Voter identification wastes your money

By Myrna Loehrlein

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The League of Women Voters strongly opposes voter photo identification.

A bill was recently passed by the Iowa House of Representatives that would require Iowa voters to show a state-issued photo ID each time they vote in person. The proposed legislation would invalidate all current forms of acceptable voter ID other than a state-issued photo ID.

A recent study conducted by the bipartisan Iowa State Association

of County Auditors

found that Iowans will have to pay more than

$1.68 million each year just to cover the costs of free photo IDs and birth certificates, both of which must be provided at no cost to residents to avoid the equivalent of an

unconstitutional poll tax. This amount does not include the cost of educating voters, poll workers and elections officials, nor does it include the cost of defending the legislation in the courts. The ongoing cost likely will be much higher once these other items are factored in.

Spending precious taxpayer dollars to pay for voter photo ID, when our state has effective identification procedures already in place, is a prime example of wasteful use of taxpayers' money. There is no such thing as a free voter ID. There are significant ongoing costs for state and local governments, as well as indirect costs for residents who apply for the ID.

One of the strongest reasons to oppose voter photo ID is that it is an effort to solve a problem that does not exist. The League of Women Voters surveyed numerous county auditors, and we did not find one incident in which an election issue would have been prevented or resolved by a voter photo ID.

In addition, these requirements would potentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of registered voters without a valid photo ID because of disability, age, illness, transportation or financial issues. According to a 2006 Survey of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, as many as 11 percent of U.S. citizens, more than 21 million individuals, do not have government-issued photo identification.

The burden will be greatest for citizens for whom it is most cost prohibitive or inconvenient to take off work, get transportation, stand in line and apply for documentation. Often these individuals don't have the underlying documentation that is needed to get an ID. Thus, this requirement would disenfranchise the very people who must work the hardest to vote.

Even our military personnel would be disenfranchised because their military IDs would be invalid for voting. The required ID in the proposed legislation must be Iowa-issued.

We in Iowa have clear and urgently pressing problems. We already are cutting funds from nearly every state program. Whatever state service you favor, there will be considerably less money to fund it if we pass a bill requiring voter photo ID.

Voter photo ID is a wasteful use of taxpayer money and a threat to the most basic right of our democracy.

Myrna Loehrlein of Cedar Rapids is president, League of Women Voters of Iowa. Comments: lwvia@live.com