To the Editor:

There’s an amendment that will be on your ballot in November that would require everyone to have a photo ID in order to vote. Sound like a good idea? It’s not. If you vote for this, you’re buying “a pig in a poke.”  

The proposed amendment does not say what kind of ID would be required, how often it would be renewed, what is required to get one, and how much it might cost in the future.

What if you don’t have the right one? Drivers license? Thousands of eligible voters don’t drive. Student ID? What if you’re not a student? A valid U.S. passport? Have you got one of those?  

In North Carolina now, all first-time voters need proof of residence. That has worked well in our state for years. Voter fraud is practically non-existent. We do not need another level of bureaucracy churning out voter ID cards, deciding who gets one and who does not. We do not need mysterious, as-yet undefined cards with unknown requirements. 

This amendment is designed to drive poor and rural people away from the polls, not let them in. Vote against this deceptive amendment and all the others, too.  

Leila Tvedt Hyde

Bryson City