Voter ID laws -- tell me why they're so terrible?

Posted by Kromey at 3:02pm Jul 13 '12
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The voter registration form arrived in the mail last month with some key information already filled in: Rosie Charlston's name was complete, as was her Seattle address.

Problem is, Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998.

A group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults.

But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, noncitizens and people already registered to vote.

Brenda Charlston wasn't the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers.

Things like this raise questions about the so-called "specter" of voter fraud. Voter ID laws would prevent ol' Scampers here from voting, but without them what's to stop him? Too many voter registration systems are on the honor system, and even where they're not the dead oftentimes remain on the lists for years after their deaths!

If we lived in the era of a zombie apocalypse, then the Zombie Enfranchisement movement could have a case to make, but we don't.

So, what's the case against requiring citizens to show ID when they want to help choose the leaders of our nation? I've heard some gripe about the cost, but if it's really that much of a hardship I have no problem with a tax-funded program to supply no-cost IDs to those who really can't afford them.

So, really, what's the problem?