Voter fraud is not easily detected
Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor express the opinion of the writer and are not necessarily the opinion of WBIG ownership, management or staff.
The issue of requiring a government issued photo ID when voting has been a hotly debated topic for some time now, statewide. Unfortunately, there has been a coordinated misinformation campaign by opponents of the law.
The most common “fact” is that there is virtually no voter fraud since there have been so few prosecutions of the crime, and hence no need for the requirement.
Having been a poll watcher at various polls in Lackawanna County for over 15 years, I beg to differ, and illustrate my case by means of the following scenario:
John Jones enters a poll and claims to be Joe Smith. No one in the poll is familiar with either Smith or Jones (not an uncommon occurrence where hundreds, if not thousands, of voters pass through in a single day), and thus Jones is allowed to cast a ballot after signing the registration book (which has a copy of Smith’s signature in plain sight to aid Jones).
Without a photo ID, how is anyone supposed to know voter fraud has just been committed? Even if Smith does show up later to vote, there is nothing anyone can really do to rectify the situation.
How can one investigate, let alone prosecute, a crime that goes completely undetected?
There is a light-year-wide gap between claiming there is little, if any, in-person voter fraud and the act actually taking place on a regular basis, even while eluding detection.
To me, it’s not a question of whether or not to require a photo ID, but rather, why hasn’t such a requirement been mandatory for years?
David Kveragas, Newton Township
