b*****d
发帖数: 61690 | 1 Voter ID bills across the nation undermine faith in our democracy
BY DANIELLE LANG, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/18/17 05:20 PM EDT 5
The Iowa legislature sent a strict voter ID bill to the governor’s desk
last week. If the governor signs the bill, which he is widely expected to do
, Iowa will be the first state in 2017 to pass a new law that burdens the
right to vote. But it likely won’t be the last.
Thus far, 29 states have introduced 87 bills that would restrict access to
the ballot. These bills align with a troubling trend toward state laws that
make it harder rather than easier to vote. But while the restrictions are
familiar, the rationale employed is new and startlingly cynical.
Lawmakers for years have tried and failed to prove in court that these laws
can be justified by the need to prevent nearly non-existent in-person
impersonation voter fraud. Now, they argue that this strict voter ID law is
necessary to address the “perception” of fraud. Iowa state representative
Ken Rizer told the New York Times, “It is true that there isn’t widespread
voter fraud … but there is a perception that the system can be cheated.
That’s one of the reasons for doing this.”
The logic here is almost head-spinning. The “perception” of fraud is not
only baseless but was created by lawmakers’ for the not-so-secret purpose
of partisan gain. For years, lawmakers have been falsely pushing a myth of
rampant voter fraud in order to justify strict voter identification
requirements that disproportionately burden minority and poor voters, as
well as students and elderly or disabled voters.
That rationale has largely failed in courts because voter fraud — and
particularly the type voter ID laws would theoretically address, in-person
impersonation fraud — is exceedingly rare. In Iowa, out of 1.6 million
votes cast last election, only 10 were potentially improper, several of
which were mistakes rather than fraud and would not have been prevented by
an ID bill.
But, unsurprisingly, our elected officials’ repeated unfounded claims about
voter fraud have convinced many voters, to the detriment of our democracy.
The solution to this problem should be to educate voters and correct this
misinformation.
Instead, legislators are asserting that restrictive voting laws are a
necessary solution to the misperception problem — a problem they created in
order to justify passing those same restrictive voting laws in the first
place. It’s disingenuous because their intention all along has simply been
to make it more difficult for disadvantaged groups to vote.
This new argument only illuminates how harmful President Trump’s false
statements about widespread fraud might be. Iowa legislators’ are not the
only ones employing this new tactic. Legislators in Arkansas and Nebraska
have made identical arguments in support of their voter ID bills.
This circular manipulation of the electorate to the political advantage of
legislators is beyond politics as usual. Our public officials cannot be in
the business of pushing falsehoods and then using their salience with the
public to justify laws that limit citizens’ access to the polls.
Arkansas state representative Mark Lowery has argued that “a large
percentage of Americans do not trust the integrity of the electoral system,
and that in and of itself is a problem that needs to be solved, because that
undermines the basic tenet of democracy.”
Lowery is right about that much. But the solution is not voter ID laws that
seek to solve a non-existent problem at the expense of voters and place a
disproportionate burden on minority communities that are less likely to have
documents that are accepted at the polls.
Instead, growing disillusionment with the electoral system should be a
reminder to legislators that their unfounded statements about voter fraud
have demonstrably harmful effects on our democracy. Strict voter ID laws
just create more confusion among the electorate, often leading to lower
participation even among those who could qualify to vote under the laws but
mistakenly believe they cannot. It is legislators’ desire to pass these
burdensome laws that created the perception problem in the first place.
Rather than piling on restrictions to the right to vote, legislators should
engage in forthright public education efforts to inform voters of the
importance and integrity of their right to vote. Iowa is one of the highest
rated states for electoral integrity. It has one of the highest voter
turnout rates in the nation. Iowa has implemented several positive advances
in election administration in recent years such as same-day registration and
electronic and online voter registration. Iowa should be building on those
successes to continue to grow the electorate.
Instead, legislators’ have chosen the cynical route of using a politician-
created misperception to justify restricting access to the right to vote.
