Stuart Tisdale (Another View guest editorial, June 6) attempted to convince me to support L.D. 1083, a bill requiring a photo ID to vote in Maine elections. He failed. His stated main reason for his support was that it would deprive losing candidates of any excuse to blame anything other than themselves for their defeat. There is good evidence that he is wrong.
Michigan has a photo ID law, as does Arizona. Those laws did nothing to prevent multiple post-election lawsuits (all dismissed/withdrawn), nor did they deter Donald Trump and his supporters from claiming he actually won. In Arizona, long after the election had been certified, Republican whining continued, and a partisan “recount” directed by the Keystone Kops is ongoing. These laws demonstrably fail to achieve Tisdale’s main objective.
What such a law would accomplish is to erect hurdles for eligible voters to clear before being allowed to vote. Even if all post-election complaints were eliminated by L.D. 1083, the cost of denying the vote to eligible Mainers is too high.
Rev. Raphael Warnock, U.S. senator from Georgia, got it right: “Some people don’t want some people to vote.”
Steven Zimmerman
Topsham
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