Colleen
Ken Blackwell: Holder’s ‘All-Out War’ on Voter IDs Is Obama Re-election Tool
Thursday, 22 Mar 2012 12:41 PM
By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter
Former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell tells Newsmax that the Obama administration has “launched an all-out war on voter ID laws” to bolster the president’s re-election chances.
The Republican activist also asserts that voter ID laws offer a “reasonable safeguard” to protect against voter fraud and ballot-box stuffing.
Blackwell, who was secretary of state in Ohio from 1999 to 2007, also has been mayor of Cincinnati, undersecretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development in the George H.W. Bush administration, and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. He now is vice chairman of the Republican National Committee's Platform Committee and a senior fellow with the American Civil Rights Union (ACRU).
The ACRU has launched a new campaign called Protect Your Vote, an effort to protect states’ rights to require voters to present ID cards at the polling place.
In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, Blackwell discusses the rationale behind the ACRU campaign.
“Protecting the integrity of the ballot box is essential to our democracy,” Blackwell says.
“Laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls are common-sense measures to prevent fraud and corruption and to ensure that each year’s election returns accurately reflect the will of the people.
“With the attack led by the Obama Justice Department on voter ID laws across this country, ACRU has decided to mount a counteroffensive to protect the integrity of ballot boxes all across our country.
“We basically want to make sure that people understand that [Attorney General] Eric Holder’s Department of Justice has launched an all-out war on voter ID laws and other measures to safeguard the electoral process.
“Although Holder’s actions are purportedly to prevent minorities from being disenfranchised, the reality is that these actions are nothing more than a crass political move with the purpose of ensuring that President Obama gets re-elected.”
Holder is trying to “short-circuit these legitimate measures to protect the integrity of our electoral process,” Blackwell says.
The Justice Department recently blocked a new photo ID law in Texas and halted South Carolina’s law in December. Asked whether Holder’s Justice Department has become an Obama re-election tool, Blackwell responds: “Absolutely.”
Holder already is under fire for his role in the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation — more than 100 members of Congress have signed a no-confidence resolution against the attorney general, demanded his resignation, or both.
Blackwell continues: “What more than 30 states have tried to do is put in place a common-sense measure of voter ID so that people are assured that voters are who they purport to be, and voter IDs are commonplace in our culture. You need [an ID] for a driver’s license, for boarding an airplane, receiving a passport, purchasing alcohol or checking out a library book. So to use it to safeguard the integrity of the voting process at the voting station is pretty noneventful.
“I just had the occasion of witnessing voting in Egypt at the end of January. I watched as Egyptians offered voter ID cards to say, I am who I purport to be.”
He adds: “At the end of the day, it is a false issue to say show me how many millions of votes have been fraudulently cast. If you owned a bank would you wait until your bank is robbed before you put in safeguards to protect the dollars in your bank? The answer is no.
“This is not a matter of saying there is voter fraud that’s run rampant, but we do have enough anecdotal evidence. We all know the horror stories of ACORN in 2008 and 2010. So there is enough evidence to suggest that we need to put things in place to protect this from going crazy.
“This is a reasonable safeguard to protect against voter fraud and ballot box stuffing when we have sufficient enough evidence that there are some people who would do just that if given the opportunity.”
Obama is visiting Ohio this week to defend his energy polices, while polls show people blame the president for high gasoline prices.
“The people of Ohio and the people across the country are right to blame the president for the rising gas prices at the pump, because we are an energy-rich country,” Blackwell says.
“There’s no reason why we should be dependent on gas or oil or any source of energy from any other country. People are very right to be angry at the rising gas prices because President Obama has actually short-circuited and discouraged the all-of-the-above approach that would have made us not only an energy sufficient country but an energy exporting country, producing jobs and more income in our country.”
