The best
form of voter ID would be to make those people who want to vote go get a license
to vote. There would be no more registering on election day. You would have a
waiting period to get your license in order to give officials time to confirm
your eligibility to vote. You would have to produce your license at the polling
place, or in the case of absentee ballot, you would have to send a copy of your
license and the ballot would have to be mailed to the address listed on the
license.
Of
course, there would be rules for those who are in the military as they cannot
be home to vote. Those who are living abroad will have to make arrangements to
have their ballots sent from their home address to wherever they are, and then
ensure that they get those ballots back to the proper place in time. If you
want to vote, you have to make sure you are in a position where you are able
to. Between absentee balloting and the traditional polls, that provides ample
opportunity for anyone who is legally allowed to vote, the ability to exercise
their right.
You may
think these measures are extreme and prevent the poor and minorities from
exercising their right to vote. Well, these measures aren’t all that extreme.
They are some of the same measures used to ensure that people in a different
class of citizens are who they say they are, and are legally permitted to
exercise their rights;
Gun
Owners
That’s
right. Gun owners have to jump through a lot of hoops in order to exercise
their right to keep and bear arms. Many of the very same people who cry foul
when it comes to voter ID laws don’t feel the same about placing such
restrictions on gun owners.
Now, I
can see where they place their logic. They say that if one person votes who isn’t
supposed to, “What’s the harm?”, whereas if the wrong person gets possession of
a gun, the potential damage is much greater.
Well,
the fact of the matter is, a right is a right. Both rights are enshrined in the
constitution although many gun opponents try to deny that.
What’s
good for the goose is good for the gander. If licensing and proper registration
is proper for ensuring that only those lawfully permitted can own firearms,
then the same can be said of requiring similar measures to ensure that only
those lawfully permitted are allowed to vote.
One
further measure would help protect against voter fraud. I have seen video of
elections in many countries where a person’s finger is dipped in ink after they
vote. This is so they cannot go elsewhere and vote because the ink stains the
skin to the point that it is not easily washed off.
Similar
measures can be used here in our country, but there is an easier solution.
Fingerprints. It’s not out of the realm of reality to use a fingerprint scanner
at voting and polling places to further ensure that a person is who they say
they are. When I lived in Georgia and got my Georgia driver’s license, they
made me place my finger on a fingerprint reader and they took a scan of it. For
those who absentee ballot, a little card can be sent with the ballot to have a
person put their fingerprint, much like those little kits that you can purchase
for your kids.
As far
as intrusion into privacy, which is a real concern, we would say that the
information gathered not be treated any different than the fingerprint scans
are used in Georgia. Actually, if you think of it, here in Iowa, your photo is
digitally stored and used by government agencies all the time. This is why they
won’t allow you to smile when taking your driver’s license photo these days. It’s
because their computer program needs you to be straight faced in order for them
to read your face and put it in a database. How is giving your fingerprint any
different than giving your face’s digital identification?
In the
end, I’m sure I’m over-simplifying the solution to the problem. This is where
putting great minds together would most likely come up with a better solution
than I can present here. However, what I am presenting here is the direction
our government should be heading to ensure that only those who are legally able
to are the ones who are participating in our elections.
