“Voter suppression or preventing fraud”
by Dr. Steve
”Where do I vote?” “Just follow the signs and have your ID out.” How does he know that I was voting for the first time? Perhaps it was because I was trying to look cool and sophisticated, even though I had no idea what I was doing. I was so proud as I stood nervously on line, waiting my turn along with hundreds of others, waiting to vote, one voter at a time.
My grandparents must have been looking down from heaven amazed that their young grandson could take part in the democratic process. Voting wasn’t confined to the elite ruling class, not just the rich, not just the educated, not just white men, and not just landowners, as our Founding Fathers had first proposed. The greatest democracy on the planet allowed every eligible citizen to vote.
My grandparents had fled Czarist Russia in the early 20th century, penniless, totally illiterate, and unable to read, write or speak a word of English. They never voted a day in their life. Jews were systematically rounded up during the Russian Pogroms and slaughtered for practicing their religion. Voting? That was the least of their problems.
My father was the firstborn American. I was the first of the next generation. And here I was, actually voting for the very first time. What an honor it was for myself and my family. We loved America so much, probably the only country on the planet who, in 1905, would have accepted my immigrant grandparents and actually allowed them to vote.
I closed the curtain behind me & pulled the leaver for John F Kennedy for President.
How could we not vote for him? He was one of us, grandson of immigrants, so young, so virile, a gorgeous wife, 2 young children, a bad back condition and all. Scare tactics didn’t work either. Rumors had it that if a Catholic were ever elected president, the Pope would run the country. Wow! Do you believe that? We were accustomed to antisemitism but anti-Catholicism was new to us. We were raised in a working-class Italian-Irish-Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood. Everyone I knew, were either Catholic or Jewish. We decided to ignore all the scare tactics. The new, young generation of voters had arrived. We held our breath and elected the first Catholic President. Who would be next? A woman? maybe? A Jew? We doubted that.
I’ve voted in every election since then. Even after all these years, I still get that same thrill walking into the Bellemeade Village Hall and voting on Election Day. But now, certain people want to tell Tennessee how to run our own elections, even though the Constitution clearly places this responsibility in the hands of the States.
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
In the name of preventing voter suppression they want to change all that:
– They want us to not have to show proof of who we are when we vote. wow! that makes no sense. and
– Someone can take possession of my vote, and with a group of other votes, hand it in for me. It’s called ballot harvesting.
What they are erroneously calling voter suppression, in reality, is nothing more than preventing voter fraud. Thankfully, the Supreme Court brought sanity into our voting booth. They upheld Arizona when they ruled that:
1- States, like Tennessee, could insist that we vote in the district where we are registered, as long as early voting or absentee ballots are available. “Inconvenience was not a reason to void an election law, just as long as everyone was treated equally.”
2- Like President Biden’s home state of Delaware, we also can ask the voter to prove who they are when they vote (any ID would work) Isn’t that the whole point of “one man (woman)-one vote”?
3- Ballot Harvesting was not permitted. A secret ballot is fundamental to our election system. No one should hand my ballot in for me.
I find it absolutely racist and insulting to think that African Americans (or any other minority group).
– don’t have a valid ID,
– can’t figure out where and when to vote, and
– must find someone else “smarter than they are”, to submit their votes for them.
Moving to Nashville six years ago, I have not met one African-American who fits that helpless mold. Do you? Why don’t you ask Sen.Tim Scott, Congressman Alan West, or Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice if they need any help voting?
