Why do Republicans hate voters?

I got an e-mail about this bill, and yes, it is pathetic. It would require people who register to vote to provide proof of citizenship like a birth certificate. And surprise, surprise, it is authored by Republican Tom Emmer. Since Republicans can't directly do away with same-day voter registration, I guess they are trying to go through the back door by making it next to impossible for people to actually register on election day. After all, who keeps their birth certificate lying around and takes it to their polling place?

Of course, Emmer and other supporters of this bill will whine about all the fraud that is going on, and how voters don't trust the election system. In fact, there is so much fraud out there that the people who continually introduce bills like these can't point to any instances of non-citizens actually voting illegally. Of course, who cares about facts?

You know what makes me less trustful of the voting system? The fact that there are voting machines out there that are easily hacked, don't produce a paper trail, and are manufactured by a company whose head said that he was going to work as hard as possible to get votes for one particular political party. Yeah, that kind of thing makes me worried. If Tom Emmer wants to instill more trust in our voting system, he should introduce a bill that would require all electronic voting machines used in Minnesota t be open-source and to produce a voter-verified paper trail. Of course, that wouldn't keep people from voting, a top Republican priority, but hey, at least it addresses a real issue.