Yesterday, a federal judge put the kibosh on Wisconsin’s voter identification law, which would require that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls.
I have to admit, this is a tough one for me.
My instincts tell me that such a law is, in fact, unconstitutional as it violates the 14th amendment which clearly states that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.
That being said, I don’t necessarily see requiring voters to provide ID as that big of a deal. You need an ID to buy alcohol or drive a car. Why shouldn’t you have to prove you are who say you are when you cast your vote?
Of course, the whole debate is pretty much bullshit anyway. We know that there are barely enough instances of voter fraud to make this a priority. And anyone who thinks this isn’t a political maneuver is foolish.
The Republicans want it in place because it’ll help deter minorities, who don’t typically vote along the same lines as the GOP. Democrats don’t want it in place because they rely on minorities for votes as Democrats tend to be quite good at fooling minorities into believing that they actually have their best interests in mind. By the way, they don’t!
Now some backers of voter identification laws argue that these laws will help boost public confidence in the integrity of the election process. But the way I see it, this just helps further expose the lack of integrity of the two-party system which lives and dies by these kinds of bipartisan shenanigans. And that’s actually a good thing.
Regardless of how this all plays out, you can be sure of one thing – when it comes to fraud, I’m much more concerned about our lawmakers than I am about the folks who elect them.
