Voter ID

   There are 250 million people of voting age in America. Of that total, 146 million are registered to vote. Of those eligible and registered, only 131 million actually did vote in the 2008 presidential election, for a voter participation rate of 58 percent.
   Over the past 12 years, there were some 2,000 reported cases of voter fraud, according to a study by News21, an investigative reporting group. Of those 2,000 cases, only 10 involved in-person voting. (Many of the rest were related to mail-in ballots, and others involved confusion and "honest mistakes" by either voters or election officials.
   Bottom line: The demand that voter ID cards be shown at polling places before people cast their ballots affected one voter out of 15 million, according to the study.
   That means that the hue and cry over voter fraud is over a "problem" that is "virtually nonexistent," the research study said.
   The view from here is that the "problem" is not that there is too much fraud, but that there are not enough voters.
   But given the behavior of the candidates, it's understandable why so many people choose not to participate.
   However, if you don't go to the dance, you should not complain about the music.