Column for March 29, 2012

The Wake County Board of Commissioners deserves credit for showing courage and common sense by a majority of its members.  Recently, they voted 4 to 3 to pass aresolution supporting North Carolina House Bill 351.  That bill was vetoed by Governor Perdue, but would have been a great step in our state towards eliminating voter fraud.  House Bill 351 would simply have required that voters show a valid identification when going to the polls to cast a ballot.  There has recently been talk of an attempt to override the governor’s veto.  That would be an excellent opportunity to bring common sense to elections.

The big argument against the idea of requiring identification in order to vote is that it would deter people from voting by intimidating old people, and that poor and young people would not have the means to obtain the required identification.  I’m sorry, but this has got to be the most specious argument I have heard in a long time.  If you are elderly, then you most likely have had some form of identification for a long time.  If you are young, you probably have or are going to attempt to obtain a driver’s license.  If you are poor, you still have the need of bank services and transportation to get and use what little money you do have.  When I was poor, and I was for years, I still worked a job, drove myself to work, and cashed the tiny paychecks I received.  I have been working since age 15 and have had a driver’s license since age 16.  Do those who make this fallacious argument really expect me to believe that someone who is poor cannot scrape up the one time investment of ten dollars to obtain even a state issued identification card?

Our old friends at the state NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Crazy People) have sent letters to county governments warning against passing local versions of voter ID laws.  Of course they are playing the race card, as usual, claiming that voter ID laws disenfranchise potential voters.  The real motivation is to stop the prevention of voter fraud.  Without requiring an identification to cast a ballot, people who are not registered to vote, are not qualified to vote, or want to vote multiple times may have a chance at doing so; and of course, voting to support their socialist agenda.

I have to show or carry identification when traveling outside the country, in order to drive a car, to board an airplane, when getting certain pharmaceuticals, when applying for a job, when opening a checking account, when applying for a credit card, when registering a car at the DMV, when seeking medical attention, when donating blood, when purchasing a firearm, when buying automobile insurance, when getting a marriage license, when purchasing a house, when renting an apartment, when purchasing alcohol, when opening an IRA, when establishing electrical service, when writing a check, when getting a library card, when checking into a hotel, or when applying for a passport.  So the NAACP means to tell us that their constituency never does any of that?  Just recently, I had to provide ID to my employer yet again to comply with government regulations for I-9 forms and the E-Verify system.  I have been at my job for over 17 years, have gone through this same procedure numerous times, and yet I had to provide valid ID yet again.  It’s no big deal.

The voter ID bill in North Carolina would require one of eight valid forms of ID.  If someone can’t come up with just one, then they are either too stupid or too irresponsible to cast a ballot.  During the Constitutional Convention of 1787, it was highly debated about requirements for voting.  The requirements were not as simple as being a certain age and just showing up at the polling place.

Arguments against voter ID laws also include the premise that voter fraud is rare.  I would contend that voter disenfranchisement is even rarer than voter fraud.  It is just common sense that if we exalt the concept of “one man, one vote” and fairness in elections, we would take every reasonable measure to ensure that voter fraud is eliminated, that those not qualified to vote do not vote, and that the person voting is who they claim to be.  There is no requirement that you actually cast a ballot.  If you don’t want to show a simple form of identification to validate your vote, then you do not deserve to be able to vote.  Politicians and pundits that oppose voter identification laws simply want to make it easier to perpetuate fraud and their agenda, plain and simple.