The only valid objection against introducing voter ID requirement I can imagine is a combination of: (a) electoral fraud is not a significant problem, and (b) the measure will cost a lot of money (the IDs are provided to those who doesn't have them free of charge, naturally, to avoid a de facto poll tax situation).
It also costs money to obtain the documents necessary to get an ID. Replacing a lost birth certificate costs money. Replacing a lost SS card costs money. Getting a passport costs money. So, the government would also have to pick up the tab for verifying everyone's identity to get them the ID as well.
My main objection to the ID laws is how they're carried out. No one who shows up to vote should be turned away. If there is a question as to the validity of the vote, by all means investigate and verify, and discard the vote if it is cast illegally and prosecute to the full extent of the law. But no one should ever be sent home because they are missing the proper piece of paper to vote. Or, in reality, because we insist on everyone voting on a single Tuesday, sent back to work where they will be until after the polls close and they are only given enough time off to go attempt to vote once. No one should be turned away.
The reality is that a handful of illegal votes is almost never going to change the outcome of an election, and there is no evidence to suggest that illegal voting is anything more than a rare and isolated problem. By all means, form a commission to study the problem. Find out if there really is a widespread problem with our elections. Any patriotic American who genuinely believes in democratic elections will support fixing that problem and ensuring accuracy in our elections. I certainly would. But the implementation of voter ID laws do not do that. They make our elections less accurate by keeping more people from voting. It is more American to let a few people cheat the system and vote illegally than it is to stop even one American citizen from casting their lawful vote. It's the same mindset behind innocent until proven guilty. Until there is reason to suspect that a vote is illegal, it must be treated as lawful.
I'm curious to know how many people don't have a valid photo identification. How does one open a bank account without a valid I.D.? It can't be done. Cash a check at a currency exchange? At a bank? It can't be done. Sign up for welfare? God!! I hope! it can't be done. Buy a house? Can't be done. Open a charge account? Can't be done. Sign up for Social Security? Can't be done.
Who are these people who don't have photo identification? And how are they living their lives?
They are living lifestyles that are very different from the middle class one that you enjoy. Living comfortably requires ID. Scraping by does not. The people we're talking about don't have bank accounts, cash their paychecks at corner stores that don't ask for ID, and don't buy houses. They probably aren't signed up for SS, either. I don't know if signing up for aid programs require ID. I doubt it, since you sign up by mail. You sign your name under penalty of perjury on the bottom of the form. That's plenty.
For my first year in DC, I only ever had to show my ID while doing things related to my study of law. Plus I carried my license on me while I drove. So, as long as I didn't drive or go to law school, I could have lived without ID. Meanwhile, I have never in my life had to show ID during the process of getting a job. I understand that your life involves ID a lot, but many people do not live your life. Your experience is not universal. Please try to understand that.
THAT is the question. As I have mentioned earlier.
The problem is, we have no way of knowing, until we have the verification system in place.
Some Democrats claim that there's virtually no fraud, because very few instances are documented. But isn't it a bit like saying that there's no crime in Town X, because no arrests are being made there - while there's no police in Town X?
We absolutely have ways of knowing. We have registrations. And even without showing ID, people aren't voting anonymously. You tell them who you are and they cross you off the list. If someone else shows up later and uses your name, they notice. And they make sure you aren't on the list at multiple polling locations. It is wholly inaccurate to suggest that we can't tell if people are who they say they are when they show up to vote if we don't check their ID and then stop them from voting if it doesn't check out. That's what we register for. When you get to the poll, they have already verified you. There very much are police in Town X. They just aren't walking the beat in plain sight.
it's their social duty to get an ID.
No, it's not. And you don't have the right to make it one.
Every single voter ID proposal includes free-of-charge issuance of the IDs. Otherwise, it would constitute a poll tax. Unconstitutional.
That is simply not true. Many voter ID laws passed and on the books in lots of states do not provide for free IDs to anyone. And, as we have discussed, the documentation required to get one is often not free. Ergo, still a poll tax.
