Last week, Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate Democrat John Fetterman said that requiring a voter I.D. is “insidious and unnecessary,” “outrageous,” “illogical,” “unfair,” and “simply voter suppression.” He says that concerns about vote fraud are a myth. But if concerns about vote fraud are a delusion, it is a delusion shared by virtually all other countries and by the vast majority of American voters (79%).
All 47 European countries, except for parts of the United Kingdom, require a government-issued photo I.D. to vote. The U.K. has introduced legislation to mandate I.D.s, which are already required in Northern Ireland and parts of England.
In some countries, even driver's licenses aren't acceptable forms of voter identity verification. The Czech Republic and Russia requires passports or military-issued I.D.s. Most other countries use national identity cards to also verify citizenship. Still others, such as Colombia and our neighbor, Mexico, require biometric voter I.D.s. Our other neighbor, Canada, also requires a government-issued photo voter I.D. to vote.
Despite Fetterman's claims of voter suppression, requiring voter photo I.D.s has increased voter turnout in other countries and U.S. states. Turnout in Mexico increased after sweeping reforms were enacted in 1991. Inconveniently, people have to go in person to apply for the I.D.s and then pick them up at a later date. For some Mexicans, that means trips each way of almost 100 miles. Absentee ballots are completely banned.
You would think that voter turnout would plummet, but that's not what happened. In the three presidential elections after Mexico's reforms, 68% of eligible citizens voted compared to only 59% in the three elections before the changes.
When Georgia took the modest step of requiring voters to include the last four digits of their Social Security numbers on absentee ballots, the reform was met with corporate boycotts. Compare that with Europe, where 35 of the 47 countries entirely ban absentee voting for citizens who reside domestically.
Another ten countries have absentee ballots, but voters can only collect them by going in person and presenting photo I.D. Most of those ten countries limit absentee voting to those who can provide third-party verification of hospitalization or military service.
Even during the COVID lockdowns, unlike the U.S., Europe made few exceptions. Poland allowed mail-in ballots for everyone in 2020 as a one-time measure, as did two cities in Russia. But Poland's plan played out poorly. Other countries saw these problems and were dissuaded from following suit. France made very limited exceptions, temporarily allowing sick or at-risk individuals to vote absentee.
In all European and developed countries, strict chain of custody regulations exist for ballot boxes. Ballot boxes being left out unattended at 3 a.m., as we saw in Pennsylvania, is not something that we see outside of the United States. Other countries not only monitor ballot boxes at all times, but they also check government-issued photo I.D.s to ensure who is putting ballots in the boxes.
Although the rest of the developed world also debates how to balance voter fraud prevention with ease of voting, there is agreement across the political spectrum (e.g., Canada and Mexico) that people need to verify their identities.
Some countries have learned their lesson the hard way. In Northern Ireland, where a bitter sectarian conflict extended to hardball electoral machinations, voter fraud was described as “widespread and systemic” on all sides. As a result, both Conservative and Labour governments instituted reforms. In 1985, conservative Margaret Thatcher passed legislation requiring voters to identify themselves before being given a ballot.
After a 1998 government report found that medical cards were used as I.D.s and could be “easily forged or applied for fraudulently,” the left wing Labour government made voter identification cards much more difficult to forge and took other measures to prevent people from registering to vote multiple times. These anti-fraud provisions led to an immediate 11 percent reduction in total registrations.
Former IRA Belfast commander Brendan Hughes recounted to a group of academics in their 2017 report how he had used a fleet of taxis to ferry fraudulent voters from one polling station to another, and how wigs, clothes, and glasses were used to alter voters' appearances.
Countries such as Sweden, France and Canada are hardly anti-democratic, yet they are out of step with John Fetterman's ideas of election security. Perhaps it is Fetterman's ideas that will prove anti-democratic.
This article originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News. Republished with permission.
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Perhaps Mr Fetterman you can arrange that no ID is required for the following:
•To purchase a gun.
•To fly on a commercial plane.
•To ride a train.
•To take a cruise.
•To open a bank account.
•To get a bank loan.
•To get a mortgage.
•To get a library card.
•To receive any kind of health care.
•To operate a car, private plane, heavy equipment
•Open any utility account.
•And much, much, more!!!
Mr. Fetterman until you eliminate all ID requirements do not tell me that requiring an ID to vote is unjustified, illogical, racist, unfair, or suppression. These are hollow arguments as ID is required for almost any activity in our society.
You are just another deceptive, lying, dishonest, progressive politician that wants insecure elections so you Democommies can cheat and steal elections.
