How Often Do You Show Your Identification?

The SAVE Act and the SAVE America Act require photo identification to vote in federal elections. Americans show identification at lots of separate locations and for various purposes. The last time that I showed my identification was to pick up a new prescription of pain pills. Showing identification to show who we are is an everyday experience; yet Democrats do not agree that identification should be shown to vote for their governmental representatives. A n article by the Blaze TV Staff discussed this strange phenomenon. 

In a recent poll from Pew Research Center, a whopping 76% of Democrats said they favored requiring photo ID to vote – a shocking departure from what Democrats like Chuck Schumer appear to believe.

“We’ve got to get this done and we’ve got to get it done very quickly. The SAVE Act is an abomination. It’s Jim Crow 2.0 across the country. We are going to do everything we can to stop it,” Schumer told reporters.

“How is it Jim Crow to ask for ID, a picture ID? That’s what the SAVE Act is. That you’d be required to have picture ID to go in and vote or to register to vote and then to vote. OK, that is not unreasonable,” Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck explains.

“You need a photo ID to get a driver’s license to drive a car, or to renew your driver’s license, or replace your lost license, get a learner’s permit. You need a photo ID to rend a car, to pick up a rental car, even if you prepaid it, to buy car insurance, to file auto insurance claims, to register your vehicle, transfer your vehicle’s title,” he continues.

But that’s not all, as Glenn also points out that you need a photo ID to get a parking permit, use car sharing apps, buy an airline ticket in person, board a commercial flight, and enter the TSA pre-check.

“Is it Jim Crow to ask for photo ID as they scan your eye? Is it racist to ask for photo ID when you check a bag at the airport or when you rent a U-Haul truck or a moving truck, buy a bus or a train ticket in person? Is that really ‘no blacks’?” Glenn asks.

“No blacks can ever go on the bus or the train or an airplane. Really? Really? No, it’s just too hard for them to get a photo ID,” he says, joking, “What a racist.”

Beck continued with his list of reasons why one would need a photo ID: open a bank account, withdraw large amount of cash, cash a check, rent an apartment. I could add a few more reasons: get a mammogram, pick up a prescription of controlled medication, rent a postal box, get a medical operation, transfer money between bank accounts or withdraw cash, open or change a utility account, enter a federal building (like Social Security), and many others.

No one claims racism or Jim Crow for any of those reasons. Yet racism is always claimed when Republicans attempt to make picture identification a requirement for federal elections.

Why Do Some States Allow Voting Without Any Identification?

Robert McGreevy published an article at MSN.com with interesting information. He began his article by stating that 18 of the 19 states won by Vice President Kamala Harris do not “require voters to show photo identification to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). 

McGreevy continued with other interesting numbers. Only 36 of the 50 U.S. states “require voters to provide some form of identification to cast a ballot, according to the NCSL. Of these, 12 do not require a photo ID.”

Numerous states have different provisions. New Hampshire allows voters to cast a normal ballot without identification but require but requires them to sign a “challenged voter affidavit” before casting a ballot. After the election, a form is sent to them is requires signature and return; if the form is not returned, “the voter will be investigated for voter fraud.”

Harris won Rhode Island, the only such state that allows a voter to vote without an ID, but they cast a provisional ballot. The signature is then matched with a signature on record.

Trump won Nevada and Pennsylvania, the “only states in which no ID is required to vote that Harris lost.” Trump also won Iowa, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Utah, “states that merely request an ID to vote, though it is not required.”

Harris won 12 states – California, Oregon, New Mexico, Minnesota, Illinois, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Maryland – that “require no document to vote, according to the NCSL.”

Harris won five other states – Colorado, Washington, Delaware, Connecticut, and Virginia – that require ID but not a photo ID.” Colorado and Washington “hold all elections by mail.” Therefore, “there limited ID laws only affect in-person voters.”

These are just some of the numbers given in the McGreevy article. I do not understand states that require no identification to vote, one of the most sacred duties given to Americans. In a world where identification is required for so many other activities – medical appointments, flying, entering a federal building, obtaining credit, and many other regular and normal activities in America, why do states allow voting to take place without identification?

 

Voter ID and Hacking of Election Data

                Two states have reported hacking incidents of in voter registration systems. The hacking incidents in Arizona and Illinois may prove the importance of stronger laws calling for voter identification laws. The FBI is investigating the hacking in Illinois of 200,000 voter records. The incident in Arizona forced the state to remove its voter registration system from online. Voters are allowed to register online in 31 states and the District of Columbia, and voter ID laws are in place in only 34 states.

                Fred Lucas posted an essay on The Daily Signal discussing the problem with hackers getting in the voter registrations systems in states.  He quotes Hans von Spakovsky as saying that the hacking of election systems in “certain states has the potential to shift an election.”

                “`If it’s an organized effort, and someone hacks into a system and falsely registers bogus voters, you could hire a crew of people to vote multiple times under different names…. That’s a problem for states with no voter ID laws. There is no way to prevent that.’”

                I believe that the only way to prevent hackers from changing elections and nullifying Americans’ votes is to pass laws requiring that individuals register to vote in person and to provide personal identification when registering and again when voting. I show personal identification every time I vote and have done so for many years. I have never been given a ballot without first proving that I am who I claim to be. I am grateful that my state insists on voter identification, and I hope other states adopt realistic laws also. The voting process must have integrity, or it will become irrelevant.