Last week, I got my Virginia voter registration card in the mail. My wife’s card also arrived on the same day. So did the card above, which is neither mine nor my wife’s. The address is correct, but the name (blurred intentionally in the photo) belongs to a previous owner of my house.
A previous owner who has obviously not yet moved his registration since he lived here six or seven years ago.
This isn’t merely a credit card application — something the previous owner still receives a lot of at my house — but a voter registration card.
On the card’s information page, it says, “This card serves as an official form of identification (ID) that you can use at the polling place on Election Day.”
Just this week, a Pennsylvania judge suspended a state law until after the election that would require voters to produce a photo ID in order to vote.
My situation shows why such a measure might be a good idea. Were I someone without scruples (I indeed have a few, after all), I could theoretically go in the morning with the above voter registration card (vote early), and cast my ballot Chicago-style as the previous owner of my house. Then, just to give it some space, I could return I the evening and vote as myself (vote often).
There’s little beyond my own moral sense (and fear of God) that could stop this from successfully happening. Mind you, I’m not going to vote twice, I’m simply pointing out how easy it is for fraud to occur without a photo ID.
I still haven’t heard a sensible argument along the “disenfranchisement” lines against photo IDs for voters. If you have, please enlighten me.