Comic strips

Garry Trudeau tackles voter ID laws in Maine

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Alan Gardner July 30, 2012 1 minute 0 comments

Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau has stepped into the debate on voter ID laws – specifically the debate in Maine to repeal election day voter registration. The strip that ran last Friday depicts Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster as Jimmy Crow who states that the reason to repeal election day registration is to prevent Democrats from ‘stealing’ elections, but the number of voter fraud is equal to the number of Bigfoot sightings.

From the Portland Press-Dispatch

The strip appears to confuse the failed attempt to repeal Election Day voter registration with a voter ID law. Some Republican lawmakers, along with Secretary of State Charlie Summers, who ran point on the Election Day voter registration repeal effort, tried to advance a voter ID law in 2011. However, that effort stalled and the bill was transformed into a study commission designed to evaluate ballot security issues.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine worry that the study will be used to bolster a future voter ID bill if the GOP holds the majority during the next legislative session.