Team Charlotte SPLIT on voter ID details?

House Speaker Thom Tillis and Gov. Pat McCrory have BOTH said they would be willing to accept voter ID legislation that DOES NOT require an officially-issued photo ID in order to vote in North Carolina.  State Senator Bob Rucho (R-Charlotte), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, on the other hand appears to be an enthusiastic supporter of a photo ID requirement.

We got forwarded a copy of an email sent by former Charlotte city councilman Don Reid  to Rucho and Tillis regarding voter legislation pending before the legislature.  Here is the text of Reid’s proposal (which led Rucho to respond “I agree”):

Thom—Bob,

In 1999, the city of Charlotte had a redistricting.  At that time McCrory was mayor and we had a Republican majority on the city council, giving us a great opportunity to make the districts more fair to the Republicans.  Because of Republican cowardice, fearing criticism from the media and others, we redrew the districts guaranteeing Democrat control for any foreseeable future.  This situation still exists, with little hope that it will change.

It appears to me that you have the same opportunity with the voter ID bill, if you require a picture.  A picture requirement would guarantee fairness in the voting process, preventing fraud and supporting all the hard work you did to get the state districts fairly redrawn.  If there are people out there who have no picture ID, why not pass the picture ID requirement and give everyone without a picture, say 3 years to get one and set up a procedure, paid for by the state, that would enable those without a picture to easily obtain one?  This is a legacy that the Republican controlled legislature could leave all our citizens, preventing fraud, while protecting the voting rights of all in our state.  Any cost to the state would be more than offset by savings from fraud prevention programs, not to mention the value of restored trust in government.

Thank you for the good work you are doing in Raleigh.  Everyone I know is excited about the possibility of tax reform, possibly eliminating the personal and corporate income tax.

Best regards,

Don Reid