Voting laws: How helpless and hapless do liberals think minorities are?

I have been hearing a steady liberal whine lately about how Republicans are bringing back Jim Crow by making changes to voting laws. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was the first Democrat to make this whine. Since she is the DNC chair, I think it is safe to assume that her initial whine can be considered marching orders for the rest of the party.

Today EJ Dionne, dutiful leftist media hack, picks up that whine in his Washington Post column.

An attack on the right to vote is underway across the country through laws designed to make it more difficult to cast a ballot. If this were happening in an emerging democracy, we’d condemn it as election-rigging. But it’s happening here, so there’s barely a whimper.

The laws are being passed in the name of preventing “voter fraud.” But study after studyhas shown that fraud by voters is not a major problem — and is less of a problem than how hard many states make it for people to vote in the first place. Some of the new laws, notably those limiting the number of days for early voting, have little plausible connection to battling fraud.

These statutes are not neutral. Their greatest impact will be to reduce turnout among African Americans, Latinos and the young. It is no accident that these groups were key to Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 — or that the laws in question are being enacted in states where Republicans control state governments. [...]

In part because of a surge of voters who had not cast ballots before, the United States elected its first African American president in 2008. Are we now going to witness a subtle return of Jim Crow voting laws?

So what are these laws that EJ Dionne find so Jim Crow like? Let's take a look:

The laws in question include requiring voter identification cards at the polls, limiting the time of early voting, ending same-day registration and making it difficult for groups to register new voters.

Let's examine each of these "problematic" laws.

First, the requirement of valid ID to vote, has to be one of the oldest canards ever. Asking anyone, black, white, purple, green or yellow for valid ID at the voting booth is just plain common sense. How is it that something as precious as your vote should not require valid ID, but something as meaningless as a video store membership does? What truly gets me about this phony ID argument is that the same Democrats who see racism in asking for valid ID to vote, do not see racism in asking for valid ID for the very social programs they peddle to minorities.

When it comes to limiting early voting, I am still scratching my head trying to figure out how this is Jim Crow like. Quite frankly, I don't know why anyone would want to vote weeks or a month in advance of an election day.  Remember back in 2000 when it was discovered the night before the election day that Bush had a past DUI? Well, if you voted early and you found that information troubling, there is nothing you could have done to have changed your vote. Early voting really just helps politicians bank votes before election day. The more votes they can bank before election day, the less they have to worry about screwing up in the final stretch.

Again I still cannot see how limiting the number of days of early voting is racist. Unless of course you believe that minorities are too lazy to make it to the polls on election day, now that is racist.

Same day voter registration is clearly designed for voter fraud. There are years between elections, so why does someone need to wait all the way until election day to register to vote? How is it even possible for election boards to verify a voter on the same day they are allowed to vote? Couple same day registration with weak ID, like student IDs and you are off to Voter Fraud City. Again how is eliminating same day voting racist, unless you believe minorities are incapable of getting the act together in a timely fashion.

Finally regarding groups registering people to vote. We have seen all the fun and games that goes on with ACORN's voter drives. Again, what is so difficult that any individual (minority or otherwise) cannot just register to vote on their own?

Voting, like all our rights, come with responsibilities. You are responsible for getting your act together to vote. That means studying candidates records, learning the issues, registering in a timely fashion and yes, safeguarding your vote against fraud. The idea that minorities need special gimmicks, special rules or extra time to accomplish these responsibilities both insulting and racist.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Politico
Via: The Washington Post