IDs for voters

Please don't rip me to shreds for being ignorant on this topic, but what are the arguments for and against?

but the reason people are against it is because not everybody has ID and usually the people without it are poor, or part of a minority. On a human level, voter ID forces minorities and poor people not to vote.

But, I have to say, from a theoretical standpoint, voter ID seems to make sense. I would think making sure people are who they say they are and are also legal citizens in the country they're voting in would be a good thing. The problem is it doesn't work in reality--it stops legitimate votes from being counted.

At least, this is all my take on it.

But the time was when something as simple as a utility bill would do, and I don't see any pressing need to change that anywhere. Yes, it affects a rather small number of people, but they do add up to many thousands across the US who'll be prevented from voting should these laws become commonplace.

Look, too, at the folks behind it. Always Republicans, and ALWAYS making up stories about "voter fraud" that their constituencies love to believe. (They still think JFK "stole" the 1960 election from poor ol' Dick Nixon.)

But I'd have to say a utility bill might not be a real strong form of ID. Here in Maine, at least, I'm willing to bet I could get two electric bills, one in my real name, and one in a fake one. But that's exactly why voter ID doesn't hold up in reality. Theories sometimes can be nothing more than theory.

I mean, theoretically, if you stable a piece of buttered bread to the back of a cat and drop it, it will never hit the ground. =-)

well, maybe we'd need to toughen up voter ID laws.

Thing is, we haven't. At least not here in GA, where the toughest law (until Indiana came along) in the nation was passed.

By requiring a certain narrow band of photo IDs, as is the case here in GA, the GOP is deliberately looking to disenfranchise a small group of reliable Democratic voters.

It's not a huge number, and yes, we could work and spend money to get most everyone "carded," but why should we? "Voter Fraud" is a made-up issue; the criminal risk of trying to vote when you're not actually entitled to vote is so great that almost nobody tries to do so.

It is a lot more politically complex than this and I could write a book on the subject given enough time, but that's mostly it. There really is no credible "argument for," because it's a solution in search of a problem.

I wouldn't have a problem with requiring ID's for voting IF there were a way to get one without paying. The problem is that all states charge for government ID cards, which means that voters have to spend money to vote. That's a poll tax and it's illegal.

If states want to require that ID's be used, they need to stop charging money for them.