Few people question that after 2000, voter confidence in the integrity of American elections is a smidgen shaky. At one level, then, any amount of policy movement on this issue is helpful, whether from the Democrats or the GOP. At another level, though, it's striking just how much the GOP's proposed voter ID laws, like this one just struck down in Missouri and this one being proposed in Congress, so completely miss the mark of addressing voter concern.

Now, voter disenfranchisement is no doubt a grave worry among many. Here's the rub, though: they're troubled that too many people are being disenfranchised, not too few. Remember, even if you don't show ID, your name is still on a registration list at each precinct. To illegally vote, then, you'd have to a) know the name of someone registered, b) know which precinct they were assigned to, and c) hope that you arrived at the precinct to vote before they do. When was the last time you heard of widespread voter complaints of false identity? At the very least, more pressing short-term electoral problems exist, not the least of which are security concerns over compromised electronic voting machines.

Stronger voter ID laws may be a logical compliment to the GOP immigration platform, but the effect is so marginal that it's hard to interpret them as much more than election year red herring.