Telling the Truth While Lying - The Case Against Texas' Voter ID Law

Sherilynn Ifill

Well, the feds are suing the state of Texas for writing a law that says you have to show that you are who you say you are when voting.  The case, if you're a liberal, is compelling. Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund throws out a familiar liberal talking point on the subject.  "A Texas voter," she says, "Is more likely to be struck by lightning than to see someone attempt to vote fraudulently at the polls."

This argument is true in the strictest sense. It is also a lie in Truth's clothing. The key phrase here is "see someone attempt to vote fraudulently". 

1. First, you can't see dead people vote.
2. She never said you couldn't see someone "successfully" vote fraudulently.  If you did you would never know it was happening.  

So the chance that you would know someone voted fraudulently are slim unless someone caught them in the act doing it right in front of you.  The lightning stat is probably close to true. You are more likely to get hit by lightning than to actually see someone caught in the act of voting illegally. 

Which is sort of the point of the Texas Voter ID law. With the ID requirement, it will be rather easier to actually catch someone voting fraudulently.

Democrats - Protecting the voting rights of dead people since the 19th Century.

© 2013 by Tom King