Make Em Pay!

       Here in Pennsylvania, as well as in many other states, requiring a  Voter Photo ID to vote was struck down by the courts. A lot of people are unhappy with those decisions requiring a driver's license or a birth certificate and one other ID. But many people never got a birth certificate. Their parents received a certificate of registration of the birth certificate which is not acceptable. I always thought that was the purpose of registering to vote.
       Now, in order to vote, if these laws were actually in effect, they would be forced to go, with their parent or sibling (since they have no photo ID) to a state office building in order to get a copy of the Birth Certificate at a cost of $20, needed to obtain that Photo ID at a PENNDOT license center where it costs $27.50 for the ID. And, the PENNDOT license center is not likely to be in the same city as the State building where he gets his birth certificate.
       The hardship and time, not to mention the transportation and fee costs, are an unfair burden on these otherwise lawful citizens with every legal right to vote. Especially when there is virtually no proven need for such identification, no proof of fraud. Many of these folks have been voting for many years, often at the same polling places. If such identification is truly necessary to vote, then it is incumbent upon the states to make the process completely free and easily accomplished.
       By free I mean the state must pay for transportation costs, time lost and access to the necessary identification, quickly and easily. Perhaps there should be a postal or internet option. Actually, the more likely voter fraud takes place between the time people cast their ballots and the time the votes are counted, unofficially and officially.
       So after the $47.50 cost, plus the fuel and wear and tear, or bus or taxi charges and the applicant's time and perhaps lost wages, I can't think of anyone who would feel happy being subjected to such expensive arrangements in order to do what should almost be a mandatory function of citizenship. Still there is that one in one hundred million cheater out there who will vote under an assumed name.