As North Carolina passes the most offensive set of voter suppression laws in the nation, you have to hand it to Republicans. Pursuing voter ID is a poll-tested strategy: consistent majorities support these laws under the guise that they’re protecting the integrity of elections.

The only problem is that the integrity of our elections — like Christmas or the “sanctity” of marriage — does not need our “protection.”

The Bush Administration studied so-called “voter fraud” for years and found no evidence that it plays any role in swaying elections.

However, when a judge looked at Texas’ voter ID law last year, 603,892 to 795,955 Latino voters in Texas had no ID, which of course was the point of the law. Texas Republicans, because they could, made gun permits suitable identification but would not allow student IDs to be accepted at the polls.