As the 2024 elections approach, Republican legislatures across the country are attempting to pass voting restriction laws that they believe will hamstring their opposition. Targeting student, minority and elderly voters who often vote Democratic with onerous registration and voting requirements, Republicans are working relentlessly to shape the electorate to their liking. Ohio is a good example, as the Associated Press reports:
"As Ohio’s primary approaches, a strict new photo ID requirement is stirring concerns for military veterans and out-of-state college students, in Amish communities and among older voters. [snip]
Ruth Kohake is among those caught up in the confusion over Ohio’s law, which is going into effect this year. The retired nurse from Cincinnati gave up her driver’s license and her car in 2019. Now 82, she thought she might never have to step foot in another state license agency.
But Ohio now requires an unexpired photo ID in order for someone to vote, and she’ll have to get that at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The law adds passports as valid ID, but eliminates nonphoto documentation such as a bank statement, government check or utility bill for registration and in-person voting. Military IDs also are no longer acceptable when registering to vote. (our emphasis)
You can fight for your country, but you can't use your military identification to register to vote. Pure Republican hypocrisy and malevolence. Also, we can't let those seniors without driver's licenses to vote for saving the Social Security and Medicare that we Republicans are trying to privatize can we?
The article notes that this wave of voter suppression is happening in numerous states controlled by Republicans, like Nebraska, North Carolina and Idaho, who obviously want to retain power by choosing who votes and who doesn't:
"Of 35 states that request or require a photo ID to vote, Ohio is now the ninth Republican-controlled state to move to a strict law allowing few to no alternatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Fifteen states allow other ways voters can verify their identify, such as an electric bill, bank statement or signature match.
The number of states where voters face strict photo ID requirements is poised to rise in the coming months." (our emphasis)
The restrictive requirements are based on fictitious "voter fraud" claims and conspiracies by the right wing in order to force a change in laws that would make the election of their candidates much more likely. The Malignant Loser fanned the "voter fraud" claims throughout the 2020 Presidential campaign and ever since, and his political cultists are following his lead in using that bogus claim to commit a fraud of sorts on the people of their states.
