Oh Happy Happy Day in the House Elections Subcommittee

On April 22, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

Not only is it free Baskin Robbins day on the Hill today, but HB0639, the bill that would have required a photo ID to vote, failed in the House Elections Subcommittee this morning! Thanks to Chairman Eddie Yokley (D-Greenville, the Fightin’ 11th!) and Rep. Gary Moore (D-Joelton, the Fightin’ 50th!) who voted no, and Rep. Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville, the Fightin’ 13th!) who voted “no” and correctly labeled the bill as a “poll tax.”

A shout out to Speaker Kent Williams (R-Carter County, the Fightin’ 4th!) too, who wandered in to break the tie on HB1841 (which would urge the state executive committees to jointly establish a calendar of appearances of its gubernatorial candidates in all 95 counties), but who stayed just long enough to ask all the right questions about the constitutionality of the bill’s exceptions and the lack of tangible evidence of voter fraud in the state.

“We need legislation to prevent fraud,” Speaker Williams said, “But I’m not sure your vehicle is the right vehicle.” And then, *poof,* he was gone, leaving the meeting before the vote and without breaking the tie that would have moved the bill out of committee.

Rep. Tindell asked all the right questions and touched on all the salient points including the requirement that the ID be government issue only; the cost – in effort, time and coin – of obtaining such an ID; the number of people in the state who do not have a photo ID; the problem with provisional ballots; and the lack of fairness inherent in the legislation (if it’s going to be required, than it needs to be free for everyone):

Also written into the bill was an exception that would have allowed a voter to be excused from presenting a photo ID by signing a sworn statement of indigency. State Coordinator Goins and Rep. Tindell went head to head on the automatic loophole set up by this exception:

More importantly, though, if it’s enough for some of us to simply sign a sworn statement for their votes to count without having to show a photo ID, then why isn’t is OK for the rest of us?

Rep. Yokley once again made reference to the illegality of voter fraud and the stiff penalty attached – it’s a felony, don’t you know, punishable by a fine and a stiff jail sentence. And even though there is currently no one in jail for committing voter fraud, the proof offered by the Coordinator Goins that voter fraud exists was the famous Oh-My-God-Dead-People-In-Shelby-County-Voted-in-the-Opehlia-Ford-Senate-Election.

But what we know about that case is that the three people who plead guilty to faking votes – “two of them cast in the names of dead people” – were poll workers, not voters. And fraud by poll workers is election fraud – not voter fraud.

And it’s the poll workers who would be checking photo IDs.

Free ice cream two days in a row and a dead photo ID bill. This is the Best Week Ever!

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How Many Non-Citizens are Voting in Tennessee Elections?

On April 6, 2009, in Liberate Your Radio from The Right, by Mary Mancini

The Senate State and Local Government Committee meets tomorrow morning in Legislative Plaza Room 12 to discuss two important election bills. The first, SB1999 by Senators Norris and Ketron (companion HB1838 by Rep. Curry ToddR, Collierville), would require “citizenship status to be proven prior to registration to vote and requires certain procedures to ensure identity and citizenship status prior to voting.”

In last week’s meeting they discussed Senator Ketron’s other voter suppression bill that would require photo IDs to vote (SB150) – except of course if you swear that you’re poor or have a “religious exception” to being photographed. Surprisingly, an exchange with Senator Thelma Harper (D-Nashville, the fightin’ 19th!) shows what Senator Ketron really believes – that we should simply “trust” those who require the exception in the case of the photo ID:

Senator Harper: So what is it they’re going to say?

Senator Ketron: “They’re gonna say they object to furnishing a photo ID based on their religion. Now for me to question what their religion is…I…

Senator Harper: I guess the concern that I have is that we want people to register to vote and we want the legitimacy there. But we’re putting an awful lot of stumbling blocks in folks way in order for them to register to vote, change their voter registration, just to move from other states and cities here to register to vote. I just wonder if this is really poppycock and we’re just curtailing the number of people who attempt to vote. I think we should be removing barriers rather than placing barriers in their way.

Senator Ketron: Senator, by them signing it, they signed the affidavit under oath that they are saying who they say they are.

So the question remains, why does Senator Ketron implicitly trust those who claim indigency or religious exemption and not the rest of us? Every time we vote we sign a sworn statement that we are who we say we are so aren’t we setting up an unequal system if some are allowed to continue do this and others aren’t?

Senator Ketron’s latest is SB1999, would require proof of citizenship status prior to registering to vote. Again, we already swear to this – under penalty of law – so why the extra added protection? Do we have an inordinate number of non-citizens clamoring to vote that we – or more importantly, the law – doesn’t know about?

The answer is no. But we do have proof that photo ID laws et. al. disenfranchise legitimate voters. So we can only hope that tomorrow Senators Harper, Haynes, and Finney request actual documentation of voter fraud by non-citizens as Rep. Harry Tindell (D-Knoxville, the fightin’ 13th!) did of Rep. Todd’s companion bill last week:

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