OPINION:
Debate continues on whether we should require photo identification for all voters. One must consider why it is appropriate to require an ID for the writing a check or the paying of a bill (and taxes), but it is ’unreasonable’ to require a voter to identify himself when it comes to choosing our leaders.
A troubling and eye-opening report was published last week, on Aug. 30, in several area newspapers, based on findings of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a nonprofit law firm specializing in voting issues. It revealed that 10 Alabama counties have more voters on their rolls than they have eligible-age voters residing there. Those counties are Choctaw, Conecuh, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Perry and Washington.
The foundation that conducted the study also reports that these counties are among the 141 counties nationwide in which this issue exists — yet, only four other states — Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana — had more counties where registered voters on file exceeded actual population. The most troubling aspect of this situation is that this condition has persisted for decades.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation has sent letters to each county and to the secretaries of state advising them of the findings. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has acknowledged that the foundation’s data is correct and that he inherited the issue when he took office. Yet there is no record of any of his predecessors having acted to correct the matter.
One has to question how the groups and political party fighting the voter-ID requirement can rationalize their arguments given this information. We must at least try to emerge from the dark days of voter fraud and join the 21st century.
JAMES W. ANDERSON
Talladega, Ala.
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