TERRE HAUTE — It’s amazing how little we care about things we declare sacred.
After Gallup and other public opinion polls continually indicated that 40 percent of Americans attend religious worship services regularly, two skeptical Christian researchers did their own checking in 1998 and concluded that people, well, exaggerated.
So, if many of us lie about going to church, it’s not surprising that our most sacred civic act — voting — really isn’t so sacred to us after all.
Political observers can’t wait for January. They speculate and stew over the mysteries of the upcoming presidential primaries and caucuses. Can Obama beat Clinton? Is Mike Huckabee a flash in the pan? Will camping out in Iowa pay off for John Edwards? Will Romney, McCain and Giuliani fade? Politicos also anxiously await what is being called the most important U.S. Supreme Court decision on voting rights since it decided the Bush-Gore election in 2000.
This case indeed appears to pack hefty impact. The Supremes will weigh the constitutionality of the Indiana voter ID law, beginning with oral arguments on Jan. 9. That 2005 law claims to protect Hoosiers from voter fraud, even though little evidence exists of imposter balloting in Indiana or any other state, for that matter. Instead, beneath its veil as a noble safeguard, the Indiana law unnecessarily adds hassles to voting.
The last thing we need is another reason not to vote.
At this very moment, last month’s Terre Haute mayoral election continues to be a swirl of controversy, with a recount and a federal Hatch Act challenge leaving the race between incumbent Kevin Burke and Republican Duke Bennett unfinalized. But is it really the massive controversy it seems to be, or does the fevered pitch of the combatants overstate its interest? After all, 70 percent of the city’s registered voters didn’t go to the polls on Nov. 6.
Remember that cataclysmic congressional election in 2006 when the unending Iraq war swept Republican incumbents out of office? Sixty-two percent of Vigo County’s registered voters didn’t vote. Even the presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 only enticed 51 percent of Vigo Countians to the polls.
When our most stirring races for public office only draw barely half of the eligible voters, the idea of adding more steps to the process seems strange.
Not surprisingly, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita — who championed the state’s photo ID law — offers multiple rationalizations for its value and necessity. In a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of Rokita, the State of Indiana backs up his assertions, insisting the law is “well-crafted,” based on “reasonableness” and is a “long-overdue election-security reform.” The brief says data shows the law has “no negative impact on Hoosier voters.”
Its positive impact is negligible.
For many Hoosiers, the photo ID requirement seems like no big deal. That official, government-issued card — our driver’s license — is right there in our wallet or purse. But not everyone drives. Some elderly, poor and disabled folks don’t have driver’s licenses. Ah, but those people can still get a free photo ID from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles. But some of the documents necessary to get that free photo ID cost money to obtain, and these non-drivers must go get all of that.
That’s how Indiana’s voter ID law — the most stringent in the nation — ended up with the Supreme Court. The court will hear two consolidated cases — the Indiana Democratic Party vs. Todd Rokita, and William Crawford (a state representative who filed a lawsuit) vs. the Marion County Election Board. Obviously, the first case demonstrates this issue involves wrangling along party lines. Republicans insist the law simply protects the integrity of the election process. Democrats say the voting fraud claim is just a cover for a law meant to make voting more difficult for people who tend to favor Democrats — the poor, the elderly and the disabled.
But if you step above the partisan crossfire and eye the law objectively, it just looks like the state is hassling people who have a right to vote.
In last month’s Terre Haute election, a man who hadn’t missed an opportunity to vote over a 36-year period (including a stint in the military), told a Tribune-Star reporter he had to leave the voting area to go retrieve his photo ID. Limping on a broken left foot, he said, “I was just told I couldn’t vote without a photo ID. I have one and just have to get it and follow the rules, but I’m upset. I know they don’t want fraudulent voting, but tell me the necessity in this state.”
Really.
Hopefully, the U.S. Supreme Court will rise above suspicions that it will act according to a majority of the justices’ tendencies to favor conservative causes.
A group of secretaries of state from Ohio, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri and Vermont filed a level-headed brief with the Supreme Court, urging the justices “to look at all sides of the issue,” said Jennifer Brunner, the Ohio secretary of state. They’re concerned because similar — but less restrictive — voter ID laws have spread to several states. Ohio adopted such a statute before Brunner took office.
