Matt Strawn, Chairman of The Republican Party of Iowa reported in his latest email newsletter that the vote on Iowa House bill hf95 went strictly down party lines. That is, all the Republicans voted for the bill and all the Democrats voted against it. Since the Republicans have a majority in the House, the bill is now headed to the Senate.
Iowa HF95, in a nutshell, proposes that precinct officials require voters to present identification. Now every citizen who takes his citizenship seriously knows there are voter registration requirements to help curb voter fraud. We all want our voice, as is our right. Unfortunately, some want to have more of a voice than is their allotted share.
This bill seems RIGHT to me. If I want to vote, why shouldn’t I have some proof that I am who I say I am? In my small community, the polling officials eventually learn to recognize most of the voters, and the casual banter just “feels right”. But that is not the norm in big-city precincts. We hear about voter fraud every election. I read through this bill. The language makes it clear that anyone showing up without ID can cast a provisional ballot, the same way he or she can if they failed to register. If it checks out, and the vote matters, it gets counted. Some of you Democrats are going to have to explain the unanimous Democrat vote against this bill to me. Because I’m thinking in my usual obvious vein: “What does a Democrat have to gain by preventing any but the rightful voters from having their say?”
