 Where in America can a person NOT get a picture ID? Who in America could get
away with denying a person getting a picture ID? If anyone could be denied
getting a picture ID, then how come there are so many things in America a
person cannot get, cannot do, or cannot have unless they have a picture ID?
No person is discouraging voting because a person has a Picture ID. People
who may engage in voting more than once in the same election is committing
fraud. Therefore, the only people who have a greater chance of committing
that fraud are those who cannot or will not produce a picture ID.
The opponents of the voter ID laws insist there are individuals who are too
sick or disposed due to an illness that prevents them from obtaining a
picture form of identification. The opponents also cite the elderly who are
unable to leave their residence to obtain an identification card. Another
argument against the individual having any kind of identification to present
when voting is a belief that requirement is somehow a "poll tax" that is
unconstitutional. Some have even called the practice of requiring any kind
of identification to vote a new form of "Jim Crow" laws.
In America of the 21st century it seems almost unbelievable there are any
persons who want an identification card would be unable to obtain one. I
have in my wallet two picture ID cards; one is a driver's license which has
an expiration date, the other is an ID Card that has an expiration date
listed as 99-99-99. That means the picture ID card issued by the State of
Illinois complete with my picture and signature that will never expire as
long as I live since it is designated under the heading "type" as
"Lifetime." That means even when my driver's license expires and I am no
longer able to renew it, I will continue to have a picture ID that has been
issued by the State of Illinois Secretary of State. That picture ID will
always be valid as my Identification. Now, some day I might become
incapacitated and likely will become a senior citizen. But provisions have
been made for me to have a picture ID even when those conditions arise. A
person usually does not have to wait until they are incapacitated or elderly
to obtain a valid identification card.
The argument of presenting a valid ID card to vote seems to be a racist
argument. By using that term "Jim Crow" implies the only people who cannot
obtain a picture ID card are those of color. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Any person in the prime of their lives can get a picture ID and
once they are a certain age they can get the card for nothing and keep it
for life. In fact having a valid ID with a picture early in life is so
essential because of the hundreds of activities engaged in everyday life
makes it virtually impossible to function in the American culture without a
valid identification card. Even people who evade the laws and enter the
country illegally generally seek out some method to obtain some kind of
identification card to authenticate their identity since they sometimes
can't even buy a package of cigarettes without it.
Another argument used by the opponents of the valid ID card for voting is
the United States Constitution does not require a picture ID card to vote.
Just to determine what the actual requirements are throughout the states a
quick look on the internet in such places as Wikipedia, one can find the
information.
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 "Here's a quick summary of where we stand as of April 2014
• Voters in 30 states will have to show an ID document when they
vote in-person at the polls in 2014.
• Voters in 9 states will have to include a photocopy of their ID
when they vote by mail or by absentee ballot in 2014.
• Voters in the remaining 18 states (and the District of Columbia)
do not need to provide ID documents when voting in person or by
absentee ballot. These voters can verify their identity by signing
an affidavit, providing personal identifying information, or by
signing a log book or poll log (the signature is then compared to a
signature on file)."
"The United States Constitution, in Article VI, clause
(paragraph) 3, states that "no religious Test shall ever be required
as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United
States". The Constitution, however, leaves the determination of
voters' qualifications to the individual states to decide. Over
time, the federal role in elections has increased, through
amendments to the Constitution and enacted legislation (e.g., the
Voting Rights Act of 1965).[2]
At least four of the fifteen post-Civil War constitutional
amendments were ratified specifically to extend voting rights to
different groups of citizens. These extensions state that voting
rights cannot be denied or abridged based on the following:
• Birth - "All persons born or naturalized" "are citizens" of the
United States and the U.S. state where they reside (14th Amendment,
1868)
• "Race, color, or previous condition of servitude" - (15th
Amendment, 1870)
• "On account of sex" - (19th Amendment, 1920)
• In Washington, D.C., presidential elections (23rd Amendment,
1961)
• (For federal elections) "By reason of failure to pay any poll tax
or other tax" - (24th Amendment, 1964)
• (For state elections) Taxes - (14th Amendment; Harper v. Virginia
Board of Elections, 383 U.S. 663 (1966))
• "Who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote, shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account
of age" (26th Amendment, 1971).
• Requirement that a person reside in a jurisdiction for an
extended period of time (14th Amendment; Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S.
330 (1972))"
"In addition, the 17th Amendment provided for the direct election
of United States Senators."
"The 'right to vote' is not explicitly stated in the U.S.
Constitution except in the above referenced amendments, and only in
reference to the fact that the franchise cannot be denied or
abridged based solely on the aforementioned qualifications. In other
words, the "right to vote" is perhaps better understood, in layman's
terms, as only prohibiting certain forms of legal discrimination in
establishing qualifications for suffrage."
Living in Illinois where it is a standing joke around the country
referring to Chicago politics we should, "Vote early and vote
often," and another joke making the rounds about a man who declared,
"I always voted republican until I died, then I started voting
democrat." It seems if we are required to prove we live in the
district in which we vote, and we have to be a certain age to vote,
having a proper ID at the time we go to the prescient to cast our
vote should remove all doubt of any voter fraud.
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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