Voter ID Laws

                In 2008 the United States Supreme Court declared in a 6-3 decision that voter ID is constitutional.  Since this court decision, thirty-four states have adopted some form of ID laws.  Pat McCrory, governor of North Carolina, signed a voter ID bill into law in August 2013.  Critics of the law claimed it would suppress minority turnout, but the law actually increased black voter turnout.

                On July 7 the U.S. Department of Justice will ask a U.S. District Court for an injunction against the North Carolina law before the November 2014 election.  The Obama administration claims the law makes it more difficult for minorities to vote, but the facts seem to prove the opposite point.

                The Blaze published the results of a Judicial Watch commissioned a study that seems to prove the claims to be bogus.  “Comparing May 4, 2010 North Carolina primary election data with the May 14, 2014 primary data, the study found that voter turnout increased across the board, but particularly among black voters, where it increased by 29.5 percent, compared to an increase of white voter turnout of 13.7 percent.  The findings were based on Census Bureau data and public names who signed the voter rolls.”

                In addition to requiring identification to vote, North Carolina and thirty-seven other states do not allow same-day voter registration.  According to Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, “The recent election in North Carolina shows that the Obama administration is engaged in a race-baiting canard when it suggests that voting integrity measures suppress minority….  It is high time that the Obama administration comes into line with the majority of the American people who want to strengthen rather than weaken ballot box integrity.”

                What do you think?  In a world where we must show picture identification to open a bank account, to get a mammogram, to get on an airplane, to register for Medicare and Social Security, and dozens of other places, do you believe requiring identification to vote presents a hardship to people?  I do not.  I am grateful that states are standing up to the federal government and passing laws to require voters to prove they are who they say they are.