Speaking by telephone from Columbus, Brunner stressed that she joined the other secretaries only after careful consideration, stressing that she gets along well with Rokita and reassured her Indiana colleague the filing “wasn’t anything personal.” After all, Brunner has ties to Indiana. Her daughter attended DePauw University and performed occasionally with the Terre Haute Symphony.
Indiana’s strict voter ID law, Brunner said, doesn’t fix anything and unnecessarily complicates voting.
“In this case, there’s been no real proof that this addresses a problem to any appreciable degree,” Brunner said.
Thus, “it makes you suspect that this is some sort of concerted effort coming out of Washington, rather than a tide of good government washing over the country,” Brunner said.
She has experience in election law. Prior to becoming secretary of state, Brunner worked on a case challenging the validity of signatures. Handwriting experts told her that forging a signature was extremely difficult.
Instead of an aura of confidence among voters, Brunner more frequently hears reactions to voter ID laws similar to that of the long-time Terre Haute voter who had to leave the polls to retrieve his ID on a sore leg.
Many older people casting ballots under Ohio’s voter ID law for the first time “just shook their heads and just couldn’t understand why, after all these years, they had to supply some sort of ID,” Brunner said.
If people with a track record of voting sense an unnecessary hassle, it’s doubtful that many folks among that 70 percent who didn’t vote last month will end up at polling places in Indiana’s upcoming May primary or next November’s general election.
If voting is indeed a sacred civic right, the government shouldn’t make it harder to do.
Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.
Mark Bennett Opinion
Related Photos
Discussion
Mark Bennett: Voting-booth vacancy? Voter ID law complicates process unnecessarily
- Mark Bennett Opinion
-
-
MARK BENNETT: Toxic victories
When the Super Bowl ends tonight in Indianapolis, most of the Giants and Patriots will shake hands, despite their competitive fire, win or lose.
-
MARK BENNETT: Indianapolis will be on display for the nation with the Super Bowl coming to town
Someone immersed in a crash diet to make a smashing impression at a class reunion may get the desired effect.
-
MARK BENNETT: Patiently waiting for Indiana's primary
While standing in a check-in line at Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome a few years ago, I watched an Italian woman walk past dozens of more patient travelers to grab a spot up front.
-
MARK BENNETT: Processing postal change
You probably know one of those 10,026.
-
MARK BENNETT: Multiple choice question: Voters must choose which direction they want the future of education to go
There was a time when few Hoosiers outside of education circles could name the state superintendent of public instruction.
-
MARK BENNETT: With an historic election behind Terre Haute, it’s time to look at the future’s possibilities
Everybody knows their “woulda, coulda, shoulda” moments.
-
MARK BENNETT: Economic forecast: Things looking up but don’t expect ‘much of a dent in unemployment’
Outside the Columbia Club, the atmosphere matched the picture of 2012 painted by a panel of economists for an audience of business people gathered inside that ritzy building on Monument Circle in Indianapolis.
-
MARK BENNETT: Students who reach for a college education too often are buried under a pile of debt
Right now, millions of college graduates are wondering whether their education was worth the effort.
That doubt hurts the country. -
MARK BENNETT: Tangier’s festival volunteers keep past alive for future
Traditions stay alive only as long as the people who hold them dear.
Small towns have that same life expectancy. -
MARK BENNETT: Made in the USA? A political T-shirt faux pas
The most rational statement about a small furor in the U.S. Senate campaign was uttered by a tea party organizer.
-
MARK BENNETT: Daniels goes where a candidate probably won’t in new book
Some things simply won’t get said on the political campaign trail.
-
MARK BENNETT: Time waits for no Manning
Sad, disappointed and uncertain. Colts fans feel all of those.
-
MARK BENNETT: Value of every minute deeply realized on 9/11 (related VIDEO)
Editor’s Note
This summer, the Tribune-Star’s Mark Bennett visited New York City, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., sites where the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are now memorialized. He observed the cityscapes and landscapes forever changed by the events of that day and talked with people he encountered there, many of whom witnessed the attacks and their aftermath from close range and had personal ties to its victims. -
MARK BENNETT: As school begins, carve out daily time
By now, most back-to-school checklists are tattered and creased.
-
MARK BENNETT: Movie scene shows Terre Haute accepting Debs' role in its history
You stay classy, Terre Haute.
-
MARK BENNETT: Community outpouring represents collective sympathy for fallen officer
Every Terre Haute resident has probably been asked the same question.
