“Suppressing the Vote” with Photo ID Laws; N.H. Lawmakers Plan to Override Veto

This year, partisans vehemently fought to pass photo ID and other laws to allegedly prevent voter impersonation at the polls. But, it is not difficult to see a connection between these vote-stifling policies and the approaching 2012 presidential elections.

“The overall idea is pretty obvious,” said Project Vote board member, Frances Fox Piven in an In These Times report. “Both parties expect close elections in 2012, and if you peel off just a couple percentage points, you can determine the outcome.”

In These Times reports: “Indeed, such evidence is nonexistent. Federal records ‘show that only 24 people were convicted of or pleaded guilty to illegal voting between 2002 and 2005,’ according to ‘The Politics of Voter Fraud,’ a Project Vote report written by political scientist Lorraine Minnite. Similarly, the Brennan Center for Justice concluded, ‘It’s more likely that an individual will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.'”

The fear of voter impersonation–the only kind of voter fraud that can be prevented by a photo ID requirement–is also rare in New Hampshire. In fact, if it does occur, “it typically involves absentee ballots, which are not addressed in the bill,” according to Liz Markhlevskaya at the Seacoast Online. But state Republicans are trying to override the governor’s veto of a photo ID bill, SB 129 in September.

Republican Senator Russell “Prescott said if the veto is sustained Sept. 7, he will begin work on a new bill that would incorporate photo identification for voters, without implementing provisional ballots [for voters without photo ID], to help address potential voter fraud in the state.”