© 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
Read more on Newsmax.com: Ken Blackwell: Holder’s ‘All-Out War’ on Voter IDs Is Obama
14 Answers
jhharlan
I agree that ID should be required. In fact, I thought it always was required............
| 12 years ago. Rating: 13 | |
Ann
Ducky
Isn't proper ID asked for, just about everywhere? What would be so offensive about it unless, of course, you are NOT who you say you ARE? As far as it being such a "hardship" for the poor and the disabled, getting an ID is a one-time event! How do the poor and disabled manage other things which must be accomplished weekly, or even daily? I'm sure that some "political hopeful" could get that problem (if it is such) solved within 24 hours of a law being passed!
| 12 years ago. Rating: 12 | |
facebook
Colleen
You know, this I find amazing, so far everyone agrees with the idea, yet the articles I've been reading about this would have one believe that the majority disagree with the ID card. I'll keep waiting for part of that majority that disagrees, then to find out why they think it's a bad idea. I would really like to know why (and how it could be called discrimination).
| 12 years ago. Rating: 10 | |
daren1
Absolutly i agree we got enough fraud going on.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 10 | |
LOL!!! Thanks for putting it back! :)
valR
pioneer2
Vinny
Not only I.D. but I think every American voter should have a mandatory Q.A. filtering at the polls, ten simple questions about the events of the time, or at least some form of friggin' IQ test to filter out the idiots. I know this is discrimination but somewhere the line must be drawn. i don't like that some idiot is voting on who is going to be in charge of my well being. Be it Republican or Democrat. I sincerely believe that a person voting should have some knowledge of what they are voting for, understand the issues, maybe even an American History test.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 8 | |
bigben
Actually, studies show that there is very little voter fraud and I do think that the republicans have ulterior motives on this issue. Suddenly, they're concerned with a non-issue. The papers are filled with statstics showing that there is no problem with voter fraud. And you have to be purposely ignorant of the facts not to see that it does affect elderly, minorities, and poor people. Here in VA. a drivers permit cost thirty two dollars, a lot of money for some people. And most of these people vote democratic. You really don't see this? However, that being said, I don't have a real problem with voter ID as long as some provisions are made for people that are in need of help with their ID.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 7 | |
I agree with voter ID cards. This is the point of the question.
There is far too much going on with the forum right now for me to take anytime with arguing politics or who has the best news source. Sorry to be so abrupt but hell is breaking loose here, a lot of it unseen by the members. I need to deal with that first. Hope you understand.
Shootah
I think a voter ID is a good idea, and the government should step up to the plate and implement programs to establish ways to make it available to all legal citizens, including those who have difficulty getting out or affording it. That way there is no argument from anyone, except from someone who isn't in the country legally. Maybe it should simply be a citizenship ID, and it just be the new standard form of identification, instead of having these stupid border patrol stops on the highway where they ask people if they are a citizen! What are they expecting people to say...no, I'm in this country illegally, and the guy next to me is a terrorist?!
| 12 years ago. Rating: 6 | |
ed shank
tabber
AS robertgrist said there is no problem with voter registration. I seen all kinds of experts speak on this topic. (Democracy Now, PBS News, Nightly News, you name it). A southern governer, don't remember name said on TV this is less than a 1% problem. I LOVE THE IDEA OF HAVING I.D. for anything, including voter i.d. I love the idea of big brother watching people and doing whatever they have to do to keep American a safe place. However, from everything I have heard its kind of like a form of redistricting so one party can gain advantage of the other when voting time arrives. It may not be well know that people have been thinking up ways to keep minorities from voting for at least a 100 years in the United States. Blacks in the south use to be killed if they tried to vote, houses burned down. The had to do stupid things like count watermelon seeds, say the alphabet, even tho they were discouraged from learning to read, all kinds of crazy stuff. Since laws came in, of course more clever manuvers have arise with regard to discouraging voting by minorities. Voter I.D. is truly one of them. It's pitiful and sad that that's the psychological motivation behind this crab. Now if it were ligitimate it would be great. Pay attention people do some real & true research on this topic. This year 75,000 low income minorities in the south will not be able to vote in November election with voter i.d. laws in place. I do phone polling, phone calling, knock on doors almost every election year for various topics. This year even some republicans are sick and tired of what republicans are trying to pull. And they are pulling one with this voter i.d. issue. Give me a break. I know a lot of people do not like Obama but don't lose insight and reason and reality over him.
| 12 years ago. Rating: 5 | |
Cynd
