A law that keeps even one person from exercising their franchise is one law too many. Some don’t feel that way and so to them, SB150, which would require photo IDs to vote and was passed out of the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday, is no big whoop.
But it is a big whoop, especially since the bill is a solution in search of a problem.
First, let’s define the terms we are working with. “Voter fraud,” which rarely happens, is fraud perpetrated by a voter, i.e. impersonating someone to cast a vote or voting even though you do not meet the eligibility requirements. “Election fraud,” which happens more frequently, is systematic and systemic disenfranchisement. In other words, it’s fraud perpetrated by those working within the system.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), the bill’s sponsor and chairman of the committee, said that he realized the need for photo IDs when he was in Memphis testifying in the Ophelia Ford “voter fraud” case. He said, “Unfortunately, we know that voter fraud exists and that there are people who try to be dishonest in an election.”
Actually, what we know is that “election fraud” exists. The three people in Memphis who plead guilty to faking votes in the Ophelia Ford case – “two of them cast in the names of dead people – were poll workers, not voters. No walking dead tried to vote (or eat brains).
We’re still waiting for an answer to Senator Lowe Finney’s (D-Jackson), the Fightin’ 27th!) follow up question to Senator Ketron during that very same committee meeting – “have their been any other instances of ‘voter fraud’ in the state of Tennessee?”
Doing his best Sarah Palin, Senator Ketron said, “I’ll try and find ya some and I’ll bring’em to ya.”
I left a message for Senator Finney to ask if he had heard from Senator Ketron, but have not yet heard back. My best educated guess is that the answer is “no, I haven’t.” Why? Because requiring photo IDs to vote is a solution in search of a problem.
Next up: The irony of absentee ballots.
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