Stephen Miller defends making it harder for people to vote

White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller defended restrictive voter ID laws in an appearance on Fox News on Friday.

“How can anybody claim that it is voter suppression to ask if somebody who’s voting, if John Smith is really John Smith?” Miller asked, adding, “It’s a simple principle: one citizen, one vote. Emphasis on the word citizen.”

Miller was responding to President Barack Obama’s call for voting reforms as he eulogized civil rights hero John Lewis on Thursday.

Voter ID laws have frequently been implemented by Republicans as a tactic to suppress votes, particularly among groups that tend to vote for Democratic candidates, such as ethnic minorities and young voters.

“Many Americans do not have one of the forms of identification states acceptable for voting. These voters are disproportionately low-income, racial and ethnic minorities, the elderly, and people with disabilities,” the ACLU notes.

From the July 31 edition of “Fox & Friends”:

STEPHEN MILLER: How can anybody claim that it is voter suppression to ask if somebody who’s voting, if John Smith is really John Smith?

 

That’s it. Just saying you are who you say you are. You live where you say you live. Presenting just a simple ID to say I am who I say I am.

 

Americans have to present ID to do all kinds of basic functions. To think that you wouldn’t have to present an ID to vote in an election? It’s a simple principle: one citizen, one vote. Emphasis on the word citizen.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.