(This photo of a nun has no connection to the nuns in Indiana)The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States..."
The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says, in part: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
The State of Indiana, as coerced by the Republican Party, redid its voting laws to require prospective voters to provide photo identification which effectively denied a number of citizens the right to vote thereby violating the U.S. Constitution.
The United States Supreme Court, driven not by a desire to ensure truth, justice or adherence to the U.S. Constitution, upheld Indiana's laws thereby setting in stone this blatant denial of the right of certain citizens to vote in violation of the United States Constitution which the Supremes swore to uphold.
We've already referred to one of those involved in the remaking Indiana's voting laws - Hans von Spakovsky, a Bush crony and amoral Republican shark who Bush has again nominated for a seat on the Federal Election Commission, and who, if elected would give new meaning to the old saw about foxes guarding the chicken coop.
The ONLY reason for this photo ID law is to make it more difficult for certain classes of people to vote - most of which would normally vote Democratic. While disenfranchising Democrats may not be critical in a primary election, it wreaks havoc in a general election. And it makes a mockery of our democracy!
Here are some of the unfortunate and unnecessarily stupid things that happened in Indiana during Tuesday's primary elections:
Twelve nuns were sent packing by a sister nun because they didn't have the proper ID. Sister Julie McGuire was working at a polling place in South Bend when her fellow sisters -- all in their 80's and 90's showed up to vote. They didn't have state or federal identification with a photograph! Some brought passports, but the documents were out of date!
Then you have the case of a just-married woman who was turned away because the name on her driver's license did not match the name on her voter registration card. Another woman had to pack it in because she only had a college ID and her driver's license was from out-of-state.
There have never been a case of someone impersonating a voter in the state of Indiana. Nevertheless, the Republican Party in Indiana, pushed this new photo ID law because they were so worried about voter fraud, or so they said.
What the rest of us should be worried about is Republican fraud.
We know from bitter experience the Republican Party will do whatever it takes to disenfranchise potentially Democratic voters.
1 comment:
Having lived and voted (at least I think I voted) in the district of Palm beach county with the hanging chads, I know there were bad things done at the polling place. Suddenly two machines were not working, which left a long line of senior citizens standing in the hot sun, with no shade, chairs, water, toilet facilities, etc. Many with walkers and canes, left without voting after a long wait with no word as to when the machines would be fixed. Others told of early voting where the boxes containing votes were lost in transit and not found until after several weeks. That was also where the butterfly ballot was not lined up properly and a large number of old Jewish people wound up voting for Pat Buchanan by mistake. We suspect that electronic voting was changed and there were or still are some law suits regarding such things. We are in deep trouble if we think our vote does not count or can be changed electronically. We have had lots of time to correct the mistakes and to put in jail those that rigged elections, regardless of party affiliation. I am in favor of the death penalty for rigging an election or any fraud connected with my right to vote and be counted.
Bob Poris
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