In a decision Monday afternoon, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 there’s no need for voters to produce evidence of their citizenship when registering to vote. The standard federal registration form is good enough, the justices said, overruling a 2004 Arizona law that went out of its way to put the burden of proof on voters. MONDAY’S ruling is a replay of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that stopped states from usurping the voting rights of primarily African Americans, with a string of “requirements” such as literacy tests, owning property and a poll tax. THE JUSTICES kept a good law on the books. Uniformity in voting laws is critical to keeping U.S. voters coming to the polls. Which is the goal, right?
Other states, including Kansas, have followed Arizona’s tack. The ruling is a precursor of lawsuits by civil rights groups to follow.
The justices based their reasoning on an American precept: One should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
If election officials have reason to believe an individual lied in checking the box affirming his citizenship — an offense of perjury — then they have recourse and an obligation to obtain evidence to that effect.
Punishment could include a five-year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.
The case specifically addressed Arizona, but will be applied in Kansas, too, and other states similarly fraught with paranoia that illegal citizens are taking over the ballot box — which, they are not.
A result of the Arizona law was a lower turnout of legal, but minority, voters — which, if truth be told, was the true of goal of the anti-immigrant measure. President Obama was elected in both the 2008 and 2012 elections on the backs of minorities.
In Arizona, the 2004 law resulted in the rejected registrations of 31,500 people. Most said they were born in the United States, but lacked identification. Upon review, a high percentage of the rejections were made in error.
Laws like Arizona’s discriminate against the elderly, the poor, and the disenfranchised who don’t have ready access to the necessary documentation to satisfy their more stringent registration processes. An estimated 21 million Americans lack proper identification now required in states with new election laws.
Less than one-third of Americans own a passport, and citizens who don’t have access to their birth certificate are forced to pay for one in order to vote — an almost certain violation of the 24th Amendment’s ban on poll taxes.
It’s the same song today, but aimed primarily toward Hispanics.
Voter fraud is over-hyped. Concerns that impersonators use the names of the deceased to vote rarely prove true.
Between 2002 and 2005, President George W. Bush ordered the Justice Department to make voter fraud a top priority. Out of the hundreds of millions of votes cast during that period, the department brought only 38 cases, of which only one involved impersonation fraud.
Still, states waste precious time and energy focusing on a non-existent problem, and, like Kansas, pass unconstitutional practices making it harder for honest citizens to vote. In Kansas, fewer than 10 cases of voter fraud have been reported in the last five years, yet it remains the stump speech of Kris Kobach, our secretary of state.
— Susan Lynn
Court restores freedom at the ballot box
