Commission on Federal Election Reform

I have no real issue with the recommendations of the Commission of Federal Election Reform, but it would be interesting to see the effect of rotating regional primaries on the outcomes of Presidential elections. Would a Democrat who gains momentum with big wins in the Northeast really be the best candidate to win nationwide? A Republican who wins the South first is more likely to be harder conservative and therefore a harder sell to the electorate overall.

Because of this, I imagine these solutions won't go anywhere. There's too much invested in politics these days for either party to put themselves at such a nationwide disadvantage.

A little surprising as well is Carter and Baker agreed that ID should be shown before voting, as long as free IDs are given to those to poor to vote. In a perfect world this is a good idea, but it will instead, I think, serve to disenfranchise the poorer voters who become unaware an ID is required or are to proud to admit they need a free ID. They are probably less likely to know where to go to score new voter ID cards as well.

Like I said, I doubt we'll see much action on these reforms in the future.

*UPDATE* Congressman John Conyers:

The simple fact is that many minority and poor voters do not have the time, money or need to purchase a drivers license. In fact, over ten percent of eligible voters in the last election did not have a photo ID. They vote by presenting other means of identification (a voter registration card, utility bill, or affidavit). This Commission is now asking Congress to deny the franchise to those voters unless they get a national ID card. The Commission makes the implausible claim that, in these times of a multibillion dollar war in Iraq and multibillion dollar restoration of the Gulf Coast, the Congress will pay for ID cards for those who cannot afford to buy them. We know this is not going to happen.

I'm not sure why exactly this "isn't going to happen." I think the Congressman would be better off arguing the availability of these cards in poor neighborhoods would be limited and transportation for the poor could be non existent. Those working hard to put food on their table probably won't have a day off to run down to the local ID place and get his taken care of, either.

For example, Georgia is trying to enact a state version of this idea. The New York Times, much like Conyers, is against it. One of the more compelling argument the Times made:

The cards are sold in 58 locations, in a state with 159 counties. It is outrageous that Atlanta does not have a single location.

Georgia is about 58,000 square miles. That's a location every 1000 square miles. Atlanta has around 425,000 residents. And none of them have easy access to acquire a voter idea.

Democracy must be made available to everyone freely, not just those who know where to go or have the means to do so. And that becomes the limit of requiring picture ID cards to vote.