Voter ID for All

Voter ID laws could be noxious for the people of our country. That is their purpose. But they could also be a gift. Make that happen.
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It is the first week of October. Fall has brought welcome cooling to Biloxi, Mississippi. Ida Mae Pearson, who lives alone, is surrounded by a dozen relatives and friends in her cramped living room. Today is the big day. Today is the day she is getting her photo ID so she can vote. Ida hasn't missed a vote in presidential elections since her first vote for Dwight D. Eisenhower. Four years ago she took pride in voting for Barack Obama, a man of her race who would become the first black President. Wonder of wonders and glory be to God. But this year is different. The state legislature passed a law requiring photo ID to vote.

Ida Mae doesn't have photo ID. She never drove a car, never took a plane, never has left the state. In the last few years, her arthritis has kept her home or close to it. And hear to tell, they don't make it so easy to get photo ID even if you do get about.

But today Ida Mae is going to get her photo ID and her picture is going to be on the front page of newspapers throughout the land. Because today George Clooney is coming to take her for her photo ID and register her on the rolls. And he has promised to come back on election day to make sure she votes. Outside the house are a pack of reporters and photographers. More than you would believe. Wonder of wonders and glory be to God.

"He's coming," whispers a cousin. "I hear the sirens."

"I do too," says Ida Mae, and she stands up straight and tall and walks steadily to the door -- straighter and taller than she has been in a long time. "I'm ready," she says.


Fantasy? Needn't be. Both parties conduct extensive voter registration drives. This year there should be a special drive to meet the new stringent state voter laws. Call it VOTER ID FOR ALL. Call it what you want. Toss the phone. Boots on the ground. Sign up a half million volunteers to help prospective voters comply with the new laws -- one by one by one. Ask and they will step forward -- twice as many as needed.

Funds given to VOTER ID FOR ALL would be tax deductible. But it doesn't have to be a new organization. Are you listening, People for the American Way?

And why not kick it off with George Clooney or President Clinton or Susan Sarandon or Warren Buffet. Why not some star power in a good cause?

Voter ID laws could be noxious for the people of our country. That is their purpose. But they could also be a gift. Make that happen.

And make that happen tomorrow!

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