Washington, D.C, United States (AHN) – A new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety finds a strong connection between the number and ages of passengers in a car driven by a teenager and the risks of that driver being involved in a fatal car accident.

The report, “Teen Driver Risk in Relation to Age and Number of Passengers,” found that the likelihood of a 16- or 17-year-old driver being killed in a crash, per mile driven, increases with each additional young passenger in the car.

Among the findings, the risk increases 44 percent when carrying one passenger younger than 21; doubles when carrying two passengers younger than 21 and quadruples when carrying three or more passengers younger than 21.

The study notes that when a teen is driving with one passenger 35 or older, the teen driver’s risk of death is reduced by 62 percent, and the risk of involvement in any police-reported crash is cut by 46 percent, underscoring the protective influence that parents and other adults have in the car.

AAA CEO Peter Kissinger said in a statement, ‘We know that carrying young passengers is a huge risk, but it’s also a preventable one. These findings should send a clear message to families that parents can make their teens safer immediately by refusing to allow them to get into the car with other young people, whether they’re behind the wheel or in the passenger seat.”

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Kampala, Uganda (IRIN) – The nomadic Karimojong ethnic group, once regarded as a low-risk HIV population because regional instability in northeastern Uganda and strong adherence to their culture kept them relatively isolated, have not been a priority on the country’s HIV agenda, but recent statistics show prevalence among this community is now 5.8 percent, up from 3.5 percent five years ago.

Over the past decade large numbers of Karimojong have settled in urban centers, where business is flourishing and many NGOs have set up shop; there has also been heavy military deployment in the area as part of a disarmament exercise. These and other changes in a strongly traditionalist society have combined to push prevalence closer to the national average of 6.7 percent.

“The drivers of the pandemic that exist elsewhere are now occurring here. There is also a lot of alcoholism and [domestic] abuse here, which is one of the drivers of HIV/AIDS infection,” Dr Michael Omeke, health officer for the Karamoja region’s Moroto District, told IRIN/PlusNews.

Limited health services

Just five hospitals serve seven districts and a population of 1.2 million scattered over some 28,000 square kilometers. “In general, HIV treatment and care services are still low in the region,” said David Wakoko, Karamoja area manager for the Mulago-Mbarara Teaching Hospitals’ Joint AIDS Program (MJAP).

Most health centers in the region do not have clinical officers trained to provide life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs or offer HIV care and treatment. Kaabong District for example, has five health facilities, but only the district hospital has a medical officer authorized to treat HIV-positive patients, and the hospital does not have a CD4 machine to test blood samples and measure immune strength.

Few health workers are keen to live in the remote and underdeveloped region. “Human resources are a big challenge. You need someone who is qualified to help these people, but we are not attracting… personnel,” said Dr John Anguzu, District Health Officer in Nakapiripirit. “Even the local people we try to train here to help, they leave.”

The region has also not been spared the drug shortages that have occurred in other parts of the country. “We do experience ARVs stock-outs… We are trying to work with the Ministry of Health and National Medical Stores to see that these stock-outs are reduced,” said Omeke.

A lack of food in the arid region and the long distances to health centers are major problems for people living with HIV. “These are weak people and can’t move long distances to go for treatment and drugs. The health centers are too far,” said Gabriel Lokubal, who lives in Moroto. “ARVs are very strong drugs, which require a lot of eating. However, most of us don’t have food, so some people have stopped going for drugs.”

Knowledge about HIV is also very low. A recently released preliminary report on the AIDS Indicator Survey shows that just 30 percent of women and 45 percent of men in the northeast are well-informed about HIV/AIDS.

A complex region

Spreading the word about HIV is not easy in Karamoja, where open discussions about sex are extremely unusual and the population is largely uneducated. According to MJAP statistics only 35 percent of Karimojong men have accessed HIV/AIDS services, compared to 65 percent of women.

