Jackson Free Press

"I have no idea, ma'am."

—Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann during legislative budget hearings Sept 16, in response to Rep. Angela Cockerham, D-Magnolia, who asked for the number of voter-fraud prosecutions in Mississippi.

Why it stinks: Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has been pushing for a voter ID law in Mississippi for years. Instead of taking responsibility for the law's passage, he put the onus for the law on the state Legislature, and said he was merely the guy responsible for enforcing it.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the portion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required many states to gain pre-clearance, Hosemann has been going full speed ahead with voter ID implementation.

The problem is, as Hosemann's quote so eloquently puts it, the issue the law seeks to address—voter fraud—doesn't seem to exist. Voter ID is a costly, punitive law that serves no one except those who wish to limit voter rights.