Look to Mexico for voting rules
By D.A. King, Gwinnett Daily Post, January 17, 2006
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=36&change_well_id=1
Look to Mexico for voting rules
For those Georgians who do not process a driver’s license or other accepted identification, the legislature will soon decide on a new voter ID bill to make it easier to obtain a state issued photo ID to cast a ballot .
Last year’s photo ID requirement makes Georgia’s one of the most secure voting systems in the nation and doing so will make it very difficult for non-citizens and other ineligible persons to vote.
This is causing a great deal of anguish for the usual suspects.
Those who have for years depended on the practice of their constituents – living or dead - voting early and often are apoplectic in their vocal objections to any increase in voting security. Requiring a photo ID – like when you cash a check - from the perspective voter is being deemed somehow “unfair”, “discriminatory” and a deterrent to poor or minority voters.
Last year I listened as a representative of the radical Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund [MALDEF] told a state senate committee that the photo ID requirement would hinder – and I love this one- “the voting capability of Spanish speaking voters”.
Let’s save the fact that a large part of the naturalization process is the requirement that the applicant for U.S. citizenship demonstrate the ability to speak, read and understand English for another day. And, despite the huge population of illegal aliens in our state, for now, like in most nations, only citizens are legally allowed to vote here.
This, brings to mind, if they ask themselves a question, what I believe our legislators can use as an example of voter ID security.
What would Mexico do?
Here’s what:
In Mexico, to cast a ballot, the voter [all of the voters] must prove citizenship and eligibility by presenting the federally issued Mexican voter ID card - which not only bears the photo of the potential voter, but a fingerprint, a barcode and a holographic image to deter tampering.
No photo voter ID card - no voting. Si?
The Mexican voter ID card is free of charge in Mexico, as our’s should be here.
[After having voted, the voter’s finger is dipped in ink to prevent repeat - or three-peat voting]
To no one’s surprise, nobody in Mexico gets very far with the argument that this is somehow unfair, excludes the poor or discriminates against Spanish speaking voters.
For those readers who “don’t care how Mexico does it”, we can all take a lesson in security and photo identification from somewhere considerably closer to home.
Blockbuster Video.
You see, before Blockbuster Inc. will approve an application to open an account to rent a video or DVD, the applicant must present a driver’s license, a photo military ID or a state issued photo ID card.
No Blockbuster accepted photo ID - no movie.
While we all watch the irrational protests and listen to the contrived wails of injustice expressed in the media concerning making our voting system more secure, we should be asking a question of our own.
If we are not allowed to have a voter ID system as secure as Mexico’s, can we craft one that is at least as secure the process for renting a DVD at Blockbuster?
Por favor?
D.A. King is president of The Dustin Inman Society. For more information, visit (http://www.thedustininmansociety.org.)
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