“Because of the nature of the society and tradition, the men remain in the kraals [communal cattle pens] and are on the move in search of pasture and water for their cattle. They have little interest in seeking HIV services,” said MJAP’s Wakoko. “Most of those who access HIV/AIDS services are women, especially the pregnant ones, who visit health facilities for ante-natal services.”

“The HIV patients also tie HIV services to food. If you don’t have food, people don’t come,” Anguzu said in Nakapiripirit.

Stigma is highly problematic for health services trying to reach people living with HIV. “When you test a person and… [the result] is HIV-positive, he or she will never come back again for further… [treatment],” said a nurse at the ARV clinic at Moroto Regional Referral Hospital. “We are trying to sensitize the community to accept their status and learn to live positively.”

In an effort to bring the services closer to the people, Uganda’s Ministry of Health and MJAP are running a home-based HIV counseling and testing program, but low staffing and occasional insecurity in the region are affecting the door-to-door campaign.

“The security situation remains fluid, as it changes any time despite general improvement in the sub-region, thereby affecting the implementation of program in most of the catchment areas,” said MJAP’s Wakoko.

Health workers in the region say the nature of the causes and effects of HIV mean it cannot be tackled in isolation, and a holistic approach should be used.

“The interventions need to be shared among sectors – health is concept which is determined by social, economic and cultural aspects,” said Samuel Enginyu, a health educator with the Ministry of Health. “We are working on an integrated and collaborative approach with the Minister of Gender and Culture and other stakeholders.”

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Washingon, D.C., United States (AHN) – Feeling tired? Need another cup or coffee? Wishing for a nap?

If you are working, you are not alone and you have plenty of company.

A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that more than 40 million workers, or roughly 30 percent of the country’s civilian workforce, gets less than six hours of sleep per night.

Published April 26 in its journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC study noted that by not getting the National Sleep Foundation’s recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per night, these workers pose a serious and even potentially fatal risk to themselves and coworkers.

More than 15,000 workers participated in the survey. Among key findings, 44 percent of night-shift workers reported not getting enough sleep, with rates most pronounced among workers in the transportation or warehouse industries, followed by health care and social assistance workers.

The findings echo a National Sleep Foundation poll in March that found that 50 percent of pilots, 44 percent of truck drivers and 29 percent of bus, taxi and limo drivers said they rarely get a good night’s sleep on workdays.

Lack of shut-eye can have dire consequences. The CDC estimates that 20 percent of vehicle crashes are linked to drowsy driving. Statistics show that in 2010, 4,547 workers died from occupational injuries, and roughly 49,000 died from work-related illnesses.

Health experts say warning signs that you are sleep deprived include falling asleep in less than 10 minutes and hitting the snooze button more than twice.

Getting the right amount of beauty rest can boost health as well as appearance. Recent studies confirm that people who don’t get enough sleep raise their risk for diabetes and obesity.

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Birmingham, United Kingdom (AHN) – Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover announced Thursday that it would build its new Jaguar F-Type sports car in Britain.

The vehicle, a two-seat convertible, is the successor to the classic Jaguar E-Type, which ended production in 1975.

JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Motors, plans to build the new car at its Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham. The planned sales launch is mid-2013.

The automaker says it will base the F-type on the company’s C-X16 concept, which it unveiled at the Frankfurt auto show last year.

JLR will reveal the design later this year and says it will be a successor to its E-type in the value the brand represents, rather than the way it looks. Company officials said that the F-type will be a sports car for its era, just as the D-type, D-type and E-type Jaguars were. The vehicle will have a gasoline engine.

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New York, NY, United States (AHN) – The number of children and teens who die from any kind of accidents has declined nearly 30 percent from 2000 to 2009, a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

A main reason cited for the drop was the steep decline in traffic death.

The news is good and very welcome. It highlights that more than 11,000 lives have been saved because of the decrease in unintentional deaths for those from birth to 19 years of age over the near 10 year period, but the findings are offset by the somber news that more than 9,000 youth still die every year from motor-vehicle related accidents, fires, poisoning, drowning, falls and other unintentional injuries.

