COLUMN: Voter ID keeps elections legal

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July 19, 2012

COLUMN: Voter ID keeps elections legal

William J. Kelly CNHI The Weatherford Democrat Thu Jul 19, 2012, 08:00 AM CDT

— Citizens! Right before your eyes you can now see those who are the more honest politicians in both state and federal government.

How can you do that? Very easily, just read the paper and note those who are for and those who are against voter I.D.

The men and women who are against voter I.D. are really saying, “I do not want honesty in elections. I just want to win election to a public office by any means possible.”

Think back to the 2004 election when there was an attempt to steal the presidency from the rightful winner by using every means possible to count illegal votes. Now we have politicians saying there is no evidence of voter fraud when there was an attempt to steal the highest office in the land.

All kinds of smoke screens are being brought into the debate on the subject. Vice president Joe Biden before the NAACP said that a Romney presidency would threaten voting rights for African-Americans. No quotations in the source, in the story by William Douglas in the July 13 Star-Telegram. It was reported in the same article that civil liberties groups view the new laws as attempts to suppress the votes of African-Americans, Hispanics, the young, the elderly, and the poor — groups that tend to be Democratic.

Well, that just about covers everyone doesn’t it?

Of course it is a big lie!

In the event you haven’t heard, the number of people considered poor has increased in the past few years. The elderly on fixed incomes are having a hard time staying above water and the young are having difficulties in locating employment. Those are true facts and yet Obama, Biden, Holder, Pelosi and other top Democrats keep saying how much they do to benefit these groups when, in fact, they are really hurting them in many ways.

One of the items the opponents of voter I.D. talk about very strenuously is the cost of the photo I.D. The cost is low, so why doesn’t the NAACP pay for its members who cannot afford one or the political parties pay out of their large campaign funds? That seems like a good campaign investment to me if they are really interested in getting these folks to the polls.

That way, everyone could be satisfied that only legal voters would be voting on election day.

If one has ever worked an election, they would know that every effort is made to enable a voter to cast a legal vote. They would also know that an honest potential voter who has not qualified under the election law cannot vote. They get very upset about this, but it is their own fault if they lose their vote. Rules need to be followed or chaos would exist.

All you voters out there have about four months to prepare yourselves to legally vote in the November election. This gives you plenty of time to register and get a photo I.D. or take care of a change of address if you haven’t already done so. Do it now if necessary!

It took years to convince people that a vote for a Catholic presidential candidate was not a vote for the Pope. We now have a part-black president and have had many protestant Christian presidents. We now have folks who are afraid to vote for Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon.

May I remind you that in this country we have freedom of religion and one’s religion or race does not in any way disqualify him or her from any office in the land. We should consider the candidate’s qualifications for the office, not his or her religion when casting our ballot.

This is a very important November election, probably deciding whether we go on as a Constitutional republic or stray into a more socialistic type of government. We need a big turnout of taxpaying voters to keep our country as the founders envisioned it being.

Do not buy the big lie about voter suppression; write or call your representatives and let them know how you feel about only legal votes being cast. And be sure to vote.

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