Reply #39: NV: EDITORIAL: The integrity of the electoral process [View All]

[rumpel]

Review Journal

Sep. 22, 2006
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Demanding photo identification could guard against fraud

Governments cannot, by law, put insurmountable hurdles before citizens who have a right to vote. But citizens also have a right to know their vote won't be nullified by a fraudulent ballot.

If a vote lacks integrity, the propriety of the representative governments selected in that election can come into question.

The 2000 debacle in Florida launched a nationwide movement to institute reasonable safeguards that ensure public confidence in the election process. The centerpiece of these reforms is the requirement that voters produce photo identification to receive a ballot. So far, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota -- a mix of "blue" and "red" states -- have enacted this common-sense protection.

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would require all Americans to show government-issued photo identification to vote in federal elections. The standard set by the Federal Election Integrity Act would take effect in 2008, and by 2010, only photo identification obtained through proof of citizenship would be accepted by poll workers.

Similar standards were recommended last year by a bipartisan commission chaired by former President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a Republican.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2006/Sep-22-Fri-2006/news/9769158.html