The report notes that unintentional injuries are still the leading cause of death in the United States for children ages 1-19, and is the fifth leading cause of death for newborns and infants age 1.

The CDC says that most of these events are predictable and preventable, adding that “One child’s death is one death too many.”

While a large part of the decline in unintentional deaths was a 41 percent decline in childhood vehicle-related crash deaths between 2000 and 2009, they still remain the leading cause of unintentional injury death.

Improvements in child safety and booster seat use, as well as the implementation of the graduated drivers’ licensing system for teen drivers, are cited among reasons for the drop.

Poisoning death rates climbed 91 percent among teens 15-19, because of overdoses on prescription drugs and painkillers.

A disturbing and baffling finding was the 54 percent rise in deaths from suffocation among babies under 1.

The CDC says that many infant deaths from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and suffocation could be prevented if parents followed the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendations that advise: infants should sleep in safe cribs, alone, on their backs, with no loose bedding or soft toys.

The report also detailed that in 2009, child and teen unintentional injuries resulted in roughly 9,000 deaths, 225,000 hospitalizations and 8.4 million patients treated and released from emergency departments.

Deaths varied widely among states with the lowest rates seen in New Jersey and Massachusetts, and the highest in Mississippi and South Dakota.

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Cairo, Egypt (IRIN) – It has been three months since a fuel shortage hit Egypt, and people’s patience is wearing thin amid fears the crisis could disrupt the production of subsidized bread.

“I move from one petrol station to another every day to find the fuel necessary for the work of the bakery,” Omar Muselhi, a bakery owner from Giza, told IRIN. “I cannot do this for long. If things get worse, I will close down.”

Most of Egypt’s subsidized bakeries need diesel to operate, and some have had to close, for example in the Nile Delta governorate of Monofiya.

Outside Muselhi’s bakery, men, women and children form two long lines, and wait their turn.

“I buy 20 loaves of this bread for one pound, whereas the same number sells for four pounds at unsubsidized bakeries,” said Ayman Farahat, standing in line outside the bakery. “This shows how important these bakeries are for people like me.”

Observers say there is a 35 percent shortfall in fuel supplies. The government blames hoarding for the crisis. Thousands of cars queue outside petrol stations from early morning, while long queues form outside gas cylinder centers.

“We are doing our best to solve the problem, but what is happening is abnormal,” Petroleum Minister Abdallah Ghorab said on 24 March. “Some people take the subsidized fuel and sell it on the black market.”

The Petroleum Ministry has increased daily diesel supplies from 36,000 tons to 38,000 tons; petrol supplies from 16,000 to 18,000 tons; and gas cylinders from one million to 1.3 million.

But despite the move, there are numerous reports of fighting over fuel, reflecting citizens’ exasperation, and the need for further government intervention

Ambulance services are also at risk.

“The drivers go to petrol stations from early morning,” Naeem Rizk, the operations manager at Cairo’s main ambulance point, told IRIN. “Sometimes they spend the whole day waiting, but when their turn comes, they are told the fuel is over.”

When a policeman recently called Rizk to ask for help after he was wounded in a fight against armed men on the outskirts of Cairo, Rizk could not find an ambulance with enough fuel to take the policeman to hospital. The policeman’s colleagues had to call the Interior Ministry to borrow some.

Mohamed Abdullah, a 30-year-old ambulance driver, says his job has become even more stressful. “There are always long queues at petrol stations…This prevents me from reaching patients in time. The patients’ relatives always yell at me.”

Rethinking subsidies

Some economists believe the current crisis may force the government to rethink its fuel subsidies’ policy. Egypt spent the equivalent of US$83.3 billion subsidizing fuel over the past five years, according to the Petroleum Ministry.

“Around 60 percent of these subsidies go to people who do not deserve them,” said Rashad Abdo, a leading economist from Cairo University. “This makes it necessary for the government to rethink these subsidies.”

