Supporters of legislation to allow voters to register on the same day as an election by showing photo identification at the polling place would do well to spend an evening monitoring IDs at a bar in a university town.

Or, perhaps, they could check with the human resources department at Swift & Co., the meatpacker raided by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, about the ingenuity and deceit of job applicants.

The art of making a fraudulent photo ID is not very sophisticated, whether the purpose is under-age drinking or obtaining employment.

Illegal immigrants employed by Swift & Co. are charged with falsely obtaining records of deceased individuals and parlaying them into drivers' license and other official documents to obtain jobs.

When ICE raided the Swift plant in Marshalltown in December, it focused on identity theft.

"Evidence uncovered during the investigation indicates that large numbers of illegal aliens may have illegally assumed the identities of U.S. citizens to gain employment at Swift facilities," said Gail Montenegro, an ICE spokeswoman.

So why not bring that ID to the polling place and vote?

Forgoing a reality check, Democrats in the Legislature seem intent on following the lead of Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Wisconsin by approving same-day voter registration, rather than requiring it be done 10 days in advance.

By doing so, they would shift responsibility for possible verification from county courthouses to poll workers in the field with limited access to records.

"I think this is one important step for Iowa," said state Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo.

How so?

Given the 24/7/365 onslaught of political campaigning and advertising -- with nary a respite between the 2006 midterm elections and the 2008 presidential election season -- only cave dwellers would be oblivious to the need to register to vote.

And doing so 10 days in advance of an election is not such hard work. It's certainly not the barrier meant to disenfranchise African-Americans in the South that spurred the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

No, this is about getting off one's lazy behind and doing a simple task in order to exercise a privilege of citizenship.

It shouldn't be an afterthought.

The Legislature shouldn't be enabling procrastinators.

Danielson said, "I think we can modernize our systems and still have integrity and accountability."

We're skeptical.

Perhaps poll workers will have a keen eye for fraud that escapes an Iowa City doorman or the human resources department at meatpacking plants. But -- at the very least -- they shouldn't be put in a position to make a last-minute judgment call without sufficient resources on the validity of a request to vote, which carries a potential five-year prison term and $7,500 fine if fraudulent.

"I'm very concerned about the integrity of the voting system," said Mark Zieman, R-Postville.

So are we. Indeed, we fail to see a benefit in same-day registration that would clearly outweigh the possibility of fraud.

Gambling idea

siphons water

Just when you thought common sense had taken a holiday at the Statehouse, legislators may siphon water from the requirement that state-licensed casinos must float.

It seemed like a good idea back in 1989 to float boats when casino proponents recalled the mystique of gambling on Mississippi River cruises, even suggesting it would be part of family entertainment.

But gamblers weren't interested in sightseeing or reliving the days of yore. They got off the boat instead.

Yet the first wave of casinos had to cruise on rivers for at least 100 days. Operators begged to have their taxes raised if they could stay moored, saving an estimated $1 million annually on personnel and other expenses.

After the Lakeside Casino Resort in Osceola opened on a man-made body of water in 2000, the cruise requirement became silly -- and then moot in 2004.

Since then, new casinos have been mostly sitting on moats.

The bill would reduce unnecessary overhead for the Isle of Capri casino in Waterloo and existing establishments that prefer a land-based option for expansion.

As Sen. Mike Connolly, D-Dubuque said, it's "darn foolishness" to continue with the current rule.