People with only a hammer see everything as a nail. Three voters caught trying to vote twice in the 2008 presidential election are now being prosecuted by the Wake County district attorney; they were jailed with a felony charge and $10,000 bond. The NC Republican Party and other advocates for a photo ID requirement are delighted with this news, seeing it through their hammer-claw lens as stark evidence that Gov. Perdue was horribly wrong to veto House Bill 351, the photo ID bill. NC Republican chief Robin Hayes is especially happy to jab Perdue with a big lie that will no doubt be repeated over and over – perhaps with the media’s help. The lie buries this core truth: Requiring voters to show an ID would have done ABSOLUTLEY NOTHING to prevent the crime of attempting to vote twice. The alleged cheaters could show an ID when they voted at the Early Voting site, and show it again a few days later when they voted at their polling site on Election Day. They voted in their own names and did not attempt to impersonate somebody else; impersonation is the only fraud H-351 really addresses. Another truth: The current safeguards worked – none of the three successfully voted twice. Their ballots at the Early Voting sites were retrieved and not counted; the system worked, without an ID requirement! This case involves three black Democrats in the NC election Obama narrowly won; the outpouring of hostility is unfortunately predictable. More prosecutions of double voting are in the works. Voter fraud should be prosecuted – the integrity of the election system must be protected. That’s why House Bill 862 is actually a stronger, better bill than H-351. It requires voters to show an ID or attest under penalty of perjury that they are who they say they are AND it provides funds for the State Board of Elections to hire an investigator “to investigate, document, and prepare for prosecution possible evidence of voter fraud, including cases involving voter impersonation.” H-351 is not a serious hammer against fraud; it’s a political sham and those who point to this case as evidence of its value are misled or misleaders.
1-888-OUR-VOTE|info@democracy-nc.org
In light of this report of voters voting twice, it sets off alarm bells wondering how many other people voted twice but were not caught. House Bill 862 seems more convoluted. It is much simpler and easier to just require each voter to show a photo ID. I think House Bill 351 is the better bill.
Here’s a report of NAACP involvement with voter fraud as well as ACORN.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/29/mississippi-naacp-leader-sent-to-prison-for-10-counts-of-voter-fraud/
As stated clearly above, H-351 would have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to prevent the crime of voting twice. The alleged cheaters voted in their own names. The system works to prevent this type of fraud.
Photo ID is a scam that many fall for.
I asked Rep David Lewis if lawmakers had any mechanism to validate the ID,the answer is no.
The fact is, no state that requires photo ID (8 of them so far) has a mechanism to validate the ID.
We would have to set up something like a national ID style database plus buy new equipment for every polling place, set up a system that doesn’t exist, and create an ID that doesn’t exist. IF you wanted to say you were validating the ID.
Bottom line, a fake ID kit can be bought cheaply off of Ebay.
Photo ID would only stop honest but poor people from voting.
Frank Burns links to a report of “NAACP involvement with voter fraud” but what he doesn’t say is that it is about ABSENTEE BALLOT FRAUD.
Something HB 351 does nothing about, and in its original form had made WORSE.
Photo ID would do nothing to stop double voting, nothing at all.