Around it comes again…
The highest court in the land is going over the issue of Photo-ID’s for voters. Republicans say it’s necessary for voting security. Democrats say it a constitutional violation or something, and it discriminates against the poor. This is one of the few issues where I must break with my libertarian friends and agree with republicans. But it doesn’t have jack to do with security. Al-Qaeda doesn’t come here to vote. Their not big on voting- that what makes them Al-Qaeda. With a population of just over 300 million and the average age of the common poll worker being 112 years old, we need this just for basic record-keeping. Grandma the poll worker has a line of 50 people in front of her, and you want her to verify your existence using your INS papers, a old beer-stained Latvian birth certificate, and your sewer bill. She’s got 20 seconds before someone gets tired of waiting and starts a riot, or worse yet, calls a civil-rights lawyer and claims discrimination by the district through slow polling. There’s simply too many of us, and we move around too much. A hundred years ago, you stayed in place and everyone knew who you were. Poll workers didn’t need to see your ID because they saw you yesterday in church. Welcome to the 21st century. Your local poll worker doesn’t know you at all and doesn’t care. Time for standardized ID’s.
Poor? No problem. This entire issue can be solved with one edict from every state governor. In order for a licensed DMV to remain in business, they must issue, on request, a basic FREE ID. Every citizen would be eligible for a new ID every 10 years, starting at 16 years old. Nominal replacement fee applies if replacement is needed before then. Identification requirements for this ID are the same as a drivers license application. A driver’s license supersedes the basic ID. If you have/want a driver’s license, you are not eligible for a basic ID. Driver’s license fees remain the same. The basic ID would fulfill the identification requirement for voting. The costs for this program would be nothing because the percentage of the population that would actually want an ID instead of a Driver’s License AND actually care about voting, are infinitesimally small. And, if any DMV attempts to raise prices based on the extra ‘burden’ of issuing these ID’s, state prosecutors can bring them to court to prove the number of ID’s they’ve issued creates a financial burden. If not, they get sued.
No Licenses? Burned your social-security card? Live in a cabin in the woods? Don’t want big brother intruding into your life? Tough. You’re the one who walked all the way down the mountain to vote today. Still scared? If your anonymity is so sacred to you, then what the hell are you doing in the middle of town trying to vote? Run Away! And about the argument that an ID can be recorded with your vote to single you out for discrimination…too late. That could theoretically be done already through Drivers licenses, biometrics, surveillance, etc. Not to worry, though. Our voting systems have trouble enough recording actual votes, let alone all the metadata required to associate a vote with a specific person. Nobody really cares about you and your vote that much anyway. Take a shower and get your ID, hippie! Grandma ain’t interested in deciphering your birth-certificate.
A simple clerical fix, and all this belly-aching, court-drama, and bullshit disappears overnight. There’s bigger issues in this world to fight over.
