Voter ID a step all Americans should be willing to take: Ken Blackwell

Some have called the concept of voter ID a "racist" idea – but a former state official in Ohio considers just part of an American's civic responsibility to protect the election process.

For years now, people on the left have been quick to label efforts to clean up voter registration rolls and require identification as "racist." But speaking Wednesday on American Family Radio, former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell said "we, the people" are responsible for ensuring the integrity of the voting system.

"There is a civic responsibility to make a little effort to make sure that our system is a system full of integrity – and if that requires us to take a step as simple as a photo ID, we should be willing to take it," Blackwell explained. "So there's a balance there between voting rights and citizenship obligations."

Blackwell went on to say that Americans must protect the integrity of elections by forward-thinking.

"You don't always want to be responding to bad deeds," he said. "[For example], I want my bank to be secure. I don't want my money stolen and then folks scratching their heads, saying, Well, if we had taken this simple action, we could have prevented that robbery. So nothing is more important to our democratic republic than the integrity of our election system."

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday authorizing sanctions against foreigners who meddle in U.S. elections. Blackwell applauds the president for taking such action.

"Just last month they held the first ever national election cybersecurity table-top exercise which was focused on improving the information-sharing and the integration of election security efforts across our 50 states," he continued. "So we're all in this together – and we must take every step, every precaution ... to protect our systems from threats both foreign and domestic."

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