It is official. The Frank v. Walker voter identification appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court.

The law will require voters to present photo identification in order to cast their ballot. Acceptable types of identification will include a valid Wisconsin driver’s license, a passport, a military ID or an ID card from a Wisconsin college or university, according to Reuters. This law will not be going into action for the state’s April 7 elections, but it will be implemented in 2016.

The typical Republican argument in favor of the law is that it is necessary in order to prevent voter fraud. However, while voter ID laws are usually considered to be supported by conservatives, this is not always the case. In fact, many influential Republican figures who represent the foundations of fundamental conservative beliefs are very against the notion of implementing voter ID laws, and for good reason.

Voter ID laws are discriminatory by nature, and also needless. The argument that they are necessary for combating voter-impersonation fraud is invalid because of the blatant lack of evidence that it even occurs in the first place. “Out of 146 million registered voters, this is a ratio of one case of voter fraud for every 14.6 million eligible voters” as stated in an opinion, written on behalf of five judges on the 7th Circuit by conservative Judge Richard Posner.

The expense of obtained identification runs anywhere from $75–175, as cited by Posner. This means that the passing of voter ID laws are discriminatory on the basis of socioeconomic status. Not all American citizens have that extra money, and if they do, they should have the right to spend it on whatever they choose. They should not be forced to spend it on a right that they should be granted by the fact that they are an American citizen.

Posner has said, “There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud,” he writes, “and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens.”

One of the most revered conservative politicians, former President Ronald Reagan made a very influential case against the implementation of voter ID laws. He signed a 25-year extension of the Voter Rights Act of 1965 into law, which ballot requirements today are modeled after. “As I’ve said before, the right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished,” Reagan said.

One of the enticing aspects of living in America is that every citizen is promised the right to vote and have a say in deciding their future. The founding fathers, regardless of political party or personal beliefs, made America a democracy for this reason. Yes, not everyone had the right to vote then, but the very basic beliefs that citizens should have a say was still present.

The evidence against voter identification laws far outweighs the arguments in their favor. Voter ID laws are not necessarily a conservative belief supported by the Republican Party. Voter ID laws are fundamental violations of American rights and liberties, and many conservatives recognize this as the truth.

Victoria Razzi is a freshman magazine journalism major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at vcrazzi@syr.edu and followed on twitter at @vrazzi.

Published on March 29, 2015 at 11:25 pm