letter to the editor
September 8, 2012 11:38PM
Updated: October 11, 2012 6:06AM
Every dead voter
will need an ID
Well, I was originally all for voter identification requirements, that is, an official photo ID in the hands of every registered voter. I just did not buy all that about discrimination, disenfranchisement, and/or hardship as valid arguments against such a requirement. That was yesterday, now I’m not so sure.
I just read an article published in the Charlotte Observer that tells of the work of the Voter Integrity Project. It appears that they obtained “…death records from the state Department of Public Health from 2002 to March 31…” They then compared this list to files containing all registered voters throughout the state of North Carolina. The results? There are almost 30,000 dead people still on the voter lists.
How are these folks supposed to get a photo ID? If this isn’t a hardship case, I don’t know what is.
Yes, my tongue is planted firmly in my cheek as I type this letter up, but you know what? No matter how many instances of massive potential voter fraud such as this N.C. study surface, there will nonetheless be a good many “outraged citizens” calling these studies fraudulent, or even meaningless, and they will go on their merry way shouting down the need for photo IDs, using every tried-and-true buzzword they can come up with.
I would love to see the Voter Integrity Project take a look at Illinois records. Heck, they would likely have no need to go beyond Cook County in order to beat that paltry 30,000 number.
John Babush
Big Rock
