Here in Georgia, the state congress just passed legislation requiring voters to have photo ID. Seven forms of ID are allowed. This is causing a great stir, with opponents walking out of sessions, singing protest songs, strident editorials, etc. I don’t get it.
There are so many problems with our voting system. The black box voting machines, the partisan officials who oversee the process, the lack of a national voting day, etc. Fairly low down on the list is fraud, but it’s there. Requiring photo ID should not be a substitute for real reform, but it stands well on it’s own merits. Both here and in my home state of Massachusetts, I could have easily voted multiple times. All I had to do was say I was someone else, someone else I knew who wasn’t voting. Done.
The reasons that opponents give never have to do with the basic idea, they all have to do with implementation. They fear a return to minority persecution. In Georgia, there are hardly and DMVs, and they are so inefficient that you must take off at least a full day of work to get anything done. But the answer to these problems is not to throw out the baby with the bathwater, it’s to have the law be implemented correctly.
Photo ID is a good idea. Maybe it’s being brought up for bad reasons, but it’s still good.
This is a particularly insane battle for the African-American community to fight. They’re the ones who are being abused the most by election fraud. Why would they ever fight a system designed to reduce fraud.
I agree with Jabley about the dunce caps, and let me add this politically incorrect statement: if you don’t have one of the many basic forms of photo ID available in the US, you are probably to stupid to be voting anyway. I feel 100% comfortable in making that assertion!
Seriously, let them worry about Bush announcing he wants to default on bond payments. Now that’s a real issue!
I agree with this completely. I can’t think of a reason that someone actually eligible to vote wouldn’t have one of the seven allowed forms of identification. If they show up at the voting booth sans any of these forms of ID, I would be in favor of extending the law so that they would be required to wear a dunce cap until such time as they become a real person. This falls into the “not worth fighting” category for the Democrats; it simply makes too much damn sense.