Voting Without ID is the Real Scam

Cynthia Tucker is the Editorial Page Editor of the Atlanta Journal Constitution

Cynthia Tucker's column of Monday, January 14, 2008 shows that a liberal rant can always serve in place of informed opinion.

Ms. Tucker is exercised by the Supreme Court's decision to review an Indiana law requiring verifiable Voter ID at the polls in exchange for the privilege of voting. She calls the law un-American, likens it to a right-wing conspiracy, suggests that it is targeted at people of color, when it is in actuality race and color neutral, requiring ID of ALL those who want to vote.

Let's deal with the basic issue.

Voting is a privilege and a right of citizenship. Since that citizenship is a basically guaranteed right generated by our Constitution, conferring a responsibility for confirming citizenship seems eminently reasonable.As to it being unreasonable and an " inconvenience," let me have the temerity to suggest, "So what?"

Is it an inconvenience so intolerable as to justify the widespread voter fraud that occurs every election in the highly democratic wards of major cities, in which people vote two, three and ever more times without ID in different polling places, using bogus addresses, even empty lots, for the purpose? Where dead people vote not once, but also two, three or more times?

Republicans and Independents don't vote multiple times, even using absentee ballots. They don't think that way. They value their vote; it isn't a prize for sale to the highest political bidder.

It is not a "highly partisan" law as she claims, it is voter neutral, attempting only to place value on a Citizen's right to vote by having the affirm that right through identification. The Constitution says throughout that CITIZEN' S rights to vote shall note be abridged by race, religion, sex or other means. The emphasis is on Citizens, and that is as it should be.

Congress should pass a national counterfeit-proof ID law forthwith, requiring proof of citizenship to be obtained.

Our modern society is well past the point where citizenship can be so taken for granted so as to allow the fraudulent conveyance of one of the most sacred rights of a democratic society. The right to vote carries with it the attendant responsibility to vote: every time, in every election.

Those too lazy to participate in the process show how little they value their rights.

For rights to have meaning they must be exercised openly, not just when convenient; demonstrated often, not just in favorable weather; conveyed with vigor, assiduously, to representatives; and felt wholeheartedly.

If the voice of the people is to have value, it must be heard.

It seems little trouble to require that the voice be a real, legitimate voice, not an illegal immigrant, or someone who is slightly inconvenienced by the registration process, and is required to present proof of the right to vote.

Ms. Tucker's plaintive calls notwithstanding, voting is the touchstone of our society; we should value it more, not less.

And establish value by requiring any necessary proof to exercise our right to vote.

Many Americans do value their voting rights, and I, for one, resist any attempts to dilute my vote's value.

I have voted continuously, openly and without fear for forty three years in every local, state and national election.

While I can't say I'm always pleased with the results, I do feel that by voting I have exercised my citizenship rights, responsibly.