Voter ID laws address non-existent problem

Mike Wiser's Jan. 29 article, “Voter ID plan had bipartisan input, not necessarily bipartisan support,” indicates a push for voter IDs in Iowa. I personally have never heard of voter fraud being an issue in Iowa, and as someone who votes here, I don't see the need for them.

Voter fraud is basically non-existent. A New York Times article written in 2007 by Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina found that “Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections.” That means voter fraud in Iowa happens about as often as shark attacks.

Why would anyone think making it harder to vote in Iowa is a good idea? According to Robert Ussery and the Heritage Foundation, it's because scary illegal immigrants are voting in America! Or could the real reason be that politicians' views are so unpopular, the only way to win elections is to disenfranchise a large part of the voting population?

Iowans should be concerned about these laws. Would these laws make it harder to register and make it expensive to vote as we have seen in Wisconsin? If so, would they unfairly target minorities, the poor and elderly, who are less likely to have means to purchase IDs?

I say enough already.

Shawn Dougherty

Cedar Rapids