Cook County, Ill. clerk, David Orr warns against the fine line between protecting and preventing democracy when it comes to implementing laws to combat voter fraud. “The process works, which today’s debate ignores,” he says about the push for photo ID laws in a recent Chicago Sun Times opinion piece.
“Whether supported by either party, this unprecedented push relies on two falsehoods: that voter fraud is rampant and that every honest voter has a driver’s license. The first premise, that voter fraud is rampant, draws attention after rumors and accusations each Election Day. But how many accusations produce actual evidence? Incredibly few. This is because states already establish identity during the registration process through requiring identification or cross-referencing driving records.”
Orr adds that “there is no need to slow down voting and place an unnecessary burden on an entire polling place when most voters established their identity long ago, often voting in the same place for decades.”
Orr asks the public to consider voters as a whole when contemplating photo ID laws:
“Common sense says that there is likely someone in every extended family who fails to meet photo ID requirements. Ask yourself how many senior citizens stop driving and let their licenses expire? How many college students move every year without updating their driver’s licenses? How many impoverished Americans or city dwellers have never had a car or a license?”
Read more at the Chicago Sun Times.