To the editor:
On a recent trip to the 7th Ward polling place, I asked the staff there if my Pennsylvania state issued employee ID would do the job. No, they said, it must have an expiration date.
This got me to thinking and I wrote to Nancy Laub at the Mifflin County voter registration office and asked if personal recognition was acceptable, because several of the lovely ladies working at the poll have known me for years, that my wife and I vote regularly and that I live a few blocks away.
Mrs. Laub said to me in an email this was not acceptable and photo IDs without expiration dates were not allowed. I took exception to this and wrote to Sen. Corman and Rep. Harris. I have not heard back from them.
If it is the state's intention to wipe out voter fraud, I am all for it. But why can't personal recognition or a state issued or any government-issued ID be OK if it identifies the person voting? Personal recognition is the best form of ID. So what is the state up to with these guidelines?
The next step is, if your papers are not in order you will have to meet with men in fedoras and long black leather coats in front of that naked light bulb, saying "Papers, please."
It is a slippery slope we are stepping onto with this policy, and I do not want to live anywhere I cannot participate in my government. A little common sense in government could go a long way on this issue. Thank you.
Michael C. Spahr
Lewistown
