You were not amused…
…upon hearing that they’re trying to take the vote away again.
In response to Monday’s missive on ratifying the 24th Amendment and the proposed voter suppression bills the Lege is considering, you told us loud and clear that Texas should be the 41st state to ratify and that you don’t believe the pro-suppression advocates who say there’s widespread voter fraud. Here are excerpts from 5 of the many folks who responded:
“As a veteran election judge who has worked the polls for more than 20 years, I believe that voter fraud is extremely rare and if there is any out there, it wouldn’t make a difference in the outcome of any election, anyway.”
“I feel that the spin machine of powerful interests is attempting to muddy the water on the voter fraud [issue]. Instead of focusing on the real issues which were so obvious in Florida and then again in Ohio, these powerful interests began pointing their collective fingers at virtually non-existent voting fraud on the part of individuals.”
“I am ashamed of my great state in that it has not yet seen fit to assure that it supports the rights of all people to freely vote in elections. I volunteered for the USAF when John Kennedy asked me what I could do for my country. I served proudly with folks of all colors, genders, and cultural backgrounds/origins. I cannot imagine denying the right to vote to any of these people.”
“… 70% of eligible voters in Texas DO NOT VOTE… This voter apathy IS the goal that the proponents of voter restrictions are aiming for. Their fear is that given the present conditions of our government, we will lose that apathy.”
But one reader did point out a possible source of genuine voter fraud: “…many of the winter Texans vote TWICE in elections. They vote in Texas in November, and can also vote in their home states by absentee ballots as well.”
One might think this is something addressed by the voter-suppressor bills. Nope.
As TCAN’s own Sonia Santana explains:
“…the voter suppression bills are only intended to address voter impersonation at the polls. The voter fraud this person is speaking about is mail-in ballot fraud. An ID would not stop the kind of fraud he describes, because a person could present an ID in Texas and vote and also request a mail-in ballot from another state and mail that in as well.”
As we’ve suspected all along, there’s nothing good about these bills.
Stewart
Posted: March 26th, 2007 under Voting issues.
