The Truth About Voter-ID Bills/Laws

Hot-button issue time. Today's topic? The Texas voting bill.

If there's one area Republicans have outperformed Democrats over the years, it's with branding. The short-and-catchy bumper-sticker slogan is typically, sadly, much more effective than reciting the results from scientific studies and fact-checks. Here are just a few such examples:

- Altering "global-warming" to "climate-change"

- Gun control (as opposed to gun reform)

- Bastardizing the term "liberal" ("tax-and-spend liberals")

- Changing "estate tax" to "death tax"

- Referring to the Affordable Care Act as "Obamacare" (not to mention "death panels")

- Ubiquitously using the terms "socialist," "communist," and "Marxist" to describe Democrats and Democratic policies

- Painting the mainstream media as the "lamestream media"

- Etc.

Oh, I forgot one - the myth about rampant voter-fraud and the need for stricter voting laws because of it. The GOP has, to a great extent, successfully convinced a majority of Americans that there aren't already voter-ID laws active in 39 states, and that such bills are all the same - just requiring some form, any form of identification to vote. "Voter-ID bill/law" has been misleadingly used as a blanket term to trick the public into thinking the intent of said laws/bills is to assure election integrity, when it's anything but.

The truth is 39 states already have some form of Voter-ID law; not all such laws are equal; and the intent of "strengthening" them isn't to assure election integrity, it's to disenfranchise certain demographics.

Some of the active laws prohibit the use of student ID, which makes it more difficult for young people to vote (a typically strong Democratic demographic). Other states require the use of a photo ID. This hampers the voting odds of elders, minorities, and the homeless, among others. The more lax laws don't require photo ID; even a utility bill will suffice. Like I said, "Voter ID law/bill" is anything but a blanket term.

So, the purpose of strengthening such laws, especially in states where there is already a Voter-ID law present, is to reduce voter-turnout, not assure election-integrity. History shows the larger the percentage of the electorate that votes, the better the odds for the Democratic candidates. When people vote, Democrats win, so Republicans are trying to make it more difficult for people to vote (especially Democratic-friendly demographics, such as young people, minorities, etc.). If the GOP were so steadfast on passing Voter-ID laws nationwide and assuring election integrity, they'd propose legislation which permitted any form of identification, from student IDs to Veteran IDs (there have been cases where veterans with said IDs have been turned away due to GOP suppression-laws), from driver's licenses to utility bills, from social security cards to Blockbuster cards. If Democratic politicians were smart (to be determined...), they'd grab hold of this narrative; ride the popularity of the Voter-ID wave; and propose the most lax Voter-ID laws imaginable.

So, whenever you hear that voter-fraud is rampant and stricter Voter-ID laws need to be enacted, remember three things:

1) Voter-fraud is incredibly rare.

2) Not all Voter-ID laws are equal.

3) If we truly want to believe America is the land of the free and that the people rule, people should be free to vote to decide who rules.