Grandfather voting for victims of Jim Crow

by | Jan 26, 2016 | Editor's Blog, Voting Rights | 6 comments

The trial over voter ID is in full swing. Republicans say the law protects against voter fraud. Democrats say it’s designed to restrict voting. As for me, I’m not against voter ID on principle, but the law in North Carolina is clearly part of a larger strategy to rig elections in favor of Republicans and ignores the state’s history of discrimination against African-Americans. It’s also strange that the party that worries so much about government overreach wants to make sure that everybody is required to carry a government-issue ID card.

A professor from Wisconsin pointed out that if Republicans really wanted to combat voter fraud, they would focus on mail-in absentee ballots. However, those votes tend to go Republican so they got no scrutiny. No, the voter ID program is packaged with gerrymandering, elimination of same-day registration and restricting early voting times and locations to tilt the scales to Republicans.

The main victims of voter ID programs will be predominantly older African-Americans who were born poor in rural areas. Before the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, in the Jim Crow South, many of those folks weren’t born in hospitals and a lot of them don’t have accurate birth certificates. Attorneys challenging law presented several examples of people who have difficulty obtaining IDs.

Last week in Anson County, I learned of a woman in her mid-70s who was born at home, has limited formal education, no driver’s license, and no bank account. She’s lived her life in the country outside of Wadesboro where she knows most people and most know her, or at least they know her people. She was a beneficiary of the Civil Rights Movement, earning the right to vote and to full citizenship. Now, in the twilight of her life, she may suffer the indignity of being denied the right again.

If Republicans want to prove that they’re not interested in restricting access to the ballot, they should grandfather in anyone who was born prior to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Essentially, anyone under 50 years old would need an ID but people who suffered under Jim Crow won’t be forced to suffer again. That would protect victims of legalized discrimination that dominated our state while acknowledging that, since that time, we’ve made progress in addressing many of those ills.

6 Comments

  1. Geeman

    Excellent analysis, suggestions, and comments by all.

  2. Frank McGuirt

    Makes sense to me. Back to the main issue, the absurdity of voter ID is the lack of any effort to verify the identification of those voting absentee. Historically that’s been where fraudulent voting occurs and it would be so simple to do it. Clearly when considered in totality the nefarious deeds of the GOP are to discourage and deter minorities, the elderly and young people from voting. That’s about as UnAmerican as laws can get.

  3. Norma Munn

    I appreciate the effort to avoid further discrimination against people who have experienced so much of it. I prefer no requirement for any ID. However, a voter registration card should, and could, be designed to be more than a piece of heavy paper and suffice if properly designed to cover the need for an ID. No one should have to spend extra money or time on obtaining another document to allow them to vote. And, while we are on the subject of “requirements”, how do people who are deaf or blind vote now? Have never seen any form of assistance at any voting place.

  4. Arthur Dent

    Amen.

    • Nancy G. Rorie

      Good suggestion.

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