Steve Scalise

During a July 21 press conference, Louisiana’s Rep. Steve Scalise, the Republican House Majority Leader, claimed, “You can’t go get pasta at an Olive Garden without a picture ID.” He continued, “Why not be able to show a picture ID to vote”?

Mr. Scalise is either disingenuous or ill-informed, since I just checked with Olive Garden and, as suspected, found I can order and eat all the pasta I want without a picture ID. The only reason for one at Olive Garden is if you purchase the 13-week, dine-in-only “never-ending pasta pass,” and you do that so someone else can't use your pass.

But since the congressman brought up showing picture IDs to vote as a way to “protect the democracy,” it’s interesting to discover which picture IDs are actually specified in the Republicans’ “Save America Act” that he is obviously campaigning for.

You’ll need a valid passport, a certified birth certificate paired with a photo ID or a naturalization certificate. And, if your name does not match those documents, you will need additional papers like a marriage certificate.

There are millions of women in the United States whose names, due to marriage, do not match their birth certificate. About half of American citizens do not have a passport. Amended birth certificates cost $27.50 in Louisiana, and up to $50 elsewhere. Passports cost $165.

Today that’s a lot of money to a lot of people. It’s almost like the poll tax forbidden in the 24th Amendment to the Constitution, if you think about it.

JIM WRIGHT

Baton Rouge