The RNLA Responds to Obama’s Criticism of Voter ID

President Obama called state voter ID laws “a big mistake” and pledged Department of Justice review of such laws on the “The Michael Smerconish Program” last Friday.  The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chair David Norcross responded to these comments by saying, “This is, purely and simply, a partisan effort to undermine the integrity of the election process because Democrats for some reason are fearful of any efforts to stop voter fraud.”

 Obama said, “I will say that my big priority is making sure that as many people are participating in our democracy as possible. Some of these moves in some of the other states that we’ve seen try to make it tougher to vote, restricting ballot access, making it hard on seniors, making it hard on young people. I think that’s a big mistake, and I have made sure that our Justice Department is taking a look at what’s being done across the country to ensure that people aren’t being denied access to the franchise.”

 Obama took a similar position while in the United States Senate.  Back in 2005, then-Senator Obama proposed a concurrent resolution that “any effort to impose photo identification requirements for voting should be rejected.”  Moreover, the resolution stated that the DOJ should “challenge any State law that limits a citizen's ability to vote based on discriminatory photo identification requirements.”  The resolution did not pass. 

 However, Obama’s remarks are strikingly different from comments by state Senator Harold Metts who sponsored a voter ID bill in Rhode Island.  “As a minority citizen and a senior citizen, I would not support anything that I thought would present obstacles or limit protections,” Metts said. “This bill ensures that no one will be denied the right to vote, and I truly believe I’m doing the right thing… For me, it's not about red state-blue state, or who's on the left or who’s on the right.  It’s about strengthening the public’s faith in the system.”  Harold Metts, a Democrat, saw that voter fraud was a problem in his state and didn’t let party elites stop him from proposing voter ID.

RNLA Chair Norcross also said that “rather than apologizing for and distancing himself from the activities of the now-disgraced ACORN, which he has never done, President Obama instead now vows to block legitimate state efforts to ensure that ACORN's successors are not allowed to engage in fraudulent activities during the election process in their states.”

Read more of the RNLA response to Obama here.