Reply #24: NH: No offense intended (Voter ID)

[rumpel]

Concord Monitor Online

Main article Title Audit part of fallout after Kurk blocks bill
(scroll down in the article)

By Eric Moskowitz
Monitor staff
May 28. 2006 10:00AM

No offense intended

Lawmakers passed one more bill that Republicans said would combat voter fraud and that Democrats said would scare off college voters or those who can't afford a government-issued ID, among others.

The bill includes a provision calling for the secretary of state to send a letter to any voter who registers on the day of an election without showing identification. The return of a letter as undeliverable would trigger an investigation by the attorney general.

Lynch has twice vetoed bills this year that linked voting with driver's licenses, saying the Legislature should not try to limit the democratic process or create barriers to voting. He is still reviewing this bill.

"Apparently he is not concerned that anyone can show up at a polling place on Election Day and vote - regardless of their legal status as residents of New Hampshire or the United States," Republican State Committee Chairman Wayne Semprini said in a statement. The headline Semprini put on that news release? "Lynching the voters of NH: Democrats stand in the way of real election reform."

Democrats were not pleased. Rep. Claire Clarke of Boscawen, who is African-American, found the use of the term "Lynching" offensive, especially in the context of voting rights.

"I sincerely hope that this was merely an inadvertent oversight on your part, and that you will take this opportunity to apologize. If you purposefully tried to equate John Lynch's name with the practice of mobs hanging minorities and others, then you should be deeply ashamed of yourself," Clarke said in a statement released by the party. "Since your hurtful 'lynching'headline references the struggle over civil rights, perhaps you should remember one of the most important lessons of that struggle: that every man and woman deserves equal access to voting."

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060528/REPOSITORY/605280358/1101/NEWS04