The government is currently reconsidering its support to major industrial institutions, which account for almost 70 percent of fuel subventions.

“If we can reduce petroleum subsidies by 10 percent, we can channel this money for the building of houses, hospitals, or schools,” said Petroleum Minister Ghorab. “We need to deliver subsidies to those who deserve them,” he was quoted as saying by al Masry Al Youm newspaper on 11 March.

Another government plan envisages the issuing of vouchers to poorer citizens to enable them to buy cooking gas for the equivalent of 83 US cents instead of US$5 for everyone else.

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Torrance, CA, United States (AHN) – Honda is recalling some 550,000 CR-V compact crossovers and Pilot mid-size SUVs because of faulty headlights.

The company says a wiring problem in the cars could cause the low beams to become inoperative and may leave drivers in the dark.

The recall involves 2002 through 2004 model CR-Vs and 2003 Pilots.

Honda says it will inspect and replace components of the headlight wiring systems in these vehicles

According to the company’s website, no injures or accidents have been reported related to the headlight loss issue.

Honda owners will be notified in late April and instructed to take their vehicles to a dealers.

Additional information is available online at www.recalls.honda.com or by phone at (800) 999-1009 option 4.

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Remtha, Jordan (IRIN) – At the edge of this busy border town, a set of old, overcrowded buildings has become a transit house for Syrians fleeing to Jordan illegally.

Designed for 500, the compound now houses up to 800 at times. Those who do not find space inside sleep in the open under trees. The compound has no gate – external traffic passes through it as children run around without supervision. The toilets are strewn with days-old feces, with women’s sanitary napkins piled up in the corners.

No one is fond of the place – not the UN, not the NGOs which provide services, not the Jordanian police officer who runs it – but there are few alternatives.

Apartments in northern Jordanian border towns are filling up and some landlords have doubled the rent.

Refugee camps are already under construction along the border. But opening them entails a political decision Amman is not yet willing to take, as Jordan tries to play a delicate balancing act between providing humanitarian aid to the Syrians without calling them refugees and taking strong action that would offend the Syrian regime.

Nor are camps an ideal solution for aid workers, who much prefer refugees to live a normal life in apartments.

But as Andrew Harper, head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Jordan, put it: “If there is a lack of international support, there may be no option.”

Until now, the UN has played a limited role in the response to the Syrian refugee crisis. But as a year-long anti-government uprising in Syria becomes increasingly violent and refugees keep streaming out, the scale of the problem is becoming too big for host countries Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey to handle alone. And with the situation expected to get worse, the UN is now trying to prepare for a future influx.

“On a daily basis, there are hundreds of people who continue crossing the border,” said Panos Moumtiz, newly-appointed regional refugee coordinator for UNHCR. Given there is yet “no light at the end of the tunnel” with regards to a political solution, he told IRIN, “we know that on a pragmatic level, we need to be ready.”

UNHCR today appealed for US$84 million to cover immediate humanitarian needs for Syrian refugees in the next six months and to ensure systems are in place to be prepared for more arrivals. That price tag is likely to rise as needs are re-assessed in the coming weeks and months.

There are currently more than 30,000 Syrians registered with UNHCR across the region, but around 96,500 in need of humanitarian assistance, the agency says. That number is expected to double, according to the UN’s contingency plans.

“The burden”

Jordan is fast becoming the most desirable option for Syrian refugees. Some come here after fleeing first to Lebanon or Turkey, or from as far as northern Syrian cities Aleppo and Idlib. Syrians say they feel safer here than in Lebanon, where some elements of its government support the Syrian regime; and more comfortable than in Turkey, where they may encounter linguistic problems.

So far, Jordan has done a reasonable job of responding to the crisis. But the refugees are increasingly testing the small, resource-poor country’s weak infrastructure, already stretched to the limit by the presence of nearly half a million Iraqi refugees.

