Hamilton County Commissioner Fred Skillern jokes on rolling back voting rights [View all]

[d_r]

Newspaper: Chattanooga Times Free Press

Link: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/08/skillern-jokes-on-rolling-back-voting-rights/

4 paragraph exert:
"I said, 'Why don't we go back to the Constitution when the only voters were white male property owners?'" he said when reached by phone.

Party volunteer Phil Phillips said he was surprised to hear something like that from a county commissioner.

During the meeting, commissioners had voted 7-2 against asking the Tennessee General Assembly to amend or repeal the voter ID law passed earlier this year. Phillips, a 56-year-old Harrison resident, addressed commissioners during the public comment period. He said the requirements are cumbersome and affect a range of registered voters, regardless of party affiliation.

The Republican-controlled state Legislature earlier this year passed the voter ID law, which they sold as a deterrent for voter fraud. The law requires that voters present certain types of qualified state IDs and provides free ones for voting purposes for those who don't already have them and can't afford them.

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My comment: I posted this earlier, but I forgot to add in the url or newspaper; I'm trying it again to try to understand better how new du3 works. So, it is an experiment. The "boxes" to put that information in aren't here on du3.

I first posted it because I found the remark shocking. The issue of requiring photo ID to vote is an important one nationally, and especially in Tennessee where people over age 60 aren't required to have a photo on their driver's license. So this can really disenfranchise older and poorer voters.