In their ongoing attempts to place Virginia as the most
backwards state in the country, Republican Party lawmakers Sen. Mark Obenshain
and Del.s Rob Bell and Mark Cole will be introducing new voting requirements in
the General Assembly.[1]
Del. Bell will be sponsoring a voter requirement bill that
will prohibit the votes of Virginians who do not present a government-issued
photo ID to vote and show proof of Virginia citizenship to obtain an ID. In a
pang of graciousness, Bell’s bill would provide these documents at no cost to eligible
voters who cannot afford them. Also notice has government has become the ‘good
guy’ when it serves Republican Party ends.
And the ends that the Republican Party of Virginia appears
to be shooting for is stripping the vote from minorities and economically
disadvantaged eligible voters in Virginia, voters who are likely to vote for
Democratic Party candidates and thereby erode the political power of the GOP in
Virginia.
According to Del. Bell (Albemarle County), “Everyone who’s
eligible should vote on Election Day, but it’s important that we only count the
ballots of citizens who have the right to vote.”[2]
Indeed, there aren’t many Virginians who wouldn’t want to
see eligible voters vote. But why, all of a sudden, has there been such a heavy
focus on this issue of voter eligibility by members of the Republican Party?
One theory has it that as Republican Party power in Virginia
has come under increasing threat, GOP strategists have shifted to curtail the
influence of voters who vote disproportionately for the Democratic Party. And Virginia
has been far from alone in terms of Republican Party attempts to strip the
votes from traditionally non-GOP inclined voters.[3]
The ultimate aim of politics and politicians is, on the
whole, power. As such, when lawmakers begin focusing on an issue that seems to
have little priority on the face of it, citizens should be wary that some
political power play is afoot.
Virginia’s voting system may not have been perfect in the
past but the current ensemble of Republican Party bills will do little if
anything to improve the system. The only consequence that I can see is a quasi return
to the Jim Crow past that still scars Virginia’s self-image.
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