The current election season calls attention to voting procedures – registration, identification, ballot custody, counting procedures, etc.
How should voters be registered? What sort of ID, if any, should they present when voting?
It’s said that stricter voting procedures “disenfranchise” poor and minority voters because they may not have ID.
That’s hard to believe, given the ease and inexpensiveness of today’s photo technology, plus the fact that driver’s licenses and other forms of ID are necessary for other purposes.
What about naturalized citizens?
A few years ago, my wife was naturalized as a citizen of the United States of America.
At the ceremony, she was presented with a “Certificate of Naturalization,” which included a photo ID.
So for a naturalized citizen, it’s easy to prove citizenship, assuming he or she saved the naturalization certificate!
If a natural-born citizen loses his birth certificate, a new copy can be requested at the county courthouse.
California was recently in the news for a voter ID issue.
In March, the city of Huntington Beach passed a law by referendum, requiring everyone voting in municipal elections to present valid ID in order to vote.
In response, California’s legislature passed a new bill in August prohibiting local governments from requiring voters to present ID to vote.
SB-1174 was signed into law in late September by Governor Gavin Newsom.
The law states, “California ensures the integrity of its elections by requiring a person to provide a driver’s license number, a California identification number, or the last four digits of their social security number to register to vote,” and also, “The state has taken further steps to ensure election integrity, including signature verification checks, mandatory partial recounts, and ballot tracking.”
Furthermore, “Voter identification laws have historically been used to disenfranchise low-income voters, voters of color, voters with disabilities, and senior voters.”
But how did the Huntington Beach law disenfranchise anyone?
“Voter identification laws place the onus on the voter to prove their identity and right to vote, even after voters have taken the necessary steps to prove their identity and right to vote through the voter registration process.”
Poor babies.
The California law declares, “A local government shall not enact or enforce any charter provision, ordinance, or regulation requiring a person to present identification for the purpose of voting or submitting a ballot at any polling place, vote center, or other location where ballots are cast or submitted, unless required by state or federal law.”
But how do election officials know the person voting is the same one who registered?
Overall, 14 states and the District of Columbia don’t require identification of any kind from voters. Only 13 states require photo voter ID.
Contrast this with Mexico, our neighbor to the south.
Mexico has many problems, but on the matter of voter registration and voter ID, they are light years ahead of us.
I recently wrote the following in an article entitled, “Comparison and Contrast of Mexican And U.S. Elections” –
In Mexico, voters must provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
Each Mexican voter is provided with a government-supplied voter ID card, which includes the voter’s photograph, fingerprints, and a holographic image. The voter must produce this card when showing up to vote.
The polling station workers have a book with the photograph of every single voter in the precinct. They can check that book against the photo on the ID card. After voting, the voter’s thumb is smudged with ink, to prevent repeat voting. The ink wears off after a few days.
Before my wife was naturalized in the U.S., she was a Mexican voter and I accompanied her to vote. Therefore, I have observed Mexican voting firsthand. Of course, as a U.S. citizen I did not vote in Mexico.
I find the Mexican voter registration system impressive and superior to ours. We can learn from Mexico, and it would be beneficial for U.S. states to adopt elements of the Mexican voter registration system.
Why can’t we have decent voter ID laws in this country, like Mexico does?