Voter ID only a small inconvenience

What I find “shameful and un-American” James Prescott (Fence Post, May 10) is your assumption that voter fraud is immaterial; that elections are unaffected by fraudulent voting because it pales in comparison. Similar methodology of illogical deduction have been raised by medical providers to justify ripping off Medicare, or students cheating on college entrance exams — their actions are too small to matter.

Assailing Republicans for using voter ID as a means to suppress specific populations from participating is a diversion. It is ignorant to ignore the obvious criminal element of election corruption, and grossly inaccurate to define it as “nonexistent.” You are however, correct in writing that any true American would want to encourage voting, to which I reply, any true American knows that voting is a right and a privilege, reserved solely for citizens. In order to crack down on widespread voting fraud, whether it’s multiple votes, noncitizens or invalid voters, cash-for-votes, voter intimidation or forgery, requiring an ID to vote is what is immaterial. If I can endure the inconvenience of showing an ID when I buy over-the-counter medications, I’m not going to whine when I vote.

And, by the way, a gun permit card is a superior form of identification over that of a school ID, as it requires a much more rigorous application and background check.

Dee Kay

Palatine