Voter Fraud vs. voter suppression

A friend posted on Facebook about the new voter laws being on the books and questioned why it was such an uproar. I am not trying to hijack her discussion, nor do I want to offend her, but it has made me think about this subject a little more.

It is true that we ask for ID for anything we do now so it should be a foregone conclusion that everyone has one, right? You all know I lean left when it comes to politics, but I had to think a little about both sides stances. I think that both sides are truly hiding the reasoning behind why there is a big push.

Make no mistake that this is a push by the GOP party. The Republicans own this legislation. Why all of a sudden do we need to implement these laws? Why now in a Presidential election year? Would this be advantageous for the GOP to do this now? In 2010, the GOP made huge gains in many states not just in the National stage, but also in the State-wide races as well. Is this an attempt to keep the people elected, elected?

There is no evidence that wide-spread fraud is occurring. In fact, the biggest problems with voting has been the people that oversee the elections and election sites eg. adding more votes that weren't there, losing certain votes, etc. That is where the actual vote cheating is occurring. So a solution was created where there was not a problem.

Pennsylvania passed the law in March. That gave the state a little over 7 months to create a system and implement it.Why does it have to be so quick? When was the last time any state or Federal program was ever rolled out that quick? I know seniors especially the elderly that don't have, lost, or have the wrong name on their birth certificate. Many of these people don't drive or are limited in driving. It takes time to remedy these issues.

You may say that the Democrats are saying that this is hurting the poor. But if your poor, you have these documents already especially if you are receiving assistance (housing, food, etc.). So that particular argument doesn't wash with me. They are just ticked off because this shouldn't be a law to begin with. I still don't know if that is true or not. I still flip flop on this issue.

Here is the bottom line, as I see it. The GOP establishment is pushing this now so they can add another obstacle for low-income and seniors to overcome. If it is an obstacle or not, that is why they are doing it. They are doing it under this ruse they are calling voter fraud. Democrats are mad because the GOP is going to take votes away this elections. That may or may not be true.

In the end, I am probably for this law. It can legitimatize the election process. In fact, I always wondered why we didn't have to show ID to vote. But in the short term, the GOP is trying to hijack this election cycle.