Talk about throwing cold water on a hot electorate.
The Supreme Court has sent the wrong message to our immigrant community with the upholding of a restrictive voter ID law requiring citizens to present a driver’s license, passport, or other ID before marking a ballot.
The law in question is the one that helps keep voters away in Indiana, coincidentally the next hot spot for Democrats in the primary campaign. In all, 25 states require some ID. The court decision will likely stifle challenges to all of them and make voting seem almost as hard as boarding an airplane in the land of the free.
Only two justices, David Souter and Ruth Bader Ginburg, acknowledged that the requirement of ID could be “nontrivial burdens” for a vast number of citizens.
“Nontrivial burdens” means important ones. Hurdles. Barricades. Obstacles. The Great Wall was put up to be a nontrivial burden for invading forces. Newly naturalized American citizens don’t need more walls preventing them from participating in our democracy.
Democracy needs a large welcome sign.
Here’s a release from AALDEF, The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which cites instances where voter ID requirements hurt Asian Americans voters:
AALDEF and the Asian American groups have monitored elections across the country over the last decade and found that voter ID requirements have discriminatory impacts on Asian American voters. AALDEF’s exit poll of almost 11,000 Asian American voters in 23 cities in eight states in the 2004 elections revealed how voter ID laws place additional burdens on the right to vote:
-In New York, identification is not required to vote, but 23% of all Asian American voters surveyed were asked to show ID. Of those, 69% were not required to do so under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which requires only a limited group of first-time voters to present ID. In Chinatown, a police officer turned away all Asian American voters who did not have a photo ID with them.
-In New Jersey, where identification is not required to vote, 25% of all voters surveyed had to provide identification; of those voters, 51% were not required to show ID under HAVA. One elderly first-time Korean American voter was asked to provide several forms of identification. After he presented his voter registration card and other documents from the Board of Elections, he was still required to show a driver’s license, utility bills, and other forms of ID before he could vote.
-In Massachusetts, 24% of Asian American voters were asked to show identification; of those, 57% were not required to show ID under HAVA. One voter presented his United States passport but was told that it was insufficient. The voter was turned away.
-In Virginia, where some form of identification is required from all voters, a South Asian voter complained that he was asked to show identification, but his white companion was not required to show any identification whatsoever.
Glenn D. Magpantay, AALDEF staff attorney, said, “AALDEF will continue to monitor poll sites to ensure that such requirements are not misapplied and not applied only to Asian American voters.”
The following organizations joined AALDEF on the brief:
Asian American Bar Association of New York
Asian American Bar Association of the Delaware Valley
Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts
Asian Pacific American Agenda Coalition
Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area
Asian Pacific American Lawyers Association of New Jersey
Asian Pacific Islander American Vote
Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia
Chinatown Voter Education Alliance
Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans of Virginia
Conference on Asian Pacific American Leadership
Korean American Bar Association of New Jersey
Korean American League for Civic Action
Korean American Resource & Cultural Center
Korean American Voters’ Council of NY & NJ
National Korean American Service & Education Consortium
Organization of Chinese Americans
ONE Lowell
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition
Providence Youth Student Movement
The Sikh Coalition
South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow
South Asian Youth Action!
Vietnamese American Initiative for Development
YKASEC – Empowering the Korean American Community
AALDEF’s amicus brief in the Crawford case can be found at http://www.aaldef.org/docs