As long as people need not purchase their voting requirements, voter IDs are fine by me. - Edit 1
Before modification by Joel at 10/04/2012 02:12:18 PM
I would like to know a bit more about the story though; the main reason photo ID has not been required in the past is because voter registration cards are (that, after all, is why they exist.) Granted, the specific laws vary by state and county, but in my own TX precincts anyone who lacked their voter registration card has always (or at least since I started voting 20 years ago) been required to produce photo ID instead. It has never been as simple as claiming to be whoever and stating their physical address, and I find it hard to believe it is that simple in DC.
All that said, registration cards alone are really not sufficient security. Anyone could lose their vote if someone stole their voter registration card, and since voter registration requires a physical address one cannot simply have their registration card sent to a locked PO box (not that that is perfectly secure.) One would think both Democrats and Republicans could unify around that, since it involves the pet voting issues of both: Democrats opposed to illegal voter suppression should be concerned about peoples votes being stolen, and Republicans opposed to illegal voter inflation should be concerned about people stealing votes.
As long as voting does not require people directly pay for a required photo ID (i.e. a poll tax,) I fully support requiring one. It might even put an end to disenfranchising homeless people on the grounds they cannot register without an address. The voting rights of non-felon adult citizens should never be denied (I seem to recall a party ramming through a Constitutional Amendment to that effect.
)
All that said, registration cards alone are really not sufficient security. Anyone could lose their vote if someone stole their voter registration card, and since voter registration requires a physical address one cannot simply have their registration card sent to a locked PO box (not that that is perfectly secure.) One would think both Democrats and Republicans could unify around that, since it involves the pet voting issues of both: Democrats opposed to illegal voter suppression should be concerned about peoples votes being stolen, and Republicans opposed to illegal voter inflation should be concerned about people stealing votes.
As long as voting does not require people directly pay for a required photo ID (i.e. a poll tax,) I fully support requiring one. It might even put an end to disenfranchising homeless people on the grounds they cannot register without an address. The voting rights of non-felon adult citizens should never be denied (I seem to recall a party ramming through a Constitutional Amendment to that effect.
)