
The Morning Mail
From Journal Sentinel readers
Posted: Oct. 2, 2005
VOTER ID
Technology could play a big role in process
The Sept. 25 editorial "Demagoguery on voter ID" contained several good points about problems an ID card can't correct. It didn't propose any new solutions. I suggest that the Journal Sentinel stop engaging in name-calling and remind the people in both political parties that present technology can cure the problems.
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It seems that race is the real issue
Thomas Serio's Sept. 28 letter regarding the voter ID bill showed once again how the facts have little do with people's opinions on the issue ("Realistic solution to fraud is needed"). The real issue seems to be race. According to Serio, African-Americans vote for Democrats because of "entitlement" they've been given. He also implied that voter fraud exists within the African-American voting bloc in Milwaukee.
At least Serio is honest enough to admit that the voter ID bill's true purpose is to reduce Democratic - read African-American - votes in the city of Milwaukee. Nowhere in his letter did Serio point to any evidence of voter fraud in the African-American community. That's because numerous investigations, including those conducted by the Republican U.S. attorney, have found that Republican allegations of voter fraud were themselves fraudulent.
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Yes, racial history is basis of mistrust
I think it is telling that on the day the letters to the editor section was full of people calling for a voter ID law, there was also a column explaining the feelings of the Hmong community in relation Chai Soua Vang's murders of fellow hunters.
These two topics are related. Whether or not we agree with a voter ID law, we should all at least acknowledge the reasons some people are afraid of it. These are the same reasons that cause an unstable individual, such as Vang, to commit murder.
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http://www.jsonline.com/news/editorials/oct05/359901.asp