Press Release from the Tennessee Republican Party, Oct. 31, 2011:
It’s the Halloween season, and besides the “ghosts and goblins” that will be ringing our door bells to scare us for candy, it seems that Democrat politicians are using the occasion to scare Tennesseans in an attempt to score political points.
In recent weeks, Tennessee Democrats have been gearing up for Halloween by attempting to scare voters, particularly senior citizens, about Tennessee’s new photo ID law.
If you listen to our Democrat friends, they will tell you that no voter fraud exists in our state; and therefore, there is no need to protect the votes of those who are eligible to vote.
Here’s a quick reminder for Tennessee Democrats:
In July of 2010, four people in Memphis, Shelby County were indicted on charges of voter fraud in a 2006 election. In fact, this State Senate election, featuring the aunt of former Congressman Harold Ford Jr., was decided by only 13 votes and was ultimately thrown out by the state because of alleged abuse by out-of-state voters and people voting in the names of the deceased.
To make matters worse, a 2008 investigation of Shelby County voter rolls found 5,174 deceased voters still on the rolls and 1,681 voters who appeared on the rolls twice with different addresses. In July of 2010, over 10 indictments were served in Putnam County alone for improper voting. In 2004, there was a case of an illegal immigrant voting in Putnam County.
These are just a few instances. The bottom line is that we all know that voter fraud exists, but it seems that Tennessee Democrats would rather look the other way when voter fraud does occur and continue to use this issue to distract people from the important issues facing our state and nation.
The problem, not just in our state, but across the country, is a lack of security when it comes to who is voting and who is eligible to vote. The new photo ID law addresses that lack of security.
The State of Tennessee has over 3.6 million registered voters. In 2010, 1.6 million of those voters went to the polls and voted in our gubernatorial election. In 2008, 2.6 million of those voters went to the polls and voted in the Presidential election. That means 2 million voters stayed home in 2010 and 1 million in 2008.
It’s these millions of voters each year that are on their precinct election rolls, but never vote; and often times, it is these people who have their votes stolen and never even know it. These stolen votes negate the legal votes by hard-working Tennesseans everywhere.
Under the previous structure, there was very little we could do to prove if someone voted multiple times under different names; but with the new photo ID law, we are as close as we can get to one person, one vote.
Sadly, Tennessee Democrats would much rather play politics with this issue than address it. The fact is that over 90% of registered Tennessee voters have a photo ID. Of those without photo IDs, it is important to note that it is not required of ALL voters.
For example, you’ve probably heard a lot about Dorothy Cooper, the 96-year old woman from Chattanooga that Tennessee Democrats have been exploiting for fundraising and political purposes. She, along with any registered Tennessee voter age 65 or older, can obtain an absentee ballot and vote without the required photo ID. Additionally, any registered voter, regardless of age, may vote absentee without giving reason if he or she is outside of their registered county during the duration of the election period.
In Dorothy Cooper’s case, she even indicated that she would prefer to vote absentee, yet the Democratic Party decided to manipulate her situation by putting her on national television and allowing Barack Obama’s campaign to make her the centerpiece of a video production. They even went as far as to make Dorothy Cooper the focus of a recent fundraising e-mail.
It is essential to our free and fair democratic elections that the constitutional right of one person and one vote is protected. Democrats can join us in moving closer to that goal by abandoning their scare tactics and start informing voters about this new law.
