‘Disenfranchisement Hysteria’ Is Rampant, Says Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler

The Left’s obsession with voter ID laws amounts to “disenfranchisement hysteria,” according to Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler (R).

Photo ID requirements for voting, whether instituted in America or anywhere in the world, are “correlated with increased voter turnout, substantial increased voter turnout, and a whole lot of good things and I think that shows that some of this disenfranchisement hysteria is, frankly, frankly silly,” Gessler said during a  panel discussion on electoral integrity at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., on July 26 of this year.

Voter ID advocates like the good-government group True the Vote have long maintained that asking voters to prove they are citizens is essential to combat voter fraud. Left-wingers, on the other hand, say such requirements are unfair to people who are too lazy to obtain acceptable forms of government-issued identification.

Gessler praised True the Vote, a good-government group that is on the front lines of the battle for clean, honest elections. True the Vote is one of those groups that liberals hate and that voter-fraud deniers like left-wing journalist Brentin Mock routinely smear. Without any credible evidence whatsoever, Mock has accused True the Vote, which merely watches polling places to keep officials honest, of trying “to strip voters of election rights.”

Gessler seems justified worrying about fraud at the voting booth. On this Election Day there is news of widespread voter fraud, malfunctioning voting machines, and military uniform-wearing New Black Panther Party members reemerging at Philadelphia polling places. Last year, Gessler released a study showing that nearly 5,000 illegal aliens voted in the U.S. Senate election in Colorado two years ago.

“We’ve got bloated and inaccurate voter rolls. We have a very loose honor system when it comes to voting in this country, both in the registration and voting as well; often times, for example, no forms of ID, or no photo ID required,” he said. “Over time we’ve seen the increased use of mail ballots which, while it has many good points, also increases a very common avenue for voter fraud.”

Those who oppose voter ID laws embrace “a culture of see no evil, hear no evil,” and their “argument is ironically propagated by some of the same people who see massive corruption when it comes to a campaign finance system.”

Such people, Gessler said, “see massive corruption in the ballot initiative process, but when it comes to voting in the polling booth, our hearts become pure, without malice,” according to voter ID opponents.

“I think we all want to believe that everyone is of good faith and willing to do the right thing, but I think Americans intuitively understand that in any human endeavor, and elections are hard, complicated human endeavors, in any human endeavor, there is a small proportion of people who will when tempted do the wrong thing, who when tempted, will break the law. And political power, as gained through elections, is a temptation and that tempts people to do bad things.”