Author Archives: J Christian Adams

North Carolina Democrats’ partisan opposition to voter ID stands

In North Carolina, there were a number of bills where the Governor vetoed and a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans (or at least a few Democrats) joined together to override the Democratic Governor veto.  However, one bill that the Democrats were able to withstand the override push was the voter ID bill.  Any attempt at improving the integrity of the voting process was uniformly attacked in a partisan manner and no Democrat dare stray from the party line.  In the end, the veto of unpopular Democratic Governor Perdue stood despite predictions of its eventual failure.

Remarkably, Democratic partisan opposition to the bill was even more solid than with the Racial Justice Act where the North Carolina legislature finally overcame the veto with revamped legislation.  Even attempts to negotiate with Democrats on the voter ID bill were rebuffed.  Of course, the Charlotte Observer is already looking to next year and wants the Republican Assembly and likely Republican Governor to “compromise” with…themselves on a watered down bill.  The year to compromise was this year but the Democrats couldn’t bring themselves to do so.

“New Hampshire voter ID law goes into effect”

The Union Leader reports that the new law “requires voters to present a
valid photo ID to vote at the polls or be photographed and sign an
affidavit saying they are who they say they are.” … The new law also requires preclearance from
the U.S. Department of Justice. A Justice spokesman did not reply to a
request for comment Friday.  New Hampshire — the only Northern
state affected — and 15 other states are subject to Section 5 of the
Voting Rights Act of 1965, which seeks to eliminate discriminatory
voting practices that bar or hinder voting by minorities.

We will see if New Hampshire gets the same treatment as the Southern states with the new photo ID law.

“Texas Voter ID fight returning to Federal Court”

The Houston Chronicle discusses the upcoming voter ID trial and the disparity on how photo ID laws which have been upheld by the Supreme Court don’t apply to all Americans as DOJ creates a second-class system for Southern states 50 years after the Voting Rights Act (VRA).


Southern states, led by Alabama, have argued that Section 5 is a violation of states’ rights.  Texas Republicans have charged that President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has manipulated its powers under the Voting Rights Act to benefit Democrats. “Instead of attacking Texas for enforcing the law, the Department of
Justice should learn from the Lone Star State and focus its resources on
protecting the integrity of the electoral system nationwide,” said
Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, of Humble.

Thirty-one states require voters to show identification at the polls,
including 15 that require photo ID. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the
right of states to require identification cards in a 2008 Indiana case,
but the Justice Department has rebuffed laws in two states covered by
the Voting Rights Act, Texas and South Carolina. New ID laws in
Mississippi and Florida are awaiting Justice Department action.

More on New York: “No Voter Fraud? Tell it to Rangel’s opponent”

That voter fraud and other shenanigans might have taken place in the
district which stretches from Harlem to The Bronx will surprise no one
familiar with the grand traditions of New York politics. Nor is there
anything particularly innovative about the allies of an establishment
figure like Rangel working within the system to make it more difficult
for a challenger to take him on.

Given the way these things generally work in New York, we may never
know whether Espaillat actually beat Rangel. Nor can we be sure whether
the voters allegedly turned away at the polls were really ineligible (in
which case Espaillat’s camp was trying to game the results). But what
we do know is that wherever politicians and their friends are tempted to
cheat, that is exactly what they will do. The stakes involved in such
races are high, and anyone who assumes Rangel or any other entrenched
officeholder will not stoop to twist, bend or otherwise mutilate the
results in order to hang on knows nothing about American political
history or politicians.


Full piece by Jonathan Tobin @ Commentary Magazine.


“The Rangel Bungle” – Amateurishly run elections in New York

John Fund latest piece at National Review Online headlines “How the New York primary exemplifies how many American elections are amateurishly run.”

The near-meltdown in the
vote count for the New York Democratic primary featuring scandal-tarred
congressman Charlie Rangel should serve as a warning siren about what
could happen in this November’s national election. It’s not just voter
fraud we have to worry about. Sometimes it’s hard to tell where the
fraud ends and the incompetence begins.

The Rangel fiasco reminds us that the United States has, as
Walter Dean Burnham, the nation’s leading political scientist, put it,
“the developed world’s sloppiest election systems.” And New York City is
no unsophisticated backwater.

The troubles in the Rangel race began on Election Night, June
26. The voting-machine totals put down on paper had the incumbent
beating his challenger, state senator Adriano Espaillat, by a
comfortable 2,300 votes in a Harlem district that is now equally divided
between black and Hispanic populations.

Full story here.

Mississippi “No ID?” Initiative receives few responses from citizens needing help

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s new outreach program, designed to assist those who might need help getting photo voter identification, has only received a few responses in its first two weeks. 

Is there really a “photo ID gap” or do the healthy turnout statistics and proven ability of Georgia (and Indiana) Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics to obtain photo identification dispel the myth of any discriminatory photo ID gap?  The lukewarm response by Mississippi citizens to acquire free photo identification raises serious doubts to the claims of a great divide and need among the citizenry.