Finally, some good news on the Republican voter suppression front. The unnecessary Voter ID law (unnecessary because actual cases of “voter fraud” are essentially non-existent) passed by the Minnesota Legislature was vetoed by Governor Mark Dayton yesterday.
(Reuters) – Democratic Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have required voters to provide photo identification to cast votes.
Dayton cited a lack of broad bi-partisan support for the bill and its potential as a $23 million unfunded mandate on local governments in part for his veto. The Republican-led Legislature had sent the bill to him on Monday. […]
Dayton said he did not believe voter fraud to be a significant problem in Minnesota and that the reason most often cited for requiring photo identification, felons voting, would not be resolved by the bill.
“We have the highest voter turnout year after year and under intense, bipartisan scrutiny, the recent statewide recounts have highlighted how reliable the results are,” Dayton said in a letter notifying the Senate of his veto.
The massive Voter fraud lies of the Republicans and their claim that voter ID laws are necessary to protect the “integrity of our elections” is the biggest election con game going. Actual voter fraud indictments are extremely rare, and were so even under the Bush administration which made it a point of emphasis to find them, leading to the US Attorney Firing Scandal when a few principled US attorneys, despite their party affiliation refused to prosecute cases that simply didn’t exist.
According to a report by the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department, from October 2002 through September 2005, the Justice Department charged 95 people with “election fraud” and convicted 55. Among those, however, just 17 individuals were convicted for casting fraudulent ballots; cases against three other individuals accused of casting fraudulent votes were pending at the time of the report. In addition, the Justice Department convicted one election official of submitting fraudulent ballots and convicted five individuals of registration fraud, with cases against 12 individuals pending at the time of the report. Thirty-two individuals were convicted of other “election fraud” issues, including Republicans convicted of offenses arising from “a scheme to block the phone lines used by two Manchester [New Hampshire] organizations to arrange drives to the polls during the 2002 general election.” In other words, many of these convictions were connected to voter suppression efforts, not voter fraud. Several other people listed in the report were convicted of vote-buying.
Yet eleven states have voter ID laws on the books. The real purpose of the laws is to suppress the vote among minority and college age populations.
After their historic defeat in 2008 was fueled by surging minority turnout, Republicans nationwide are backing Voter ID laws that would cost taxpayers millions of dollars and disenfranchise millions of African-American and Hispanic voters.
In the aftermath of 2008, Republicans in states across the country have used the boogeyman of voter fraud to pass Voter ID measures, but as the Brennan Center for Justice noted, voters are more likely to be struck by lightning than commit voter fraud. The Bush Justice Department spent 5 years on a voter fraud investigation, and came up with 86 convictions out of 196 million votes cast. These new laws don’t come cheap. Depending on the size of the state, tens of millions tax payer dollars must be spent to implement them.
Rachel Maddow has focused on the attack on new voters and the state of Kansas, but just as much as young people, seniors, the poor, and the disabled, there are two particular groups that these laws are targeting. These laws are specifically going after Hispanic and African-American voters. The 2008 electorate was the most diverse in American history, and the GOP is out to put a stop to that.
Kudos to Governor Dayton for sticking up for those voters against whom this law targeted and was intended to disenfranchise. For once the cheaters will not prosper.
