As election looms, ID battle needs pragmatism
Published January 21, 2016
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, January 20, 2016.
All the talk will turn to action soon. Iowa voters will caucus in less than two weeks. New Hampshire voters cast their primary ballots eight days later.
And here in North Carolina, primary voting begins in about six weeks. This will be the first election in this state that will require voters to show an approved, government-granted form of identification - a driver's license or state ID card, a passport, a military ID, a VA card or some tribal ID cards.
For those who lack an approved form of identification, there will be an affidavit procedure that will allow the voter to cast a ballot.
Republicans in the General Assembly pushed through the voter ID requirements and other electoral reforms in 2013. The measures have drawn a furious battle from Democrats and the NAACP, which insist that the reforms are really meant to diminish Democratic voting and will especially hinder the poor, the elderly and minority voters. The NAACP, the League of Women Voters and the U.S. Justice Department sued the state in federal court. The case is scheduled to be heard on Jan. 25 in Winston-Salem.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder refused a request to block enforcement of the voter ID law during the March primary. Schroeder also denied a request to delay the trial. The NAACP, he said, didn't show that the state's education efforts "failed to prepare North Carolina voters for the photo ID law. Quite the opposite. Changing course in midstream will likely serve to confuse voters as to the state of the law."
He's right. The state has waged a strong effort to get out the word about the ID requirement, delaying its effective date and modifying the law. There are other provisions in the electoral-reform package that are more discriminatory than the ID law, which is increasingly common across the country. Some of those revised voting regulations were challenged last summer in Schroeder's courtroom. He hasn't issued a ruling yet.
We respect voter ID opponents' sincere beliefs, but we disagree. In this age of fraud and identity theft, secure forms of identification are increasingly necessary.
With the election only weeks away, opponents' energies should be channeled into making certain that all voters have acceptable forms of ID, and that they also have a way to get to the polls.
This is the time to get out the vote, and that should be everyone's priority, whether or not they support voter ID. Surely we can all agree on that.
January 21, 2016 at 9:45 am
Richard L Bunce says:
Vote by mail in NC, every registered voter can whether having a photo ID or not.
