John Brock: Voter ID? I voted several years as a forty-something black man

I don't understand the entire objection against photo identification in order to vote. And, I have a personal example of why we should always fight voting misdeeds.

When I moved back to South Carolina, I had to re-register to vote. I went to the board of elections. I identified myself and gave them the information needed to get a voter registration card. I was told to take a seat while they prepared my card. There were several other applicants doing the same thing.

A few minutes later, I was handed my card with my proper name and address on it making me a legitimate voter. Perhaps, I should have looked more closely at the card but I immediately stuck it in my wallet where it remained until I went to vote. I trusted the accuracy of data on the card because, after all, it had been prepared by tax-paid professionals who must have known what they were doing. On the next Election Day, I showed my card and was allowed to vote. I followed the same procedure for the next several elections without question.

One day I was cleaning out and rearranging the myriad of material in my wallet and I happened to glance at the card I had been issued by the voting authorities. My name and address were correct but to my complete surprise, it described me as a forty-seven-year-old black man!
I had voted in several elections with this non-photo card and no one ever questioned it. A photo voter ID card would have immediately prevented this mix-up. A quick glance at a photo would have clearly shown that I am as pink complexioned as a raw Salmon.

When I discovered the error I immediately returned to the elections office and the error was corrected. But I can only surmise that there could be a black man somewhere in the county who has been voting with a registration card identifying him as a senior citizen of another race. None of this would have happened if we all had voter ID with a picture of ourselves on it.

As far as I know there was no fraud here — just carelessness on everybody's part. But my experience illustrates the importance of photo ID in order to prevent possible fraud and other shenanigans in and around the voting booth. Regardless of what some might claim, voting misdeeds do go on in every election. Dead people vote all the time and sometimes they vote more than once in the same election.

The opponents of photo ID voter cards are claiming that the practice will discriminate against old people and other minorities. By doing so, they are strongly implying that as an old guy I might not be capable of establishing myself as a legitimate citizen who is eligible to vote. I resent the fact that they are attempting to speak for me. It took me many years to become a member of a minority group, but old age finally thrust me into that category. Without question, senior adults comprise a legitimate “minority.”

According to some folks opposing voter ID, it seems that old folks and other minorities must have our voting rights “protected.” It's downright insulting to suggest that I don't have enough sense to get a FREE voter ID card if I don't have any other photo ID. The new SC law mandating voter ID is under assault by the U.S. Department of Justice on the premise that it discriminates against old folks and other minorities. If the Obama administration is correct in this assumption then they are asserting that we are too inept to take advantage of a FREE ID card which local agencies will even come out to your home to help you get. If their argument is accurate, they are also questioning my ability to make informed decisions on school bond votes, state and local elections, presidential elections and other important matters. If I can't do this, perhaps I shouldn't be voting in the first place. It's downright degrading.

Old folks and other minorities should be insulted by such implications.

Photo ID makes a lot of sense. You need this sort of identification to engage in just about any other activity of modern society: Open a bank account, go to the Emergency Room, sign up for government programs, purchase certain prescription drugs, get a loan, fly on an airplane, cash a check, etc.

It only makes sense that a photo ID should be required for the fundamental right of voting as well.

The stringent objection to photo ID by some folks causes one to wonder if past deeds are being hidden — and why they fear legitimate and commonsense voter identification.



John Brock, retired newspaper editor/publisher and college professor, lives in Georgetown County and can be reached by mail at this newspaper or at brock@johnbrock.com