Here's the Iowa GOP/Paul Pate/Ken Rizer approach to maintaining Republican control in the statehouse, disguised as concern about voting procedures in the state. This is not unique to Iowa, oh, no sir ... this process is a familiar one in the GOP/ALEC playbook that's been used in many states. We're just seeing it about to come to fruition here.
1) Realize demographics are against you, as the future population of Iowa will contain more groups that tend to vote Democratic instead of Republican.
2) Start planting nonsense about electoral fraud and questionable votes ("I would have won the popular vote if it wasn't for those three to five million illegal votes" "busloads of voters were brought in from out of state, ask anybody").
3) Once this has sunk in, quote polls of voters that show there's concerns about the validity of the electoral process (why, wherever might they have gotten that idea from?).
4) Come up with a Voter ID law that sounds simple to the general public ("I have to show my drivers license to buy beer, why not show it to vote?") but not-so-coincidentally puts additional hurdles in the way of certain (usually Democratic) voters - the poor, the elderly, those who don't drive. But hey! People are concerned about voter fraud! We're helping! Pay no attention to the fact this law fixes a problem that doesn't exist! Look, over there! That woman voted for Trump twice (never mind she was caught with our current laws and procedures, by the way)!
5) Claim this new process would make voting "as easy as going through the express line at the supermarket" but be sure not to appropriate any money to help the poor and elderly to obtain these magical voter ID cards.
6) Profit!
Voila! We've prevented more voters who tend to vote against us from going to the polls, while voters get deluded into a false sense of security because we fixed a nonexistent problem! Yay, Republicans!
Let's be very, very clear here. This Voter ID proposal does absolutely nothing to improve the validity of voting in Iowa. Voter impersonation - which is the only form of fraud this bill would have an effect on - is next to nonexistent. Our system of voting is not perfect, mistakes happen, things get screwed up ... but every single investigation of voter fraud in this country has found a vanishingly small amount of it.
So why are Republicans so anxious to ram through Voter ID laws, laws that would increase state and county spending, laws that fix problems that don't even exist? Is it to assuage voter fears of massive illegal voting (fears stoked by the Republicans themselves)? Well, it may do that, but the GOP wouldn't be spending tax dollars simply to make voters feel better.
What is the effect? That's what you need to look at. Voter ID laws raise the voting bar for citizens who may not have a drivers license, forcing them to jump through additional hoops just to vote. They have to make special trips to get that ID (and remember, they don't have a drivers license), perhaps produce copies of their birth certificate (do you know where your birth certificate is right now?). That tends to be the poor, the elderly, the populations that are struggling to just get by ... and oh, by the way, these groups often tend to vote Democratic. Funny how that's the case, right?
These laws are cynical, hateful, and counterproductive to democracy. Don't be misled by the hypocritical stoking of fears about voter fraud ... it practically doesn't exist, and GOP investigations have proven that fact. These laws are about one thing and one thing only - suppression of voters that tend to support your opponents.
Which problem would you rather have? Ten non-proper voters casting votes, or fifty eligible voters being prevented from voting? That's the choice the GOP is giving us, and they're banking on us taking the latter. Unfortunately, since most of those fifty voters aren't "like us," they're probably right.
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