Reply #7: Nation: USA Today Editorial -- Carter-Baker on "Wrong Track"

[autorank]

Read this and then see who USA Today chose to feature as an editorial writer on the Carter-Baker Report. The report has made election rights advocates of even the right leaning moderate USA Today. Thanks to the three Jims: Baker, Carter, Crow (who is still unpopular among the vast majority of Americans!)

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-09-26-oppose_x.htm

Task force on wrong track

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-09-26-oppose_x.htm

Posted 9/26/2005 8:54 PM

By Caroline Fredrickson

As Supreme Court Justice Stanley Matthews wrote in a landmark case in 1886, the right to vote is fundamental because it is "preservative of all rights." Requiring a photo ID to vote, as the Carter-Baker commission recommends, would have a chilling effect on voter participation. It would block some Americans from the political process. (Related: Our view)

The Carter-Baker recommendations are so restrictive that even a valid U.S. passport or photo ID issued by the U.S. military isn't good enough. Voters must have a driver's license that meets the requirements of the controversial Real ID Act, which set strict standards for obtaining state-issued licenses.

Such a requirement would disproportionately impact poor people, the disabled, the elderly and people of color, who are all statistically less likely to have driver's licenses. The commission recommended an alternative photo ID be available for non-drivers, but no infrastructure is in place to make those available, particularly for the elderly. In addition, there was no cost assessment in the report.

According to a 2001 election-reform report, 6% to 10% of voting-age Americans don't have driver's licenses, and requiring them would be a "burden that would fall disproportionately on people who are poorer and urban." This burden will increase as states are forced to cover the costs of the Real ID Act, estimated at up to $13 billion, in part by increasing the price of a new license.

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This proposal is nothing new. The Carter-Ford commission rejected a less restrictive photo ID proposal in 2001. If this commission had used a more democratic process, such as giving the public the opportunity to comment, members may have come to a similar conclusion this year as well.

If we are truly committed to improving the U.S. electoral system, there are much bigger — and more common — voting problems to address, such as inaccurate voter registration rolls, malfunctioning voting machines and untrained poll workers. Lawmakers should address isolated incidences of voter fraud, but not at the expense of more widespread disparities in voter access.
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Caroline Fredrickson is director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Office.