Photo ID's and Bev | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer

    So, good 'ol Bev vetoed the Photo ID bill. The bill was clearly designed to disenfranchise a lot of voters, most of them minority, old, and poor. With the Veto, North Carolina's old, poor, and minorities will be assured the right to vote; otherwise they could well have been disenfranchised. Perhaps the other thing we should be working toward is getting ACORN's funding restored so they can help us to ensure that everyone entitled to vote gets registered. That would ensure fair and honest elections. Of course it would.

    A lot of folks likened the cost of obtaining a photo ID to a newly instituted poll tax. Early versions of the bill required each individual to obtain their own ID. Subsequent versions included a requirement that the photo IDs be provided at no charge to anyone not already having an acceptable photo ID. The version that Bev vetoed had the photo IDs being provided at no cost (to anyone except the taxpayers). So much for instituting a "poll tax".

    One of the "reasons" I heard why this was not a good bill was that it was the creation of the RNC with the same bill having been proposed in quite a few states. I suppose if the RNC wants something, the rest of us should resist it. But wait. Has anyone ever heard of ACORN and all the tricks they played with voter registration pretty much all over the country?? If the problem was widespread, why shouldn't the solution be widespread?? We were well on the road to "vote early, vote often" types of elections in a lot of places.

    Our voting registrars have repeatedly told us they had experienced virtually no cases of voter fraud. Those statements were seized on by the opponents of the bill as a reason not to go along with it. The registrars did not indicate how seriously they had been looking for fraud. But even if they had investigated carefully and found none - so what?? The fact is that NC didn't experience much illegal or morally repugnant behavior from our governors or other high elected officials either- at least not until it was unearthed. Who would have thought?? (There are even some allegations of impropriety related to the un-reimbursed and unreported use of private aircraft hanging over the Purdue campaign.) It happened. So who's to say that it hasn't already happened in our voting process and simply hasn't been detected?? When that kind of behavior is so easy to stop before it starts, why not go for the ounce of prevention?? Do we really want to wait for something untoward to happen in one of our elections before we do something about voter shenanigans?? Do we really want to risk getting stuck with our own Al Franken - even if he is a Democrat?? (In his case, the party affiliation doesn't really matter.)

    The desirability of showing a photo ID in order to vote is a no-brainer. So why are there so many of the elite against it?? Could it possibly that they are still disposed to the ACORN voter registration techniques?? The fact that no-one has been caught lately fooling with the voters lists is neither here nor there.

    Voters have not only a right but an obligation to vote. That means that we should not have to "spoon feed" them to get them to the polls. Oh yes, a lot of old folks, poor, and minorities don't have a way to get to the registrars office to get their photo ID. Really??? So why can't the same folks who invariably seem to find the time and resources to take them to vote pick them up and take them to the registrar's office to get their FREE voter ID if they do not already have one of the approved forms of ID?? It seems as though the "nay sayers" are more interested in leaving the door open for voter fraud than they are in ensuring that everyone entitled to vote actually gets an opportunity to vote. Of course, having the door slightly ajar could come in very handy in a really close election. Hmmm... Requiring a photo ID won't guarantee absolutely honest elections, but it will make it considerably more difficult to cheat. And isn't that what we all want??

    D'ya think??