"Will Voter ID stop fraud or turn honest people away from polls?"

 
That was the headline for a syndicated Gannett column by Deborah Barfield Barry.

Choosing a 2008 presidential candidate might be confusing enough, but some voters will face an additional challenge next year — remembering to bring the right identification to the polls.

And it goes without saying that the Democrats and the ACLU -- but I repeat myself -- oppose laws that ensure the integrity of the polls.

Opponents of [voter ID] laws, including Democrats and the AARP, say the measures would suppress voter turnout among the elderly, poor and minorities who are less likely to have government-issued photo IDs... "It's another hurdle in the way of voters," said Neil Bradley of the Voting Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.

It's also a hurdle in the way of vote fraud, which many Democrats appear to favor.


The accompanying illustration represents a 2006 Democratic brochure that encourages voting by immigrants of questionable legal status (I don't recognize the state in the picture. Is that Texico?).

Put simply, the only thing voter ID deters is fraud. Without identification, a person cannot apply for welfare, can't drive, can't fly, can't hold a job, can't have a bank account, can't apply for either social security, Medicare or Medicaid, and can't apply for food stamps or WIC.

So much for hurting the "elderly, poor and minorities."

To make their case, Gannett found a helpful person who claimed she'd been disenfranchised by the voter ID law in Indiana.

Kimyatta Tillman of Indianapolis said she didn't vote in elections in November because of Indiana's new ID law... Tillman, 32, doesn't have a driver's license and lost her birth certificate when she moved from Michigan to Kentucky and then to Indiana last year...

"I want to participate," Tillman said. "As a citizen of Indiana, I should have a voice too."

Interestingly, Google tells us that Tillman appears to be running a small business and therefore must have a bank account.

Last time I checked, a person must have some sort of valid, government-issued ID in order to open a bank account. Google, people, Google! Learn to use it, pro journalists!

Voter ID is a simple, pragmatic way to minimize fraudulent voting practices. And without it, the dead will walk again and vote Democratic, as they did recently in King County.

That Democrats oppose voter ID tells you all you need to know about their party.