Editorial: Photo IDs aren’t needed at the polls

03/22/2006

Barriers to voting are un-Minnesotan.

Published: March 22, 2006

Most adult Americans carry a photo identification card most days. Most Americans, given some time to dig through their drawers, probably could come up with a birth certificate, passport or other proof of citizenship.

But voting isn’t just for most Americans. It’s the right of all. That puts a heavy burden on those in the Minnesota Legislature who want to add a photo ID requirement to voting, and a proof of citizenship requirement to registering to vote. To be justified, those potential impediments to voting had better remedy a big problem at the polls.

But there is no problem at the polls. Remember the rash of news reports after the last election about voter fraud in Minnesota? Neither do we, because there was none—the rumormongering of political bloggers notwithstanding. Minnesota’s professional election administrators and well-trained, conscientious election judges run a clean operation. Existing registration requirements have served Minnesota well; so have substantial penalties for those caught voting fraudulently—enough to deter any noncitizen who might be tempted to pose as a citizen on election day.

In the absence of evidence that large numbers of ineligible people are voting in Minnesota, adding new eligibility requirements is unwarranted. They will serve only to inhibit voting by those who are among the estimated 10 percent of Americans who lack a valid driver’s license or state-issued photo ID card. That group is dominated by the elderly, poor and disabled—vulnerable people whose ability to influence government should be safeguarded, not denied.

A bill requiring voters to show either driver’s licenses or state-issued identification cards, sponsored by Delano Republican Rep. Tom Emmer, would waive the fee for obtaining ID cards for people whose household income falls below the federal poverty level. That’s a good idea. But cost is not the only reason that official photo IDs are missing from the purses and pockets of some non-drivers in Minnesota. Lack of information and the time and hassle involved in obtaining a card also get in the way.

Voting rights are too fundamental to be denied merely because someone didn’t make the effort to get a state ID card or remember to carry it to the polls. Voting isn’t only for those whose schedules and stamina permit standing in the long lines that the Emmer bill would cause at polling places. Voter registration opportunities should not be confined to times and places at which one’s birth certificate, passport or naturalization papers are at hand. Minnesota has been a leader among the states in tearing down barriers to voting. It shouldn’t start putting them up.