DOJ fights for unfettered voting rights - Forgets the second amendment
Eric Holder's Department of Justice has filed a suit against both South Carolina and Texas to prevent the states from implementing a voter ID law. Texans, of course, aren't taking this well.
Texas recently passed a law that requires voters to show a photo ID when voting. The goal is to prevent voter fraud, of course. Doing so protects the integrity of our electoral process. As we saw in 2001, elections can be close contests and if fraud exists it can significantly impact our country and our lives.
That such fraud exists is denied by most Democrats. However that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said both the Justice Department and the Texas AG's office have prosecuted and won convictions in scores of cases.
"Those cases include a woman who submitted her dead mother's ballot, a paid operative who cast two elderly voters' ballots after transporting them to the polling place, a city council member who unlawfully registered ineligible foreign nationals to vote in an election that was decided by a 19-vote margin" and several other notable cases, he said.
Worse is that it's easy. James O'Keefe, who brought us the video "Primary of the Living Dead" in New Hampshire has followed up with a new video showing how easily he could have cheated in Vermont.
The Democrats are protesting that requiring a photo ID to vote is an undue burden on the right to vote. Even though Texas has said it would provide an ID card free of charge to low-income people to avoid that burden, the Department of Justice's Tom Perez says the cost isn't the issue.
"It creates the additional burden of traveling to a driver's license office, undergoing an application process that includes fingerprinting and finding supporting documentation to prove one's identity." said, Tom Perez head of the Justice Department's civil rights division,
Using Census data, the Justice Department argued that the law creates an undue hardship on Hispanic populations that don't have the means to get a vehicle, live extremely far from a driver's license office or can't make it during the offices' limited operating hours.
DOJ's Double Standard
Perez argues that obtaining an ID card is an undue burden on the constitutional right to vote because of the time required to collect your documentation and travel to a government office. But what about gun owners?
In Illinois, for example, just to possess a gun requires a Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID card for short). In New York City, you have to obtain a permit to possess a gun before even buying one. Then the gun itself has to be added to the permit before you can take it home. In California, you are required to buy a "Safety card" for $25 (good for 5 years) before buying a gun and give a thumbprint each time you purchase a firearm. California also requires separate "proof of residence", like a utility bill, lease or car registration with your name and address on it. California, Massachusetts and other states impose a waiting period between purchasing the gun and actually taking it home.
All of these laws create an undue burden on gun owners to exercise their rights.
It seems DOJ has forgotten that the Second Amendment is a civil right, like the right to a lawyer or your right to due process. It appears Mr. Holder believes states can create undue burdens on the right to arms, but will fight laws intended to protect our electoral process.
It might be different if the Attorney General offered a different solution. In Iraq, they dipped the voter's index finger in purple ink to show they'd already voted and to prevent fraud. Yet, Holder doesn't even suggest this as an acceptable alternative.
Meanwhile, Attorney General Holder closes his eyes and covers his ears if anyone dares suggest that existing state laws might infringe upon and create undue burdens on the exercise of a Second Amendment right.
It's about time that we, The People, remind the Attorney General that all of our rights are of equal importance.