As a person who isn’t registered to vote I never thought too
much about a requirement of having a valid photo ID to be able to vote. After
reading this article on CNN, I began to understand why people wouldn’t want this
valid photo ID law passed. It would create a problem with the people who live
in rural areas of Texas that takes a couple hours to get to a place where you
can get a valid photo ID, or a passport or some kind of proper identification
to allow you to vote. No one wants to drive that far for something that little.
It would also hurt the person who don’t drive and doesn’t require a driver’s
license or someone who doesn’t have the money to get a Texas ID, or they don’t have
anybody to take them to their local driver’s license station to obtain one.
People also think it would bring discrimination with the new law. This law wouldn’t
take in consideration by the color of your skin or your ethnicity. It would affect
everyone that doesn’t have the proper identification to be able to vote or the
means to obtain one. In this article on CNN statistics show that about 600,000
registered voters lack the state issued driver’s license or identification
card. This law wouldn’t cut down on fraud, it would create problems for the
people who have issues obtaining a proper identification card, or possibly
someone who has physical or mental disabilities and couldn’t get one. I’m sure someone
with a physical disability is still in the right frame of mind to vote. It’s
just another way to take our hard earned money out of our pockets and use it
one something that is irrelevant.
I believe there are several reasons in which Texas should require ID for voting as well as for various other purposes. In an article posted in early spring 2012 by “National Review Online” author John Fund gives several examples on why Texas needs to impose Voter ID laws. Fund states, “average voters understand that it’s only common sense to require ID because of how easy it is for people to pretend they are someone else” and with that invalid or fake ID those who are posing as others would be committing a felony.
ReplyDeleteIn CNN’s article, “Texas voter ID law goes to court”, author Bill Mears provides commentary on this issue discussing, “Texas is among eight states to require official photo identification in an effort to stop what officials say is voter fraud. Opponents of the laws say they disenfranchise poor, minority and disabled voters.” I understand why Pina would oppose this, especially because he does not have a valid Texas ID but for those who are eligible to vote and encouraged to vote a valid ID is necessary.
Another reason provided by Fund debates, “people know you can’t function in the modern world without showing ID — you can’t cash a check, travel by plane or even train, or rent a video without being asked for one.” Without a Texas ID how would you be identified in case of emergency? How could you prove your own identity? These are all questions I wonder about for those who do not have a valid ID in any state.
In this blog posted by my colleague, Kyle, on June 27, 2012, he discusses how stricter voting laws, specifically those requiring a valid photo I.D., to vote would be more of a nuisance than an advantage overall. I could not agree more with his post. If we required voters to show a valid form of identification to vote, I think the overall effect would be that less people would show up to vote.
ReplyDeleteWe already have a problem getting people to vote and passing a law like this would only intensify the problem. Like my colleague pointed out, we would have problems getting people to vote who were not able to afford replacing a lost photo I.D and that many people (600,000, as Kyle said) who don’t possess the proper identification to vote would be unable to. I do not think it would cut down on fraud either. It would only cause many eligible Texans to be unable to vote.
What we should be focusing on is how to get more Texans to vote, not ways to restrict them from voting. In this article posted by Emily Cadik on June 15, 2012, she points out that only 36.4% of eligible voters voted in the 2010 presidential election, which was the lowest turnout in all the states. This is really disappointing and really makes me wonder why we are looking at making voting laws stricter when we can’t even get eligible voters to show up in the first place!
In my opinion, before we start focusing on how to stop certain groups of people from voting, we need to focus on getting those who are able to vote to do so!
As always, my post won't fit in the comment bloc, but my commentary on this piece can be found here: http://kristagollihar.blogspot.com/2012/08/voter-mandering.html
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