Ignorance breeds contempt.
I was stunned into eye-rolling disbelief and embarrassed silence the first time I heard a rumor about the Voting Rights Act of 1965. When I began writing columns a few years ago, I’d get e-mails from black people concerned about their voting rights. Some thought that when the Act expired, blacks would lose the right to vote.
This is what happens when people allow hysteria and race-baiting to override common sense.
The Fifteenth Amendment prevented states from denying citizens the right to vote based on race, and whites tried to keep them from voting by a variety of ill-conceived tricks. Such was the “grandfather clause.” One had to descend from citizens who had the right to vote, which meant, in most cases, former slaves and their descendants couldn’t vote. These clauses were unconstitutional, so declared the Supreme Court in Guinn v. United States.
There’s no greater motivation than determination. Some states continued to disenfranchise blacks by requiring literacy tests. As educating slaves was illegal, there was an educational lag between former slaves, their descendants, and everybody else. Literacy tests were a blatant and obvious attempt to further disenfranchise blacks, although it unintentionally did the same to illiterate whites. In the face of this resistance, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
There are no such things as absolute rights, at least not on this planet. Voting is a fundamental right, but like all others, it is subject to reasonable restrictions. You must be at least 18, for instance, and you’re required to register. According to the Sentencing Project, most states bar felons and ex-felons from voting. Prisoners in 48 states and DC can’t vote. (Picture a child rapist exercising his “fundamental right” to cast a ballot).
What’s the rationale for barring prisoners from voting? As I said, rights aren’t absolute, including freedom, and the government may legitimately deny criminals this right. Their freedom to travel, for example, is also restricted. (Sarcasm off) The Fourteenth Amendment allows for this denial “for participation in rebellion, or other crime…”
That laws denying felons and ex-felons the right to vote disproportionately impact blacks signifies a serious problem with rampant criminality, but as politicians are wont to do, it becomes a “discrimination” issue. Defining deviancy downward is the way of the world, human nature being what it is.
In that regard, requiring picture identification to vote is a reasonable requirement designed to curb voter fraud (votes by illegal aliens and dead people, for example) and shouldn’t be ignorantly compared to requiring people to pay high poll taxes. Even as I write this, however, black so-called leaders and politicians are doing just that. They’re comparing the Georgia law requiring voters to show state-issued identification before voting to disenfranchisement tactics. These educated men and women living in a free country whip up hysteria and racial resentment among people they know are too lazy to learn the truth for themselves.
And the vultures always fail to mention that residents with no driver’s license who can’t afford to pay for non-driver’s ID (cost is one of the “disenfranchisement” arguments) would receive one free of charge. 
The left-leaning Washington Post was so eager to put out a race-baiting voter story, it got the headline wrong. If you didn’t take time to read the story, you’d have been under the mistaken impression that Georgia had revived the unconstitutional poll tax.
There are legitimate reasons to require voters to show a state-issued picture ID, and such does not compare — it doesn’t even come close — to voter discrimination from back in the day. To claim otherwise is to treat blacks like newly-freed slaves, a perverse practice, but one that is financially and politically profitable.
Related posts:
- Voter ID Requirement Reminiscent of 1954, Says Black Politician
- Dreading Dred Scott
- Watch Out for Jim Crow
Sources
- Some provisions of Voting Rights Act expire in 2007
- Jurist — story on Georgia ID law
Update: Allan Wall, who just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, sends a link to an article he wrote about Mexico’s voting system. By the way, Wall lives in Mexico legally.
Karen of Scottsdale blogs about her voter-ID voting experience in Arizona.
La Shawn:
The most unhappy people in the USA are the attorneys in the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division. They have nothing to do. So they search for “violations of the Voting rights act.”
They recently filed a complaint in Ohio, the first one since 2000.
And the only lawsuit on this issue was recently won in Mississippi - a lawsuit by White voters who had their voting rights violated by Blacks.
Comment by Frank Zavisca — 03.31.06 @ 9:03 am
I have to show a picture I.D. in South Louisiana in order to vote.
Frank, Is it the same in North Louisiana?
Comment by Ralph — 03.31.06 @ 10:11 am
“votes by illegal aliens and dead people”–CHICAGO! They even bus in people from nursing homes and other places and tell them how to vote.
Comment by mj — 03.31.06 @ 10:20 am
The Benefit of Historical Accuracy is Clear Eyed Reality
Henri Nouwen states in his book The Wounded Healer a principle along these lines; history gives context for the present which can then give hope for the future. He writes this in his account of the Nuclear Man. I love this framework of time because it …
Trackback by Everyday Thoughts Collected — 03.31.06 @ 10:37 am
In NM we let felons vote. They have a few bureaucratic hoops to go through but if they value their right to vote they can. I don’t mind this too much, they’ve done their time. Prisoners voting however is a problem because like anyone they will generally vote for politicians that promise them things. Such as shorter sentencing for various crimes, more prisoner’s rights, lax parole restrictions, less money for law enforcement, etc. What they want I don’t, and a politician pandering for the criminal vote is detrimental to society. Voter ID is racist because illegal aliens would be disenfranchised and as we’ve seen in the recent street demonstrations they have “rightsâ€. The Democratic party in NM, the same one that recently said they would like to impeach the President in a time of war for vigorously protecting us from terrorist, will not allow picture ID requirements for voting. I consider them the pro-voter fraud party.
