured anti-immigration sentiment sweeping the state. They are red herrings meant to distract us from a more measureable threat from electronic voting machines that don’t produce voter verifiable paper trails and companies that label their software “proprietary.” These bills are also a very real threat to the franchise of minorities, senior citizens, the disabled, and low income workers.

Here in the reality-based community, we know that rampant voter registration fraud using falsified registration forms or false IDs simply does not exist on a large scale. In fact, in the five years that Karl Rove and the Republican party have tried to make it an issue, only “86 people were convicted of voter fraud crimes as of last year — most of them Democrats and many on trivial, trumped-up charges.” They tried so hard to make it an issue that they politicized the one arm of the administration that is supposed to be immune from politicization, the Justice Department. (For more information, watch Alberto Gonzales in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee this Thursday.)

Not content to merely manufacture bogus claims of rampant voter fraud, the Bush Administration’s federal panel in charge of researching these claims decided to manipulate their report to bolster them. Investigative journalists at The New York Times, found that the panel “played down the findings of experts who concluded last year that there was little voter fraud around the nation” and instead “issued a report that said the pervasiveness of fraud was open to debate.”

What’s not open to debate is that two weeks ago the same panel refused to release another report it commissioned concerning voter identification legislation which “found that voter identification laws designed to fight fraud can reduce turnout, particularly among members of minorities.”

Two things you should know. First, it’s really difficult to get people to register to vote and then, you know, actually vote. Election day turnout in this country is traditionally anemic compared to some of the world’s other established and fledgling democracies. Second, even when given the chance to vote legally, immigrants very rarely take us up on the offer. Do Tennessee Republicans really believe immigrants, legal or otherwise, are perpetrating massive voter fraud?

I repeat, what Don Imus said is bad, but systematically advancing the historic and systemic disenfranchisement of african-americans and other minorities is much, much worse.

UPDATE: According to Paige in Senator Norris’ office, SB1611 was sent back to sub-committee when it became clear that SB1610 it would make its way to the Senate for a full vote. SB1610 is the same as SB1611 except without the “Party Preference” part.