The United States Department of Justice is suing the State
of Texas over the Texas requirement of showing photo identification when a “citizen”
registers to vote. According to the
Justice Department’s statement, at least fifty percent of Hispanic voters would
be incapable of providing a photo ID.
Their research stopped short, it would seem, of establishing a real
reason for that number. The new law
would require each voter to produce either a driver’s license or a state issued
personal identification. So why can’t they
get them – is it a lack of transportation, time, or proper documentation? If they were really interested in voting they
would do what is necessary to prepare themselves to vote.
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 was passed by
Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton to increase the number
of eligible citizens who register to vote and to ensure accurate and current registration lists;
In a speech delivered
by Assistant United States Attorney General Thomas E. Perez on Monday, January
30th, 2012 to the attendees at the National Association of
Secretaries of State, Mr Perez stated that “We are also involved in a number of Section
5 matters arising out of recently enacted state laws relating to voter
identification requirements, voter registration requirements, and changes to
early voting procedures. Last month, we
interposed an objection to South Carolina’s voter identification law. Last week, Texas filed a judicial action
seeking preclearance of their voter identification law. Florida has adopted a number of changes to
its electoral process, and filed an action seeking judicial preclearance of
these changes. Both the Texas and
Florida matters remain ongoing. And
while I can’t go into more detail on our review of ongoing matters, I can
assure you that our review will be thorough, fair, and fact-based. States covered by Section 5 bear the burden
of showing that proposed changes are not intentionally discriminatory and will
not have a retrogressive effect. As the
Attorney General has emphasized, where they meet this burden, we will preclear
the changes; where they do not meet this burden, we will object”.
So we are led to believe that, while Attorney General Eric Holder
and his staff have notoriously moved at a glacial pace on issues where he
should have been more time efficient, like the “Fast and Furious” weapons investigation
and Black Panther voter intimidation investigation, we are to believe that his
investigators have established sufficient cause to sue Texas over their voter
identification policies in just six weeks?
Incredible!
All Texas wants is what is included in the National Voter
Registration Act – the ability to verify the right to vote and the place we
need to send that person to vote. In
Maryland I have to show ID each time I vote – and I use my license because it
shows my address. It also happens to
have a photo. I had to establish identity
and residency when I originally registered to vote. When I was in Afghanistan I had to establish
that I was who I was and I was not going to be in Maryland in advance to allow them to send me an absentee ballot. Making proper arrangements in order to
practice a sacred right is just common sense.
In any state that does not require some evidence when you
register to vote you are asking for an increase in voter fraud. In states that are known to have a high
number of undocumented persons we should be especially vigilant about
establishing who is registering and who is actually voting. Fraud runs both ways in an election. The Obama administration is molly coddling the
Hispanic community hoping to garner their endorsement by showing empathy. He and his staffers along the border are
hoping that if the race card is thrown that the Hispanics will turn to him
rather than vote for people that are actually attempting to run an effective
election for registered voters.
My suggestion is that if we have a high number of Hispanics
in Texas that do not have the wherewithal to obtain a state issued photo ID,
use the Obama campaign vehicles that are going to be used to get them to the
polling places and run them up to the DMV to get IDs in advance. Problem solved and we don’t need to bring a
federal court into a state’s problem.
But what would Eric Holder do then…?
Sarmajor
