Indiana voters shut out for no rational reason -- -- chicagotribune.com

Indiana voters shut out for no rational reason -- -- chicagotribune.com By Steny Hoyer and Chris Dodd | May 13, 2008
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The Supreme Court has just decided to restrict our voting rights—and frankly, in pages and pages of opinions, we're having trouble seeing their good reason. By a 6-3 decision, the justices chose to uphold Indiana's voter ID law, the nation's harshest, leaving states free to turn away voters who can't present a driver's license or passport on demand at the polls.

That might not seem like a lot to ask, if you're not working two jobs, if you're not depending on public transportation, if you're not confined to a retirement home. Maybe you can make it to the secretary of state's office whenever you want.

But millions of Americans can't—Americans like the dozen nuns who were reportedly turned away from the voting booth in South Bend, Ind., last week. Because they don't drive, they didn't have licenses; and because they're in their 80s and 90s, few of them had the energy to go apply for one across town.



Now, there's a high hurdle in front of their right to vote—the most fundamental right in a democracy.

And there isn't a shred of evidence to justify it. By long-standing precedent, a law like Indiana's would only be constitutional if it served a real public interest, such as preventing fraud. Given the severe remedy proposed, you'd expect American elections to be drowning in fraud.

But you would be wrong. Here is the sum total of evidence Justice John Paul Stevens cited in his lead opinion:

Political fixer "Boss Tweed" used to pay for multiple votes per person—in 1868.

In 2004, one voter committed impersonation fraud in Washington state.

In East Chicago, Ind., a candidate interfered with absentee ballots.

A 140-year-old story, a law-breaking voter, and a single case of absentee fraud, which the Indiana law did nothing to prevent anyhow—that was all the proof the Supreme Court needed to place a disproportionate burden on the thousands who are too poor, too elderly or too disabled to meet rigid ID laws. ...