Indiana and several other Republican-dominated states have passed laws requiring state-issued identification to be presented by voters, with cumbersome requirements for provisional ballots. The U.S. Supreme Court appears to be leaning toward upholding the Indiana law, according to most reports.
This is part of the GOP strategy that started in 2000, continued by the Bush administration's so-called "Justice Department" and its focus on "voter fraud". Yet by all reports, voter fraud is NOT a problem.
Voting is a fundamental right. In cases involving fundamental rights, the state is supposed to show a "compelling state interest" in defending laws that affect the right--one reason I think same-sex marriage may eventually become a national reality, despite the states' consitutional amendments.
You guessed it: the Bush administration not only weighed in supporting the law, but challenged the challenge to the law, whereas the state of Indiana had not done that.
So why aren't the candidates talking about this?
Maybe Barack is not the one to do it, but these laws are squarely aimed at reducing the Democratic vote, something that the notorious Richard Posner, appeals court justice who upheld the law, recognized. (By the way, Posner is a guy who defends Bush v. Gore and even Korematsu v. U.S.)
So with all the bad publicity the so-called "Justice Department" has had under Ashcroft and Gonzales, where is the campaign talk about this kind of thing? Bush's Justice Department has been targeting minority voters since he took office in part by scrubbing minority voters from the rolls.
And it's not just African-Americans who may not have drivers' licenses or state-issued IDs. It's elderly voters, Hispanics in large cities, etc.
This should be a huge campaign issue, even as it also reminds voters--or would-be voters--that the U.S. Supreme Court balance is in play. You can kiss the right to privacy goodbye if the GOP wins this year. The GOP is supposedly the party that opposes "big government". But they want the government spying on you, reading your e-mails, etc.
This is also a chance to inform voters that Bush, who had claimed in 2000 to have helped pass a "Patients' Bill of Rights" law in Texas, had actually opposed that law, vetoed it, and then opposed it again as President when it was challenged by big insurance companies.
This is an issue that some candidate ought to be talking about. It should be a natural for Edwards, or even Clinton. Or for Barack, my candidate.