Pros and Cons of Voter IDS
Alyssa Jennings
3rd Hour Contemporary Issues
The Goods and the Bads of Voter IDs
In recent years states have been passing voter ID laws. And many of them have been getting a lot of backlash for them. Some of them include Indiana and Pennsylvania. Voter ID’s don’t sound very detrimental or life changing right? I mean you need an ID to get into a movie, buy alcohol, and even to buy cough medicine. So what exactly is the big fuss about? Well the left say it is discriminating against minorities and the poor. While the right says it’s trying to eliminate voter fraud. So the question that we are now faced with is who is right? And from what I have learned this week both sides are kind of right. In 2005, the state of Indiana passed a voter ID law. The law requires that a valid photo ID must be presented by a person casting a ballot at a polling station. The law caused a big problem and we appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. CNN’s Bill Mears wrote an article depicting the court’s ruling entitled, “High court upholds Indiana’s voter ID laws.” The article states, “The 6-3 vote allows Indiana to require the identification.” Mears also comments by saying that this was, “the biggest voter rights case taken up by the justices since the 2000 dispute over Florida’s ballots, in which George W. Bush prevailed to gain the presidency.” The article also quotes Justice John Paul Stevens who wrote the majority for the court saying, “[A]ny political issues considered by the state were mitigated by its desire to stop voter fraud.” While the article also quotes the dissenting opinion judge, Justice David Souter by stating, “Indiana has made no such justification for the statute and as to some aspects of its law, it hardly even tried.” Personally I believe the most important part of this law that makes this law justifiable is this quote by the article, “For those lacking a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID such as a passport, the state provides a free voter
3rd Hour Contemporary Issues
The Goods and the Bads of Voter IDs
In recent years states have been passing voter ID laws. And many of them have been getting a lot of backlash for them. Some of them include Indiana and Pennsylvania. Voter ID’s don’t sound very detrimental or life changing right? I mean you need an ID to get into a movie, buy alcohol, and even to buy cough medicine. So what exactly is the big fuss about? Well the left say it is discriminating against minorities and the poor. While the right says it’s trying to eliminate voter fraud. So the question that we are now faced with is who is right? And from what I have learned this week both sides are kind of right. In 2005, the state of Indiana passed a voter ID law. The law requires that a valid photo ID must be presented by a person casting a ballot at a polling station. The law caused a big problem and we appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. CNN’s Bill Mears wrote an article depicting the court’s ruling entitled, “High court upholds Indiana’s voter ID laws.” The article states, “The 6-3 vote allows Indiana to require the identification.” Mears also comments by saying that this was, “the biggest voter rights case taken up by the justices since the 2000 dispute over Florida’s ballots, in which George W. Bush prevailed to gain the presidency.” The article also quotes Justice John Paul Stevens who wrote the majority for the court saying, “[A]ny political issues considered by the state were mitigated by its desire to stop voter fraud.” While the article also quotes the dissenting opinion judge, Justice David Souter by stating, “Indiana has made no such justification for the statute and as to some aspects of its law, it hardly even tried.” Personally I believe the most important part of this law that makes this law justifiable is this quote by the article, “For those lacking a driver’s license or other government-issued photo ID such as a passport, the state provides a free voter