The Norman Transcript

Opinion

Discussion

January 30, 2009

Extend voter times but leave ID rule out

The turnout in the November General Election was relatively high but was not quite a record for Oklahoma. One way to bring out more voters would be to extend the in-person absentee period.

Gov. Brad Henry said he's in favor of adding some election days. Currently, voters can cast ballots at their election boards on the Friday and Monday before the election. If it's a federal race involved, a Saturday voting shift is added.

But state Republicans told The Associated Press any change in election reform would have to include a proposal requiring voters identification at the polls.

That's a sure fire way to disenfranchise and turn away potential voters. Believe it or not, some individuals do not carry photo identification. The poor who rely on public transportation or the elderly who no longer drive may just give up on casting their ballot.

The cases of non-registered voters casting ballots are rare. The election's integrity is more often challenged at the registration process or through folks who vote twice -- once by mail or in-person absentee -- and then again on election day.

Oklahoma's professional election system is one of the nation's best. States look to Oklahoma for leadership on how to run elections. Let's not try to fix what's not broken.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Opinion
  • Diana Frost letter correction

    Letter correction: A letter to the editor from Diana Frost, originally published in March 2012, was inadvertently published again in Sunday’s paper. The Transcript apologizes for the error....

    May 23, 2013

  • Teachers should be proud

    Editor, The Transcript: He walked by the camera in his red OU T-shirt, splattered with dirt, hair disheveled, and cuts on his face. He told the reporter about helping rescue people from the rubble of the tornado. He spoke of his experience ...

    May 23, 2013

  • Misinformation clouds global warming

    Next spring I will again have to update my lecture on global warming. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is now rising above the 400 ppm level for the first time in perhaps 5 million years — a scenario humans have never experienced. In my Geology ...

    May 23, 2013

  • The Oklahoma standard

    The sight of hundreds of young student volunteers walking across Moore’s Fourth Street interstate overpass had to be uplifting to the city’s tornado victims. They carried rakes, brooms and trash bags. A few had children’s red wagons. There ...

    May 23, 2013

  • Roman Catholic Church too busy to respond with hate

    Editor, The Transcript: Diana Frost’s letter of May 19 concerning the Roman Catholic Church was so unreasonable that it almost defies response. Still, one of her many accusations must be addressed....

    May 22, 2013

  • There’s no answer for ‘Why?’

    Just hours before, there was breakfast and laughter. Pictures were on the walls and memories were in every room. But in seconds, those joys of life were reduced to a concrete slab by a rage of nature that man will never fully understand....

    May 22, 2013

  • Moore’s amazing resilience

    Our hearts, already heavy from Sunday’s deadly tornado in far eastern Cleveland County, sunk even further Monday afternoon as we watched the tornado rip through Moore. The monster storm that hit Monday followed nearly the same path as the ...

    May 22, 2013

  • Crazy Kim and the Tippy Twos

    Kim Jong Un certainly seems crazy. But sound mind isn’t a requirement for predictable action. Tyrants often mask steady goals with wild behavior. One need only think of world pests like Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein to realize entire ...

    May 21, 2013

  • Relying on private prisons

    Oklahoma began contracting to place inmates in private prisons during Gov. Frank Keating’s administration in 1995. Today, more than 5,000, or 23 percent, of our inmates are in the custody of three private prisons....

    May 21, 2013

  • Thanks for warnings

    We can’t say there wasn’t enough warning this time around....

    May 21, 2013