Eugene Robinson stomps his feet and screams about voter ID laws because evidently, they’re racist;
Thanks to figures released last week by state officials, we know the answer. It turns out that 758,939 registered Pennsylvania voters do not have the most easily obtained and widely used photo ID, a state driver’s license. That’s an incredible 9.2 percent of the registered electorate.
Most of the voters without driver’s licenses live in urban areas — which just happen to be places where poor people and minorities tend to live. More than 185,000 of these voters without licenses, about one-fourth of the total, live in Philadelphia — which just happens to be a Democratic stronghold where African Americans are a plurality.
Here’s a question for Mr. Robinson…do any of these 750,000 voters have bank accounts or drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. How about welfare…how many are on welfare? All of these things require some kind of photo ID. The state does issue ID other than driver’s licenses, doesn’t it? I know my state does and it’s free if you can’t afford the five dollar fee.
Update: It would seem like not having a photo ID won’t allow you to get into a speaking engagement by Attorney General Eric Holder, the same Attorney General who’s suing states over their voter ID laws. Do I sense a bit of hypocrisy here? From Katie Pavlich;
Earlier today, Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the NAACP Nation Convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas. What did media need in order to attend? That’s right, government issued photo identification (and a second form of identification too!), something both Holder and the NAACP stand firmly against when it comes to voting. Holder’s DOJ is currently suing Texas for “discriminatory” voter ID laws. From the press release:
All media must present government-issued photo I.D. (such as a driver’s license) as well as valid media credentials. Members of the media must RSVP to receive press credentials at http://action.naacp.org/page/s/registration. For security purposes, media check-in and equipment set up must be completed by 7:45 a.m. CDT for an 8:00 a.m. CDT security sweep. Once the security sweep is completed, additional media equipment will NOT be permitted to enter and swept equipment will NOT be permitted to exit.
Ironically, NAACP President Ben Jealous railed against voter ID just before Holder took the stage.
Now that’s irony for you.
