Another problem is voter fraud, reports of which have been increasing in recent years. If the Supreme Court upholds Indiana’s law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, then there should be standards for what types of photo identification can be used and rules that guarantee the reliability of those standards. In spite of the outcry from some corners, requiring a photo ID to vote is a good idea. Otherwise there is a tendency for dead people and illegal immigrants to vote as well as some people voting multiple times in multiple districts.
What bothers me about the DHS requirements is that the Federal Government is mandating that states verify legal status using Federal information collections. The Federal Government itself has proven unwilling to pursue or remove illegal aliens from amongst the general public and information in the Social Security database is notoriously unreliable. How many times in recent years have we heard about identity theft? How many times are we warned that our Social Security numbers can be stolen easily? How many times have we heard that illegal immigrants are applying for jobs and receiving benefits using falsified or stolen Social Security numbers? And yet this is the database that DHS wants states to use to verify legal residence so that government-issued identification cards are reliable? The repercussions of this could result in a high number of illegitimate cards issued yet DHS appears untroubled by this fact.
Ensuring that states issue proper, legitimate identification is important because Americans use their drivers’ licenses as proof of ID in many facets of daily life. But the states are doing a relatively good job on their own. When there is a breach of the public trust, as was the attempt in New York, the public outcry has been sufficient to check the power of the state government and assure proper verification of legal residence. DHS needs to put its own house in order before it begins mandating what the states can and cannot do and which sources should be used to verify residency. Otherwise we will end up with more unproductive government “action” intended to appear as though the Federal Government is actively ensuring our security and protecting our borders. The smoke and mirrors must stop.