To the Editor:

The editorial in the Sept. 28 issue of The Daily Freeman Journal about voter ID laws screams for a reasonable response. Before retiring I worked many years for the Social Security Administration and spoke to many people who had great difficulty in obtaining a satisfactory ID for some of the most simple reasons (new Social Security card, a drivers license or state ID).

Most of us in Iowa have a drivers license and do not realize many people do not have one for very good reasons. Older persons without a birth certificate (births were not generally registered in the 1930’s and earlier), disabled persons, students, urban residents who use public transit and don’t own a car, people whose license is suspended due to not being able to pay fines, people who do not have a checking account (they use direct deposit) and rural persons who live a long distance from a Department of Motor Vehicles are several examples. Many people who do try to get a photo ID face long lines and expensive fees. Some of the difficulties in getting a government issued ID are women who did not report their name change at the time of marriage and Hispanics who use different naming customs.

Several Republicans, including Mike Turzai, the Pennsylvania Majority Leader and Jim Greer, the Florida GOP Chairman, have admitted, to the dismay of the Republican Party, they support photo ID laws because it suppresses the vote of Democrats. A Gallup poll in 2014 showed that Democrats constitute 43 percent of the voting public with Republicans at 39 percent. If all Democrats vote, Republicans lose and the Republican Party well knows that.

Former Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz spent $250,000 of taxpayer money to investigate voter fraud over a period of 2 years. There were 134 fraudulent cases found out of 1,589,951 votes for a percentage of .008427933 percent. Of these cases, 23 were persons who voted in more than one state and felons without their voting rights restored. Not one case was found of voter impersonation fraud, thus making photo ID’s a moot point.

Don’t miss your chance to vote this year. I challenge you to match the percentage in my House District in Des Moines – 83 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in the last election!

Linda Warren

Des Moines