No ID, No Proof of Address, No Problem -- Cast Your Vote!

Today's nomination for the Misguided Ire Award has to go to Americablog for this doozy of a post blaming Republicans in the Georgia Legislature for supposedly "make(ing) voting more difficult" by requiring a photo ID to vote and disallowing things like Social Security cards and birth certificates.

I am reproducing the post in its entirety because I think it has an excellent chance of disappearing.

GOP continues to make voting more difficult
by Chris in Paris - 3/12/2005 03:59:00 AM

The Georgia Senate voted along party lines to remove 12 of 17 potential forms of ID for voting. Their argument is that they want to reduce voting fraud so you must have a valid photo ID and you are no longer able to use a Social Security card or a birth certificate. That's interesting because in order to receive a drivers license or a US passport those forms of ID are completely valid yet to vote in Georgia they're now useless. If they are afraid of voting fraud perhaps they should have included something in the bill that would provide free and easy registration for a photo ID. Then again, the GOP never seems all that interested in voting rights in the US.

First off, according to its sponsor, the bill DID contain something that would provide free registration for a photo ID, even given the nominal normal cost (ten dollars):

Staton said the bill allows anyone, even non-drivers, to apply for a state ID card from Georgia's motor vehicles department. He said people who can't afford one may request one for free.

Second, I was just thinking about all the things I do for which photo ID is required and a Social Security card or birth certificate wouldn't be sufficient identification by themselves.

-- Driving

-- Airport security (and quite often event security)

-- Buying alcohol or tobacco

-- Getting into a bar

-- Cashing a check

-- Using my credit card

-- Getting a passport or getting it renewed

-- Being hired for a job (you have to prove ID and citizenship or right to work)

It's kind of funny. I don't hear anyone complaining about THESE being "hardships" or that -- my favorite bit of rhetoric in the news piece -- having them in place is "stabbing race relations in the heart". Besides, Social Security cards and birth certificates are easily forged or doctored -- and, from a simple voting standpoint, they don't even include a current picture to positively identify the person voting or a current address to be certain said person actually lives in the district or precinct.

Why would black Democrats be supporting the use of forms of ID for voting that neither positively identify the person or show whether they're even eligible to vote in an area? Better yet, why would white liberals and Democrats be supporting them in doing so?

What say you to that, John Conyers and Barbara Boxer?