Voter ID on Super Tuesday - Record Turnouts Despite Voter ID Laws

The opponents of voter ID are eerily silent after record-setting turnouts occurred yesterday in states with voter ID laws. It’s now exceptionally clear that the alleged claims of mass voter disenfranchisement are overstated fiction. The five Super Tuesday states with voter ID laws -- Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia -- experienced record-breaking turnouts.

Alabama anticipated high turnout, and it was high:

"We expect [turnout] to be as high as 750,000 people in the Republican primary and 350,000 in the Democratic primary," [Secretary of State John] Merrill said. Turnout could be "higher than every election that we've seen since 2000, with exception of the 2008 race, where it was a very competitive Republican primary" and then-presidential candidate Barack Obama boosted turnout in the Democratic primary, he added.

Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas also experienced much higher than average primary turnout.  Virginia had 30% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the primary:

Elections officials say turnout in Virginia's Republican presidential primary was substantially higher than it was in 2008, the last primary in which no incumbents were running.

The Virginia Department of Elections said approximate figures late Tuesday show that about 800,000 Virginians cast votes in the Republican presidential primary. About 575,000 people voted in the Democratic primary.    

In 2008, roughly 489,000 people voted in the Republican primary, while about 986,000 people cast votes in the Democratic race.

The left's claims of confusion and mass disenfranchisement if voter ID laws are passed should now fall on deaf ears. On Super Tuesday, voters turned out, disenfranchisement was non-existent, and electoral integrity took a huge step forward. The left will likely continue to assert absurd claims of voters being disenfranchised but, on the heels of many record-setting primaries in states utilizing voter ID, everyone should know better.

Clinton-Appointed Judge Upholds Prohibition of Student ID Cards at Polls

Last week, a Clinton-appointed federal judge in Nashville upheld Tennessee’s voter ID law denying special privileges to students.  The case was yet another attempt to water down a voter ID law and was filed by the liberal misnamed "Fair Elections Legal Network" and the Nashville Firm of Barrett Johnston Martin & Garrison.  It sought to allow students to use their student ID cards, instead of the IDs everyone else has to use, when voting at the polls and said that the state denying them the ability to do that was age discrimination.

In the memo, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger, a known Democrat who was a Clinton-Gore Delegate in 1992 wrote:

Under the Tennessee Voter ID Law, everyone is required to obtain some form of acceptable photo identification in order to vote.  Students, like everyone else, can select among a state-issued driver license, a United States passport, or the free, state-issued non-driver identification card.

Admittedly, allowing students to use these cards (student IDs) would make it easier for them to vote, but it does not automatically follow that not allowing them to use their student identification cards imposes a severe burden or otherwise abridges their right to vote."

Cade Cothren, the Tennessee House Republican Caucus spokesman stated:

"This ruling reinforces the efforts of House Republicans to safeguard the integrity of the ballot box and uphold public confidence in our elections. Photo IDs are a commonplace requirement for accessing a variety of everyday items, ranging from alcohol and tobacco to hotel rooms and rental cars. Students who only have a school ID are eligible for a free state-issued identification card and, under this ruling, will continue to experience absolutely no barriers in exercising their right to vote."

Allowing students to use their school IDs to vote would also open up more instances of fraud at the polls by allowing non-resident students to vote.  If a student wishes to become a resident of Tennessee, they can easily obtain any of the identification cards that Judge Trauger mentioned in her opinion.  The RNLA applauds Judge Trauger’s decision to uphold fair and honest elections in Tennessee.  

Recent Tennessee Voter Fraud Could Jeopardize Election Results

Tennessee officials have uncovered clear evidence of voter fraud so significant that they may refuse to certify the election. The fraudulent voters had already cast their absentee ballots before they also decided to appear at the polls on Election Day. The election worker for Davidson County was fired in the wake of this revelation, and Tennessee Election Commissioner Mark Goins has recommended referring the fraudulent voters to prosecutors.

Election Commissioner Tricia Herzfeld wants answers about reports of wider irregularities before she certifies the vote tally. This case surrounds the negligent updating of electronic poll books by Omaha-based Election Systems & Software LLC. This oversight was only later discovered on Election Day. Furthermore, this is the second complaint that Davidson County has received with respect to the ES&S since August 2012. In 2012, residents called for Davidson County to terminate its contract with the outside vendor after registered Democrats received Republican ballots. The Tennessean writes:

“In a letter to election administrator Kent Wall sent Monday, Herzfeld also criticized fellow commissioners and staff for not talking about potential irregularities, including the possibility that some people were not allowed to vote. ‘The public has a right to be informed of these discoveries and the candidates, in particular, deserve to know if anything that occurred on Election Day could impact their races,’ Herzfeld wrote.”

Despite these problems, Commissioner Goins refuses to hold ES&S accountable, claiming that, “Other counties have had good working relationships (with ES&S)…” Commissioner Goins went on to say, “…ES&S should not shoulder the blame alone for this latest error, because the now-fired staffer did not cross check early voting tallies against electronic poll books. If he had, the firm's mistake would have been discovered.”

However, Herzfeld has made repeated requests for an emergency meeting regarding reports of lost voting histories, double voting, and voters being turned away. The Tennessee Election Commission will take up this most recent case of fraud at their next meeting on May, 19.