Barack Obama is well known for attacking voter ID laws, contending they are being pushed “by racist Republicans who want to disenfranchise blacks.”
But now there are allegations claiming secure-ballot advocates are targeting transgenders.
It was the Williams Institute that declared in a statement Tuesday that transgenders may face “possible disenfranchisement.”
The institute said a study by its own Jody L. Herman and others found, “Many transgender people who have transitioned do not have identification that accurately reflects their correct gender.”
Herman said lawmakers “should not overlook the consequences of enacting stricter voter ID laws on transgender voters.”
“Election officials must consider the potential impact of these laws in the upcoming November elections. Voter ID laws create a unique barrier for transgender people who would otherwise be eligible to vote.”
The organization said that in 10 states voter ID laws may create “substantial barriers to voting, naming Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin.
In those 10 states, there are about 84,000 people “who have transitioned” and are eligible to vote, the organization said.
“An estimated 28 percent of the transgender voting-eligible population in those 10 states has no identification or records that accurately reflect their gender. Transgender people of color, youth, students, people with low incomes, and people with disabilities are likely overrepresented in that group,” the institute said.
“In order for these 24,000 voting-eligible transgender people to obtain the updated IDs required to vote in the November 2014 general election, they must comply with the requirements for updating their state-issued or federally issued IDs. These requirements vary widely by state or federal agency and can be difficult and costly to meet,” the group continued.
“Some voters may not have the means or the ability to present the required voter identification for a variety of reasons, such as poverty, disability, or religious objection. Transgender people have unique barriers to obtaining accurate IDs needed to vote. As these 10 states begin planning for their fall elections, educating poll workers is crucial in order to ensure that transgender voters in their states have fair access to the ballot,” said Herman.
The Journal report said Obama stated earlier this year, “The real voter fraud is people trying to deny our rights by making voting harder in the first place.”
The report went on to explain that support for voter ID laws is strong “and transcends gender, party and even race.” It cited a Fox News poll in which 70 percent of respondents – including 55 percent of Democrats, 91 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents, 70 percent of men, 71 percent of women, 75 percent of whites and 51 percent of blacks – expressed support for laws that “require voters to show a valid form of state- or federally-issued photo identification to prove U.S. citizenship before being allowed to vote.”
The results comport with those of other polls, the report said.
A 2012 Washington Post poll, for example, asked if people should be “required to show official, government-issued photo identification – such as a driver’s license – when they cast ballots on Election Day.” Seventy-four percent of all respondents and 65 percent of blacks said yes.
There doesn’t seem to be a major problem with transgenders being able to afford an ID. The left-leaning Huffington Post reported: “Not only do gay people earn more than the average American does, gay people are more likely to be employed, they have more money in savings and they are better at managing debt, according to a Nov. 14 survey of more than 1,0000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people by Prudential.”
The report said the “average LGBT household earns $61,500 annually, which surpasses the average national household income by more than $10,000.”
The American Civil Liberties Union offers a “fact sheet” that contends voter ID laws “deny the right to vote to thousands of registered voters” who “cannot afford to pay for the required documents needed to secure a government-issued photo ID.”
The report asserted there is “no credible evidence that in-person impersonation voter fraud – the only type of fraud that photo IDs could prevent – is even a minor problem.”
But WND has reported on a wide range of allegations of voter fraud over recent years. In Pennsylvania in 2012, Obama got 19,605 votes in 59 voting divisions to zero for Mitt Romney. In 100 precincts in Ohio, Obama got 99 percent of the vote.
Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh declared: “Third-world, tin-horn dictators don’t get [these percentages]. I mean, the last guy that got this percentage of the vote was Saddam Hussein, and the people that didn’t vote for him got shot. This just doesn’t happen. Even Hugo Chavez [of Venezuela] doesn’t get 100 percent or 99 percent of the vote.”
See the BIG LIST of vote fraud reports coming out of the 2012 election.
About that time, WND columnist Barry Farber wrote that a “single fraudulent vote is an ‘attack’ on our democratic system.”
“Massive voter fraud is a massive attack. The website Watchdog.com tells us that a group known as the Virginia Voters Alliance counted 44,000 voters registered in Maryland as well as Virginia. An additional 40 to 60 thousand dead voters were found to be on the active voters list in that one state of Virginia, according to the Social Security Administration. It’s not just Chicago any more,” he wrote.
He related a joke about voting rolls and procedures.
“In the days before voter fraud became unfunny, they told about the two men from a Democratic clubhouse in Chicago out in a graveyard late one night copying names from tombstones for voting purposes. One of the men noticed the other was falling row after row behind. ‘Hurry it up, pal,’ he said. ‘What’s wrong?’
“His buddy replied, ‘This is one of those tough Polish names. I’ve got to figure it out.’
“‘Forget about that one,’ stage-whispered his friend. ‘Just skip it and move on to the next one,’” Farber wrote.
“‘Whaddaya mean, ‘Move on’?’ he answered indignantly. ‘This guy has as much right to vote as all the rest in here!’”
The National Conference of State Legislatures details all of the voter ID laws in the nation, ranging from states with strict photo ID requirements to those with no requirements at all.
“Proponents see increasing requirements for identification as a way to prevent in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in the election process. Opponents say there is little fraud of this kind, and the burden on voters unduly restricts the right to vote and imposes unnecessary costs and administrative burdens on elections administrators,” the report explains.
Epic change endangers U.S. election validity
Bob Unruh
Wed
, 10 Sep 2014 00:07:24 GMT