NM: ABQ Tribune Editorial: Voter ID doesn't get to real election problems

[L. Coyote]

Officials in Santa Fe, including Gov. Bill Richardson, seem obsessed lately with requiring voter identification on Election Day, reportedly to minimize vote fraud. But many citizens are more concerned with whether their votes actually are being counted.

Requiring voter ID, while not a bad idea, seems to be a solution looking for a problem.

There is very little, if any, credible evidence of fraudulent voting - nothing that even comes close to suggesting election results are being compromised by a swarm of fraudulent ballots.

There is, however, plenty of concern about whether: ...

Nice list.....

Compliment this deserving editor.

http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/op_editorials/article/0,2565,ALBQ_19867_3563017,00.html

[Mist]

1. I agree. It's like having a broken leg and

someone suggests that getting a haircut will fix everything!

[Warpy]

2. Voter ID seems

so reasonable to people outside this area. How could anybody object, even if it's unnecessary?

Well, NM isn't like the rest of the country. We have over a dozen Indian reservations, and those folks who stay on the rez don't have a whole lot of use for driver's licenses, passports, or the ID cards the local cops issue to folks who don't drive so they can cash checks.

Since the local tribal people have a higher percentage of Democrats than pubbies, one can easily see why disenfranchising them by requiring official ID cards at the polls would be very attractive to DINOs who gleefully contemplate tax cuts from pubbie administrations.

The point is that anyone not on the rolls gets a provisional ballot, and those ballots are checked. There is little room for fraud. To check into the list, you have to give your birthdate. That discourages the pretenders.

So we have little potential for fraud without ID, and an onerous rule for a large segement of the local population.

It sounds pretty damned unnecessary to me, and a symptom of why we need to get Richardson out of office ASAP.

[gizmo1979]

3. Repugs have their ID

this kills minorities.Very bad news for the goodguys.