So the Republicans are back in control of the NCGA and almost immediately they began to speak in code. Perhaps the most egregious local example was an interview in the Jan.19-25 MountainXpress, "Front row seats, A new start for N.C.'s Grand Old Party"
Former Buncombe GOP chair Bill Keller's advice to the state GOP, after their 113 years in the legislative wilderness, would be to institute photo identification of NC voters as soon as possible. Apparently to insure against the "dead people" vote. Or as he so succinctly puts it, "You just get this feeling--how many dead people are voting?"
Now I would be the last person, dead or alive, to suggest that some deceased voters don't actually make it to the polls. Of course we have some voter fraud, but a bit of research shows that most "dead voters" are folks whose names have remained on the register after passing away. Rarely do they vote. One current study done in Connecticut found that statewide about 9000 names of deceased folks remained on the poll lists... only 300 of them actually voted! Hardly enough to change the will of the people. For that you would need to look at a December 2000 ruling by the Rehnquist court.
But I digress. As Mr. Keller, the good Republican that he is, surely knows the idea of photo ID at the polls is a staple Republican scheme that would make it difficult for, no... not dead people, but live minorities to vote. People of color, poor people, those without driver's licenses for example. I suppose it could eliminate some of the dead voters but I guarantee it would eliminate a lot more of, what Mr. Keller calls, the live "Big D" voters.
Surely after being out of power for over a century there must be more pressing issues that the GOP could attack first. Perhaps the $4.3 billion state structural shortfall predicted over the next 26 months by the Civitas Institute. Actually no, Keller goes on to suggest that the local GOP could best serve the cause by ensuring "...fair, accurate, reliable, safe elections." To achieve this he suggests that the GOP must find enough Republican workers for the polls and properly trained them. Presumably to identify and deter those "dead people". Where is that ring?
Former Buncombe GOP chair Bill Keller's advice to the state GOP, after their 113 years in the legislative wilderness, would be to institute photo identification of NC voters as soon as possible. Apparently to insure against the "dead people" vote. Or as he so succinctly puts it, "You just get this feeling--how many dead people are voting?"
Now I would be the last person, dead or alive, to suggest that some deceased voters don't actually make it to the polls. Of course we have some voter fraud, but a bit of research shows that most "dead voters" are folks whose names have remained on the register after passing away. Rarely do they vote. One current study done in Connecticut found that statewide about 9000 names of deceased folks remained on the poll lists... only 300 of them actually voted! Hardly enough to change the will of the people. For that you would need to look at a December 2000 ruling by the Rehnquist court.
But I digress. As Mr. Keller, the good Republican that he is, surely knows the idea of photo ID at the polls is a staple Republican scheme that would make it difficult for, no... not dead people, but live minorities to vote. People of color, poor people, those without driver's licenses for example. I suppose it could eliminate some of the dead voters but I guarantee it would eliminate a lot more of, what Mr. Keller calls, the live "Big D" voters.
Surely after being out of power for over a century there must be more pressing issues that the GOP could attack first. Perhaps the $4.3 billion state structural shortfall predicted over the next 26 months by the Civitas Institute. Actually no, Keller goes on to suggest that the local GOP could best serve the cause by ensuring "...fair, accurate, reliable, safe elections." To achieve this he suggests that the GOP must find enough Republican workers for the polls and properly trained them. Presumably to identify and deter those "dead people". Where is that ring?
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