Reality check on Voter ID

From the Republican National Lawyers Association's blog:

The Republican Lawyer Blog | A Fair and Balanced Look at Voter ID

Fox News took a fair and balanced look at Voter ID yesterday and not surprisingly they came to the RNLA to discuss the issue. In the story RNLA Chair David Norcross:

noted that a photo ID is required to enter any federal building and most office buildings, among other things. "You need it to get welfare, you need it to get on an airplane, take the SAT, buy liquor, buy cigarettes. It's sort of ubiquitous," he said. "And it's crazy to exclude voting from the list of things you need it for." 

There are so many things you need ID for it is as Chair Norcross said "ubiquitous" and it should not be something to fight over. Even if you do not have ID there are other means to vote and Republicans and government officials are literally bending over backwards to help people out.

A similar law in Georgia, also upheld by the courts, took great pains to avoid such problems.  Rep. Phil Gingrey said the state told people, "Look, we will literally send a van and a photographer to the home of anybody that can say they can't get a picture made and a photo ID and we will do it ... at the state's cost and the taxpayer cost and not at the individual cost." 

Hat tip: Kristina Ribali

The RNLA is right on this issue. In addition to the items listed above, Florida, like many other states, requires proof of ID in order to get food stamps and other welfare benefits.

The bottom line is that you can't participate in American life without a photo ID. You can't get a job, you can't travel, you can't conduct financial transactions or pursue legal remedies, you can't get medical care, you can't get government assistance, and on and on and on. 

Requiring a basic driver's license or other government photo ID in order to vote is one of the simplest, least burdensome ways to make sure that the person showing up at a precinct to vote is actually who they say they are. I wish those who criticize voter ID laws would divert even 1% of that energy to actually helping some of these people get IDs. 

The people who don't have photo IDs have much bigger problems than not being able to vote, and anyone who is seeking out these people to bus them to the polls but isn't making a stop at the DMV to get them an ID is a hypocrite of the worst kind.