Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell believes that requiring voters to show ID at the polls constitutes "disenfranchisement":

With the National Constitution Center as his backdrop, Gov. Rendell used Presidents' Day to announce his veto of a bill that would require all voters to show identification whenever they go to the polls.

Seated in front of a dozen of the city's African American leaders, Democrats all, Rendell said at a news conference that House Bill 1318 would have the effect of denying some people their right to vote.

Democratic opponents in the General Assembly charged that the bill would prevent thousands from voting, particularly minorities, seniors, and low-income residents, by requiring identification and restricting polling places. The original bill would have prohibited felons on probation or parole from voting and would have said that only photo IDs were acceptable. Those provisions were scrapped in a compromise move to ensure the bill's passage.

"You need identification to get into an office building, to get on a plane, to write a check, to use any sort of government service," said Eileen Melvin, who chairs the state Republican Party. "Why shouldn't it be required for something as important as voting?"

Take cigarette smoking, for example. It's infinitely more serious than voting. Not only are photo IDs required, Pennsylvania makes a fetish out of it, even spelling out the steps that stores must take in order to show compliance with the law:

a requirement that an employee ask an individual who appears to be 25 years of age or younger for a valid photo identification as proof of age prior to making a sale of tobacco products; a list of all types of acceptable photo identification; a list of factors to be examined in the photo identification, including photo likeness, birth date, expiration date, bumps, tears or other damage and signature; a requirement that if the photo identification is missing anything, it is not valid and cannot be accepted as proof of age for the sale of tobacco products (a second photo identification may be required to make the sale of tobacco products with questions referred to the manager); and a disciplinary policy which includes employee counseling and suspension for failure to require valid photo identification and dismissal for repeat improper sales.

Another activity Governor Rendell takes much more seriously than voting is the sale of wine on the Internet:

Gov. Rendell is opposing direct shipments of wine to Pennsylvania residents, a move sure to disappoint wine aficionados and many of the state's 100-plus wineries.

"We all want to maintain the state system," said Rendell's spokeswoman, Kate Philips, citing support from Democratic and Republican legislators. To do that, "direct sales... should go through the State Stores," she said.

Pennsylvanians have the right to special-order out-of-state wines that the state system does not carry, but many consumers see it as a cumbersome and expensive system. They must pay an 18 percent state tax, a 6 percent sales tax, and a $4.50 handling fee and pick the wine up at a state liquor store.

Forcing Pennsylvania wineries to go through the same system would likely bring the state into compliance with last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which said a state may not allow its own wineries to ship directly to consumers if it prohibits out-of-state wineries from doing so.

Running all sales through State Stores also would protect a huge source of state revenue. In fiscal 2004-05, the Liquor Control Board generated $380 million in profit and taxes on sales of $1.5 billion.

Philips described the administration's proposal as "very preliminary" but said sending all shipments through State Stores was necessary to keep alcohol out of the hands of minors.

"If you want to have a control system and really do believe you do a superior job of at-the-counter surveillance of underage drinking and also collect every nickel of tax on every bottle, direct shipping knocks the hell out of all of that..."

But I recognize the reality of the situation. No one who has a government job wants to lose it. Nor do we want to lose people whose valuable skills as ID checkers have been demonstrated. So I propose that Pennsylvania put the employees of the State Store system to work at the polls, doing what they do best. Better yet, close the liquor stores on Election Day, so no one will grumble about lost wages.

One second thought, that might be too harsh. It's unfair to punish drinkers just because there's an election, so, as a compromise measure, why not allow only people who have actually voted to buy liquor? We'd already have the state store employees on duty at the polls, so it would be easy to supply them with special State Store "I VOTED SO I CAN DRINK!" tickets to hand out.

We've all heard of the "Motor Voter" laws; why not a "Voter Drinker" law?

You don't vote, you don't drink!

Hell, I think this might dramatically increase voter participation -- something we all want, right?

Isn't that just the opposite of disenfranchisement?