Currently, as of February 2020, the Voter ID requirements are not consistent across all US states. For some states that do not require a government issued ID, a person of unknown identity and intent can walk into a voting place, state the name and address of a legal resident of that district, and be allowed to cast a vote. PERIOD.
Should such easy access to voting ballots shock or scare everyday Americans?
Unscrupulous individuals are entering polling places all across the country armed with names, addresses, and signatures of citizens on the voting rolls. These soft criminals are casting illegal votes and those votes are being counted in US elections. Are these illegal votes skewing or changing the outcome of elections? There are various schemes that can easily play out at a polling place near you. Pretenders and opportunists can swoop in and steal votes when someone is not voting due to medical issues, indifference, logistical problems, or lack of knowledge; or when an individual has died.
Other ways to taint the voter process range from submitting a voter registration for a nonexistent person, an illegal alien, or a felon to buying votes from someone who agrees to pay a citizen to cast a specific vote. Voter fraud can also involve absentee voting ballots and identity theft on various levels.
In light of this information, the question becomes why? Why would any polling site permit voting without proper identification? Isn’t the goal to certify that the individual is, in fact, who he says he is? Why leave this crucial point of clarity up to chance? What can be gained by allowing the potential for confusion, clerical errors, mix-ups, and corrupt or scandalous activity in the election process? Could it be a political power grab for the benefit of politicians with little regard for the citizens they are elected to serve?
Some argue it is an undue burden for American citizens to obtain a government-issued ID and that it is a form of voter suppression. Of course that would hinge on the supposition that it is unreasonable to require someone to have proof of who they are. Although there may be a small percentage of the population with extenuating circumstances that make it difficult for them to track down their documentation, this is not the case for the supermajority of US citizens. So, why is there such a push for sweeping changes to common sense rules presumably to accommodate the few people who need extra assistance obtaining legal IDs?
One would also have to agree that those unwilling to get an ID card are also agreeable to being forbidden to open a bank account, rent an apartment, drive a car, register for school or the armed forces, drink alcohol, receive medical treatment, or enter nightclubs and bars. There are no massive civil or political movements to force those places to accept clientele without legal identification. So, why the push to allow blatantly unidentifiable people to vote?
Doesn’t it just make sense to require ID in order to use your supreme power as a citizen of the country?
American citizens are the only people legally permitted to vote in U.S. elections. Any other illegally cast votes will taint the fair election process. In order to trust the veracity of election results, citizens should be vigilant in protecting their rights and the integrity of US elections. Therefore, it is the civic duty of every American with information about voter fraud in any form to bring that illegal activity to the attention of the authorities. Keeping silent hurts all Americans and makes those bystanders complicit in illegal voter activity.
The right of all citizens to vote has been the intent from our forefathers’ framing of the Constitution to today. Yet, historically, social and cultural norms have too often hindered that goal. Many people fought and suffered for our right to vote as citizens of these United States, regardless of race, gender, or economic standing. Legally, voting rights have been legislated many times to supercede cultural injustices to further include all American citizens, both born and naturalized.
Are those hard-fought rights being stripped of their power by eliminating the requirement to prove one is indeed a US citizen, living in the voting district, and casting only one vote? Are Americans losing the fundamental means of maintaining their democracy? Americans have the right to choose who will serve and represent them in their government; a government by the people and for the people.
Without legal identification, the new motto may better reflect an undelineated country with undefined values and characteristics: a government by some people for some other people.
#NotAfraidToThink #VoteIdMakesSense
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