Voter IDs? Time To Fight Some Undead/Infected Arguments

Break out these points when you need to shoot down misconceptions and conservative voter ID talking points. Remember at best, the person you are talking to doesn’t realize there are larger issues involved with voter IDs or, at worst, is close-minded and vindictive about stopping Democratic voters from voting. So use these resources depending on your situation.

First you need to point out that there isn’t a voter fraud issue in the United States. Prosecutions related to people voting twice or voting in someone else’s place are very rare. Put more philosophically, the purpose of most laws is to reduce suffering or solve a problem; if there is no problem, then it is a waste of time to pass a law to “fix” it.

Then you need to answer the inevitable question of why people are talking about Voter IDs if there is no problem. Your answer: Lowering Voter Turnout. The statistics are clear. The people who would be most affected by these laws are the poor, the old, the young, and minorities. This is because people in these groups don’t always have a valid driver’s license.

The person you are talking with could counter that the IDs should/could be free or that those people are just lazy or stupid. These responses still don’t acknowledge what you already laid down, that these laws are unnecessary and are just a ploy by conservatives to win more elections.

Look at these responses for example:

“If they want to vote they can figure out where to get the ten bucks! I bet they come up with it for other unnecessary items.”

“I cannot understand how otherwise intelligent people would sit around a smoke filled room and scheme as to how to disenfranchise legitimate voters. I think this is largely a democratic media whipping post for the benefit of willing and eager listeners who want to hear the playground prattle.”

First off, it is totally unconstitutional to charge even a penny for a person to vote. Voting is a right, and morally, we should make it easier for legitimate voters to vote. Hell, if we were to rewrite the Constitution today, we should give serious thought to making it a requirement to walk into that voting booth on election day even if you don’t want to vote for anyone.

The second quote above is, to put it kindly, a little naive. The history of democratic elections, and the history of elections specifically in this country are full of instances where ‘men in smoke filled rooms’ conspired to stop people from choosing their leaders; poll taxes, literacy tests, property requirements, Jim Crow, resistance to women’s suffrage, gerrymandering etc.

If they counter by arguing that those took place in the past and no one would do such a thing today, there are two great video links (posted below) that you can share with them. Also, if they question you on your statistics, there are plenty of sources online to show them.

Stateman.com – Five myths about new voter ID laws across the country