The following is a letter to Dr. Howard J. Lucks, principal of New Utrecht High School that was sent by mail:
October 21, 2005
Dr. Howard J. Lucks, Principal
New Utrecht High School
[address omitted]
Dear Dr. Lucks:
Last Election Day, Nov. 2, 2004, I was asked for photo ID by an auxiliary police officer. I refused and instead offered my voter registration card, which he accepted. The reasons why I refused to show photo ID are twofold: 1) the photo ID that I have contains my old address, which would have resulted in the officer directing me to the wrong voting machine. Although I have written my new address on the back of my card, officers look only at the front, not the back; 2) if I had submitted to the officer’s request for photo ID, this would have made this policy acceptable even though many voters, including seniors and minorities, lack photo ID, which could result in voters being turned away from the polls and possible legal action taken by disaffected voters, jeopardizing New Utrecht’s policy.
New Utrecht’s policy, I learned in an e-mail from the Board of Elections, is for “the safety of the School and it’s [sic] students,” even though one would be hard pressed to find any students on either Primary Day or Election Day. I ask that New Utrecht’s policy be modified to allow for voter registration cards to be used instead of photo ID on both Primary Day and Election Day. The polls open in two weeks. The City Council election between Vincent Gentile and Pat Russo, for example, could be close, and this could result in legal challenges. The time to act is now.
The best way to contact me is either by e-mail or by phone after 1 p.m. I hope to hear from you and have the matter resolved soon.
Sincerely,
Vincent La Marca
No comments:
Post a Comment