There are “dog whistles.” And then there’s this.
Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, said the We Want Voter ID is using “race and not-so-subtle racism to feed a public perception of fear”:
These images are racial profiling of voters at its ugliest, designed to drive fear and racial division throughout Minnesota in order to help pass a photo ID amendment at the legislature and on the fall ballot. They’re wrong and they should be removed from public view immediately.
Although voter ID remains a solution in search of a problem, voter ID laws are being introduced across the country. USA Today reports:
Thirty-one states have voter identification laws, including eight — Alabama, Kansas, Mississippi, Rhode Island,South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin — that were enacted or toughened last year.[…]
Laws requiring voters to show identification at the polls have been around since 1970, but they are becoming more numerous and stringent. Once a voter registration card or utility bill sufficed. Now a growing number of laws require voters to show picture IDs.
The proliferation of strict photo ID laws begs the question: Why?
UPDATE: A day after being called out for its racial stereotypes, We Want Voter ID changed its web banner.
