Letters to the Editor: A reader offers one possible alternative to proving citizenship at the voting booth

To the editor: In 2016, I worked at a polling place in Irvine. I was previously in favor of the requirement to prove citizenship in order to vote, but the experience gave me another perspective (“Most Californians favor proving citizenship to vote, poll finds,” May 9).

In some cases, when we attempted to verify a person’s voting status at the registration table, there was a delay. Some people in the voting line would start to make comments designed to provoke a reaction, such as “you better check his eligibility” and “does she have the ‘right’ ID?” It was uncomfortable, somewhat menacing and, from what I saw, disturbed the overall appreciation the public had for the voting process.

If we could not confirm the person’s voting eligibility based on residency, citizenship or other factors, then we provided them with provisional ballots that were put into a separate ballot box. At 10 p.m., these were transported to the Registrar of Voters for confirmation. The process was simple and respectful, and kept people in line from attempting to determine if the person was eligible to vote.

Laura Curran, Newport Beach