HICKS COLUMN: Haley still can't make voter ID case

You've got to watch out for those dead people voting.

Particularly when they aren't really dead.

It sure was convenient how Gov. Nikki Haley and her crew found 957 "potential" cases of voter fraud just days after the feds struck down the state's new voter ID law. A little too convenient.

The No. 1 reason the Justice Department nixed South Carolina's new law (other than the state's history of undermining minority voting) was that officials had shown no proof that there's a problem. And then, presto, there's "proof." Which fooled no one but partisan sheep.

State officials let that scary number -- 957 -- linger for two weeks before turning over the research to the State Election Commission.

With good reason. They wanted that number accepted as fact before an autonomous state agency had a chance to review the records.

Whom do you trust?

The Department of Motor Vehicles, which reports directly to Haley, claimed there were nearly 1,000 instances in which dead people voted in recent elections.

The DMV found this after helpfully offering to scan election records for registered voters who don't have a photo ID. Seems they didn't believe the Election Commission estimates of around 200,000.

It took a week for elections officials to get any names, and then the state gave up only six -- all from Abbeville. Five of those were clerical errors, and one was, in fact, a dead guy -- a man who voted absentee and then had the misfortune of expiring before Election Day.

Elections officials also asked for the DMV's list of 30,000 dead people on voter rolls to see if any voted absentee in the GOP presidential primary. Ten of them did. But turns out all 10 are very much alive.

Great research, DMV. This is going to undermine confidence in elections, when it should only undermine confidence in the Haley administration.

Pot, meet kettle

As Renee Dudley reports today on the front page, the state will spend more than $1 million to fight for this voter ID law. It is one of the governor's top priorities.

She says she's fighting for us, that the Obama administration is playing politics. Pot, meet kettle. You think this isn't a coordinated Republican scheme? Voter ID was introduced in 34 states since Obama's election.

This is nothing but insane, blind partisan politics. There are budget shortfalls in education and Medicaid, and they are spending taxpayer money on a problem that doesn't exist because some people who commented on online newspaper stories approve?

The Election Commission finally got the full list of names last week. It should investigate fully, especially after DMV officials told a House committee this week that they aren't "investigators."

Unfortunately, the process will take a while -- they have only 15 employees -- and you can bet Haley is banking on the legal process moving faster. If she can get this farce to the activist judges on the U.S. Supreme Court, the state might get its law.

Make no mistake, there is fraud in South Carolina -- at the Statehouse.