While verbally attacking U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Denver) on his September 21 show, Newsradio 850 KOA host “Gunny” Bob Newman said Democratic representatives opposed a bill that would require voters to show government-verified photo identification in order to receive a ballot because “many liberals want illegal aliens of Hispanic descent to vote, because most would vote Democratic, thus possibly throwing the election.” He then concluded, “This is the only possible reason why they would want not to have any verification of who you are.” Three Republicans and 192 Democrats voted against the Federal Election Integrity Act (H.R. 4844), which passed the House September 20. Four Democrats and 224 Republicans voted for the bill.

But in contrast to Newman's suggestion that a desire to have “illegal aliens of Hispanic descent ... vote” was the “only possible reason” for opposing the bill, DeGette said in a September 20 press release that she voted against the bill because it would be “a modern day poll tax”:

Congress should not be in the business of throwing up discriminatory road blocks between citizens and their right to vote. This cynical bill would have the greatest impact on the poor, seniors, and minorities, who are less likely to have driver's licenses and least able to afford the necessary documents to prove their citizenship. This is nothing more than a modern day poll tax and that is why I voted against it.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 specifically outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and other similar devices because they could be arbitrarily administered by local officials in a discriminatory manner. Requiring a government-issued photo ID when you vote would create similar barriers and hurdles for racial and ethnic minority voters and would have a chilling effect on voter participation.

No American should have to pay to vote.

In a September 25 article, the Los Angeles Times reported that Republicans in both the House and the Senate insisted that requiring a government-issued photo ID to vote is “necessary to protect the United States from illegal immigrants ... trying to corrupt the voting process.” Democrats, however, according to the article, “argued that there were no data to show that illegal immigrants voted, and that the bill would disenfranchise poor, elderly and minority citizens who tended to support the Democratic Party.”

From the September 21 broadcast of Newsradio 850 KOA's The Gunny Bob Show:

NEWMAN: And just today, three bills were passed in the House. We don't know what's going to happen to them in the Senate. But three bills were passed in the House, and Congresswoman Diana DeGette, ever the radical, ever the extremist, ever the politician more interested in the so-called rights of illegal aliens than your safety and our national sovereignty and security, she voted against a bill that will allow law-enforcement officers, local guys, to make an arrest for an immigration crime, and she voted against a bill that will allow illegal -- that would allow us, the Department of Homeland Security, to hold on to illegal aliens suspected of terrorist crimes for more than six months. She voted against it. She voted in favor of the suspected terrorist. Congresswoman Diana DeGette. Write the name down.

[...]

I'm not surprised. She's an extremist. She's so far to the left, I mean, she can't even see the right anymore.

And then we have another issue. We're just going to stack it up tonight, gang. I'm telling you, it's crazy. Should anyone be allowed to walk into a polling place here in America and vote with absolutely no verification of who they are and whether they have the right to vote? Jimmy Carter says that's insanity, that everyone should have their -- Jimmy Carter I'm talking about. He's, you know, he's over there on the left with Diana DeGette, but Jimmy Carter actually says, “No, you got to be able to verify people who have the right to vote.” But many liberals, despite Carter's opinion, believe that anarchy and fraud are best. That no one should have to prove they're eligible to vote. Now, why do you suppose many on the left feel that way? Why would they want anyone to be able to vote with no verification of who they are? Well, I believe everyone in this country who wants to vote should have to demonstrate they're eligible to vote, just like if asked you have to prove you're old enough to buy alcohol; you have to prove you're qualified to drive a car; you have to prove you're qualified to buy a gun; and so on. It prevents anarchy and adds to public safety. The fact of the matter is that many liberals want illegal aliens of Hispanic descent to vote, because most would vote Democratic, thus possibly throwing the election. This is the only possible reason why they would want not to have any verification of who you are. You just walk up, “Hi, I'm Billy Bob.”

“What's your last name?”

“Uh, Johnson.”

“OK, vote over there.”

No ID, no nothing.