Josephine Michener: Poor do live ‘under the radar’

In the Jan. 27 letter “Easy IDs,” the letter-writer asked how residents can live in our society without photo ID when “we can be asked to show our ID at doctors, banks, using a credit card, at car dealerships, etc.,” and concluded that, “Lots of people must be living ‘under the radar.’ ” Every example cited requires that one have money.

People without money don’t buy cars, don’t have credit cards, don’t have bank accounts and still don’t always have doctors. Even getting a certified copy of one’s birth certificate takes money, so that requiring photo ID to vote amounts to a poll tax. What is a negligible cost to the middle class is an impossible obstacle to others.

It is an indictment of our society that the poor do indeed live “under the radar” for so many of their fellow residents.

This story was originally published January 27, 2016 at 5:03 PM with the headline "Josephine Michener: Poor do live ‘under the radar’."