The debate surrounding laws requiring a photo ID to vote has been quite contentious lately, with Texas as the most recent state to be thrust into the conversation. Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, who currently serves as the Chairman of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus within the Texas House of Representatives, traveled to the nation’s Capitol recently to argue against the Voter ID law.
His reasoning was based upon an absurd observation: he claimed that the lack of transportation posed as a serious problem for many individuals. “In West Texas, some people would have a 200-mile round-trip drive to the nearest state office to get a card,” he exclaimed.
This sentiment was echoed by Attorney General Eric Holder last week at the NAACP Convention in Houston. “Under the Texas law, many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them — and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them,” he said.
Once again, we are hearing an irrational argument against Voter ID laws under the false pretense of protecting minorities. The underlying notion is that the poor and minorities are either ignorant of how to access public transportation, or that they are too indolent to acquire an ID. If there were a problem with transportation issues, it should be addressed by the local and state governments of Texas. It is not a matter of where the Department of Justice should intervene or draw any kind of conclusion.As someone who has utilized the ability to use public transportation in lieu of a personal vehicle, I have never seen or heard complaints of people not being able to locate the Department of Motor Vehicles or any other place that would produce a valid identification card.
It is true that many poor and minority individuals access public transportation- it aides them in their day-to-day activities such as grocery shopping, doctor appointments, and educational trips, among other typical activities. To imply that this would be a hindrance in getting a photo ID is simply arrogant and asinine. Are white people the only ones smart enough to travel through the right avenues in purchasing an ID? Do the poor and minorities automatically have to have a spokesperson to interpret what they think and how they feel? Why is it so easy to invoke the race card in an issue that is not complicated and perplexing but a measure that will benefit anyone who wants to vote? Why is voter fraud being tolerated? These are just some basic questions that will pierce right through the liberal Left’s ideology concerning this important matter.
Catherine Englebrecht, a Houston native, founded the non-partisan group True The Vote after the 2008 elections. In Harris County, TX, there were more than 23,000 invalid voter registration forms turned in by ACORN workers.
The group found the four overwhelming GOP districts had an estimated 1,973 to 3,300 instances with six or more people registered to one street address and the three large Democratic districts themselves had outstanding varying numbers between them in the number of cases with six or more registered voters at one address. The first consisted of 7,560, the second had 8,981, and the third had 19,596 instances with six or more voters registered at one address.
Voter fraud is a reality, not some kind of fantasy election scheme created to cause a racial or partisan division. We need more people like Catherine and True the Vote to combat these atrocities, or the freedom to vote will become a nightmare for all.
