Attempted voter fraud real in Beaufort County

A recent letter writer argued we should not require photo IDs to vote because it costs a lot of money to institute this program, and we don't have voter fraud in South Carolina. It is just a waste of money.

I have been a poll watcher for more than 10 years, and I can assure you that there's plenty of attempted voter fraud. I witnessed it at Precinct 10 on Hilton Head Island in the last presidential election. For example, one lady came in to vote. When she showed her driver's license, we realized that her address was a Jasper County address. When questioned, she admitted that she had already voted in Jasper County and didn't see anything wrong with voting twice.

When another lady came in to vote, a poll watcher noted that she had already voted. One of the poll workers questioned her. She said she had already voted, but her mother asked her to vote for her.

Another man came in to vote, and according to the voter rolls, he was 68 years old. I could see he was not 68. When the poll workers questioned him, he said he wasn't the person on the voter registration card. The person who owned the card could not get off from work and asked that he come vote for him.

Maybe the problem is that these violations are not being reported to the local and state authorities. But I can assure you we do have attempted voter fraud in Beaufort County.

James Wedgeworth

Hilton Head Island