Indiana

SHUT UP AND SHOW YOUR ID!

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning, by a vote of 6-3, upheld Indiana’s Voter ID law. The law had been challenged as unconstitutional because critics said it put an undue burden on voters. The law requires to show a government-issued picture ID when they go to the polls. The Court turned away the undue burden argument, saying the state had a strong interest in fighting voter fraud and it also noted Indiana had highly inflated voter rolls which could contribute to fraud.

The Court also said voter ID was a reasonable effort to ensure the integrity of the voting process. The decision comes just eight days before the state primary. Tom Fisher, the state Solicitor General who argued the case before the Court, says the clear 6-3 majority of the Court shows the reasonableness of the state’s law.

The Court also noted that Plaintiffs failed to produce a single individual who had been disenfranchised by voter ID.

I have yet to see what the problem was with Voter ID.  You need it to cash a check, rent a car and in some cases get into a bar.  So I don?t see what the big deal is.  And to make matters worse, Voter ID has been on the books for two years if you haven?t gotten an ID by now, maybe you shouldn?t be going to the polls.   By the way, the Indiana primary is May 6.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on April 28, 2008 (boomark / email).