Our Opinion: Voter identification proposal has merit

We have no objection with requiring some sort of identification for people to vote.

Right now all voters are required to do is sign the election book, and if a poll worker decides the signature matches, they get to vote. The law includes a provision that allows one voter to challenge another, but it’s rarely done.

Ross Miller’s proposal to import DMV photos into the electronic voter database offers an additional check for those folks who are concerned that perhaps people who aren’t supposed to be voting are casting a ballot.

For those who don’t have a DMV identification, poll workers could take someone’s photo and put it in the system, according to an Associated Press story published on Friday.

Our real concern is that we want to make sure that people who are eligible to do so get a chance to vote.

Even in places like Carson City and Douglas County with substantial voter turnouts for general elections, getting people to the polls can be a challenge for off-presidential elections.

We wouldn’t want the fear of a handful of people casting ballots when they shouldn’t make it more difficult for legitimate voters to exercise their birthright.

We would also like to see some safeguards of private information both in DMV and election files to ensure that information available at computers in polling places all over the state doesn’t get in the wrong hands.

Maintaining the integrity of the voting process is critical to the preservation of our republic.

If setting up a connection between the DMV and the election databases helps people feel better about voting then it’s absolutely something Nevada should do.