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Sat, 20 Oct 2007
A solution in search of a problem
[Column originally appeared in Woonsocket Call, Pawtucket Times, etc.]
Last spring, Ralph Mollis, our new Secretary of State, announced the formation of his "Voters First" commission. The idea was to find ways to improve how we vote. Some of his proposals -- extending elections to cover several days and eliminating the need for an excuse to get an absentee ballot -- aren't bad. My favorite is about improving the training and pay for poll workers. Many of them are hard working and intelligent volunteers we should honor, but they are often not informed about the details of election laws. I've twice been threatened with arrest for seeking public information from poll workers on election day.
One proposal, however, stands out from the others: requiring a photo ID to vote. In conversations with friends, I've often heard people express surprise that you don't need an ID to vote, but you do need one to cash a check. To me, though, it always made the process seem more serious and adult. "We trust you," those little forms seem to say, "but heaven help you if you're trying to pull a fast one here." That is, you may need less ID to vote than to cash a check, but the penalties are much more severe.
There are two real problems with the proposal. The first is that requiring an ID is actually a significant burden to a surprising number of people. If you have a photo ID, reach into your pocket or bag and pull it out. Does it have your middle initial on it? Does it have your maiden name? Is it written exactly the same as the way you registered to vote? Does it have the right address? If not, be prepared to be turned away from the polls.
For people who can't afford a car, or who don't drive for other reasons, getting a photo ID can be a significant burden, financial and logistical. Getting the necessary paperwork isn't cheap; a birth certificate can cost beteween $20 and $75, and naturalization paperwork can cost $200 or more. And that's assuming the voter ID is free. Your driver's license isn't.
Timothy Vercellotti and David Anderson, two researchers at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University spent some time last year comparing the detailed 2004 election results across the country with census data, and comparing non-photo-ID states to photo-ID states, district by district. They concluded that voter ID laws had the effect of lowering voter turnout by between three and four percent, and by 10% or more in minority communities. (You can find a link to the report at whatcheer.net.) Like much social science, the research simply confirmed what many people already knew. Are voter ID laws a good idea? It depends on what you think about discouraging poor and minority voters.
Sad to say, some people think that's a good idea, and they are usually the ones you'll find behind proposals like this. Photo ID requirements for voting are a part of an increasingly sophisticated set of techniques used to suppress voter turnout by people who believe that suppressing voter turnout favors them. This is usually Republicans, which is why photo ID laws have been passed in states like Georgia, Missouri, Arizona and Indiana, where the Republican party dominates state government. Hawaii, where Democrats are in control, stands as a single counter-example, and I suppose with Mollis's leadership, we could add Rhode Island to the list, too.
The other big problem with photo ID laws is that this is really a cure without a disease. This is Rhode Island after all, and after every state election since I've been an adult, I've heard rumblings about vote fraud. I've heard allegations of candidates and campaign staff trolling nursing homes and senior high-rises for seniors who may need "help" filling out absentee ballots, and I've heard allegations of manipulation of the old black voting machines we used to use. I've heard allegations about machines mysteriously refusing to advance their counts, and I've heard allegations about people maintaining false addresses in order to vote (and run) in the wrong district. I've heard lots of allegations, and I even believe some of them, but I've *never* heard an allegation of fraud that would have been prevented by requiring a photo ID.
What would a photo ID requirement prevent? Well, it would prevent a candidate from recruiting people to run around from poll to poll, impersonating other voters in order to vote multiple times. Do you believe that's been happening in your town? It would take a few dozen to make any difference. That's a lot of people willing to risk a jail term, and it's a lot of people to keep a secret. As Ben Franklin put it, three can keep a secret if two are dead, so color me skeptical that this kind of fraud is a problem.
Last week, the US Supreme Court has agreed to hear an Indiana case on the subject this winter, and will issue a ruling by next June. Will the conservative majority on the court forbid an important Republican election tactic? Color me skeptical on that, too.
The Secretary of State is still soliciting opinions about this proposed rule, which will probably become a bill in next year's legislature. There's an email link on the Secretary of State web site: www.sec.state.ri.us. Tell him what you think.
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