EDITORIAL:Bill may further reduce turnout

In 2004, when John Campbell was elected state senator in the 35th District, 360,907 voters cast ballots. In June of last year, in the special election to replace Campbell as he went on to Congress, just 125,316 votes were cast. That’s 24.2% of registered voters.

And now, Tom Harman, who won that contest, wants to make it harder to vote.

The senator argues that his bill requiring voters to show ID at the polls would cut down on fraud. And it’s pretty hard to argue with that goal. But just how widespread is voter fraud? How many noncitizens try to get away with voting?

That’s pretty difficult to determine as anyone who recalls the bitter, torturously long congressional investigation into the 1996 election of Rep. Loretta Sanchez can tell you.

After more than a year, a House panel determined that 748 noncitizens voted, so the probe was dropped because it still wouldn’t have been enough for Bob Dornan to hang on to his congressional seat.

And then there are the legal battles nationwide regarding similar efforts. The U.S. Supreme Court in October decided to strike down a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals injunction against an Arizona law requiring photo or non-photo IDs at the polls, but the high court made its ruling on technical grounds and sidestepped the merits of the constitutional challenge.

Moreover, three similar bills were killed in committee by Democrats in the last legislative session, all but ensuring that Harman’s quest is quixotic at best, or grandstanding at worst.

Harman’s bill doesn’t even seem fully thought out. For instance, it has no provision for verifying the identities of absentee voters who mail in their ballots.

We hail Harman for addressing the issue of voter fraud. But he ought to find some other way to do that. It’s hard enough just to get people to the polls. We shouldn’t make it tougher.