To the Editor:
It is hard to tell from Delegate Plum's piece ["Voter Fraud at the Highest Levels," Reston Connection, Sept. 19-25, 2012] whether or not he supports Governor McDonnell's Justice Department-approved Voter ID law, whereby a Voter ID Card is sent to every registered voter (easy to vote, hard to cheat). He sees no voter fraud in Virginia and warns us, instead, to beware "fraudulent-like [sic] statements by politicians." Beware, indeed!
It is politicians who draw parallels between ballot-integrity voter ID laws and those of the Jim Crow era that bear watching.
Mr. Plum inveighs against "procedures intended to confuse... minority voters." Why does he condescendingly assume that "minorities" are in 2012 uniquely baffled by the requirement that they produce a legitimate form of identification? This well-flogged horse is rolling its eyes.
Little voter fraud in Virginia, perhaps, but plenty of potential: 10,000 dead folks on Virginia's voter rolls and counting, the machinations of ACORN (or whatever the new names under which it operates), Voter Participation Project's "mistaken" attempts to register hitherto non-voting Virginia cats and dogs...
In states that have photo-ID requirements, incidentally, participation in elections has increased!
Harry Locock
Reston