Don’t tell me voter ID is not a poll tax

To the editor:

Don’t tell me that voter ID is not a poll tax! I just got the bill for the physical I had to get to get my drivers license, another $55. And of course, that is after paying for the license, arranging transportation, figuring out how to get a birth certificate from another state, paying for said certificate, and providing some sort of “approved” mail in my name … bills! This literally took me years to accomplish as that I had returned to my home community after a life altering event that gave me the unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on your perspective) opportunity to experience being a homeless American veteran.

All I had to do to vote, years ago when I returned, was to go to the courthouse, show my face, prove I lived here with the simplest of mail, sign my name, and boom … done, registered to vote. I have served this country in the Navy and have done my patriotic duty of voting every year since I became old enough to do so. My signature has always been sufficient. So ask yourself, why it is not sufficient for “those” people?

All in all, this ID cost me about $200. If that were required for me to vote, I would have been disenfranchised for years — despite having served this country. Then to top it all off, this stupid ID is not a “real ID” and thus does not allow me to get on an airplane! Which makes me think, what ID is acceptable for voting? How much more must I do and/or spend to get the “right” ID to make me eligible to vote in the eyes of Republicans? Would I have to prove myself as a land owner? Should I have to know the number jelly beans in a jar? Where does it stop?

If history is any guide, if “Constitutional originalism” is a guide, if you simply listen to the wishes of the GOP, it is obvious to me that the only “eligible” voters are the ones capable of meeting arbitrary requirements dictated by those already in power!

Eric Becht

Mifflintown