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Are Voter ID Laws Burdensome, Partisan?

By: J.R. Absher
6 comments Headline Hunter with J.R. Absher

Jul 16

It's required to fly on a commercial airline, rent a car, purchase alcoholic beverages, secure a mortgage, buy a gun, stay at a hotel, cash a check, acquire an over-the-counter fishing or hunting license, or to apply for a concealed-carry firearm permit.

It’s a state-issued photo identification card.

And as this year’s general election draws near, you can expect to hear a lot of fuss—most of it decidedly partisan—about some states’ requirement that voters present a valid photo ID card at the polls in November.

Unless the law is overturned, this will be the first election that voters in Pennsylvania will be required to have IDs to vote.Reading some of the newspaper editorials and accounts by some political pundits, one might surmise that passage of the law in The Keystone State was part of a covertly hatched scheme by a Republican-led legislature to “disenfranchise” hundreds of thousands of citizens.

In his remarks at the NAACP annual convention last week in Houston, Texas, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder compared voter ID requirements to discriminatory “poll taxes” used in some Southern states following the abolition of slavery to prevent African Americans from voting.    

Pennsylvania’s new law requires every voter to have a valid photo ID at the polls on November 6. In addition to an ID issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT), other valid forms of photo ID include those from accredited Pennsylvania colleges or universities and Pennsylvania eldercare facilities.

A total of 10 states have passed measures that require a photo identification to vote. U.S. Justice Department action has struck down the law in Wisconsin, delayed it in South Carolina and continues to challenge the provision in Texas as the election nears.

News reports from Pennsylvania last week indicated that PennDOT data shows nearly 800,000 persons of voting age—or 9.2 percent of the state’s 8.2 million persons age 18 and older—don't possess a valid state driver’s license.

While we’re not questioning PennDOT’s figures, it’s difficult to fathom not possessing some type of state-issued photo identification in this day and age.


What do you think? Share your comments below.
 

6 comments

# npaul
Monday, July 16, 2012 1:34 PM
I never understand what the big deal is with requiring ID to vote. These people will yell all day long about voter fraud if it doesn’t go their way and then say that it is discrimination to require ID? Maybe it is because the majority of the votes they are after come from people who aren’t citizens of this country.
There are a lot of different forms of ID besides a driver’s license. Most states issue ID cards. They look similar to driver’s license and serve as a state issued id. Of course you could bring your birth certificate but that is a bit of a sore spot for some.
Bottom line, only citizens should vote and you should have to prove that you are a citizen. This is how grown-ups do things.
# RAbear51
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 5:44 AM
Does old Jesse Jackass forget that the very people that he claims will be discriminated against if required to show I.D. to vote have no qualms about having to show it to receive their Govt. handout check,food stamps card,to rent that big screen t.v. at "rent to own",buy a bottle of liquor,use a credit card.on and on and on.How are those requirements NOT discriminatory? The truth of this baseless issue is that required proof of citizenship would eliminate a very large number of "recruited"vote casters that helped elevate our "little Mussolini" into office in the last mockery of an election. They know that such a loss would probably mean an end to the dynasty now in "control", hands down.These birds will go to ANY lengths to procure a victory and maintain their STRANGLEHOLD on America and this absurd claim and non-issue is absolute proof of that. I believe that proving that you are a legal citizen and legitimate entitled voter is a no brainer and I find it equally baffling that it isn't ALREADY a requirement.EGADS man..what has happened to us???
# VOLTZ
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 5:55 AM
Having to show an ID to vote is only logical and should be the law across the country.
# jdusa1
Tuesday, July 17, 2012 7:47 AM
"If" this is a poll tax they why doesn’t the Attorney General Target Hospitals, you need an id there; banks, you need an id there to cash a check; grocery stores, you need an id if you are using a credit card or paying by check; the Social Security Office you need id there; the unemployment office, you need id there too. Why is he just attacking the fact that you need id to do one of the most fundamental things this country is built on. I speculate it is because to many of the votes they are getting are not from the registered voters of that area. Come on guys lets us some common sense and use voter ids throughout the whole nation.
# pedsnurse655
Saturday, July 21, 2012 8:31 AM
It never seems to amaze me that those that are against requiring people to produce identification when voting demand that we show id's when we are going to hear them speak, purchase tabacco, alcohol, or many other products. Yet, these very same people are also the same group of people that are accused of voter fraud.
# fzuniga1
Saturday, July 21, 2012 8:23 PM
It is not discriminatory to require an id or some form of identification when the state DOT make ids available for every citizen who can provide documentation to acquire an identification card or drivers license. it would only be discriminatory if a group of people were not able to acquire some form of identification because of race religion ethnicity age or some other form of discriminatory basis for denial of granting a form of identification.

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