Voting used to be treasured as a right and a privilege. Whenever I vote, I feel a genuine sense of pride at participating in the democratic process, and I made sure to take my children with me whenever I could in order to instill that same feeling in them.

Now, it seems like voting is becoming just another opportunity to scam the public.

The dregs of ACORN, considered criminals in days gone by, are now embraced by our federal government and given hundreds of millions of dollars in funding. Remember, this is the same group that, in concert with the Ohio Secretary of State (a Democrat) and a federal judge (appointed by Clinton), effected a settlement by which the homeless were permitted to use park benches(!) as their addresses for voter registration purposes. ACORN is being investigated or has been charged with voter fraud in 14 states. The U.S. Department of Justice has now ordered that states are not permitted to verify voter citizenship.

Still, all that is happening outside Michigan, right? Wrong. Not only has our legislature decided to endorse "no reason" absentee voting, but two legislators are trying to further dilute any protections we might have against voter fraud.

HB 4993, introduced by Reps. Melton (D-Pontiac) and Johnson (D-Detroit), would permit anyone to register to vote at any city, county, or township office anywhere in Michigan. The office receiving the application is required to process it and give the voter a receipt for it, then send the application to the city, county, or township where the applicant resides.

Why even require voter registration anymore? If we are going to allow people to register wherever and whenever they want, and if people can use park benches as addresses, how is it possible to detect voter fraud? What is to stop a person from selecting park benches in a dozen different locations, driving around the state to register, and then voting absentee in each location? Internet voting and same-day registration will only compound the fraud.

And is in-district registration really an issue? I called Rep. Melton's office and was told the purpose of the bill was to "make it easier to register" but not to encourage voter fraud. The example used was of college students who may find it difficult to register at home.

Oh, please.

This is the most mobile society in history (at least it is until our governor and our president succeed in destroying the automobile history). If a person wants to register and vote, he can, and there is no need to degrade the process into a free-for-all.

My personal view is that voting should be made more difficult. Requiring photo identification is a terrific first step, and citizenship checks should be next.

I worked the polls in a heavily Democratic precinct during the last presidential election. No one complained about the photo i.d. requirement, but there was one glaring example of why voting should be more - not less - difficult. A middle aged man entered, went through the process of checking in, and was handed his ballot. Rather than proceed to the booth, he stopped and asked, "Who's going to help me with this?" When no one responded immediately (probably from the surprise of it), he again demanded, this time more loudly, "Who's going to help me vote?"