<h3 class="page-deck bkgd-grey-gradient border-bottom">The Post’s View</h3>
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<h1>Voter ID rules: A solution in search of a problem</h1><div class="module byline">
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By Editorial Board, <span class="timestamp updated pre"></span>
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<p>FOR THE SECOND TIME in three months, the Obama administration has <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-department-bars-texas-voter-id-law/2012/03/12/gIQAUzgW7R_story.html">blocked a state law</a>
pushed by Republicans that, using the pretext of a nearly nonexistent
problem of voting fraud, discriminates against minority voters by
establishing more stringent voter ID rules.</p>
<p>Memo to Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell: You might be next.<br></p></div><div class="article_body">
<p>In December, the Justice Department <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/justice-dept-rejects-south-carolina-voter-id-law-calling-it-discriminatory/2011/12/23/gIQAhLJAEP_story.html">moved against South Carolina</a>,
saying its new law would suppress turnout among African American
voters, who are more likely than other voters to lack identification. On
Monday, the department blocked Texas from enforcing a similar measure
requiring voters to show photo IDs at the polls, which federal officials
said would disproportionately affect Hispanic voters.</p><p>Now Mr.
McDonnell, his reputation for sensible governance already tarnished by
the recent debate over pre-abortion ultrasounds, has a decision to make.
Along purely partisan lines, his fellow Virginia Republicans have
rammed through <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/virginia-lawmakers-split-bitterly-over-voter-id/2012/02/02/gIQAxj2NnQ_story.html">a voter ID law</a>
only slightly less obnoxious than the ones embraced by Texas and South
Carolina. Mr. McDonnell, who has so far remained noncommittal on the
measure, should veto it.</p><p>The Virginia legislation — a solution in
search of a problem — is purely political, designed to give Republicans
an edge in a swing state ahead of the fall elections by making voting
more difficult for minorities, the elderly and youths — groups that tend
disproportionately to lack IDs and to vote for Democrats. And Virginia
Republicans barely pretend otherwise.</p><p>In a conversation with
senior Virginia GOP lawmakers recently, we asked if there was any
evidence of a pattern of voting fraud in state elections that would
justify more stringent voter ID rules. One state senator said he had
“heard” of instances of fraud. We asked our question again: Was there a
pattern of fraud that would raise systemic doubts about the integrity of
Virginia elections? The senator said no. None of his fellow Republicans
contradicted him.</p><p>The legislation would reverse a decades-old
practice in Virginia that allows voters without identification to cast
ballots if they sign a sworn statement attesting to their identity,
providing their name appears on the registration rolls. Under the new
legislation, those voters could cast only a provisional ballot, which
would not be counted unless the voter furnished identification within
six days.</p><p>Like South Carolina and Texas, Virginia is covered by
the Voting Rights Act, which requires the state to prove that any
rewrite of voting laws would not adversely affect minorities. True, the
Virginia measure allows more leeway than the Texas law, which was the
most restrictive in the nation. Virginia’s bill would expand permissible
forms of identification to include government checks, utility bills and
college IDs, among other documents. But can the state show the
legislation has no discriminatory effect?</p><p>Even if Republican
lawmakers aren’t personally acquainted with people who don’t carry ID,
they exist. And provided they are legally registered to vote, they
should be allowed to cast their ballots — without encumbrances
manufactured by the state.</p>
</div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<br><a href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" target="_blank">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</a><br>