Most of the time, when Republican policymakers talk about voter-ID laws, they maintain the pretense that the measures are only intended to prevent imaginary voter fraud. "No, we're not trying to disenfranchise the constituencies that traditionally vote Democratic," they say. "That's just a coincidental byproduct of our nonpartisan proposals."
But once in a while, Republicans slip up and concede what everyone already knows to be true.
Politics PA's Kelly Cernetich published this report earlier on Pennsylvania Republican Party's state committee meeting, held over the weekend.
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) suggested that the House's end game in passing the Voter ID law was to benefit the GOP politically.
"We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we've talked about for years," said Turzai in a speech to committee members Saturday. He mentioned the law among a laundry list of accomplishments made by the GOP-run legislature.
"Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it's done. First pro-life legislation -- abortion facility regulations -- in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done."
The Republicans in attendance cheered, and I suppose that's to be expected -- the disenfranchisement of traditional Democratic voters is bound to make Republicans applaud.
But but the state lawmaker's candor was a reminder that Pennsylvania's voter-ID law isn't about the integrity of the process; it's about ensuring Republican victories by rigging the game.
State Sen. Daylin Leach, a Democratic critic of voter ID, told Cernetich, "This is making clear to everyone what Voter ID was all about. This is about one thing: disenfranchising Democratic voters and rigging elections for Republicans. When they get behind closed doors, they admit it. And that's exactly what Turzai did."
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Folks, it's time that --We Get Even--
I say the next Democratic majority in Congress should pass a law that permanently removes the right to vote from anyone who has:
(A) ever been convicted of income tax fraud or tax evasion, or
(B) anyone who is not current or who owes back-taxes to a city, county, or state on real property, or
(C) anyone who is not current or has failed to pay the full amount of federal taxes due over the previous 4 years, or
(D) anyone who is chairman, CEO, CFO, president, vice president, controller, officer, advisor, or on the board of -any corporation that has moved it's headquarters off-shore in order to avoid or reduce corporate taxes, -or has had assets seized by the IRS or ATF, or has been sanctioned in the previous 4 years for violating EPA regulations for environmental pollution, or
(E) anyone employed in the above capacity by a corporation, bank, or investment house that was bailed out by the tax payers since year 2002, or was sanctioned by the SEC or other duly authorized regulatory authority in the previous 4 years for violations of financial regulatory or criminal laws, or
(F) Any individual convicted of defrauding investors or violating stock market insider-trading laws, or
(G) Anyone employed in the above capacity by a casino or other gambling establishment that has been sanctioned in the previous 4 years by a duly authorized authority for violation of tax law, gambling regulations, or the interstate commerce clause, or
(H) Anyone employed in the above capacity by a church, tax-exempt religious organization, or charity that violated the stipulations of it's tax-exempt status by engaging in certain prohibited political activities, or
(I) Anyone employed in the above capacity by a company that advised or supplied pertinent information to any state that subsequently deprived or disenfranchised a citizen of their legitimate voter rights through a purge or other civil mechanism that was based on that information or advice.
(J) Anyone employed in the above capacity by a company that has engaged in a union lock-out as a bargaining tactic in the previous 4 years.
That's a start.
I would add that any company or corporation guilty of the above infractions be disallowed from making political campaign or PAC contributions of any kind.
Republicans have taken full advantage of the opportunity to deny political rights to individuals (real people), but they never bothered to delineate how artificial citizens like corporations might also lose their "political rights".
Shall we fix their oversight? Damn right we should. It's time they put their money where their mouth is.
No harm admitting to being sleazy and underhanded...is there? I would have added stupid, but, well, I'll let the gentleman speak for himself!
Assuming you meant Turzai.
Of course this is all pointless let's face it if someone is going to vote fraudulently they are also likely to get fake or forged id to prove who they are. It is like verifying age on the internet it can't be done because you can't see the person to verify they are who they claim to be.
Remember all the cases of stolen ID and the various services advertised to help prevent it?
There could even be a more sinister plan behind it. Making sure all persons have to have identity cards/papers to better control the populace. Especially as in recent years there has been much talk of putting microchips and possibly gps capabilities into said identification cards.
...
If you really want to vote, you'll find a way to do it.
If you show up at the polling place without an ID... just means you didn't really want to vote that bad.
Seriously, the Republicans are out to suppress the votes in PA. They've passed an ID law that disenfrancises many voters. The question is:
How are these voters to know that they won't be able to vote? Has the state notified them in some manner, or will they go to vote and be turned away? What legal recourse do these people have? And now do they have to reregister to vote? At what cost? If there is a charge, doesn't that constitute a poll tax to register to vote?