Just ask Essie.

Gary Stewart of Dallas doesn't like our voter ID law. He thinks it's redundant. "What exactly is the purpose of voter registration," he asks.

Essie will be glad to clear that up for you, Gary. It's very simple. Voter registration is to assure that a person meets all the requirements for voting in the district where he or she resides -- for example, a citizen, at least 18 years of age, a resident of the district. The voter ID is to assure that the person showing up to vote is the person on the voter registration roll.

Let me break it down very simply for Gary. Suppose John Brown is registered to vote. Jimmy Jones somehow gets possession of John Brown's voter registration card. Jimmy goes to the poll on election day and shows John Brown's card. The election judge checks the voter registration card against the roll, and it checks out. So the judge lets Jimmy Jones vote. John Brown has just been disenfranchised, for when he shows up to vote, the election judge's record will show that he has already voted. Now, if Jimmy Jones had shown up with John Brown's voter registration card, and the judge asked to see a photo ID along with it, he could probably tell pretty quickly that Jimmy Jones was not John Brown, and John Brown's right to vote would have been protected.

Gary also thinks that voter fraud is non-existent. Guess he's never heard of ACORN.

"Fixing a nonproblem." The Dallas Morning News; August 26, 2013; p. 12A.