An editorial in today's New York Times outlines efforts by Republican governors and state legislatures to make it harder for people to vote without first having to prove they are citizens to register and having to produce a valid government issues photo ID in order to cast a ballot. For example:
Kansas’ new law was drafted by its secretary of state, Kris Kobach, who also wrote Arizona’s anti-immigrant law. Voters will be required to show a photo ID at the polls. Before they can register, Kansans will have to produce a proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate.
Governor Sam Brownback says this is necessary to "preserve the sanctity of the vote."
This is just deficit peacocking in the area of voting rights. If Republicans were really serious about protecting the sanctity of voting and making sure that no one is voting illegally, they would be pushing for mandatory voting for every United States citizen of voting age. They would make it law in all 50 states that anyone who wants to receive Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, a driver's license or a college loan has to produce valid proof of having voted in the last election in order to receive any of their elected government's services, monies, and entitlements.
You can just hear the pious reasoning rolling off the tongues of Governor Brownback—or Governors Walker, Kasich, Barbour, etc. — or the Catfood Commission—that if people are going to suck at the milk cow of federal, state and local governments, then they should be required to participate in the election of that government. It would follow all the standard right wing orthodoxy regarding entitlements, immigration reform, and personal responsibility.
Except of course that such a law would practically guarantee permanent Democratic majorities at every level of government forever. It is widely known that a great many people who tend to vote Democratic—18-29 year-olds, recent immigrants, blacks—don't vote because they are too disenfranchised or apathetic. Forcing them to vote in order to receive services from their government would only bring them to the polls in droves.
So why don't we call Governor Brownback, et al.'s bluff on preserving the santity of voting by introducing mandatory voting legislation across the country that would accomplish everything the current Republican bills propose, and more? It could be the voting rights equivalent of The People's Budget, a serious and legitimate solution to combatting (nonexistent) voting fraud, increasing voter turnout, and fostering a much broader social compact that elections have consequences.
Updated by thingsthatfall at Wed Apr 27, 2011 at 06:07 AM PDT
Forgot the link: http://www.nytimes.com/...