Voter ID = Democratic Vote Suppression

If there was any doubt that Voter ID laws are little more than a transparent attempt to suppress Democratic votes, the jury is in highlights via TPM:

# 21.8% of black Indiana voters do not have access to a valid photo ID
(compared to 15.8% of white Indiana voters – a 6 point gap).

# When non-registered eligible voter responses are included – the
gap widens. 28.3% of eligible black voters in the State of Indiana to
not have valid photo ID (compared to 16.8% of eligible voting age white
Indiana residents – a gap of 11.5 percent).

# The study found what it termed “a curvilinear pattern (similar to
an upside down U-curve)” in the relationship between age and access to
valid ID – younger voters and older voters were both less likely to
have valid ID compared to voters in the middle categories. 22% of
voters 18-34 did not have ID, nor did 19.4% over the age of 70.
(compared to 16.2% of Indiana voters age 35-54 without valid ID and
14.1% for 55-69 year olds).

# 21% of Indiana registered voters with only a high school diploma
did not have valid ID (compared to 11.5% of Indiana voters who have
completed college – a gap of 9.5%).

# Those with valid ID are much more likely to be Republicans than
those who do not have valid ID. Among registered voters with proper ID,
41.6% are registered Republicans, 32.5% are Democrats.

Kevin Drum has excerpted some nice graphs and adds a terrific final comment:

By a substantial margin, the Indiana residents most likely to
possess photo ID turn out to be whites, the middle aged, and
high-income voters. And while this is undoubtedly just a wild
coincidence, these are also the three groups most like to vote for
Republicans. (2006 exit poll data here for the suspicious.) Overall, 91% of registered Republicans had photo IDs compared to only 83% of registered Democrats.

But like I said, this is probably just a coincidence. I'm sure Karl
Rove and the RNC had no idea that the demographics broke down like
this. Right?

There is no widespread voter fraud.  We are simply seeing a Republican attempt to use the institutions of government to further tilt the playing field in their favor. 

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