Jason Thigpen, a political newcomer looking to unseat Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., has parted company with his fellow Tar Heel State Republicans over a voter ID change he insists just plain stinks. “You can paint a turd and sell it as art, but it’s still a turd,” Thigpen asserted in a Facebook postdenouncing the election tweaks that state lawmakers approved in late July. North Carolina Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed the new restrictions — which mandate voters to show a government-issued ID, trims the early voting window by a week and abolishes same-day registration — into law on Aug. 12. “This is 2013 and any legislator that puts forth such a discriminatory bill should be laughed out of office. This is America, not Russia,” Thigpen argued. His opposition, however, appears to be more technical than purely ideological.
“I have no problem with requiring a voter to have an ID, but they passed a law without stating which IDs will and will not be accepted,” Thigpen explained to his social media followers in a related thread.
When HOH followed up with Thigpen, he sounded pretty resolute that you can require an ID, but not in a way that’s discriminatory. “I do support requiring voters to provide a photo ID in order to vote, as long as there isn’t any undo burden or expense placed on the voter in order to do so. Otherwise, it’s considered a poll-tax, and although I understand many voters may have an issue with this but the law is simple regarding what a poll-tax is. I honestly believe that any legislation which may invariably reduce voter turnout is a bad thing and cannot imagine what argument, not discriminatory in some fashion, could be made to purport differently,” he wrote to HOH.
Full Article: House GOP Hopeful Compares N.C. Voter ID Law to Excrement – Heard on the Hill.