You can’t make this stuff up. 

If Voter ID supporters could write the script, they would have NAACP officials flying to Geneva, Switzerland (First class? Likely) to ask the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate voter ID.  Naturally, the “human rights” council is comprised of some of the world’s leading thug regimes.  One of the members of the council doesn’t even allow women to vote! To top off the absurd script, the head of the NAACP delegation, Hillary Shelton, would compare voter ID to the evil laws that black Americans faced in 1947.  The historical comparison is important to demonstrate a lack of proportion in the NAACP, one that doesn’t match America’s deep revulsion at Jim Crow to what happens when you buy a beer. 

Alas, this is no script.  This is no absurd plot designed to make the NAACP and other Voter ID opponents look like crackpots.  Instead, it is a real story. 

Shame on the NAACP for wasting donor dollars in this nonsensical trip.  They should have used the money to drive people to get free photo identification cards or pay for these elusive “supporting documents.”  One suspects the costs of Shelton’s airfare (and hotel, and food, and that of any supporting staff) would have paid for a bunch of rides and those elusive “supporting documents.”

Either the NAACP is totally out of touch, or is secretly working with Voter ID supporters to generate laugh lines.  I’ll go with the first option.

The Mississippi House has passed a bill that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls. House Bill 921 furthers an amendment approved by 62 percent of voters in November.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed the act into law, saying it set a “simple and clear standard to protect the integrity of our elections.” “I am signing this bill because it protects a sacred principle, one shared by every citizen of this nation,” the Republican governor said. “That principle is one person, one vote.”

Opponents, who say the measure seeks to suppress voter turnout, vowed to challenge it in court.

The new media is going to find out.  How much did airfare for Hillary Shelton and any aides cost?  Hotels in Geneva aren’t cheap either. 

How many trips to get free ID did the NAACP burn up on this trip?  How many of those seemingly unobtainable supporting documents and expensive birth certificates could a trip to Geneva have paid for? 

Stay tuned.

Voter ID proposals in the Minnesota House and Senate appear to be only one step away from reaching the floor in both chambers.  full story at the link.

Another mismanaged Section 5 review with risky consequences for Section 5, like Kinston.  More at PJ Rule of Law.  Texas challenges the constitutionality of Section 5 directly, including a slap down of Elizabeth Westfalls by the federal court on the issue of when the case will be resolved.  DOJ wanted to mine information for months or longer.  The court said no way.

The Voter ID debate goes worldwide tonight on Al Jazeera.  I debated someone from The Nation and the Lawyers Committee, and the host.  A blurry shot of the set:

Link.

 NPR.

Fox News interviews Bartle Bull, former civil rights attorney and campaign manager for Bobby Kennedy, on the recent attacks on the Texas Voter ID law.

Three powerful indictments of current Attorney General Holder by Mr. Bull:

1.  Holder is engaged in a systematic effort to use the Department of Justice as a political tool in the Obama re-election campaign.

2.  Holder’s objection to voter ID laws is related to his refusal to prosecute the New Black Panthers for intimidation of voters in polling places.

3.  Holder is the worst Attorney General for the country since the Nixon era John Mitchell.

Full interview on Fox:  Is DOJ crossing the line – States push back against DOJ in defense of voter ID laws.