Wake up voters, keep these communists out of office and vote out the communist progressive politicians that are currently in office.
To go to a bar.
To buy alcohol.
To buy tobacco products.
To get a speeding ticket.
To get married. Didn’t you have to show your ID to marry that pretty woman, wife #2?
Can I copy and paste what you said on my Facebook? I love it, I know why they want no ID, we all do,
If you have a problem identifying yourself when asked at a polling station then you are hiding something! Simple as that! No American citizen who has the right to vote should be scared of bring asked for identification. We do it at the doctors and dentists office together with handing over our insurance cards to be photographed by various personnnel. No one has ever mentioned being worried about that, have they?
AYUP. Fetterman is a brain dead goof.
He wants tohide in momies basement
With Joey.
No — he is just as corrupt as , the clintons,obamas,bidens,pelosis,schiff-for-brains and many many more.
U need a ID to purchase almost anything.Especially to vote, I hacve always had to show an ID to vote, even though they all know me.Fetterman is a radical,liberal,socialist,marxist, hje even admits it,we don’t need clowns like him in government.
Things are obvious anywhere in the world, on nearly every topic: those who favour more contrôle will typically be those who are the l’est inclined to cheating. And the reverse applies !!!
control
least
Fetterman is radical,liberal,socialist,marxist, just like the squad,he isn’t fit for government. Don’t censor me again,fot the truth.
fetterman’s entire tirade is fallacious! Voter laws do not spread gradually without notice. And they do not cause serious harm. They are in fact beneficial in protecting the integrity of the voting process. They are NOT illogical nor unfair. And they do not suppress the vote of anyone legally qualified and registered to vote. And voter fraud exists. It is neither a myth nor an illusion. .
Why is there a picture of Dr Oz on this article? It has nothing to do with him. Doesn’t AOL have any pics of Fetterman? Sure it does, so why not show him?
Most every rational person understands that Mr Fetterman’s arguments against voter ID hold no water and are not logical. Apparently it doesn’t matter. The leftists (pronounced Marxists) control the narrative in our major media and institutes of higher learning. Do they actually believe that Voter ID laws are oppressive to black and brown people in 2022? Why? They are pretending that certain groups are too poor or stupid to obtain a Govt ID, and that is an accepted “false narrative”. It’s humiliating and sad that leftists are willing to cast some of our citizens in that light.
These same people WILL find additional “reasons” to ensure there is MASS Mail-out ballots with mass mail-back votes. Very very hard to account for those ballots. Mail-in balloting will be the end of our republic. Electronic machines were the start. Our real citizens, those who aren’t trying to control our elections, who just want to vote and participate, know that casting their ballot in person, and proving their identity is an ABSOLUTE MUST for election integrity. There truly is only one reason to outright demand NO voter ID requirements and promote mail-in ballots- Subversion.
Personally, I would tolerate 2 weeks of in-person voting, with ID, and even partisans at every box. That would be safer and have much more integrity than what we have now. To hell with making such an important process “easy”. Our country doesn’t need “easy”. Many citizens are losing faith in our election integrity, and that is by the design of these leftists. When good people feel it no longer matters, it’s over.. The Marxists win..
The 2020 presidential election had very low margins in several states. There was a reported 15 million non citizens (primarily from Mexico) living in the U S before The last election and 4 million plus since. It stands to reason that every state should requite voter ID. My guess is that few Citizens do not already have an ID acceptable for voting purposes.
This guy is a brain dead trust baby.
Fetterrman is crazy liberal lunatic so here’s a Let’s Go Brandon to him
We need voters Picture ID paper ballots machine is to easily changed paper only in ink no illegals at all ever in American Election
You are extremely right Lucy. We also need to make all ballot boxes ILLEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES AND TERRITORIES… They are to damn easy to stuff. As we found out in 2020. The dimoshits took complete control in stuffing them. IF THERE ARE PAPER BALLOTS THEY MUST BE SERIALLY NUMBERED ALL ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND MONITORED…
It’s clear why the left wants to protect vote fraud. They don’t think they can legitimately win elections.
If Republicans were committing vote fraud, the left would be clamoring for anti-fraud measures. But since it benefits the left, they’ll fight any sort of reform to ensure election integrity.
When Trump ran for office, he promised to fight election fraud. Unfortunately, he got a lot of push-back on that from blue states and he abandoned the effort. Failing to keep that one promise ended up biting him in the back.
Black folks all look alike, so they can’t get IDs, dontcha know.
Voter fraud comes from corrupt politicians. I wish our system did not invite fraud but it does. Requiring ID I’m afraid is likely the only thing left to do. It’ll be interesting how they corrupt that after a period of time.
