Voter suppression is one subject on which I have not been my usual vocal self. Mostly, I agree that we ought to have a system of identification for voting purposes. On the other hand, however, it has never been such a big deal in the past. Americans have been voting for a couple centuries without this being so divisive an issue, until now. Why do you suppose that is? IMO, Republicans are illegally gerrymandering (Florida) and putting forward harsh voter ID laws because they are afraid. The party of “old white guys” has seen the writing on the wall. They are becoming less and less relevant. The face of the electorate is getting younger and browner (and more progressive). To make matters worse, the party is being taken over and literally torn apart by the craziest among them. So, running scared, they knowingly and very blatantly support anything that makes it more difficult for minorities and young people to get to the ballot box. Almost comically, they use the nearly non-existent “problem” of voter fraud as an excuse for keeping folks from the polls that they know are most likely to vote Blue. Here’s my proposal to eliminate voter ID political shenanigans. In this scenario, any U.S. citizen, 18 or older, with a valid Social Security number is allowed to vote, period. No registration needed. (What is the purpose of registration, really?) One SS number equals one vote. This would hold for primaries, as well as general elections. Surely the technology is available to make a system such as this workable and relatively corruption-free. Why not simply issue tamper-proof Social Security cards with DOB and citizenship status on them? This may sound a little Orwellian to some, but is it really that different from requiring a passport or a DMV-issued card to vote? The SS card doubles as one’s universal voter ID. Since obtaining such a card would be easier and less costly for poor folks, the Right would most likely still try to suppress their votes with laws limiting access. But those are not so easily defended and have not typically been upheld in court. If fact, carrying on with my Big Brother approach, maybe access to polls ought to be Federally-mandated as well, i.e. days, times, locations and options. At any rate, it’s apparent that what we have now is not the ideal. But it’s for sure not nearly as broken as disgruntled conservatives would have us believe. There may well be a better way. This is merely my Libtard, pink-o, commie POV. What’s yours?
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 03:31:21 +0000
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