Despite the fact that we
have absolutely no evidence beyond Anthony Gemma’s highly biased word that his
charges against David Cicilline are in fact true, Mr. Gemma has been willingly
embraced by the voter fraud advocates, who have long been looking for any kind
of proof, no matter how suspect, that what they’re talking about really exists.
They had a field day with Gemmapalooza.
And in
true fashion, the delirious Travis Rowley has already declared “I told you so.”
Mr. Gemma’s
announcement could barely have been better crafted to appeal to this
demographic, except for one flaw. A sitting liberal congressman with firm ties
to the Democratic Party, the threat of violence, mass conspiracy, and the idea
that Rhode Island government is so corrupt that it can’t even be trusted to run
its own elections.
It’s all so great to them.
They hate this state already, here’s evidence of why. Even if they recognize
the flaw in Mr. Gemma being the one making this announcement (or that he
eventually buckled and fled under press pressure), they’re so blinded by their
glee. “See, here’s why we need voter ID!”
Look, I
understand that majorities of Rhode Islanders agree with the voter ID law. I
understand the impetus behind the idea. I’m even prepared to say that it’s not
a terrible thing to have if you can distribute the necessary IDs to everyone
who needs one so that no one loses their right as a citizen to vote.
But
unfortunately, the voter fraud advocates aren’t the kinds of people who care
about that. They’re the kind of people who measure government success by how
many people are prevented from using government services; whether it’s food
stamps, unemployment insurance, voting, even walking in public parks if they’re
callous enough.
But Mr.
Gemma’s announcement doesn’t make their voter ID law any better, because of
that nagging flaw. Because the voter fraud advocates forgot Mr. Gemma called on
federal intervention into this election regardless of the voter ID law.
Their
law doesn’t appear to matter to Anthony Gemma, who never once mentioned it
during Gemmapalooza. In fact, the kind of fraud he claimed to be heading off,
mail ballot fraud (where actual cases of fraud are actually recorded) isn’t
even addressed by the voter ID law.
Because
it’s almost too hard to do. Because here’s a demographic reality in this state:
it’s older and whiter than the country as a whole. It’s far easier to
disenfranchise the poor, young, and non-white, because in Rhode Island the
first isn’t particularly vocal when it comes to the kinds of things the Statehouse
cares about, the second is pretty transient and apathetic, and the last are
mostly contained to the cities and also overlap with the first two categories.
It’s much harder to disenfranchise the elderly population, who use mail
ballots.
There
would be political hell to pay if you focused on mail ballots. All it would
take would be your opponent going “I don’t think we should disenfranchise our
elders, who did so much for this great nation.”
Look at
you, big man, telling Granny she can’t vote when she’s voted all her life.
Furthermore, elderly folks tend to vote more conservative than the poor, young,
and/or non-white; and since voter ID is a notion advanced by conservative
politicians… Well, you’re not stupid, you see the political calculus.
Which
is why these voter fraud advocates aren’t worth anything. Because they’re too
cowardly to focus on actual problems, so they focus on the conspiratorial ones
that serve their interests.
The other great problem is
that we’ve conflated “ineligible voters” with “voter fraud”. So this Valley Breeze story mentions
seven people who are incorrectly registered. None of the people appear to have
committed fraud with the intent of impersonating a voter or voting in the wrong
place. Rather some of them appear to have completely misunderstood the mailing
address/registration address difference (and that’s fair, it’s taken me a while
to understand why there are even two addresses). The others likely didn’t know
any better.
Properly
educating voters would do far more to make elections fairer than any one law.
But that would require government work, and if there’s one thing conservatives
hate, it’s government reaching out to help people instead giving them the cold
shoulder and a kick out the door.
Finally,
I do believe the current straits we find ourselves in do reflect poorly on
Rhode Island’s government. Rhode Island needs to do everything it can to
project the idea of a clean and fair government.
The
2013 session better include independent ethics and redistricting commissions,
more open government laws, fewer to no closed-door meetings, speedy votes, and
anything else that could possibly bolster the reputation of this state as a
place for fair play. Because if these allegations of corruption are allowed to
fester and nothing is done, people are going to get more and more fed up, and
they’re going to completely lose faith.
And if
people don’t believe in a government, then that government doesn’t count for
shit.
Samuel G. Howard – A native-born Rhode Islander,
educated in Providence Public Schools, went to college in North Carolina and a
political junkie and pessimistic optimist.