Voter ID laws don’t infringe on rights

By Michael Kreps, Las Vegas

Wednesday, April 22, 2015 | 2 a.m.

Identification laws do not infringe on the rights of anyone to vote in this country. The author of a recent letter to the editor said requiring a person to show an identification card is a “roadblock” equivalent to a “modern-day poll tax” because of the costs of obtaining identification, transportation, as well as time off work and time spent traveling to and from the Department of Motor Vehicles (“ID laws infringe on right to vote,” Las Vegas Sun, April 12).

In this day and age, you would have to live the life of a monk to never have to show identification to anyone. You can’t work, open a bank account, get a library card or get any government benefits without having some form of identification. All you have to show for an identification card is a nonexpired photo identification card, (driver’s license; U.S. passport; or student, military, work or tribal card) or a current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, government check or other government document that shows your name and address. This is hardly a burden on a person..

The term poll tax came out of our history when we had Jim Crow laws, which required individuals to pass a literacy test and/or pay a fee to vote. These laws prevented mostly blacks from voting. Requiring individuals to show an identification card in modern-day America to vote is hardly equivalent to Jim Crow laws.

The United States Supreme Court has ruled on numerous states’ voter identification laws and have found them constitutional. Voters in 30 states are required to show an identification document when they vote in person at the polls. Voters in nine states have to include a photocopy of their identification when they vote by mail or absentee ballot. Military and overseas voters are exempt if they vote by absentee ballot, and in some states the elderly and disabled voters may be exempt from the voter identification laws.