Voter ID Opponents Lose Again. This Time in North Dakota.

Six members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians sued, claiming that the ID requirement restricted the ability of tribal members to register and exercise their right to vote.

From Hans von Spakovsky at The Daily Signal:

"Although it should be pointed out that all six of these plaintiffs actually have residential addresses. 

The majority rejected the plaintiffs’ contention that requiring voters to have a residential street address is discriminatory, citing former Associate Justice John Paul Stevens’ opinion in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board (2008), in which the Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID requirement.

A “residential street address furthers North Dakota’s legitimate interest in preventing voter fraud and safeguarding voter confidence, so unlike a poll tax, it is not invidiously ‘unrelated to voter qualifications.’”

The number of North Dakotans, just like the residents of other states, who already possess a photo ID is overwhelming. The court found that less than 0.5% of eligible voters in the state do not already have an ID or the supplemental documents that can be used to meet the ID requirement.

More importantly, the plaintiffs in the case presented no evidence whatsoever to detail how many of these “voters attempted to obtain a supplemental document and were unsuccessful.”

'Evidence.' What a concept. von Spakovsky links to a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research as evidence that voter ID laws have no discernible effect on reducing the turnout of voters. IE: no undue burden.

On an anecdotal note, I can testify this is true. I've been an election judge in my county for ten years. I've worked at many different polls, during many different elections - from the mob madhouse of 2012 & 2016, to local, off-year bond issues where barely 4 dozen voters walk in the door all day.

My observation has been consistent: 99.8% of ALL voters (brown, black, white, yellow, red, blue collar, white collar, old, young, immigrant, native born, etc) who approach the check-in table have a drivers license in hand. 99.8% of ALL voters. The other .2%? Passport or military ID. I've only seen one utility bill as I.D., and that was during Obama's 2012 re-election.

Anyone who demands that voter photo ID is racist, or a hardship for minorities, or etc. is a LIAR, and desires voter fraud.

It really is that simple.


H/t: Doug Ross @ Journal