Missouri's incompetent voter ID champion
Yael T. AbouhalkahShane Schoeller is running to be Missouri’s next secretary of state. But being incompetent at recognizing real problems facing that office won’t encourage voters to support Schoeller, who faces Democrat Jason Kander on the Nov. 6 ballot.
As are many Republicans, Schoeller these days is trumpeting his support for strict photo ID laws. That’s fine; he has a right to at least think it should take a photo ID to vote.
This is, after all, the flavor-of-the-year issue for the GOP. Many of its members are pandering all across the nation to those white voters who don’t want too many immigrants and minorities to have a say in who gets elected.
But Schoeller, remember, is running to be the guy in charge of the Missouri office that’s supposed to be encouraging as many people as legally possible to vote.
So as he does that, you would expect that Schoeller at least would not blindly repeat the invalid charge that people are voting illegally in any great numbers in Missouri or in America because of the lack of a photo ID law.
Alas, you would be wrong in that expectation.
In fact - despite all kinds of evidence showing that there have been only the most minuscule of voter fraud cases that could have been prevented by photo ID laws requiring photos - here’s what Schoeller said in The Star Sunday:
The state “absolutely has a problem with voter fraud.”
No, Mr. Schoeller, it doesn’t.
In fact, as The Star quickly noted in its news story, “While he acknowledged there have been no reported cases in Missouri of the type of fraud prevented by photo ID laws, he argued that even the appearance of impropriety is enough to warrant concern.
Once again, there is absolutely no proof that there’s even the appearance of impropriety when it comes to voter fraud in Missouri.
It’s all part of Schoeller’s imagination - part of his attempt to get elected by parroting an unsubstantiated claim that he is making to try to get elected.
Mark Hastert
7 months, 3 weeks agoFunny, between Richard Lugar’s use of a false residency address and the scandal with the GOP voter registration contractor the Republicans have created a self fulfilling prophesy. “we know there is voter fraud because we’re the one’s doing it” LOL! Add that to the voter suppression and purging efforts and you have a complete picture.
Seriously, it’s a trumped up solution to a nearly non-existent problem, a straw man argument to add a thin veneer to an otherwise sinister plot to create “legal” literacy tests and poll taxes.
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months, 3 weeks agoAnother yt rant against conservatives… you are becoming tooooooooooooooooooooooo predictable yt…..
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months, 3 weeks agoTypical Chuck,soooooooooo tYpical…..and with nary a word
Phil Cardarella
7 months, 3 weeks agoChuckles: Voter Impersonation is the EASIEST fraud to prove. It is EASY to see the crime of B voting claiming to be A — because A shows up and is pi…uh, upset.
Besides, no one is opposed to IDs — just to very restrictive ones that (no doubt by sheer coincidence) will disenfranchise likely Democrats. You know, the stuff that will require a person who does not drive to order a birth certificate and locate a DMV and take the time to get an official ID — to vote at the same poll as she has since Eisenhower.
Even the thing in Florida is not actually voter fraud. Just like ACORN, the GOP group paid folks to get registrations, and got a bunch of “mickey Mouse” registrations — which had to be turned in under the law, since you do not get to pick & choose which registrations you turn in. But, like ACORN, there were not ACTUAL votes cast by Mr. Mouse. DUH!
The only fraud in either case was theft by deceipt from their employers by the guys getting paid to gather registrations.
Schoeller is not stupid — but he has a specific Party line that he must pretend to believe, since ssaying” Yeah, I know it’s a bunch of bull, but we really don’t want ‘those people’ to vote,” iss way too embarrassingly truthful.
Mark Hastert
7 months, 3 weeks ago“True the Vote” Oh do tell us about True the Vote.True the Vote is the 501c3 arm of the King Street Patriots, a Texas Tea Party group. Hardly a nonpartisan credible source, eh? In the past year, Americans for Prosperity, an organization founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, and other Republican-leaning independent groups have sponsored meetings featuring Ms. Engelbrecht (True the Vote founder) and other True the Vote speakers. When True the Vote vetted petition signatures in Wisconsin’s recall election, the state’s Government Accountability Board reported that the process was “at best flawed.”
…More veneer for voter suppression.
George Hunsucker
Northland
7 months, 3 weeks agoIt is restrictive because it does not allow cheaters to vote illegally. I think this is one of the donkey’s perceived constitutional rights, dreamt-up in the big 0’s temporary “home town”, Chicago….
I wonder where jimmy ii is going to live January 21, 2013????
Phil Cardarella
7 months, 3 weeks agoRestrictive in the sense that it is exclusive.
These laws seem to fixate on the METHOD of establishing ID, not the actual eligibility of the person to vote. Under these laws, it is perfectly OK to deny the vote to someone entitled to vote — and who the election officials KNOW is entitled to vote — just because he or she does not have the “official” ID.
I realize that it is sometimes difficult for my white, middle-aged, midle-class male friends to understand, but there are a lot of folks who do not drive — because they are old or disabled or too poor to have a car — or who live in the City and take public transportation. Or nuns. Lots of women have ID — but not necessarily in their married name or maiden name, whichever they are registered to vote in.
Every year, states suspend thousands of drivers licenses and require that they be surrendered.
Sometimes it is quite difficult for an American to get a birth certificate so that he can get a State ID. Were you born in California or Alabama? How long will it take to get a birth certificate — especially when you have no other official ID? It ALWAYS is a hassle and can be expensive (particularly if you are on limited income).
Unlike here in KC — where there are several license offices reachable by bus — some places the person has to travel 20 miles or more, without being able to drive. And lots of folks find it difficult to take off half a day or more to get an ID that they don’t need for anything but voting. (Hard to believe, but not everyone has the money to fly.)
Now, all of this might be worth it if there really was massive voting fraud — people voting who are not who they claim to be. But the number of such is nearly zero. And the impact on the most basic right of our citizens — the right to vote — is devastating. Worse than shooting a fly with a shotgun, it is like shooting at a gnat with a Hellfire missle. Too much collateral damage.
Matt McKinley
7 months, 3 weeks agoIn nearly all states that have instilled voter ID, a person without an ID can still submit a provisional ballot.
These anti-ID arguments are full of strawmen.