Letter - A pseudo-solution in search of a problem

To the editor:

If you choose to ignore the fact that between 2000 and 2010, of the 649 million votes cast nationwide in general elections, there were 13 credible cases of in-person voter impersonation, or less than .00000002 percent of all votes cast, then you might think that those urging the passage of Minnesota’s so-called voter ID law have a point.

Or, if you choose to ignore the fact that, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, from 5 to 10 million voters, mainly among the young, the elderly, the disabled, and those belonging to ethnic minorities risk being disenfranchised by such a law, then you might think that they have a point.

If, on the other hand, you see this proposed law for what it clearly is: an insidious attack on the very notion of democracy and nothing more than partisan trickery, then it is you who have a compelling point, and common sense and common decency dictate that you vote no on this thinly veiled attempt at keeping a sizable number of eligible voters from exercising their constitutional rights at the polls.

James Pohl

Alexandria, MN

(A paid political letter)

Tags: opinion, letters