While this bill provides for IDs for all registered voters, it effectively
eliminates same-day voter registration for the nearly 200,000 voters without
the necessary ID who are not yet registered. The law also restricts early
voting and eliminates straight-ticket voting, both mechanisms that increase
access and participation, particularly among minority voters.
The logic employed by these legislators rewards their purposeful undermining
of the electorate’s faith in our democracy by providing them with
ammunition to pass increasingly restrictive laws in the name of increasing
public confidence. Voters should not tolerate this continued manipulation of
the foundations of our democracy. Nor should the courts.
Danielle Lang is deputy director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal
Center, a nonpartisan election law organization. She previously clerked for
Judge Richard A. Paez on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and is a
graduate of Yale Law School. | f*******t
发帖数: 7549 | | u**r
发帖数: 810 | 3 民主党说你民主，不民主也民主，说你不民主，民主也不民主。hint, 只有民主党才是
民主。 | C****t
发帖数: 3813 | 4 Do not translate if you do not know. Most people on this board have never
voted in USA, so they thought everbody can vote freely if IDs are not
checked. This is nonsense. Voter ID bills is not the same thing as 投票查ID.
do
that
【在 b*****d 的大作中提到】
: Voter ID bills across the nation undermine faith in our democracy
: BY DANIELLE LANG, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/18/17 05:20 PM EDT 5
: The Iowa legislature sent a strict voter ID bill to the governor’s desk
: last week. If the governor signs the bill, which he is widely expected to do
: , Iowa will be the first state in 2017 to pass a new law that burdens the
: right to vote. But it likely won’t be the last.
: Thus far, 29 states have introduced 87 bills that would restrict access to
: the ballot. These bills align with a troubling trend toward state laws that
: make it harder rather than easier to vote. But while the restrictions are
: familiar, the rationale employed is new and startlingly cynical.
| h*********n
发帖数: 11319 | 5 因为美国人穷，办不起voter ID，美国人蠢，不知道怎么去DMV办免费的voter ID
像巴西，印度，墨西哥，人民素质高很多，所以可以实行voter ID
do
that
【在 b*****d 的大作中提到】
: Voter ID bills across the nation undermine faith in our democracy
: BY DANIELLE LANG, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/18/17 05:20 PM EDT 5
: The Iowa legislature sent a strict voter ID bill to the governor’s desk
: last week. If the governor signs the bill, which he is widely expected to do
: , Iowa will be the first state in 2017 to pass a new law that burdens the
: right to vote. But it likely won’t be the last.
: Thus far, 29 states have introduced 87 bills that would restrict access to
: the ballot. These bills align with a troubling trend toward state laws that
: make it harder rather than easier to vote. But while the restrictions are
: familiar, the rationale employed is new and startlingly cynical.
| s********o
发帖数: 1237 | | s******9
发帖数: 1451 | 7 所以是猪党。笨的像猪，办ID都成为不能完成的任务。这种弱智的人去投票选领导人，
能选出什么好货色来？
【在 h*********n 的大作中提到】
: 因为美国人穷，办不起voter ID，美国人蠢，不知道怎么去DMV办免费的voter ID
: 像巴西，印度，墨西哥，人民素质高很多，所以可以实行voter ID
:
: do
: that
| s******9
发帖数: 1451 | 8 民主党的名字起的好啊。独家掌握民主话语权。
【在 u**r 的大作中提到】
: 民主党说你民主，不民主也民主，说你不民主，民主也不民主。hint, 只有民主党才是
: 民主。
| C*******h
发帖数: 6095 | 9 这些借口都是猪党想给投票作弊创造机会的遮羞布。你还真信啊，呵呵
【在 s******9 的大作中提到】
: 所以是猪党。笨的像猪，办ID都成为不能完成的任务。这种弱智的人去投票选领导人，
: 能选出什么好货色来？
|
|
