Voter Id
National Voter ID Is passing the law for a National Voter ID burdensome or causing mutilation of an important part of full citizenship? Twenty- seven states require or request some form of ID to vote. The supporters of the National Voter ID policy believe that if voters identify themselves before voting, election fraud will be reduced. Opponents of the ID requirement fear it will deprive voters of their right, especially in voting during the election. Many people believe that it will be harder for voters, especially the poor, members of minority groups and elderly, who are less likely than other voters to have suitable identification (Urbina). The debate is making the differences between groups or ideas ever more clear-cut and extreme, hardening the opposition between them, or makes voting become ever more clear-cut and extreme in this way, this is because most of the proponents are Republicans and most of the opponents are Democrats. Voting is more than a matter of individual preference, like choosing between McDonalds or Burger King. Free participation protects our political system from a more dangerous kind of corruption in which someone should not have to worry about public denial. Vote suppression in the United States has a long and unpleasant past and present. Anonymous postcards often warn registered voters in black neighborhoods that they are ineligible. Fliers warn that any voter with an outstanding warrant will be arrested at the polls. Phone calls threaten eligible voters with criminal prosecution. Is voting then a right or a selection of citizens who fit the political authorities views (Storey)? Secondly, in two different opinions based on the fraud in the political elections, numerous amounts of people believe that the Voter ID law should not be passed because there is no such thing as injustice in any election. Tova Wang, a Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation, co-authored research and filed a federally mandated report on the question of
Cited: Carmen, Barbara. "Voting-rights Advocate Checked for Vote Fraud." The Columbus Dispatch 26 Apr. 2009. The Columbus Dispatch. WBNS. 2 June 2009 <http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/04/26/voter_fraud.ART_ART_04-26-09_B1_99DLT9N.html?sid=101>. Hasen, Richard L. "Fraud Reform? How Efforts to ID Voting Problems Have Become a Partisan Mess." Slate 22 Feb. 2006. Slate Magazine. The Washington Post. 26 May 2009 <http://www.slate.com/id/2136776/>. Storey, Tim, and Jennie Drage Bowser. "Requirements for Voter Identification." National Conf. of State Legislatures. 23 Oct. 2008. National Conference of State Legislatures. 26 May 2009 <http://www.ncsl.org/programs/legismgt/elect/taskfc/voteridreq.htm>. Urbina, Ian. "Decision Is Likely to Spur Voter ID Laws in More States." The New York Times 29 Apr.2008, eastern ed. NY Times. The New York Times Company. 26 May 2009 <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/us/29states.html>.