Reasonable voter ID law will help legitimize elections

Americans are used to showing identification for everything from writing a check — remember those? — to working out in the gym. Why, then, is it too much to ask that voters prove they are who they say they are before exercising the most basic American right, casting a vote?

That’s the argument proponents like State Sen. Charlie Janssen are using to push laws like the Nebraska Voter ID law, which Janssen presented to the Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on last Thursday.

A similar voter ID law last year was filibustered to death, one state senator referring to it as “Jim Crow Lite.”

This year’s bill will probably meet the same fate as last year, if it makes it that far.

Opponents point out, correctly, that voter fraud is virtually non-existent, and proponents are more likely to be interested in reducing turnout for the opposite political party than ensuring a fair election.

Secretary of State John Gale stopped short of endorsing Janssen’s bill, commending the senator for addressing the “issues of potential voter fraud” and calling the bill straight forward and constitutional, but calling for an interim study — code for “thanks but no thanks.”

We need to encourage voting by informed citizens as much as possible. A reasonable voter ID law, however, is not too much to ask to remove any question of doubt about the legitimacy of those votes.

http://fremonttribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/reasonable-voter-id-law-will-help-legitimize-elections/article_ba35d00c-1518-5c91-b025-bad37c7f9b55.html

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