I'm a long time, hard core, Virginia Republican and I don't support voter ID requirements.
Why? Well for starters I've worked the polls for years and know that voter fraud is NOT a problem.
Experts agree we are talking about less than a handful of cases per year in the entire state and I would much rather see your efforts going after real fraud.
A while back one of our state universities did a study with the help of the State Department.
They obtained the current list of legal aliens who were in the process of applying for citizenship. They bounced this list off of the voter registration list and guess what?
Yep, something like 3,000+ folks were voting who were not citizens likely thanks, I'm guessing, to the motor voter laws that pretty much registers everyone up who gets a drivers license.
So in a nut shell not all Republican's agree with voter ID laws and some of us consider them blatantly unconstitutional.
ID to cash a check - YES!
ID to buy beer - YES!
ID to buy Claritin D - YES!
ID to vote - NO!
Thanks,
Dave
PS I write because in my world there exists two groups of elected Republicans. Those that pander and those that want to lead. The bill you support is pandering and frankly it pisses me off.
*****
Updated to year 2021 - A few years ago my feelings on this changed. It's rare, but I got this one wrong and I'm okay with saying so. My opinion was based on dealing with small local precincts in Virginia, not large cities where everyone dealing with the elections seemingly are political hacks. Furthermore, I learned something about racism I never even heard of or understood... The racism of low expectations. Thinking that old people have issues with technology and poor people have issues getting IDs was wrong. The numbers of people not capable of getting IDs must be compared to the number not able to bank, buy booze, fly or treat their allergies.
