To the Editor:
I recently read the opinion piece published in these pages decrying the SAVE Act and the requirement that voters provide documentary proof of citizenship. The author’s central premise that producing a birth certificate or passport is an insurmountable, onerous burden designed to suppress the vote is fundamentally disconnected from the realities of adult life. The very concept underlying this complaint is steeped in a bizarre sense of privilege that demands a free pass for the most consequential civic duty we have, while ignoring how the real world actually operates.
When you encounter this type of intense resistance to a policy like the SAVE Act, it is clear that partisan opposition has blinded critics to basic security measures. It is pure obstructionism, designed to oppose anything the other side supports, even when it is basic common sense.
Let us compare this supposedly draconian requirement to the practical realities of everyday life. If you want to drive a car, you must go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, stand in line, and present multiple forms of identification including proof of citizenship or legal presence just to apply to get a driver’s license. If you want to board a commercial flight, you need a REAL ID or a passport. If you want to obtain a pilot’s license, physician’s license, engineering license, or take a college exam, be prepared for extensive background checks, complying with documentation requirements which are rigorous, exhaustive, and nonnegotiable. Try to take the SAT without your ID; does that mean we are preventing people from accessing higher education?
Imagine walking into a secure government facility and telling the authorities, “I cannot keep track of my own documents, and it is too difficult to get a birth certificate, so you should just give me a special privilege and let me through.” You would be laughed out of the building.
Or better yet, let us apply the author’s logic to bars and casinos. When they want to verify that you are 21 to drink or gamble, maybe they should just stop asking for identification. Let us just take everyone’s word for it. After all, nobody is going to lie, right?
Yet, when it comes to the integrity of our elections, the very foundation of our republic, we are suddenly expected to lower the bar to the floor because basic personal responsibility is deemed too hard. The author claims that requiring proof of citizenship is a gratuitous obstacle and that millions of Americans simply cannot manage to locate their own vital records.
The preservation of our republic requires a baseline of civic responsibility. Securing the documents necessary to prove one’s eligibility is the first test of that responsibility. We are not helpless. We manage to produce these exact same documents to get jobs, open bank accounts, apply for mortgages, and enroll in schools. To suggest that acquiring a birth certificate or a passport is an impossible hurdle is to treat citizens like children who cannot be expected to manage their own affairs.
The argument that voting is a right, not a privilege, is absolutely correct. But with rights come responsibilities. The responsibility to prove that you are, in fact, an eligible American citizen before casting a ballot that decides the direction of our country is the bare minimum we should expect. The idea that we should operate on the honor system by relying merely on affirmations of citizenship signed under penalty of perjury is not just naive but foolish.
The author’s letter is a partisan attack disguised as a defense of democracy. It is not voter suppression to ask people to prove they have the legal right to vote. It is common sense. If a person can manage to get a driver’s license, open a bank account, or board an airplane, they can manage to prove their citizenship to vote. The public libraries demand identification for a 10 dollar book. Surely, to exercise your fundamental rights, the government can ask for proof of citizenship. Stop demanding special privileges, and start treating our elections with the respect and security they deserve.
Sincerely,
Joe
Small Business Owner
Cincinnati, Ohio