Jim Hartman
Courtesy Photo
President Biden’s Jan. 11 speech in Atlanta was an act of outrageous demagoguery.
Biden ranted:
“Do you want to be on the side of Dr. (Martin Luther) King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?”
Biden’s dark fairy tale about the country returning to “Jim Crow 2.0” is reckless political nonsense.
His speech was a call to pass a radical rebranded version of H.R. 1, now called the “Freedom to Vote Act,” that would authorize a federal takeover of elections and impose a federal election code on all 50 states.
This latest version of H.R. 1 would prohibit states from requiring voter ID and require states to allow permanent mail-in voting. It includes provisions forcing states to count late mail ballots that lack postmarks.
An overwhelming majority of voters support laws that require individuals show photo identification before voting.
A Rasmussen Report poll last year found 75% of voters believe a photo ID should be required, including 69% of Black voters. Only 21% opposed voter ID laws.
Similarly, a Monmouth survey in 2021 reported 81% of voters supported voter ID requirements, including 62% of Democrats. An earlier Gallup Poll measured 80% support for voter ID.
Yet, Biden and other Democratic leaders oppose election integrity measures — like a voter ID requirement — in the most aggressive, offensive and meant to offend way. Biden suggested requiring voter ID would mean returning people to slavery.
Thirty-six states now have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls. Nevada is among 14 states without voter ID and Democrats in the legislature refused to even hear a Republican-sponsored bill on voter ID in 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in Crawford vs. Marion County Election Board (2008), held 6-3 that an Indiana law requiring voters to provide photographic identification did not violate the U.S. Constitution.
In 2005, the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and former Secretary of State, James Baker III, a Republican, recommended a photo ID system with free IDs for those without driver’s licenses.
Other Democrats on the commission were former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton. It was a truly bipartisan commission that made what seemed to be at the time common sense proposals.
How things have changed. Some of the commission’s members, Carter among them, came out last year to disavow the commission’s work. Democrats now bitterly resist voter ID as racist voter suppression.
But the fact is the U.S. is an outlier among the world’s democracies in not requiring voter ID.
Of the 47 countries in Europe today, 46 of them currently require government-issued photos to vote, with the British Parliament expected soon to make it all 47 countries.
Whether it’s buying prescription drugs, driving a car, flying on a plane, photo ID is a requirement of everyday life.
The Carter-Baker commission was also concerned with mail-in voting. With loose mail-in voting rules, ballots are simply mailed out to everyone, almost begging for voter fraud.
In Nevada, adoption of AB 321 in 2021 forces Nevada election officials to mail ballots to every registered voter, even if they don’t request it.
As documented in 2020, this leads to thousands of ballots being sent to the wrong address or potentially stolen from mailboxes of those unaware they were receiving a mail ballot. AB 321 will flood Nevada with unsolicited ballots and create the opportunity for fraudsters to cast illegal votes.
Those opposing common sense measures to ensure integrity in U.S. elections — like those recommended by the Carter-Baker commission — are not motivated by concern for democracy, but by partisan advantage.
Email Jim Hartman at lawdocman1@aol.com.
