Commentary by TrueDialog.org's Founder, Carl Lindemann

July 7th - Let’s ID the Voter ID Spin Shops

On July 1^st, a McClatchy Newspapers investigative report by Greg Gordon shows how pervasive the use of spin shops is in hardball politics. 

“Was Campaigning Against Voter Fraud a Republican Ploy?” describes three key tactics used in the campaign to “challenge the legitimacy of voters considered likely to vote Democratic.” What’s at the top of the list?

• Tax-exempt groups such as the American Center (for Voting Rights)…were deployed in battleground states to press for restrictive ID laws and oversee balloting.

According to Gordon, the Center’s well-funded PR and lobbying effort took place in at least nine states: 

They hired high-priced lawyers to write court briefs, issued news releases declaring key cities "hot spots" for voter fraud and hired lobbyists in Missouri and Pennsylvania to win support for photo ID laws. In each of those states, the center released polls that it claimed found that minorities prefer tougher ID laws.

Who is behind the American Center for Voting Rights and where are they now?  Poof! the organization’s disappeared as reported in Richard L. Hasen’s “The Fraudulent Fraud Squad” published in Slate on May 18.

The irony – and hypocrisy – is astounding. The principled argument for such voter I.D. laws is to ensure the integrity of the electoral process (see California State Senator Tom Harmon’s reasons for introducing such legislation). Those operating through spin shops to manipulate and confound honest discussion of this issue demonstrate that, for them,  this appeal to principle is just another talking point.

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