To the editor:

Voting is a privilege and when I moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia in 1964 one of the first things on my “to do list” was to register to vote. To my surprise, the registrar in Prince William County, Va. informed me that I would have to pay a “poll tax.” It wasn’t much, five or 10 bucks, so I paid it because I wanted to be part of the electoral process in my new adopted state.

I read the op-ed by Ms. Sirota in The Coastland Times on 10-24-2018 entitled “Proposed amendment requiring a voter ID is unnecessary and too costly.” I guess that Ms. Sirota would not have paid the poll tax in Virginia because it would have met her threshold of “too costly.” Give me a break!

It is funny to me that you need an ID to drive a car, cash a check or buy liquor, but somehow no federal court case was ever brought to strike down those requirements.

If a person truly wants to vote, something as minor as a picture ID should not be an impediment. Especially if it were to be provided free of charge by the state. In fact, if a friend or stranger asked me to drive them to obtain a picture ID to vote, I would gladly do it, party affiliation would not be a requirement to the offer.  That’s how important voting is to me.

So there are two sides to the voter ID question.

We know what Ms. Sirota espouses. Here is what Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch has to say on the subject: “But voter fraud is in fact real, widespread and substantial to the point that it can and does decide elections. It also drives honest citizens out of the democratic process and breeds distrust in our government.”

Now that you, the voter, have seen both sides of this issue, I hope that you will vote to change the state constitution to require a photo ID to vote.

And remember, if you can’t get to the place to obtain a photo ID, I will gladly take you there . . . for free. Even Ms. Sirota should appreciate an offer like that!

Thank you

George J. Pitonyak, Kitty Hawk