According to opinion writer, Eric Cashdan, (“In person voter fraud a delusion”), voter fraud is nothing but an hysterical, right-wing myth that should be discarded because his over-active imagination foresees a Russian scheme to manipulate our election results in 2018 and 2020 if we institute voter photo identification.
For the record, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin all have photo ID laws and none of these states reported any interference with their election results in 2016.
Should all states have a photo ID requirement to cast a ballot?
Mr. Cashdan thinks accusations of voter fraud reek of cynicism and hysteria and that it is unpatriotic to explore these accusations. Why? Because that is the leftist mantra and you say so?
There are at least 28 instances where photo ID is a requirement, among them welfare, food stamps, medicaid, SSI, unemployment benefits… all government programs near and dear to the hearts of liberals in the name of equalizing wealth distribution or social justice or whatever is the rallying point of the week.
Other entities that require photo ID are cell phone and gun purchases, hunting licenses, drivers’ licenses, flying, bank accounts, obtaining a mortgage or marriage license, donating blood or renting a hotel room, plus alcohol and cigarette purchases.
So what is the big deal?
It would seem that every citizen, at some point in his/her life, has partaken in one of these activities.
Photo ID for voter registration would enable every voting district to verify citizenship and residency. If you are too lazy to obtain voter ID, then maybe casting a ballot doesn’t mean all that much to you. (Or you are dead.)
Photo ID doesn’t enhance election manipulation, it prevents it. I think it is patriotic to want a verifiable system to insure that only citizens vote, and only once per election cycle.
There aren’t very many people who lack a photo ID or the means to obtain one.
Why don’t the opponents of photo IDs spend their time helping people who have difficulty getting one?
Or would they rather spend their time trying to dismantle existing voter ID laws? Just asking…
On a sadder note… RIP baby Charlie Gard.
In your short life, you touched many more people than those who live scores of years.
As did your parents, who bravely fought the single-payer nationalized health care system to bring you to the U.S. for an experimental treatment that might have improved the quality of your life.
Unfortunately, your destiny was not for them to decide.
Their parental rights were taken away by the impersonal bureaucracy of state control.
Lauren Block
Manhasset
