A Strong Case for Voter ID

I've meant to weigh in on the proposed voter ID law that's making its way through the Texas Legislature, but Michael Hopkovitz says it even better in a DMN op-ed this week, blasting holes in the three major objections put forth by opponents of the bill (many people don't have photo ID's, and it's a burden to get one; it's costly to get one, and there haven't been enough documented cases of voter fraud to necessitate this bill).

I particularly like how Hopkovitz calls shenanigans on the first objection:

[P]hoto IDs are often required for many things, including check cashing, air travel, credit card use, banking, hospital admittance, obtaining government services, driving a vehicle and even getting a monthly DART pass. Presumably, then, those who lack such IDs do not do any of these things. We are supposed to believe this applies to hundreds of thousands of Texas citizens, but that is simply not believable.

Indeed. Read the whole thing; he also does an equally good job of refuting the other two objections.

And I also feel the need to turn my pen (OK, keyboard) into a mighty sword against one more silly idea that's being tossed around in opposing this bill: The notion that a its passage will cost the Republican party support among Latino voters. I'm not sure which aspect of this is more shameful--that any ethnic group will always vote as a bloc (so much for the "diversity" that is treasured by so many), or that someone will support illegal activity so long as it's done by people of the same race as that person. Going off and spouting ideas like that could have the unanticipated side-effect of having people not take you very seriously.

What say you? The comment section has been pretty quiet over here as of late, so feel free to chime in.

All caught up: I've finally finished the past few days' worth of posts, so scroll down a bit to see what's been going on here lately.