Democratic U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings recently appeared at a news conference bashing Gov. Rick Scott's noncitizen voter purge with Bill Internicola, a Brooklyn-born World War II vet who appeared on a list of potential noncitizens.
Before it started, Hastings asked Internicola if the Broward Supervisor of Elections had mailed him a stamped envelope to send back his proof of citizenship.
Internicola, who had voted for decades and is a Democrat from Davie, answered no.
Hastings responded, "There is also a backdoor poll tax. In the letter that he (Internicola) received I asked him a moment ago he did not have a prepaid envelope to send it back meaning he had to buy a stamp. Don’t tell me how little it is -- that stamp is a cost. And the state should not be about the business of emaciating voter rights. They should be in the business of causing people to participate."
Was Hastings correct to compare the requests from elections officials to Internicola and others on the list to a "backdoor poll tax"?
Read PolitiFact Florida's fact-check.
Compile that with the amount of documentation to renew or get a drivers license recently adopted and it is an affront to democracy. Someone I knew had to produce proof of a birth certificate, a social security card, passport, marriage license, on top of her previous license just for a renewal of a license of a senior citizen who was born and raised in this country. Its absurd to think many of poor means have access to all this documentation which is excessive.
Compiling this documentation can also be an expensive process, creating another barrier for voters of little means.
Don't believe me, remember this post next time you renew.
No money, No ID.
No ID, no vote.
Posted by: Broward D | June 07, 2012 at 09:38 PM