Associated Press:
The House voted Wednesday to require Americans to show proof of citizenship in order to vote, and the Senate moved to build a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border as Republicans sharpened attacks on illegal immigration before the midterm elections.
The 228-196 House vote on a new photo ID plan and the Senate's consideration of the fence were both part of a get-tough policy on illegal immigrants that Republicans have embraced after Congress' failure to agree on broader legislation that would set a path for undocumented workers to attain citizenship.
So how big a problem is voter fraud by illegal aliens? No one really knows, but probably not much of one.
Testimony of Spencer Overton, a tenured professor at the George Washington University Law School, who teaches courses in voting rights, civil rights, and property, to the Committee on House Administration:
No systematic, empirical study of the magnitude of voter fraud has been conducted at either the national level or in any state to date, but the best existing data suggests that a photo identification requirement would do more harm than good. An estimated 6 to 10 percent of voting-age Americans do not possess a state-issued photo identification card, and in states such as Wisconsin 78 percent of African-American men ages 18-24 lack a driver’s license. By comparison, a study of 2.8 million ballots cast in 2004 in Washington State showed only 0.0009 percent of the ballots involved double voting or voting in the name of deceased individuals. If further study confirms that photo identification requirements would deter over 6,700 legitimate votes for every single fraudulent vote prevented, a photo identification requirement would increase the likelihood of erroneous election outcomes.
So requiring an ID will keep poor folks -- who tend to vote dem -- from voting. Actually, the testimony is pretty fascinating. For example:
Anecdotes about voter fraud are also misleading and fail to indicate the frequency of the alleged fraud.
For example, although John Kerry lost the 2004 presidential race nationwide, he won Wisconsin by just 11,000 votes. Republicans suspected that massive fraud swung the Wisconsin election to Kerry, and pushed for a photo identification requirement at the polls.
In August 2005, Republican politicians in Wisconsin held a press conference to emphasize the need for a photo identification requirement. The Republicans announced that their research uncovered nine people who voted in Milwaukee in November 2004 and also cast ballots in Chicago, Minneapolis, or Madison.
So, to explain their theory of 'massive voter fraud' throwing Wisconsin to Kerry, these GOP cheeseheads managed to dig up nine people and used them to represent 11,000 votes -- a ridiculous claim.
And the big fence?
Good thing that mexicans don't know about ladders.
Tags: news politics congress elections voting republican immigration bullshit
