Republican ‘Men in Black’ Seek To Purge Voter Rolls of “Aliens”

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ill-advisedly ruled that requiring identification at the polls as a requisite for casting a ballot is Constitutional, the G.O.P. is taking the next step: requiring “proof of citizenship” at the polls.

The initial effort is being made in Missouri where voters will likely pass such a measure in August – in time to disenfranchise enough poor people to swing the state to the Republicans. Swinging state election results to Republicans by disenfranchising poor Democrats is, you see, the order of the day.

Oh, the G.O.P. will say it’s to stop fraudulent voting by “illegal aliens”. Even though every reliable study shows that’s as rare as voting by Martians.

How would one “prove” citizenship to our Republican ‘men in black’? There are only two ways: a valid birth certificate combined with other identification (social security card, driver’s license or other photo identification) or a U.S. Passport. The package costs over $40 and takes several months – and soon will take longer as Counties are beset with requests for birth certificates. A more honest Supreme Court ruled such restrictions on voting to be an unconstitutional “poll tax”.

But, of course, you won’t have to “prove” anything if you are white, will you?

Birth records in the rural South tend to be a bit scanty for Black residents born in the 30’s, 40’s or 50’s. In California and other Southwestern States, babies born to undocumented parents – although legally citizens themselves – often have birth records that are fouled up because of their parents unwillingness to provide their own true names.

But visiting the ‘sins of the father’ on the innocent citizen children matters little to Republican operatives seeking any means to continue eight years of Republican rule that began with their own vote fraud in Florida – later ratified by their G.O.P. court.

It’s a simple continuation of the attitude that led to the resignation of Richard M. Nixon: anything’s fair if it leads to victory. Is it any wonder the Bush Administration is failing to bring democracy to Iraq? They wouldn’t know democracy if it bit them!