If it could be shown that people who forget to register to vote in time would have otherwise voted Democratic, you can bet that the left would be screaming about the violation of these people's "rights", as well.

Both parties do what they can to win elections.

In this case, Republicans are pushing the voter ID thing because it benefits them, and Democrats are claiming it's racist and elitist because voter ID would hurt their totals. Both parties are motivated on this issue for the same reason.

I am trying to ignore this political angle-shooting, and am simply debating the right and wrong of it.

The bottom line is that you have a long time between elections, and obtaining ID is both cheap and accessible to everyone. While it may be more difficult for some (such as those without a vehicle and in a town with shoddy public transportation), it is nowhere near impossible, and you will find VERY FEW (if any) cases where someone wanted an ID and absolutely could not get one.

This is not a good enough reason to prevent the requiring of ID at the polling place.

Some felons cannot vote.
All people under 18 cannot vote.
No one is allowed to vote twice in the same election.

However, all three of these groups CAN vote, and do so rather easily, without a voter ID law in place.

If someone who shouldn't vote casts a ballot which opposes any of my voting choices, my rights as a voter have been violated. Why? Because my vote has been canceled out. And that's just as bad as preventing someone from voting.

Democrats love to say, "Voter fraud is not a problem" or "Republicans are just trying to get fewer people voting".

However, they are not arguing against the actual merits of requiring ID, aside from the silly argument that somehow people are unable to afford or obtain ID, despite having a year or more to do so.