Takes issue with columnist’s stand on voter I.D.
Imagine a system where you go to a government office and jump through the appropriate hoops to get a driver’s license. But you don’t get to keep your license. They keep it for you. Well, they keep a list of people who are approved.
Then, when you are out driving and the policeman pulls you over, you just tell him who you are and go on from there.
Sounds like a great system until somebody figures out that they don’t necessarily have to tell the cops their own name. Might as well get Slim Smith a ticket instead of me.
Mr. Smith probably wouldn’t go for a system like that. But he sees no parallel with the voting system. I do. A citizen registers, but they haven’t exercised their right to vote until election day comes. There is no mechanism to prevent someone else from showing up at the voting site and saying “Slim Smith.” Sure enough, there’s a Slim Smith right there on the list. Into the booth you go.
Mr. Smith says that never happens. How would he know that? Maybe it’s never happened to him. It might be happening this fall in the place he moved from when he came to Columbus. (Did you un-register Mr. Smith?)
It was an evil thing to use voting access as a racial tool. Just one more thing I can say was perverted and mangled and bent all out of shape because of racism.
The evil consequences continue because Smith and folks like him are against coming up with a simple system that works and makes voting secure for everybody.
Chris Howard
Columbus
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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