Look, I am basically against the elimination of all of the alternate forms of ID, but IF they are going to get serious about voter fraud then the photo voter registration card is probably the best way to address it.
While I have nothing to back up this SWAG, I'm goping to the very end of the proverbial limb to make it: 99.9% of CHP holders will be PO at no longer being able to show their pasteboard permission slip, but that's about it. They all had some form of government photo ID they used to get it, did't they?
To keep some illegal sanctuary-seeking wanna-be citizenship-wishing dreamer from diluting my franchise I am willing to accept photo voter registration cards - so long as that is the only use of them that is allowed. Sort of like the Social Security card - NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES (except for voting).
stay safe.
Kinda depends on how you look at it Skid: no doubt there is some
"illegal sanctuary-seeking wanna-be citizenship-wishing dreamer" somewhere out there just waiting to dilute the vote of somebody like you.
But this guy is going to have to be pretty resourceful, diligent and lucky to pull this off: he is going to have to creatively identify some other guy in the precinct to impersonate who is both registered to vote and about his same age. Then, he is going to have to forge some non-picture ID with this guy's name on it, show up at 6:00 AM (he would not want to show up after they guy he is passing himself off as has already voted). He is also hoping that this guy's neighbors, who are standing in line with him, working as election officers behind the voter check-in table, and as party poll-watchers behind the election officers, are not going to realize that he is an imposter the moment he says his assumed name.
IMHO, changing the voter ID requirement again this year is much more likely to affect the folks who jog to the polls, or roll up with their strollers, and don't have picture ID because some flimsy piece of cardboard (usually a voter registration card, but certainly sometimes a social security card or CHP) worked just fine last year. After waiting in line only to be told that they cannot vote a regular ballot without going all the way back home again and returning with photo ID, they are most likely to just leave and forget about it.
The jogger guy, stroller lady, and illegal wanna be dreamer dude are all in the same boat: chances are almost certain that their one vote is not going to make a whit of difference, so if it is a pain, why go to the trouble? Voting is, for the most part, an irrational act.
There are probably some very few recent bona fide cases of "false identity" voter fraud out there, but it has been way overblown. One of the guys who has made something of a career over-blowing it, Hans von Spakovsky, just lost his position on Fairfax County's Board of Elections because he cried wolf about this too many times, and in October, got his lying self exposed on these issues by a journalist in the New Yorker.
So if it is worth it to you to complicate and sometimes effectively prevent the exercise of the franchise by granny, jogger man, stroller lady and hundreds like them, to prevent the vote of that one illegal dreamer dude who irks you, then something like this "photo voter ID" bill may be for you.
But I was prevented from completing my purchase of a six pack of Shock-Top last night because I accidentally left my drivers' license in some unknown shirt. So this bill is definitely not for me.