Don’t risk giving away your right to vote. The proposed constitutional amendment to require an ID to vote could cause you to do just that. Here’s why:

Unexpected things can happen in life; for example, a person can become sick or a worker can suddenly lose his or her job and have to relocate. Under the proposed amendment, a person would have to renew a voter ID to reflect the change of address, but, for working people, this would be just one more burden on a person already struggling to put food on the table. For such a person, it would be more convenient to forgo voting, than contend with the extra burden involved with voter ID issues. Think back to 2001 when the local packing house burned and hundreds of workers lost jobs overnight. Most soon moved to new places because they had to find work. They likely had only temporary addresses until their lives settled down. If the voter ID amendment were to pass, these working people would be effectively blocked from the voting booth.

The fact is plant closings tend to affect laborers more harshly than white collar workers, plus, there are generally more laborers affected. And working people are more likely to vote Democrat than Republican. I suspect Rich Murray, the friend of the rich, was aware of this when the voter ID issue came up. Rich voted to place the voter ID amendment on the ballot as a ploy to keep power for him and his rich cronies.

 

Miles Pechacek

Albert Lea