Our right to vote is under attack.
Sweeping new laws — including an end to same-day registration and cuts to early voting — could disenfranchise millions of voters in 2012.
The most controversial voter suppression tactics are photo ID laws, which have been proposed in 35 states. Nearly a dozen, including Georgia, have passed strict voter ID laws pushed mostly by Republican-led legislatures.
Proponents say they prevent voter fraud but have difficulty showing there are many people — if any — voting under a false identity. From 2002 to 2007, the Justice Department conducted an investigation and failed to prosecute anyone for impersonating an eligible voter.
Minorities, the poor, elderly, students and the disabled — groups less likely to have a government ID — are disproportionately affected by such laws. An estimated 21 million people do not have a current, government-issued photo ID. The numbers are even higher for black people, Hispanics and other minorities.
The Texas Legislature passed one of the worst such laws, whereby a concealed-weapon permit qualifies as a voter ID while a student ID does not.
An Associated Press investigation in South Carolina had telling results. It found that older voters, regardless of party, are hurt by photo ID laws. And at a historically black college precinct in Columbia, nearly half the voters who cast a ballot there lack a state-issued ID, and could face problems voting in next year’s election, the AP said.
It would be interesting to see what an independent investigation of Georgia’s voter ID law uncovers.
To prove ID laws do not affect minorities, Georgia’s secretary of state says a higher percentage of black people voted in 2010 after the voter ID law was in place than in 2006, before the law.
But mistaking simple correlation for causation does not tell the whole story.
In North Carolina, where there are no voter ID laws, the percentage of black people who voted in 2010 compared to 2006 grew at a much higher rate than Georgia. Claiming that because more minorities voted in elections after voter ID laws were in place dismisses a myriad of other factors.
As the Brennan Center for Justice said, “the assertion that Georgia’s voter ID requirement didn’t suppress turnout is meaningless — at best unscientific and at worst just plain wrong.”
I’m not here to bash our secretary of state’s office, which I applaud for working hard to ensure secure and fair elections.
My concern is that strict photo ID laws exclude more voters than the amount of fraud it claims to prevent. All fraud is not the same. The vast majority of documented cases of fraud occur with absentee ballots. Voter IDs are not the answer.
In a democracy that considers 50 percent an excellent turnout, shouldn’t we be making the ballot more accessible? It seems unreasonable to require people who are the least mobile and with the least means to bear the burden.
On Dec. 10, the NAACP, along with other groups, will have a nationwide protest against voter suppression efforts. I think the Justice Department should more vigorously challenge these voter ID laws — especially in states covered by the Voting Rights Act.
Nothing is more fundamental in our democracy than the right to vote. We must reject any attempts to curb citizens’ access to the ballot. It’s not right, it’s not fair, and it’s un-American.
U.S. House Representative Hank Johnson, D-Ga., represents Georgia’s 4th District.
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