"Republicans say voter ID laws combat the possibility of fraud at the polls. Democrats say there is little evidence of fraud and that the restrictions can suppress voting among poor, minority, and young voters who are less likely to carry acceptable IDs and who would be more inclined to vote Democratic."Here is a critique of the laws by expert Justin Levitt. Is voting fraud a major problem in American elections? Or is it used an excuse to exclude low-income, young, and minority groups from voting? You can find more detail about the laws here.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Voter ID Laws- Preventing Fraud or Discriminatory?
Texas and Wisconsin recently have enacted laws that require voters to present valid identification at the polls. Some say that this is discriminatory, as some low-income groups may not have valid identification. Others say that this would prevent voting fraud. Read below:
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I personally don't know of very many people that do not have some form of ID, so I don't think that having to show a form of ID should be that big of an issue. With that said, I also don't think that voter fraud is that big of an issue in the United States either. I also think that saying people want to require an ID just to keep certain people from voting is absurd.
ReplyDeleteI agree with John. You are supposed to (not legally required to) carry a valid form of identification with you. Each state makes the process as simple yet secure as possible to do so. I do not think that this is discriminatory to the demographic that the Democrats suggest. Identification is obtainable. It is not as if you have to join an exclusive club to get an ID. Voting fraud is not a major issue in American elections because of this law. There are radicals from both sides that would case many extra votes which is illegal. I cannot think of a way that this could be prevented without being forced to show identification for voting.
ReplyDeleteI think that any person who wants to commit voter fraud can and will do so through easier means than pretending to be another person on election day. Other tactics such as faking absentee ballots (which require no voter ID) that the first article mentions, are much more efficient means to influence election outcomes.
ReplyDeleteOne estimate in the second article places the number of eligible voters who do not have adequate identification to vote at half a million. While that number is disputed, even if there are just a quarter million people without voter ID, it is still unacceptable that we are systematically discouraging people from voting. If I am barely scrapping by on the income that I am making, it is not likely that I have the time or the money to bother with going to get identification. Registering to vote, and taking off from work in order to vote is already difficult enough, much less to add another step. In a democracy, voting should be made as simple and accessible as possible. As we have discussed in class, the income/wealth gap is growing, arguably due to inadequate government policy. This issue provides all the more reason that people of lower socioeconomic status need to be voting, and voter identification laws play a large part in preventing those people from being able to vote.