2017-07-10 – If we didn’t know it before, we know it now. States that require a photo ID in order to vote are trying to suppress minority voting. The courts have said this and now, even states with voter suppression histories, are squeamish about cooperating with Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission. Everyone knows that voter fraud is a bogus complaint.

But let’s say you’re still concerned.

Why would you want the voter to carry around the photo ID? If someone wants to vote fraudulently, what would prevent them from showing a fake ID? Good grief, kids do this all the time to get a drink!

(I even participated in this myself back in the early ‘70s when I created a fake photo ID for a friend so he could join the rest of us mature adults at Jimmy’s tavern at the University of Chicago. It was amazingly easy.)

So here’s a better idea.

The Board of Elections should keep the photos. When you show up at a polling place to vote, they snap your picture and they hold on to the picture to be used as possible evidence in the unlikely event that anyone would ever challenge.

You really wouldn’t need to even have a prior photo registration. Each time you vote, the photo would provide evidence of who really voted. It’s very simple.

Problem is, I guess, it’s too simple. The whole point of the current photo-ID campaign is to make voting more complex and costly. My idea does the opposite. My idea would fail to discourage anyone from voting.

Oh well. Back to the drawing board.