A recent poll shows that more than eight out of ten non-white voters are fine with their state government requiring a photo ID at polling places. Yet, that fact was completely omitted from a front-page Friday New York Times story by Charlie Savage and Adam Liptak which dutifully praised Obama Attorney General Eric Holder's push to gum up Texas's voter ID law in federal courts.
Additionally, it seems that the MSNBC crowd is on board with voter integrity laws as well. Sixty-five percent of respondents, who described themselves as "very liberal to liberal," thought that showing an ID before voting was a "good thing." So, this isn't a legitimate issue. It's only relevant in the liberal boardrooms of America's news media.
Here's how Savage and Liptak began their story (emphasis mine):
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Thursday moved to protect minority voters after last month’s Supreme Court ruling striking down a central part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, with the Justice Department asking a court to require Texas to get permission from the federal government before making changes.
In a speech before the National Urban League in Philadelphia, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the request would be the first of several legal salvos from the administration in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision. “My colleagues and I are determined to use every tool at our disposal,” he said, “to stand against such discrimination wherever it is found.”
Last month’s ruling, Shelby County v. Holder, did away with a requirement that Texas and eight other states, mostly in the South, get permission from the Justice Department or a federal court before changing election procedures. On Thursday, the administration asked a federal court in Texas to restore that “preclearance” requirement there, citing the state’s recent history and relying on a different part of the voting rights law.
Republicans harshly criticized the announcement, in a sign that both parties view the battle over voting laws as important to future elections.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas cast Mr. Holder’s remarks as an attempt by the Obama administration to weaken the state’s voter-integrity laws and said the comments demonstrated the administration’s “utter contempt for our country’s system of checks and balances.”
“This end run around the Supreme Court undermines the will of the people of Texas, and casts unfair aspersions on our state’s common-sense efforts to preserve the integrity of our elections process,” Mr. Perry said in a statement.
From the jump, Savage and Liptak painted Holder in a heroic pose. Sure, Rick Perry was given some ink for his rebuttal, but with that out of the way, the boosting of Democratic talking points continued (emphasis mine):
For years, Republicans across the nation have pushed for tougher voter identification laws, shorter voting hours and other measures they say are intended to reduce voter fraud. The efforts have intensified across the South, from Texas to North Carolina, after the Supreme Court’s ruling freed many states and localities from federal oversight. Democrats have said the steps are intended to reduce voting by minorities, students and other heavily Democratic groups.
State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, Democrat of San Antonio, who is the chairman of the Mexican-American Legislative Caucus, said racial discrimination in Texas was not a thing of the past.
“The fact that intervention in Texas is the Department of Justice’s first action to protect voting rights following the Shelby County decision speaks volumes about the seriousness of Texas’ actions,” Mr. Fischer said.
“Texans should be proud that the resources of the federal government will be brought to bear to protect the voting rights of all,” he added.
Of course, requiring a valid, government-issued photo ID to vote is a race and ethnicity-neutral requirement of the law, applying equally to all citizens regardless of melatonin level. Most folks realize this, of course, and that's why a new Marist poll shows overwhelming support for voter ID laws, even among demographic groups that skew Democratic.
According to their July 25 poll, eighty-two percent of whites and 83 percent of non-whites think voter ID is a good thing. Seventy-seven percent of 18 to 29 year olds also agree. Concerning men and women, it’s virtually the same – 82 percent and 83 percent agree that it’s beneficial for Americans to show identification before voting.
In short, voter ID laws are universally accepted as a positive component to our voting process. It isn’t racial, sexist, or ageist. There’s nothing to show that these voting lines split Americans drastically in either direction. It’s a non-issue in the heartland of America, which is a world apart from the rarified air of the New York Times newsroom.
H/T Gabriel Malor
