Columnist issues correction on voting in Montana

CROW

Fried, boiled, baked, fricasseed, or slow cooked, no matter how you cook it is still crow, and I have been eating my share of it because of a serious error in my article on voting restrictions of March 29 called “Rainy Night in Georgia.”

In that article I stated that people who did not have a picture ID to prove their identity when voting would have to get an official Montana ID card as proof before they could vote.

Because that card costs $16.48 I likened it to having to pay a poll tax. I completely ignored the fact that supplying the last four digits of a social security number would also be accepted as proof of identification. Since a Social Security card costs nothing to obtain, my argument about a poll tax falls flat on my pile of discarded crow bones and feathers.

I did not mention the Social Security card because my research was sloppy and I was not aware of it. It was not done in malice, and I apologize to the citizens of Montana and especially to Montana’s stalwart election administrators for saying something that was not true.

Sincerely,

Jim Elliott Trout Creek