Democrats have long decried voter ID laws, claiming that requiring people to prove they are who they say they are before exercising the franchise is somehow a racist act.
So it came as no surprise that the federal voting expansion bill the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed earlier this month includes a provision to essentially wipe out the various state voter ID laws.
But it could be an uphill battle for Democrats considering an overwhelming majority of Americans — including minority voters — support voter ID laws.
What’s going on?
The so-called “For the People Act,” which the House passed March 3, is the left’s dream voting reform bill and a piece of legislation that Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee described as “written in hell by the devil himself.”
The bill includes several controversial provisions, including mandatory automatic nationwide voter registration, mail-in voting expansion, voting rights for convicted felons, and statehood for the District of Columbia.
One of the most contentious parts of the bill would nullify the various forms of voter ID requirements currently on the books in 36 states.
The Heritage Foundation’s Hans von Spakovsky offered this description of the provision in an op-ed for Fox News:
It would eviscerate state voter ID laws that require a voter to authenticate his identity. Indeed, it would force states to allow anyone to vote who simply signs a form saying that they are who they claim they are. When combined with the mandate that states implement same-day voter registration, it means I could walk into any polling place on Election Day, register under the name John Smith, sign a form claiming I really am John Smith, cast a ballot, and walk out. Not only would election officials have no way of preventing that or verifying that I am not really John Smith, I could repeat this in as many polling places as I can get to.
Democrats have repeatedly called for the elimination of voter ID requirements, saying they’re racist in nature because, they claim, too many minorities are incapable of obtaining photo identification.
But if they want to get the country on board with canceling identification requirements, they’ve got a lot of work ahead of them — including in minority communities.
A new Rasmussen Reports poll found that 75% of Americans believe voters should be required to show photo ID before being allowed to vote — only 21% oppose such measures. Rasmussen noted that support for such laws are actually up since 2018, when 67% of Americans supported voter ID laws.
Unfortunately for the Democratic Party, it’s not just white GOP voters standing in their way.
While Republicans do overwhelmingly support ID requirements, Democrats and independents are supporters, too. Rasmussen’s survey found that 89% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats, and 77% of independents believe ID should be required in order to vote.
And despite the fact that Democrats repeatedly claim that ID laws are clearly discriminatory, Americans disagree at a margin of 2 to 1. According to the survey, 60% of voters say the laws are not discriminatory, while just 31% say they are.
In what is likely the poll’s biggest blow to the Democrats’ push to erase voter ID laws, blacks showed they are nearly as likely as whites to say voters should be required to show photo ID, and “other minorities” are even more likely.
Significant majorities of all racial groups support voter ID laws: 74% of whites, 69% of blacks, and 82% of other minorities.
And if Democrats thought they had young voters convinced, they should think again. Rasmussen said, “Voters under 40 support voter ID laws more than do older voters.”