You can beat this dead horse all day long, but the democrats insistence on no voter ID is just so they can more easily commit fraud. Everybody knows that, especially the democrats who are only doing that because nobody has punched them in the nose over it yet. They need utterly beaten down to nothing, then you might see them change their propaganda based election schemes. It’s all lies and propaganda, that is the democrat party and all you have to do is look at all the promises that have been broken by democrats. Like, they haven’t done anything to make America better, the border isn’t better, crime isn’t better, sure nobody’s in jail but that just exacerbates crime, not better, can’t get anyone to sign up for the military, military is demoralized with their wannabe girls leadership, what kind of soldiers worry about what these woke bastards worry about, the economy is in the toilet and the national debt is beyond paying back, inflation is at new record highs, Biden has destroyed our energy self sufficiency without any alternative to take it’s place, well, what is better? Race relations? The labor market? Are stores shelves fully stocked? Hell California still wants kids to wear masks to school and get jabbed with a deadly genetic infusion of messenger RNA to change the way their body works. I might add, against the laws of international treaties. Biden promised to bring the country together and then spent every second since Jan.20, 2021 tearing it apart. Culminating in that nauseating speech the other day where he again threatened patriotic Americans with sending the military out to kill them. What a guy. Again, how is that bringing them together? It’s not. Hopefully it’s just more lies. Big talk from a big thug. If it isn’t he better say his prayers for real this time.
People like Fetterman have no morals.
You should have to show a picture photo (Driver’s License) and Voter Registration card every time you vote. Should be the law. And if don’t have it, you don’t vote. And mail in ballets ought to have a copy of the same.
Mail in ballots are simply another method of election corruption.
People have to provide ID to buy a beer, to get a loan to buy a car, to get into a ball game in many cases. And it should be illegal to require ID to vote. That is simply asking for election fraud.
Candidate Fetterman suggests requiring a voter I.D. is “insidious and unnecessary,” “outrageous,” “illogical,” “unfair,” and “simply voter suppression.”
If that’s the case go and try to open a bank account, buy property, sign a contract, walk into a secure location, etc. and see what ID one requires.
With that rhetoric, spin, and edict from Fetterman, a wannabe, it just doesn’t make sense. And, to think, he wants to represent his constituents in DC?
Apparently, Mr. Fetterman is racist
Any black person would be aggrieved by Mr. Fetterman
telling them they are unable to do a simple task that a
white person accomplish.
Pure rubbish and racist.
M. zitterman
mikiesmoky at aol com
Mr. Fetterman, do you know that our government is starting to propose ending the use of cash for anything and everything? How are the disenfranchised going to live if they cannot keep their identification?
Fetterman is either a fool or a tool of the Democratic machine!
[email protected]
Photo ID presented in order to vote is a most reasonable request. Those who disagree must be existing with their head up their behind.
We are not some Chinese Communist Country joe biden and never will be,
democrats raise their right hand take an oath to defend our Constitution, yet they spend most of their time trying to destroy, it’s time for traitors and oath breakers to be voted out of office, some need time in jail for review their lost American values Stop trying to pump up your image it’s not happening.
“Insidious, unnecessary,illogical” — those words seem to fit fettermen to a “T”. Unfair and voter suppression are just words used by all liberal democrats who are looking for the illegal vote. I also agree the ID should be more than a driver’s license as it seems several states are just handing out a license to any illegal who asks for one. BUT I also have not witnessed any progress in fighting voter fraud so we could very well have another 2020 fiasco.
Tell you what: let’s cancel Fetterman’s customer ID for his bank and watch every Tom, Dick and Harry come into the bank and bleed his bank account DRY! Think he would learn his lesson the hard way? NOOO, his brain lives in an alternate universe.
Fetterman could best be described as the exit point on the human body.
Yes we need voter ID. Please DONT vote for an idiot
Who says we DONT.
Every other nation defends, protects, and enforces its borders. We hear not a word of criticism. If THEY are Correct and Reasonable to do so, then The US is also. As others have commented, If it is reasonable to DEMAND ID for the most routine and inconsequential transactions, it is Far More Rational and Equitable to Require ID to confirm a person’s Legitimate Claim as a full participant in the Constitutionally Defined Process of Self Government that makes this Nation UNIQUE on the planet.
The migrants who have risked their lives to make their way to our borders CAME HERE for Exactly the Freedoms and Protections this man is trying to dismantle.
They are NOT STUPID, Nor lazy. They will recognize the perverse lies that have been used to lure them here to be used as Pawns in the effort to erase our Constitution.