On Wednesday night’s “Special Report” during the weekly online segment, Fox News contributor and Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers said her party — the Democratic Party —is “trapped in the past” in their opposition to voter ID laws.
“This is one of those arguments that I feel Democrats are sort of trapped in the past … At one point, I think this was true in extremely rural places or, you know, with people who were, you know, couldn’t read or couldn’t write — you know, in a different time,” she said. “Or when African-Americans were very afraid of the government — things like that.”
Since many state governments have been taken over by the Republican Party after the 2010 elections, throughout the country there has been a push to enact voter identification law. The measures have been opposed by President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice for the most part and have been played up as a potential 2012 election campaign issue.
Powers suggested that the Democratic Party explore ways to make sure everyone had an ID so they could vote, instead of opposing voter ID laws outright.
“Now today I’m just not on board with this,” Powers said. “I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect somebody to get an ID. And if they don’t have the money or the means to do it, the Democrats can start an organization that does that — that helps them go and raises the money to pay for them to get the ID, which is not that much money, and gives them the forms and tells them how to do it.”
