Regarding the September 29 letter Photo ID makes your vote count: “Vote cancellation,” what a preposterous distortion, simply a verbal “slight of hand” to create the illusion that something is happening when it actually isn’t. To extend that argument to its silliest conclusion would be to state that all votes that are matched by votes for the opposing candidate are all cancelled, the only votes that count are those not matched.
The truth is simpler, any illegal vote simply adds one more vote to the column of the candidate for whom it is cast, but everyone’s vote is counted.
What is a problem is a change to our voting process that puts barriers in front of voters, something that could prove harmful in Cook County where so many of us vote by mail.
The proposed constitutional amendment does not explain how such voting can continue, nor does it solve any known voting problem. It simply prevents fraud that does not occur and has never been shown. Proponents claim that it might stop an “illegal alien” from casting an illegal vote, but opponents are just as legitimate in claiming that it might prevent a legal voter from exercising their right.
So what do we gain if we pass this onerous bill? A costly system that impedes free access to the polls for no identified reason. And it puts it into the constitution of the state where it is harder to correct problems when they occur. The appropriate place for such restriction is in statute, not constitution.
There are too many questions about the effect of such a law to cast it into stone, and there is no need to rush to judgment, we have been getting along just fine for over 150 years. This has not become a problem overnight, in fact it has yet to be determined to be a problem at all. The bigger problem is getting more people to the polls, bringing participation closer to 100 percent. Until we get there voter fraud remains a smaller problem and affects elections far less than either spoiled ballots or rounding errors.
Just say NO!
Jerry Hiniker
Grand Marais
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