Fraud argument weak in voter ID laws

The Daily Herald has recently published a number of Fence Post letters on the subject of voter ID laws. Some have argued they are necessary to protect the integrity of our election system. Other have argued that they are a transparent attempt to suppress the Democratic vote. In deciding this issue, the core question should be does voter fraud exist? What is the evidence? What are the facts?

The Republican National Lawyers Association has posted results of a study on its website (rnla.org) that attempts to answer this question. The group’s mission is “Advancing Open, Fair and Honest Elections” and “Advancing Republican Ideals.” This is a partisan right-wing organization that has lobbied for the enactment of Voter ID laws. According to the RNLA, 31 states had three or fewer voter fraud convictions from 2000 to 2010. Twenty-one states had only one or two convictions over that time period. Four states had none. In other words, this organization’s own evidence shows that voter fraud is extremely rare, and nonexistent is some places.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits states from imposing any “voting qualification or prerequisite to voting, or standard, practice or procedure ... to deny or abridge the right of any citizen of the United States to vote on account of race or color.” Voter ID laws overwhelmingly affect the poor among us, and African-Americans in particular, and take away the legal voting rights of thousands upon thousands of qualified voters. Voter ID laws have been enacted based on flimsy, nearly nonexistent evidence of wrongdoing. This is un-American.

Voter ID laws are a transparent strategy by the Republican Party to suppress the Democratic vote. If there was better explanation, surely the Republican National Lawyers Association would have presented it.

Michael E. Fredian

Arlington Heights