OPINION:
With the 2016 presidential election approaching, Democrats’ attempts to restore voting rights for convicted felons and dismantle voter-ID laws exposes a discredited left desperate to increase turnout by racially manufacturing and exploiting the “voter suppression” fallacy.
The Supreme Court’s 2008 Crawford v. Marion County Election Board decision found liberal Justice John Paul Stevens writing the 6-3 majority opinion upholding voter ID — and it infuriated the left. Progressives love to lecture us that Obamacare and abortion decisions are “the law of the land,” yet they scoff at recognizing voter ID as equally settled case law.
Like Supreme Court rulings, photo-ID requirements for certain amendments in the Bill of Rights are hypocritically predicated on what Democrats favor or abhor. Photo ID for our 12th Amendment right to vote is onerous and discriminatory. Yet photo ID, background checks and waiting periods are “common-sense” barriers to navigate prior to exercising our Second Amendment rights.
Minorities collecting various government handouts with ID are capable of ensuring their votes’ sanctity by producing thaeir ID prior to voting. An Aug. 22, 2016 Gallup poll found that 77 percent of all minorities favor using photo ID to cast ballots, while 80 percent of all Americans support photo ID to protect the integrity (not ubiquity) of the franchise.
If the GOP abandons the majority and surrenders to the inevitable Democratic and media race baiting, a spirited Republican bid for the dead vote — monopolized by the left since Tammany Hall — must immediately commence.
STEVEN DONNELLY
Cowansville, Pa.
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