I went to renew my driver's license today. It went smooth. Piece of cake. I had everything in order. I dealt with four different state employees and they were pleasant enough. So why the hell was I nervous? Why, at every step, did I expect someone to say...'excuse me Mr. Lutz but there's a problem. Please take a seat over there...' My wife went to renew her license last fall and had problems and had to go back later in the day armed with proof from Wisconsin that she really had no license there. Maybe I expected something like that to happen to me. Or maybe it's something more.
I am a confident person. Confidence is a necessary condition of my current job and, in fact, most previous jobs I've had as well. You just can't climb up into a sixty foot tall tree with a chainsaw and ropes and dismantle it safely and efficiently without confidence. You can't go on sales calls without some bit of confidence. So why should a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles be intimidating?
It is the fact that they have the power to make your life hell for a time. They hold your ability to legally drive. I can accept that. I can even make the argument that maybe you ought to not be allowed to drive if you can't navigate the DMV. Fine. Driving is a privilege. Not a right - like voting.
Of all the arguments about voter id laws, one of the most frustrating aspects is the fact that practice has been overriding theory. You can talk about whether or not citizens should have an id anyway. How do you cash a check without id? Buy beer or cigs? What's the big deal? If you can't keep an id, how do manage civilized life? All such examples (and many others I've heard) of practical life are fine and dandy but that's bullshit when it comes to theory.
The theory is that I should be able to cast a vote without any other proof of existence other than the fact that I exist in the precinct in which I am casting a vote. Period. The theory is that voting should be easy. The theory is that we really don't have a right to judge how someone lives. If someone else can function without going to the DMV, whose business is it of mine?
Another practical part of the id side is that this will preclude voter fraud. What voter fraud? We have a criminal justice system that loves, loves, loves to prosecute. And we have an FBI that loves, loves, loves statistics. Their data is bundled up in the UCR - Uniform Crime Report. Easily accessible. So, where's the beef? With voter fraud running rampant, you'd think we'd might need prisons. OOOhhh...jobs. But we don't need more prison space. We don't have a significant number of convictions. Or charges. Or ongoing investigations.
Why, with all of the issues facing elected officials, is voter fraud a priority? Why has the DMV become the clearing house, in many states, for voters? On what theory is the law based? What practical applications are there for making voting a matter of confidence - in line at the DMV?
