Jackson Free Press

Despite efforts by the Mississippi Legislature to compromise on voter identification during the regular session, Gov. Haley Barbour held a May 13 press conference to demonstrate that he wants no one exempt from mandatory voter identification requirements. He sent the Legislature into a $34,000-a-day special session to push through his versions of voter identification and tort reform.

In the regular session, which ended May 9, and after much emotional debate, the Legislature had reached a compromise on voter ID that included an age exemption for people born before 1940. This satisfied many members of the Legislative Black Caucus who were outraged by the voter ID bill, saying that it was another attempt to intimidate African Americans who well remember being turned away at the polls by literacy tests, poll taxes, intimidation and other techniques designed to keep them from voting.

But Barbour announced that he would not sign the voter ID bill as long as it includes the age exemption. "It makes no sense to exclude people over the age of 65 because this group is more vulnerable for the potential of voter fraud," Pete Smith, Barbour's press secretary, said in a later interview. "Voter ID is not about intimidation; it is simply about integrity and having a fair and honest election."

Even with the exemption, many voter identification opponents say there is little evidence of voter fraud in Mississippi, at least not the kind that will be solved with voter identification. They believe, instead, that calling for voter identification is a way to potentially keep black voters, who tend not to vote Republican, away from the polls. It is also a way to appease conservative white voters who believe that Democrats are hankering to commit voter fraud.

But evidence does not bear them out. Rep. Bryant Clark, D-Pickens, said voter identification is just not necessary. "Ninety percent of voter fraud comes from absentee ballots, and voter identification does not help that," he said.

Indeed, most of the evidence offered for voter identification has been anecdotal—or outright false. For example, when asked for Barbour's evidence that voter ID is necessary in Mississippi, press secretary Smith responded: "The governor says that in his hometown of Yazoo there are more people on the voter roll than (who live) in the county. That does it for me right there."

However, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that Yazoo County has a population of 28,199 with 20,163 being of voting age. The Yazoo Circuit Clerk's office currently totals the county voter rolls at 17,545.

Proponents of the age exemption say that without excluding those born before 1940, the voter identification bill gives poll workers license to intimidate older voters. "African Americans who went through the times of the poll tax, being asked questions like 'How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?' before they can vote, feel like this is just another tactic to suppress votes," Clark said.

The enforcement of voter identification can also be tricky, and selective. One of the more likely ways to try to "catch" the voters trying to use improper ID is to videotape them. In Mississippi and other states, a favorite way to discourage minority and low-income voters is by sending "poll watchers" to the polls with video cameras that are then trained intently on certain voters. Even if those voters have proper ID, they may well be scared away by the tactic.

Sen. Charlie Ross, R-Brandon, disagrees with the premise that requiring someone to show ID at the polls will intimidate anyone. "People have to show identification for a myriad of reasons," Ross said. Proponents say that showing identification at the polls is similar to showing ID to ride a plane or to write a check.

But Rep. Cecil Brown, D-Hinds, points out that those privileges are not the same as the right to vote. "Voting is different from riding in an airplane and showing identification at the movies; it is a constitutional right," he said.

Voter ID proponents say Mississippi should get behind the national voter identification trend. In his press conference to announce the special session, Barbour said that he wants nothing different than many Democrats, including Rep. Bennie Thompson, who is a black Democrat, have agreed to nationally.

"The federal folks think there is enough potential for voter fraud to include a voter identification law; then why shouldn't Mississippi do the same?" press secretary Smith said later.

But there is a major difference in the federal HAVA law and what Barbour wants in Mississippi: The Help America Vote Act of 2002 only requires first-time registered voters by mail to present identification the first time they vote. The federal rule is "narrow and straightforward," as ElectionLine.org puts it. It applies to registering by mail only and is required just the one time. And the rule was the result of bipartisan compromise in 2002 by the U.S. Senate. It is not a one-sided, all-encompassing, non-compromising rule that applies every time a vote is cast in a state that historically has blocked blacks from voting.

There are indeed problems with voting in states around the country—from disenfranchisement of people with criminal records, people wrongfully stricken from voter rolls, voter intimidation, faulty electronic voting and, yes, errant chads.

But in Mississippi, problems with improper voter identification just are not an issue, Brown said: "Mississippi does not have a problem with voter fraud; we have a problem with getting people to vote." In the last state election, only 894,487 of the 2,871,782 population voted.

As the JFP goes to press, the House and Senate Election Committees are attempting a compromise. Sen. Robert Chamberlin, R-Hernando, says his committee would agree to allow the age exemption with the condition that it will be phased out in two years. The Senate also wants to eliminate the part of the bill that allows people who are unable to show identification to vote after signing a sworn statement of identity.

Rep. Thomas Reynolds, D-Charleston, says that the House feels strongly about the age exemption but agrees to alter some of the bill's language so that people unable to present identification can vote by affidavit ballot.

At a "lawsuit abuse" press conference on Monday, Barbour indicated that he might give up his voter ID fight if the Legislature would give him the non-economic damages caps he wants on the tort-reform side.

"If the Senate will vote on tort reform, I don't think that it is worth the Legislature's efforts to hold them just for voter identification. I hope we can go home tomorrow," Barbour said.