Dear editor:
The Arkansas law requiring voters to present identification at the polls was recently upheld in court. Personally, I have no problem with the way the law is now. The state is even issuing free ID cards to those requesting them.
However, beware, when the door is cracked open. Voter fraud is not the issue here, but voter suppression is a very real and dangerous reality.
For example, Waller County Texas is a small, 70 percent white enclave between Houston and Austin. Right in the middle is Prairie State University, a predominantly black school. The political powers that be fought for years to allow the students, whose primary residence was the university, to vote in local elections. They changed the rules and polling places dozens of times. Most recently, the campaign manager for the Democratic congressional seat hand-delivered a letter to the county courthouse, to be passed on to the judge and county clerk. At which time he was asked his political affiliation, then promptly arrested for "loitering" and had his cellphone confiscated.
In Georgia, the secretary of state (who is in charge of elections) is running for governor. By Associated Press estimates, he has disqualified over 70,000 voters for simple clerical errors such as change of address. The same report cited the majority of these disqualifications (on the eve of being able to register) are in two counties that are predominantly African-American.
Finally, in North Dakota, voters in 2012 did something unspeakable: They elected a female, white, U.S. senator. The Republican Legislature said "enough." They promptly passed a law that said ID is not enough; it has to have a physical street address. Not a P.O. box. Except that the two counties it most affects have Native American reservations on them, and don't have street names or physical addresses, just a common post office where they all get their mail. By coincidence, they vote 90 percent Democrat.
So while we should try to stop any voter fraud, it is the smaller problem. Voter suppression is much, much more dangerous, and when one party gains too much control, these are but three examples of the egregious tactics that can be employed.
Noah Little
Hot Springs
Editorial on 10/19/2018