Voter fraud #2: GOP = The anti-democracy party.

As if on cue, North Carolina's governor has signed the most restrictive voter ID law in the country -- less than 2 months after SCOTUS struck down the portion of the Voting Rights Act that had prevented just such intentional discrimination.

Here's what the NC law does:

Requires one of a these four types of photo ID to cast a ballot:  North Carolina driver's license, passport, veteran's ID or tribal card:  note this does not include student ID's or out-of state driver's licenses.  It cuts by a week the number of early voting days.  It eliminates same-day voter registration during early voting and makes it much easier for "vigilante poll watchers" to challenge the validity of eligible voters in line to vote.  In addition it expands freedom of corporations to make unregulated contributions in state elections, and it eliminates an annual state-sponsored voter registration drive.

Gov. Pat McCrory (R) responded to criticisms by saying:

"Even if the instances of misidentified people casting votes are low, that shouldn’t prevent us from putting this non-burdensome safeguard in place. . . .  Just because you haven’t been robbed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t lock your doors at night or when you’re away from home."

That is totally bullshit.   A more appropriate analogy would be having a deadbolt, a chain-lock, and three padlocks on the door at all times when the incidence of burglary is 0.000005.   That's one chance in 200,000.

Now it's up to the courts.  Within hours the ACLU and the NAACP had filed lawsuits challenging the new law.   Florida and North Carolina are merely the first out of the blocks to provide evidence that voter protection is still very much needed.  Perhaps the criteria do need to be changed, because it is no longer limited to Southern states.   These two examples alone -- along with Texas which the DoJ has already filed suit against -- are enough to warrant reconsideration.

No one says this, but we should blast it in every headline in every newspaper and online and twitter message:

This only proves that Republicans think the only way they can win elections anymore is by lies, distortions, and voter suppression.  

In other words, they no longer believe in democracy.

Ralph