NATCHEZ — Because of voter fraud in past Adams and Wilkinson county elections, county Republicans are looking to help the statewide push to get photo voter identification on the ballot in 2010.

Local Republican Party member Sue Stedman said a voter photo identification program would ensure the fairness in Mississippi elections.

“The way the system is now, the rolls have a lot of people on them who have moved or passed away,” she said. “And people are coming in and voting for these people.”

State Republican executive committee member Johnny Junkin said even though the rolls in Adams County have been cleaned up, there are still many people he knows no longer live here, are not at the right address or have died.

“I could find someone that fits a general description of one of these people, give them the name and address, and if they walk in saying they are this person — they are supposed to let them vote,” he said.

Local Democratic Party member Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis said voter identification laws would add another way to intimidate people into not voting.

“Voter turnout needs to go up, not down,” she said. “If you can get from 70 to 80 percent of the people voting then you have real representation of what the people want.”

But Stedman disagreed, saying the identification requirement wasn’t hard to meet, with many services out there you have to have a valid ID for anyway.

“If a bank did not ask someone for an ID that was cashing a check of yours, you would be furious,” she said. “And here we are talking about the people who are running your state, so you should be just as mad.”

Stedman also said carrying an ID card to the polls should not be an inconvenience. A voter lacking government issued ID may obtain one without charge from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety.

Former Civil Rights activist and justice court judge Mary Toles said obtaining an ID is an obstacle for many black voters because the Jim Crow wounds have not healed.

“I know people who have had problems getting an ID,” she said. “It is because they are not comfortable with the system. They are not comfortable with the people who propose it.”

On top of it being difficult for many, Mathis said it adds another level of complication when having your voter registration card should be the end of it.

“I think it is a redundancy because when you register to vote they give you a voting card,” she said. “If they want us to show that, it’s fine, but we don’t need anything extra to deter people from voting.”

Toles said requiring a photo ID to vote in itself may not be bad, but the overall feeling of restrictions is not a positive one for black residents.

“The feeling is that the names have changed, but the game is still the same,” she said. “I remember a time when every time there was some sort of restriction added, it made it tougher for African-Americans to vote.”

Natchez resident Monica Morrison said requiring identification to vote is tough because she could see it from both sides.

“I could give my information to any black female and they could go vote since (the voting booth operators) have no way to verify it is me,” she said. “But you may lose voters because some people may not have photo IDs.”

Natchez resident Henry Patterson said it was good for security.

“Some people have been voting more than once,” he said. “So I think (requiring an ID to vote) is good, the politicians are doing what they can to make the voting system legit.”

Locally, Junkin said to contribute Adams County’s part in obtaining the 100,000 signatures needed to get the issue on the ballot, people are volunteering to walk their block to obtaining signatures. The local Republican Party is also having meetings with small groups.

Stedman said she has petitions in her office at Crye-Leike Stedman Realtors on Canal Street if people want to come in to sign them.

“If you do not have integrity in the ballot blocks,” Junkin said, “then the whole system goes to hell.”