“Why do you live there?” -
MARK BENNETT: Declaration of cursive’s death reminiscent of ’70s metric-conversion mania
When the state of Indiana announced it would no longer require schools to teach cursive handwriting, I was LOL.
-
MARK BENNETT: On Fourth of July, remember, too, those we depend on
A spatula in one hand, a cool beverage in the other, and a stash of bottle rockets in a plastic sack in the garage.
-
MARK BENNETT: Get out and see what the Valley has to offer
Maybe you drive the same route to work every day. Shortest route. Saves time and a few dimes worth of gas.
-
MARK BENNETT: Walking the fine bipartisan line
Lugar’s occasional departures from hard-line conservatism have put his six-term Senate position in jeopardy.
-
MARK BENNETT: Terre Haute man receives kidney from younger brother
The act of giving often triggers an instant calculation of loss.
-
MARK BENNETT: Tornadoes stand as catastrophic mileposts in history
Aforce stronger than mankind rivets the attention of humans. Fear. Awe. Curiosity.
-
MARK BENNETT: A degree can open doors but in this day and age, is it enough?
This month, hundreds of brand-new graduates of the local colleges are staring at that piece of paper and wondering, “Was it all worth it?”
-
MARK BENNETT: Appeasing hard-liners in presidential race could erode Daniels’ budget-minded appeal
Some Hoosiers who voted Mitch Daniels into the Indiana governor’s seat in 2004 may not recognize Mitch Daniels, candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, if he chooses to run.
-
MARK BENNETT: From Mother to Child
My mom remains a sweet, generous, energetic, faithful lady at 87 years old. Raising five children somehow didn’t break her bright spirit or my late father’s endless patience.
-
MARK BENNETT: Hoosier college grads may want to consider teaching jobs elsewhere
Commencement ceremonies at Indiana State University and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College are just six days away.
-
Mark Bennett: Consumers stuck when it comes to dealing with increasing gas prices
Most motorists pulling up to the gas pumps lately can relate to Frank Costanza.
As George Costanza’s volatile father on “Seinfeld,” Frank was told to say, “Serenity now,” whenever he felt his blood pressure rise. Instead, Frank screamed the phrase, defeating the purpose and illustrating his perpetual state of agitation. -
MARK BENNETT: Vigo County struggles with persistent child poverty
The statistics are hard to accept, especially for a community proud of its progress.
The situation those numbers expose is difficult to change. -
MARK BENNETT: Long live ... us
In never-say-die America, life expectancy is longer than ever, according to a report issued this month by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
MARK BENNETT: Commission calls for academic success to be tied to NCAA Tournament participation
Follow the money.
That advice from Watergate informant “Deep Throat” led Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to the truth that uncovered corruption in the nation’s public office. The concept applies to situations beyond the Oval Office, though. - More Mark Bennett Opinion Headlines
-
MARK BENNETT: Toxic victories
Pop Music Superstar Whitney Houston Dies at 48
Raw Video: Whitney Houston's Last Performance
Police: Houston Found Dead in Her Hotel Room
Fans 'Speechless' Over Houston's Death
Reaction to Houston's Death at Clive Davis Party
Recording Superstar Whitney Houston Dead at 48
Paul Suffers Narrow Loss to Romney in Maine
Palin Brings Anti-Washington Message to CPAC
Maine GOP Chairman Says Romney Wins Caucuses
Snow Strands Italian Towns
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
Latest Jason Wu Collection Shows Chinese Roots
ShowBiz Minute: Madonna, Beresford-Redman, Pawsc
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Raw Video: Rough Seas Stop Oil Removal
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
The Pits: Israelis Spit Olives for Glory
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Exclusive Video - Whitney's Bodybag
Girl rescued after avalanche buries village in Kosovo
Whitney's Final Days - EXCLUSIVE
Raw Video: Aurora Borealis As Seen From Space
First glimpse of Blue Ivy Carter
Lusetich: AT&T Rd. 3 recap
Peek inside Barbie's closet
Romney Tops Santorum in CPAC Straw Poll
Madonna's Daughter Shaves Head
Angry Dad Shoots Teens Laptop
Absolute Lin-sanity
Test on Comforter in Powell Unit Shows Blood
Hero Driver Saves Kids From Burning Bus
Funeral to be held for Powell boys
Sandusky on having to stay inside and people turning on him
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Woolly Mammoth Caught on Camera?
Did JLo 'Assault' Marc Anthony on Camera?
Christie Brinkley's Runway Slip
