Holder Overstates Risk to South Carolina Voting Rights (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | According to Reuters, Attorney General Eric Holder used a Martin Luther King rally in South Carolina as an opportunity to warn people in the state that the voting rights of minorities are at risk if South Carolina is permitted to enforce its law that requires voters to show a state-issued photo identification before casting a ballot. The Justice Department blocked the law a few weeks ago, but the state plans to seek to overturn that ruling.

So, would South Carolina voters' rights be at risk if the state is allowed to require voters to show their ID before voting? As best as I can tell, no. According to the article, the Justice Department stated a little over a third of South Carolina minority voters are without a driver's license. However, according to the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, anyone older than 5 can get a state-issued identification card and the cards are free to those older than 17. The state even designated Sept. 28, 2011, as Identification Card Day and picked people up from their homes to transport them to the Department of Motor Vehicles to help more people obtain their cards.

While the cards are free and good for five years to those older than 17, documentation is required to receive one, including a birth certificate, Social Security card, proof of residency and legal documentation for any name change. While those things can be a hassle to gather sometimes, I don't think the request to see documentation before issuing an identification card is an unreasonable one.

Furthermore, I don't see how requesting to see identification is an unreasonable request when it comes to voting. After countless stories of votes being cast by illegal immigrants and people who are no longer alive or never existed in the first place, I would think most of us can see the benefit of ensuring that real, living Americans are the only ones voting in American elections.

And there are civil rights issues to be aware of in this country. There are certainly real dangers to the rights of Americans that the Justice Department could be worried about. But worrying about people not being able to vote because they can't or won't get an identification card to prove that they're eligible to vote? You'd have to tell me how this is, as Holder stated, "a moral imperative" because I just can't see it.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120116/cm_ac/10841993_holder_overstates_risk_to_south_carolina_voting_rights

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