Massachusetts has Voter ID

My Facebook friends love to post about the evils of states requiring ID to vote. This will, in their view, disenfranchise black voters because black Americans are not competent to obtain ID (unclear where this knowledge comes from since, except for selfie time at Black Panther, none of these folks are ever seen in company with African Americans).

In trying to figure out when our polls will be open tomorrow, I stumbled upon “What To Know About Voting In Mass. On Super Tuesday” (WBUR):

You may be required to show your ID when you check in at your polling place, the state says, under these circumstances … The poll worker has “a reasonable suspicion” that leads them to request ID

In other words, a poll worker can make an arbitrary decision, potentially based on skin color, to demand ID.

7 thoughts on “Massachusetts has Voter ID

  1. Are voter ID laws racist and suppress the black vote? Satirist Ami Horowtiz goes to UC Berkeley and Harlem to find out by asking white liberals and black voters:

  2. Philip – a little bit more complex than you make it out. What qualifies as “ID” is pretty broad in MA and even if you don’t have one, you can still cast your ballot.

  3. My Facebook friends love to post about the evils of states requiring ID to vote. This will, in their view, disenfranchise black voters because black Americans are not competent to obtain ID (unclear where this knowledge comes from since, except for selfie time at Black Panther, none of these folks are ever seen in company with African Americans).

    A number of states have tried specifically to use ID to make it more difficult for black voters to vote. A Republican legislator admitted this in North Carolina. In Alabama offices were closed in black areas. If you looked into it, the portion of black Americans who don’t have a drivers license has got to be significantly higher than the portion of white voters who don’t have a license. Republicans push voter ID because they they think that it will help them win elections.

  4. Any voter ID is obviously racist. Unless issued by Democrats. In which case a non-voter ID is preferred; for instance, a Mexican passport should do just fine.
    The GOP wants to exclude voters of color, especially black. The Dems want to encourage voters of color, especially citizens of Latin American nations.
    What a country!

  5. Ah, so much beating around the bush. Dem party wants foreigners who are staying illegally in US to vote. They figure they’ll vote for Dems because of all the freebies Dems promise and deliver to them. This is just plain old corruption. Nothing new to see here.

  6. In all fairness, the answers from blacks might be quite different in Mississippi.

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