Fishing - Is An Uninformed Vote Better Than No Vote?

"Opus McDopus" wrote in message
...

had my mother not been working out in the rain, soliciting Dems and my
aunt Sara mot have been a poll worker, I too might have voted for just
about anyone in Lenoir. I have never been asked for ID. I don't think it
would bother me much.

If I'm not mistaken, no one can legally ask for identification without some
compelling reason. (Oddly enough, Becky was asked for ID yesterday. When
she stated her name the poll worker checked it against the registration
rolls and there she was, enveloped in a big yellow highlighter blob. Seems
there was a question about her correct address.) I've never been asked for
identification at the polls but I always give them my driver's license
anyway.......it's easier than spelling my name for them repeatedly.

I understand the argument, but don't believe it to be valid.

I don't have any trouble with the validity of the arguments against voter
identification, I just don't find them convincing.

Hell, why not claim that the gas it cost to drive to the polling place a
poll tax?

I'd be much surprised if that claim has never been made. And, in fact,
there can be no doubt that just getting to the polls is more burdensome for
some than for others. The trouble is that there is a neverending list of
inequities in every aspect of life. There's just no way to ensure fairness
and satisfy everyone. It doesn't take any particularly keen insight to
realize that even if the former were possible, achieving it would
necessarily negate the latter. Generally....hell, nearly
universally.....people don't WANT life to be fair. Meanwhile, we need
systems that are workable, however awkward and unsatifying they may be.

If a person really cares about a *possible* voice in government, the cost
of a State ID isn't all that difficult to handle, IMO. Again, the
goverrnment could issue special IDs to low income people, determined by
tax return forms, right?

Again, I don't disagree, but the question appears to be more academic than
even a reasonable discussion, devoid of the usual histrionics engendered by
political discourse, would suggest. While it comes up every time there's an
election, identity based voter fraud doesn't appear to be a burning issue in
most people's minds.

Wolfgang