The Republican vote against same-day registration and for photo identification papers at the polls has nothing to do with voter fraud. Despite strident protests from the flag-draped right, it has everything to do with suppressing the vote of first-time voters, minorities and the elderly or disabled.

Voter fraud is not a problem in Maine and conservatives know that. In 30 years, there has been only one case of voter fraud prosecuted in Maine, but fraud is the myth they so dutifully parrot. The truth is that low voter turnout favors Republicans.

Perhaps the right could save time by amending the U.S. Constitution to allow a return of the voter regulations of 1811. To vote, you would have to be white, male and a real property owner at least 21 years of age. That should all but guarantee perpetual Republican victories. Then Maine’s Legislature could get to the real conservative agenda and establish government by divine right, eliminating the need for elections and those pesky voters.

By the way, it was a Farmington Republican who sponsored the bill establishing same-day voting in 1972, a year when Maine ranked 21st in turnout. I assume Sen. Elden Shute has been run out of the GOP posthumously because, largely as a result of his bill, in 2008 Maine ranked third in the nation. And, we all know what happened in 2008.

Tony Nazar, Wilton