Yes, On Voter ID
No It’s Not ‘Un-American’
Posted: February 26, 2013
Those Democrats in the General Assembly, they can be insufferable at times. Persistent, too.
For the last few weeks, we’ve been bombarded by e-mails from party flacks, decrying Sen. Mark Obenshain’s photo-ID bill as the second coming of the “poll tax.” While hyperbole was the norm — such an electoral requirement, we were told, would disenfranchise “hundreds of thousands” — sometimes the missives would descend to the painfully puerile. Such as when the party’s state chair, Del. Charniele Herring, said the proposal was “un-American.”
Well, Mr. Obenshain has taken proper umbrage, aided by the perfectly timed release of a Quinnipiac poll that shows overwhelming support for a photo ID requirement. And by “overwhelming” we mean 75 percent of the 1,112 folks surveyed. Even rank-and-file Democrats, it seems, favor such a requirement, by a 57-41 margin, as do black voters (the bill’s alleged target), by a 66-34 count. Ms. Herring, call your office.
Oddly enough, one Virginian apparently less than enthralled by the measure — which passed both houses of the General Assembly this week — is Gov. McDonnell. Granted, Mr. McDonnell ardently advanced voter ID changes enacted last year, but we believe his neutral (to the point of being squishy) stance on the bill goes deeper.
We hope the governor does not buckle. Mr. Obenshain’s bill, which enhances the law Mr. McDonnell signed in May by requiring not merely ID but ID with a photo, would make good law. It rightly embraces this adage: “It should be easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
For the last few weeks, we’ve been bombarded by e-mails from party flacks, decrying Sen. Mark Obenshain’s photo-ID bill as the second coming of the “poll tax.” While hyperbole was the norm — such an electoral requirement, we were told, would disenfranchise “hundreds of thousands” — sometimes the missives would descend to the painfully puerile. Such as when the party’s state chair, Del. Charniele Herring, said the proposal was “un-American.”
Well, Mr. Obenshain has taken proper umbrage, aided by the perfectly timed release of a Quinnipiac poll that shows overwhelming support for a photo ID requirement. And by “overwhelming” we mean 75 percent of the 1,112 folks surveyed. Even rank-and-file Democrats, it seems, favor such a requirement, by a 57-41 margin, as do black voters (the bill’s alleged target), by a 66-34 count. Ms. Herring, call your office.
Oddly enough, one Virginian apparently less than enthralled by the measure — which passed both houses of the General Assembly this week — is Gov. McDonnell. Granted, Mr. McDonnell ardently advanced voter ID changes enacted last year, but we believe his neutral (to the point of being squishy) stance on the bill goes deeper.
We hope the governor does not buckle. Mr. Obenshain’s bill, which enhances the law Mr. McDonnell signed in May by requiring not merely ID but ID with a photo, would make good law. It rightly embraces this adage: “It should be easy to vote and hard to cheat.”