Macon Telegraph letters to the editor
Fri May 15, 2009

YOUR SAY: Tough voter ID law south of border

The Telegraph missed the mark in its opposition to Gov. Perdue recently signing into law the proof of citizenship to register to vote law.

The secretary of state’s office testified numerous times in the long committee process for this bill that ineligible people attempted to cast ballots in the last election. The entire idea of proof of eligibility at registration is to increase security in our voting system at the beginning of the process. Not many Georgians can reasonable argue that is “unnecessary.”

The Telegraph accurately noted that opponents of the law constantly tried to paint it as somehow “xenophobic.” They also howled that the voter security bill was “anti-Latino.”

Xenophobic describes an irrational fear of foreigners. It is not clear how a foreigner could be eligible to register to vote in Georgia and is a baseless and mindless argument.

The anti-Latino smear was easily defeated in committee as well. Supporters of the measure provided a “show and tell” during each committee meeting in the process, using an actual federally issued Mexican photo voter registration/voter ID.

Our sovereign neighbor to the south has a very secure voter registration system that should be the model for every state here — including Georgia.

When registering to vote in Mexico, each applicant must present a series of documents — including a birth certificate — to prove citizenship and obtain the wallet-sized registration ID card that not only contains a photo of the registered voter, but his fingerprint, a bar code, a hologram and various numerical security codes.

Mexican voters may not vote without presenting the voter ID card.

Potential voters in Mexico would not get far with the “unfair to Latinos” or xenophobic angle. Happily, it didn’t work here either.

D.A. King is president of the Georgia-based Dustin Inman Society, which opposes illegal immigration. He lobbied in support of the voter registration law.

HERE