HISTORY: Real ID Propaganda Carter Administration Style

BTC Editorial

I dug up this interesting editorial from Democrat Jimmy Carter, who proposes that the Real ID Act of 2005 would minimize voter disenfranchisements. We should preface this by saying, not all Democrats think alike.

This is what it happens to look like when Carter is spinning Real ID as a solution to Republicans making ID's LESS available for an identifying voter. I'd liketo add that it was a strong Republican move to push the Real ID Act in place. Carter proposed that since Real ID's nazi-styled census machine is being phased in, lets go along with the proliferation of EVEN MORE forms of ID for those who are voting.

When I read things like this I begin to think that there is a special place in political hell for those who want to narrow focus those who can and cannot vote in an American election, making it a proving ground for U.S. citizenship.

NOTE: Citizens chief opposing argument here is making a photo ID a pre-requisite to voting disenfranchises more voters during election season.

This New York Times Article was published in February of 2008.

"In 2005, we led a bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform and concluded that both parties’ concerns were legitimate — a free and fair election requires both ballot security and full access to voting. We offered a proposal to bridge the partisan divide by suggesting a uniform voter photo ID, based on the federal Real ID Act of 2005, to be phased in over five years. To help with the transition, states would provide free voter photo ID cards for eligible citizens; mobile units would be sent out to provide the IDs and register voters. (Of the 21 members of the commission, only three dissented on the requirement for an ID.)

No state has yet accepted our proposal. What’s more, when it comes to ID laws, confusion reigns. The laws on the books, mainly backed by Republicans, have not made it easy enough for voters to acquire an ID. At the same time, Democrats have tended to try to block voter ID legislation outright — instead of seeking to revise that legislation to promote accessibility. When lower courts have considered challenges to state laws on the question of access, their decisions have not been consistent. And in too many instances, individual judges have appeared to vote along partisan lines."

In states like Texas, where voter ID and more government regulation is despised, you find a tooth-and-nail fight to keep citizens from the disenfranchisement lines.

Carter later admits that minority groups, who historically vote Democratic, are disenfranchised by voter ID laws. Hitching votes to a Real ID would perform the same purpose- only those who could not provide citizenship documents would lose their amenities to vote.

"The bad news, however, was this: While the numbers of registered voters without valid photo IDs were few, the groups least likely to have them were women, African-Americans and Democrats. Surveys in other states, of course, may well present a different result. "