Voter ID in Indiana: Another Reason Why Secretaries of State Matter
On Monday, the Supreme Court showed once again why Secretaries of State matter. In Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the conservative Court gave Indiana the green light to impose draconian photo ID requirements for voting. Despite no evidence that any fraudulent votes had ever been cast in-person in Indiana, it is now constitutional for Indiana to force voters to show an ID at the polls. This will surely prevent many eligible citizens from casting a vote that counts.
Who will be affected? Poor and older voters who do not have drivers licenses. Young people. Minorities. What's worse, now that the Supreme Court has approved Indiana's ID law, Republicans will try to pass similar laws in other states. This will help them game elections by suppressing the vote of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
What does this have to do with Secretaries of State? One of the most vocal champions of requiring voters to show photo ID; is Indiana's Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita. In 2005, he helped pass the voter ID bill that made its way to the Supreme Court. He's also the president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.
As an influential Republican operative, Rokita's Supreme Court victory may lead to a wave of similar laws in other states. If passed before the 2008 election, new photo ID laws could even deliver a decisive margin in the 2008 presidential race.
Once again, the GOP has shown its command of an immutable political truth - he who controls the machinery of elections can control the outcome of elections. It's time for progressives to fight back.
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