The bi-partisan Commission on Federal Election Reform issued a 2005 report that recommended 87 changes to the U.S. electoral system. Many of those recommendations have not been implemented, but Robert Pastor, executive director of the commission, said it’s not too late.

“Almost every significant electoral system in the democratic world requires some form
of voter ID for its citizens to vote,” Pastor said. “The United States is one of the very few (that do not) and that’s mainly because our entire electoral administration system is severely lacking and one of the least impartial and professional election administrations in the entire world.”

In recommending that voter ID be required at polls, Pastor said, the commission considered Republican and Democratic views.

“There were two concerns, one by Republicans that an absence of voter ID can lead to
 electoral fraud and, from Democrats, that the inclusion of a voter ID card could lead to
disenfranchisement,” he said, adding that the commission sought a compromise.

Commissioner Spencer Overton, a law professor at George Washington University Law School, dissented, writing that the proposal “would prevent eligible voters from proving their identity with even a valid U.S. passport or a U.S. military photo ID card.”

Overton added that the ID proposal would make “the poor, the disabled, the elderly, students and people of color would bear the greatest burden.”

Overton’s dissent was sharp, but part of the commission’s discussion.

Pastor was disappointed in the reaction from elected officials, he said.

“The people on the commission were eager to listen to each other and to find legitimate areas of agreement,” Pastor said. “Our politicians are not interested in listening to each other and prefer a polarizing political climate. That’s where we are as a country.”

By Caitlin O’Donnell, News21