Tuesday, February 5, 2008 | by nathan

Stop Looking For Your Voter ID Card and Go Vote

This is a scan of the front page of today’s Oklahoman, stating that a voter should bring a Voter ID card to the polling place in order to vote. While yes, this would be a useful thing to have on you, the truth of the matter is that you only need to bring a state-issued identification like, oh, say, your driver’s license.

It’s no secret that our hometown newspaper is the worst in the nation and, while not the right-wing "agenda" paper it once was, has gotten worse over the last decade or so. Still, I like to believe that this is just a factual error caused by a journalist who didn’t bother to double-check his initial assumption about Oklahoma’s voting laws. It’s still irresponsible and dangeorus; remember all those studies after 2000 that showed that many (almost entirely minority) voters were turned away from the polls for not having voter ID cards, despite the fact that they weren’t required?

I was allowed to vote this morning by just showing my photo ID. All the people around me were only ever asked for their licenses as well.

I just phoned the State Election Board about this. They informed me that a Voter ID card is only required if a person is voting for the first time after registering BY MAIL. If you registered in person, or have voted in your precinct before, a state-issued photo ID will suffice, but is not even required. And let’s say you DID register by mail, it IS your first time voting, and you can’t find your card. YOU’RE STILL ALLOWED TO CAST A PROVISIONAL BALLOT.

Hey, I have an idea! Let’s all send an e-mail to the Oklahoman making sure they get it the hell right, so they don’t make the same stupid mistake in November, when the consequences could be much, much worse.