Spencer Overton has written this oped for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It begins: “In Congress and about a dozen states, recent debates over proposals to require photo identification at the polls have fallen along partisan lines. Republicans generally support ID requirements and Democrats oppose them. Both parties need to move beyond political posturing and empty rhetoric. Voter fraud is wrong. At the same time, however, advocates have yet to show that ID laws solve more problems than they create.” The article requires free registration, but should be available without registration here later today. [Update: The article is here.]
I agree with much of what Overton writes in this oped. My own proposal for registration reform would couple universal voter registration with government issued photo identification. Because the identification would contain biometric information like a fingerprint, a voter would not need the physical i.d. itself to cast a vote.