Gwinnett Daily Post

Put ID photos on voter registration cards to start with

One of our Republican State senators figured out that lots of voters weren't voters -- they were frauds. Of course he was indignant -- good gracious, what if these voting enthusiasts decided to vote Democratic or, even worse, for Ross Perot?

Not only did Cecil Staton uncover this scandal, he came up with a solution, and the Georgia Legislature excitedly passed his voter ID law. It required voters who actually wanted to vote to present both a voter registration card and official photo identification. For most Georgians, this meant you had to present a driver's license before you could vote.

Well, the perfidious protectors of the poor and elderly found out. They went to court claiming that because the poor hadn't spent money they didn't have to get a driver's license for a car they couldn't afford, their voting rights had vanished.

Further, these lawyers maintained that many of our elderly citizens no longer drove because they couldn't do so safely.

They claimed that Cecil and his buddies had limited the right to vote to those with a driver's license or idiots willing to sign a pauper's affidavit. In typical activist fashion, the federal courts agreed with these liberal/conservative lawyers.

Georgia may or may not have an actual problem with would-be voters borrowing a card from a friend or family member in order to cheat the system. On the other hand, as long as voters are required to register, common sense says that putting ID photos on all voter registration cards would be a fair and simple solution to possible voter fraud. No wonder the Legislature will never consider this possibility.

--David Stanfield

Suwanee

New law could help deter hiring of illegal immigrants

Hats off to state representative Brian Thomas, D-Lilburn, who will introduce House Bill 961 in the 2006 session of the Georgia General Assembly.

Thomas' bill would require employers to verify the status of immigrants to determine whether they are legal or illegal.

A member of the Home Builders Association of Georgia said the biggest question he has about such a bill is how the bill would deal with subcontractors. Builders could follow the law and still get in trouble with subcontractors who violate it.

Tough. Builders should hire competent subcontractors who are in compliance with our federal immigration laws and who are in compliance with our federal and state payroll tax laws. Translated, this means no paying payrolls under the table.

I take a dim view of any employer or employee who violates our federal immigration laws and who circumvent our federal and state payroll tax laws.

A good way to change hearts and minds to those that cannot or will not comply in this matter is to impose heavy fines and sentence violators to quality jail time in barb wire city.

-- James H. "Jimmy" Orr, Jr.

Bethlehem