Comment by Rancher — 03.31.06 @ 11:03 am
Theoretically, I don’t have a problem with allow ex-prisoners who’ve served their time to vote. After we’ve paid the consequences, we should get a second chance to be law-abiding, participating citizens.
Comment by La Shawn — 03.31.06 @ 11:06 am
Rancher,
This little tidbit you mentioned stands out:
“Voter ID is racist because illegal aliens would be disenfranchised and as we’ve seen in the recent street demonstrations they have “rightsâ€.”
If the DEMS had their way we would send ballots to France, Germany, Palestine and the UN STAFF so they could help us determine our laws and our leaders.
Comment by Renee — 03.31.06 @ 11:12 am
Rather than discuss the actual act and confusion over it, I’d like to know what people - especially our honored Webmistress - think would be effective ways to combat the ease by which such lies are spread through communities. How can we get the truth out, and more importantly, how can we immunize people against this sort of malicious and deliberate lie?
Comment by Christopher Taylor — 03.31.06 @ 11:31 am
According to their website, the Georgia Department of Driver Services charges the following fees.
Non CDL license = $20, good for 5 years
State ID Card = $20, good for 5 years
State ID for voting only = FREE, good for 10 years
That doesn’t sound very oppressive to me. The cost for a permanent license ID averages out to a whopping four bucks a year for the life of that card, and like you already said, the voter only card is completely free to those who qualify. Even the poorest among us can afford these fees without any real trouble.
This all comes down to preventing voter fraud, and that’s why the Dems are against it. No different than in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s election system, especially in the Milwaukee and Madison areas is a joke. For every major election, literally thousands of mystery votes are cast and counted in Milwaukee alone. The Republicans in Wisconsin have tried to get voter ID legislation passed on multiple occasions, but liberal governor Jim Doyle refuses to sign it.
Anyone who says this is about civil rights is an outright liar.
Comment by John — 03.31.06 @ 11:47 am
The voters of Arizona passed Proposition 200 back in 2004 which mostly dealt with requiring state agencies to follow existing laws and not provide benefits to non-US citizens living in Arizona. This proposition also required that one must show identification when casting their ballots. The voters in Arizona overwhelmingly approved this law but our Democrat governor fought like crazy in court to prevent most of the provisions of the law from being enacted. She lost and we won thankfully! I blogged about my first voting experience of this year when the requirements to show identification finally took effect.
Comment by Karen of Scottsdale — 03.31.06 @ 11:58 am
Well Christopher, a fundamental but seemingly impossible way would be to raise the level of eduction, especially among blacks. Families should make education in general and reading in particular of the utmost importance. Turning off the idiot boxes that kids spent countless hours watching would be a start. Filling homes with books, encouraging kids to visit libraries and museums…all of these are basic things that will cultivate a desire to LEARN and KNOW, and not just parrot and accept. By the time such kids grow up, perhaps they won’t be as ignorant as their parents.
Comment by La Shawn — 03.31.06 @ 12:15 pm
Ralph:
Yes, in N LA it is the same. Everyone has to show a photo ID.
Comment by Frank Zavisca — 03.31.06 @ 12:31 pm
Here in Texas you have to show a valid ID to vote. Only makes sense to me. How else can they be sure you are who you say you are?
Comment by Ian MacD. — 03.31.06 @ 12:42 pm
LaShawn Barber has a post that discusses both the history of voting rights, specifically those of African Americans, and how the current push for photo or state ID as a requirement to vote is not comparable to the high poll taxes, grandfather clauses, etc of the past. LaShawn also points out how many stories have hinted or inferred that the ID requirement is a attempt to revoke the voting privileges of some and return to the practices of the past. That inference is simply not true.
Pingback by Swap Blog — 03.31.06 @ 12:49 pm
I have met people who proclaim proudly that they “don’t vote, what difference does it make anyway?” Now what do we do with these folks; change their minds, or agree with them?
Comment by Tom Bosee — 03.31.06 @ 1:43 pm
La Shawn BarberWeighs In On Voter ID Requirements
Count on LaShawn to offer a level-headed, well-considered opinion:…requiring picture identification to vote is a reasonable requirement designed to curb voter fraud (votes by illegal aliens and dead people, for example) and shouldn’t be ignorantly …
Trackback by Area417 — 03.31.06 @ 2:07 pm
I followed the link to VDare, and really liked what I read-if Mexico has a better voter registration than we do, we should follow their example.
I posted yesterday about illegal immigration and pointed back here to Renee having made the clear comment about what it is: coveting. And I was lightly charged with racism by a friend who said, “But why is the debate always about the Others Who Invade Our Country, (who, it has to be said, don’t look Like Us) and not the people who make it worth their while to come?”
