Stricter Voting Laws

NYT reported Eva Charlene Steele, a recent transplant from Missouri, has no driver’s license or other form of state identification. So after voting all her adult life, Mrs. Steele will not be voting in November because of an Arizona law that requires proof of citizenship to register.

Does she not have a birth certificate? Or can she not get one?

“I have mixed emotions,” said Mrs. Steele, 57, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a small room in an assisted-living center. “I could see where you would want to keep people who don’t belong in the country from voting, but there has to be an easier way.”

Does Arizona not give you a way to get a photo id showing you have proved you are a resident, without it giving the right to drive a car?

Russell K. Pearce, a leading proponent of the new requirement, offers no apologies. “You have to show ID for almost everything — to rent a Blockbuster movie!”

Or cash a check, or any of a number of other reasons. All should have photo ids. I wish social security cards had photo ids.

said Mr. Pearce, a Republican in the State House of Representatives. “Nobody has the right to cancel my vote by voting illegally. This is about political corruption.”

Mrs. Steele and Mr. Pearce are two players in a spreading partisan brawl over new and proposed voting requirements around the country. Republicans say the laws are needed to combat fraud, especially among illegal immigrants. Democrats say there is minimal fraud, if any,

What they mean is that most voter fraud is on the Democrat side, so they are not hurt by it.

and accuse Republicans of suppressing the votes of those least likely to have the required documentation — minorities, the poor and the elderly — who tend to vote for Democrats.

Help them get the necessary IDs, and then they can cash checks, etc, in addition to voting.