Identifying The Problem WIth Voter ID Laws

House Dems are finally starting to make a stink about state voter ID laws and disenfranchisement and want an investigation into them.  House Republicans are so far completely ignoring them.  Surprise, right?

Two top House Judiciary Committee Democrats want to know, and on Monday they asked Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, to hold hearings on those laws, which have been adopted or are pending in 37 states.

The chairman is reviewing the request, and he had no immediate comment.

"As voting rights experts have noted, the recent stream of laws passed at the state level are a reversal of policies, both federal and state, that were intended to combat voter disenfranchisement and boost voter participation," said Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

Conyers is the committee's top Democrat. Nadler is the top Democrat on its Constitution subcommittee.

They're concerned about new laws in 13 states that they say will curb access to the ballot box.

The changes require voters to present government-approved identification cards, curb voter registration drives by third-party groups, curtail early voting, end same-day registration and overturn rules that give convicted felons who've served their time the right to vote.

Twenty-four states are considering similar measures, according to New York University's Brennan Center for Justice, which issued a report on the topic in October.

Once again, the "widespread voter fraud" that these laws are supposed to prevent has never materialized, meaning that the real reason that these laws exist are to make it more difficult for Americans to vote and to discourage the poor, the elderly, and students from doing so.

Let's understand here that the laws Republicans are enacting are there to reduce overall turnout and to raise barriers making it more difficult to exercise your right to vote, not less.  Republicans know the fewer people vote, the better they do in elections, period.  It's painfully obvious as to what they are doing, and it's far past time House Dems demanded action.

Of course, the odds of the GOP lifting a finger to even look at these laws is nil.  It's a nice thought, however.