Time to Enact Voter I.D.

by Jim Harbison - I just returned from a 3-week vacation to Italy. We had a wonderful visit with some old Italian friends and we traveled from Venice to Rome and throughout northeast Italy. I was amazed about the number of times we, and our Italian friends, were required to show our I.D./passport To the Europeans being required to show a valid I.D. was a common thing that they do without giving it any thought. If you wanted to conduct any banking transaction, exchange currency or rent a car, access tourist attractions, use your credit card, or rent a hotel room you needed to show your I.D /passport

When we visited the Vatican we were required to show our I.D. just to purchase a ticket for entrance. Many of the World Heritage sites and other tourist attractions that charged admission also required proof of citizenship to purchase a ticket. Most of the European Union tourist attractions offered discounted admission for EU residents. This obviously required them to display their I.D. to receive the discounted price. They have to show their I.D. cards when they cross national borders or fly from one country to another. Needless to say, they must also show I.D. when they vote, sign up for any government service, apply for a job and a list of other activities too numerous to list.

Here in the United States we are so concerned about personal freedom that we oppose any form of a National Identification card. Isn’t that amazing since we have already forfeited that freedom through our Social Security Administration account number which for American born citizens is established at birth? Very soon everyone will be required to show a government I.D during your doctor’s visits to confirm you are entitled to use the Obamacare healthcare system. With the pending implementation of Obamacare everyone must have health care and all will required to have a government issued I.D. card.
We have an unstoppable flow of illegal immigration and New Mexico not only condones this practice but offers driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Under the Clinton Administration the Motor Voter Law was passed which requires all Motor Vehicle Department offices to register voters when they get their driver’s licenses. This requires they provide two documents that confirm residency (i.e. utility bill, rent receipts, etc) but no actual proof of citizenship. John Fund’s book “Stealing Elections” cites this law as the biggest source and cause of voter fraud in American
Why is it we require I.D. to drive, open a bank account, cash a check, pick up our mail at the Post Office or even visit the governor but we still refuse to require positive identification to perform the most sacred function of a democratic society which is to vote? Isn’t this the time for America to implement Voter I.D. for every eligible voter? Why is it OK to require proof of identity for nearly every function but resist its use to validate someone’s voting eligibility? Why has New Mexico continued to resist compliance with the National Identification requirements? Soon New Mexico driver’s licenses will not be acceptable for air travel.

It’s time for New Mexico to catch up with the rest of the world and use positive identification documents to ensure that its citizens are protected from those would obtain goods and services fraudulently and whose illegal vote could jeopardize and subvert the will of the legal citizens of New Mexico and forever change the nature of the society we live in.

Time to Enact Voter I.D.