...to take a shot at Democrats, it seems you've forgotten that it's the Right that has historically been allergic to the idea of a National ID Card ("What next? Bar codes on our foreheads??? Look out! It's Big Brother!Aiiieeeeee!").

What's this to do with a national ID card? The proposal is to require a photo ID, typically a driver's license, to vote. The new "REAL ID" Federal law mandates a uniform state driver's license, an alternative for nondrivers, and sharing the resulting state databases at the national level. In what sense isn't that a National ID Card?

The real heart of the issue, though, is that state ID cards aren't free. Thus, requiring one to vote is, in essence, a return to the bad old days of the poll tax. That's already been ruled unConstitutional, for very good reasons--the franchise to vote should not be up for sale by the government. It introduces possibilities for serious abuse. Imagine a voter registration drive in which a political party promises to pay for an ID card if a person registers with them--there'd be a wholesale market for votes for sale to the deepest pockets.

The requirement for a photo ID at the voting booth would require a corresponding mechanism to ensure that everybody who's eligible to vote has a photo ID, regardless of economic circumstances. It's perfectly reasonable to require proof of identity to vote, but it's not reasonable to require people to pay an indirect poll tax in order to obtain that ID.