With a Presidential Primary is not to far off, the topic of voter security will

With a Presidential Primary is not to far off, the topic of voter security will once again be at the forefront, especially after the false claims made by former President Trump in 2020 of election fraud. Consequently, the subject of creating tougher voting laws has been circulating throughout state legislatures over the past two years and many states have already made their voting laws much more strict. One of the biggest issues is whether or not voters should be required to show a state issue picture ID in order to vote. If you are curious as to what the different voter laws are across the country here is a nice breakdown https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id Links to an external site.. In short, the proponents feel that having a secure government issued ID is essential to ensuring election integrity, and people will have much greater faith in the security of their vote and the legitimacy of outcomes.
Conversely, in many states, obtaining an ID is difficult (especially in states where you need to have an original birth certificate), and opponents point to the fact that the poor, elderly, and ethnic minorities are unable to obtain their ID’s at a much higher rate than other groups. It’s also important to note, that most states with stricter voter ID laws tend to have lower (and in some cases much lower) turnout than states that do not. What are your thoughts? Do you support requiring some type of ID to vote? And if yes, what type of ID? (Government issued picture ID, student ID, pay-check stub, etc.). If No, please explain your reasoning. If you are somewhere in the middle it’s perfectly OK to state a middle ground approach you’d like for states to take instead.
Please make sure your post is a minimum of 300 words, references at least one article by name in the body of the post (please see Discussion Overview in the Start Module for examples), you use college level grammar, and respond to at least one classmate.
Articles
Article on voter turnout:
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/11/01/turnout-in-u-s-has-soared-in-recent-elections-but-by-some-measures-still-trails-that-of-many-other-countries/ Links to an external site.
Actual voter turnout data:
https://www.electproject.org/2022g Links to an external site.
Pro’s and Con’s:
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-photo-id-be-required-to-vote/voter-id-laws-are-designed-to-keep-people-from-voting Links to an external site.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/voter-id-laws-are-good-protection-against-fraud/2011/07/08/gIQAGnURBI_story.html Links to an external site.
https://www.aclu.org/fact-sheet/oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet?redirect=oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet Links to an external site.
https://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-photo-id-be-required-to-vote/voter-id-laws-protect-the-integrity-of-our-democracy Links to an external site.