Reports that voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona were hacked shine a stark new light on the perennial debate over voter identification.
Up to 200,000 voter records were hacked in Illinois, accord-ing to federal investigators. In Arizona, the voter registration system was shut down for several days although authorities said there was no evidence that any information was com-promised, USA Today reports.
The White House and other opponents of voter IDs — readily available in 34 states with ID laws — dismiss the hacking as any potential threat since electronic voting machines are maintained by state and local jurisdictions. They aren’t networked across the country.
But individual states’ voter databases?
“If it’s an organized effort, and someone hacks a system and falsely registers bogus voters, you could have a crew of people vote multiple times under different names,” says Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation and former member of the Federal Election Commission.
Hacking voter rolls in just a few key states, say California and Texas, could throw the national election into turmoil. Yet the progressive mindset that demonizes voter IDs holds open the door to cyber mischief.
In a digital world of devious hackers, state-approved photo IDs are the only effective firewall against fraud.
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