Should ID be required to vote?
The
idea of mandating that people verify their eligibility to vote seems like a
no-brainer. Yet, there has been considerable opposition to laws that require
proof of the right to vote at the time of registration and at the polls.
Eligibility means they are citizens of the United States as well as meeting
residency requirements in the jurisdiction(s) where they vote. What’s wrong with that?
Former
California Assemblyman Ray Haynes observed: “Everything we do in life is about
the documents. We are born, we live, and we die with documents attached to us.
So whenever you hear someone claim that something is not wrong, it is just ‘undocumented,’ keep that in mind.” (“Monday Morning Memorandum,” by Assemblyman
Ray Haynes, May 8, 2006)
And,
columnist Cal Thomas recently noted, “The list of examples of situations in
which a valid ID is required is long and growing longer. Try buying an airplane ticket without a
driver’s license or passport. Try passing through TSA without a
government-issued identification … If the airlines, TSA, credit card and
cellular telephone companies require me to prove who I am, why is it a problem
when it comes to voting?” (“To ID or Not To ID?” Cal
Thomas, Townhall.com, December 27, 2007)
Although
there has been considerable concern voiced about election fraud, some groups
are adamantly opposed to requiring voters to provide identification. The only
plausible reason appears to be an objection that the nominal registration fee
amounts to a poll tax that discriminates against the poor. This is easily overcome
by waiving any fee.
The
voter identification issue was examined in September 2005 by the bi-partisan
Commission on Federal Election Reform, which recommended that a national
identity card be used to reduce voter fraud.
The
commission can hardly be considered biased, since it was co-chaired by former
President Jimmy Carter and by James Baker III, former secretary of state.
The
Christian Science Monitor reported in October 2006, “While states have moved
quickly to electronic voting as one reform, one onerous fix has been more
requirements for voters to show a valid ID at the polls. The number of states
demanding such identification has doubled since 2000 to nearly half. And seven
states approved rules that require a photo ID to vote.”
In
Georgia, for example, those voters who cast their ballot at the polls must
provide satisfactory ID: a valid state or federal government issued photo ID; a
Georgia Driver’s license (even if expired); a valid employee photo ID from any
entity of the U.S. government or the state; a valid U.S. passport or valid U.S.
military photo ID, or a tribal photo ID.
And,
in 2005, the Arizona electorate approved a proposition that requires residents
to prove U.S. citizenship for voter registration and to provide photo ID at the
polls.
Electionline.org
provides some interesting statistics about voter ID laws:
•
23 states and the District of Columbia currently have ID requirements to vote.
•
18 states require ID for all voters.
•
3 states require and 4 states request that all voters show photo ID
•
2 states require ID of all first-time voters.
So,
the trend is clear. Notwithstanding claims made by many Democrats that
requiring voters to provide ID is intended to keep Democratic voters from
voting, a growing number of states are adopting ID requirements. Cal Thomas’
query, “To ID or Not To ID?” is not really the
question. The question is why hasn’t
voter ID been universally required sooner?
© 2007 Harris R. Sherline All Rights Reserved