VOTER PHOTO ID: It is time...get over the past.

With all this emphasis on politics in this country there are some other issues that probably fall underneath the radar these days but still warrant some attention.

One that has caught my attention is legislation (in S. Carolina) requiring a VOTER PHOTO ID to vote. I have always thought that requiring a photo ID was a “reasonable” request to keep elections as honest as they can be but I guess some people do not consider this issue “reasonable” at all and call it racial discrimination.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., a black columnist from Miami, whom I greatly admire and respect but do not always agree with, wrote an article titled: POOR PEOPLE ARE MERE PAWNS IN VOTER ID FIGHTS in the Detroit Free Press (1-10-2012).

He was commenting about a recent ruling by the Federal Justice Department over-ruling South Carolina’s new law demanding photo IDs for voters. The Feds can do this in states (Southern) that have previously discriminated against black voters by instituting literacy tests, poll taxes, etc.

Pitts argues that poor people (majority black) do not have cars, do not drive, so they have no driver’s licenses or for that matter, passports since they don’t leave the country. If that was absolutely true, I could see where having a photo ID would be problematic for some people BUT…

And here I use my mother (89) who has never driven and had a passport which expired 15 years ago but still has a photo ID because she needs one for routine business matters and she votes in ALL elections.

In Michigan, you can go to a Secretary of State Office and request a photo ID. If there is a charge, it is very minimal and would not be an economic hardship on poor people. Getting to the Secretary of State’s office may be a challenge but I am sure, a way can be found for a once every 10 year trip.

I am pretty sure; most states have ways for people to obtain a photo ID that is not part of a driver’s license and if that is true, than there really is no sound argument for calling legislation demanding a photo ID to vote as somehow racially discriminatory.

I will agree with Pitts that, in the past, southern states did practice discrimination when they did everything in their power to prevent blacks from voting Democratic and possibly for a black candidate but I don’t believe that this racial environment exists today, even in southern states like South Carolina.

Time to move on…

Related articles

• Voting in Plain Sight (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
• The ongoing effort to disenfranchise poor, black voters (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Kander Flips in Favor of Voter ID Bill, Supporters Deny Obvious (thesource.typepad.com)
• South Carolina Will Sue Obama Administration For Rejecting State's Voter ID Law (thinkprogress.org)
• Dead Voters in South Carolina? Maybe. Maybe Not. (loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Romney: 'Very Serious Error' to Block Voter Photo ID Laws (crooksandliars.com)
• SOUTH CAROLINA: The Occurence of Voter Fraud in America Is Overwhelmingly Minimal and a False Motive for Your Voter Photo-Id Law (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)
• Gov. Nikki Haley, Will You Keep Your Promise to "Personally Provides Rides" to Fellow People of Color in SC Who Need to Get Photo Voter ID? (goodolewoody.wordpress.com)