-as if my opposition to illegal immigrants was because of their ‘race’and not their actions.
Anyone playing a ‘race card’ is no longer playing with a full deck. I dread the political season coming up-the crop of lies and political disinformation which have been growing for 2 years will be harvested in November. The protesting thousands of Latinos/others in the past week, the referendums to censure the President cropping up in dozens of tiny liberal municipalities, the anti-War efforts of the farthest left–all of this will be bundled together as evidence that the Republican admin has lost it’s way, and the only vision for the future belongs to the Democrats.
Baloney. Don’t focus on the spinning watch they try to hypnotize you with-watch for the tricks. No one can incite your emotions for his political agenda if your mind remains clear.
Comment by Doug — 03.31.06 @ 2:20 pm
I have to agree with La shawn on the ‘chance to try to be a good citizen again’ thing…
I have a friend that did 5 years in prison for burglary, got out, went to work and never looked back, he was 17 when he went to prison and now he’s 48 and a very successful businessman, he’s a Conservative Republican, he votes in his home state, which granted him that ‘right’ back, and IMO, he deserves it, he’s never had so much as a traffic ticket in the last 26 years and I feel he paid for his ‘youthful indescretion’…
Now, should ever revert to his ‘past life’, I feel that he should lose ALL rights to voting, as well as a few other ‘rights’, but why should ANY man or woman that’s paid their dues for making their mistake be denied the right to vote??
Also, in the same vein, gun ownership is also denied… And on that one I am still undecided, IMO, if their crime involved the use of a gun, yeah, that right needs to be gone, but what if it didn’t involve a gun?? That is an entirely different topic of discussion I am guessing…
Comment by TexasFred — 03.31.06 @ 4:35 pm
The Republican controlled Georgia legislature enacted the Voter ID law to allegedly curb voter fraud. Notably, there was no evidence of voter fraud in Georgia, except fraud associated with absentee ballots. Georgia’s Voter ID law does not make it tougher for absentee voters, only for those who vote on election day. For the record, before the enactment of the new law, Georgia required one of 17 approved forms of ID before anyone could vote.
Comment by Antonio — 03.31.06 @ 4:37 pm
One voter ID scenario I worry about: what about the mis-guided hacktivist high school student (perhaps under a teacher’s influence) who steals his parents’ voter ID cards–just for election day. A non-voter (minor) has now commandeered two votes. That’s bad.
Comment by The Scrutinator — 04.01.06 @ 2:12 am
In Washington convicted felons have their civil rights (including voting but excluding firearms) restored after they have successfully completed parole. But I think if one was to max out their sentence they would have to petion the state for those rights back. It seems to be a logical system to me. I agree with the many posters concerning voting by prisoners and illegal aliens but I would also add those on active parole into that same category. I think that evry person should show valid ID when voting. The thing that worries me about Washington is the huge amount of absentee ballotting. I can understand if there is no way you can get to a polling places but in many places in Washington you are automatically an absentee voter. A couple of examples I lived in South Everett for a few years and I was automatically an absentee voter which is strange when you consider I was about 5 blocks from the local polling place. I think that automatic absentee voting leaves the door open for massive fraud.
Comment by James — 04.01.06 @ 3:40 am
If we’re gonna disenfranchise a hypenated group, let’s keep Irish-Americans from voting. They’ve been a pain ever since they got here.
Comment by RedBeard — 04.01.06 @ 2:02 pm
LaShawn-
They’re comparing the Georgia law requiring voters to show state-issued identification before voting to disenfranchisement tactics.
I was a “first-time” poll worker for the 2004 Pres. election here in Columbus, OH.(I’m officially registered as an “independent”-the only Repub I ever voted for President was Reagan in 84- - but I worked as a “Republican” because they were the first to call me.)
A poll-worker is only allowed to ask the voter for ‘name and address’… yet I would guess that about 2/3 of the voters I “checked in” against the registry voluntarily offered an “official” ID(driver’s liscense, State ID, and/or their voter/precinct notification card) before I ever said a word!—and this was a precinct that voted for Kerry over Bush at about 60-40.
Comment by scott — 04.01.06 @ 6:51 pm
I wrote a piece on this very issue back in december, after one of my then-active trolls raised the issue. I’ve been dealing with it every term in my night class for eight years, because someone always is telling me in class that “I got an email that said…” or “My pastor told us this past Sunday that…” or “My homegirl/mama/cousin/boyfriend/neighborhood crack-dealer says that…” and insisting that it is Gospel truth.
Glad to see someone else dealing with it.
Comment by Rhymes With Right — 04.02.06 @ 9:13 am
Voting Rights Don’t Expire In 2007 — Or Ever
My latest troll, howard, seems to have fallen into the same trap that too many folks have fallen victim to over the years regarding the Voting Rights Act. And by the way, have you explained to your students why part…
Trackback by Rhymes With Right — 04.02.06 @ 9:20 am
This must end. We went for over three years without a representative for our area in the county while the “Civil rights lawyers” debated this or that plan. The 50s are over!
Comment by Chief RZ — 04.03.06 @ 3:50 pm