Jordan’s economy is based mainly on remittances and foreign aid. The national debt is $20 million and unemployment stands at 13 percent. The government subsidizes bread, water and fuel; and is also shouldering the cost of Syrians going to school and accessing medical care for free.

It is a country accustomed to hosting refugees – they have flowed here during several crises over the decades – and people do not question their presence.

“Of course they are welcome here. Where else would they go?” one taxi driver said.

But from the taxi drivers to the highest levels of government, there is a level of resentment at having to carry the “burden”, as government spokesman Rakan al-Majali put it, alone.

“We did not want to demand international help before responding to this crisis,” he told IRIN. “But we are confident that our Arab brothers and the international community will not let Jordan down.”

Needs beginning to increase

Many Jordanian families – economically vulnerable to begin with – have been hosting Syrian refugees in their homes.

“They’re basically sharing their shirts, their gas bottles, their bedrooms – anything they can share,” Harper told IRIN. “There’s an incredible demonstration of good will at the moment, but there’s only so much resources people can share before it becomes exhausted.”

According to community-based organizations, that has already begun happening. Jordanians who had rented out apartments to Syrians for free can no longer afford to do so and have, in some cases, had to kick their guests out.

Up six flights of dark, dusty stairs, Um Maher and eight other members of her family live in a soulless apartment with moldy, damp walls, donated beds, no toilets, and running water only once as week. They fled from the Syrian flashpoint city of Homs. Her husband now works for 250 Jordanian dinars a month, all but 40 of which goes towards medicine and rent.

It is people like these UNHCR wishes to support financially, but has so far been unable to do so on a wide scale. While the family is registered with UNHCR, the only help it has received is from the Syrian Woman Association, a community group formed by an older wave of Syrian refugees who fled to Jordan in the 1980s.

Short of cash

The more protracted their stay in Jordan, the more vulnerable these new refugees are becoming. Some were able to support themselves when they first arrived, but have since exhausted their savings. The Islamic Charity Center Society, for one, is registering people who have been in Jordan for months but only now are starting to need assistance.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says refugee children as young as eight or nine are working in coffee shops and garages because their families are so desperate for cash inflow. The agency is also concerned about families marrying off their daughters young as a way of coping.

New arrivals from Syria are arriving with less means.

Nithal Hassan spent four months hiding in a cave outside the southern Syrian town of Dera’a after security services came looking for him. By the time he arrived in the Jordanian border town of Mafraq, he had the equivalent of $15 in his pocket.

As the crisis in Syria continues, many have gone extended periods without work and have had to spend their savings to survive. They cannot sell their homes or cars because the market has stopped. Those who do come with the hugely de-valued Syrian pound cannot exchange it for much on the market.

“So even the rich are needy when they arrive,” said Masara Srass, who leads the Syrian refugee response for the Syrian Woman Association.

The long-standing Syrian community in Jordan absorbed many of the new arrivals into their homes and helped them with cash, food, blankets and furniture. But as the number grows, this, too, has become unsustainable. And the organizations themselves need support.

“We want international organizations to help us build our capacity, give us money. They need to help. Otherwise, how can we keep working?” said Eqbal Ebrahim of the association.

One of the weaknesses of these local groups has been coordination. There is an excess of food and a lack of cash to support families who are renting. Various different organizations have been registering families, and according to aid workers, many of the latter have received aid many times over.

Local aid agencies are already trying to amalgamate all their lists, but UNHCR hopes its new response plan will contribute to improved coordination and a clearer strategy for the government’s response – which has come under some criticism for lacking direction and having no clear lead ministry.

“If the government had a plan, would the situation here have gotten so bad?” asked one aid worker at the Remtha guesthouse.

International burden-sharing

The government spokesperson, al-Majali, said the number of Syrians in the country has so far been manageable.

“The movement between the two countries has always existed in the thousands,” he said. “Now they’re staying longer – these are just details.”

The government is ready to open the camps as soon as the numbers necessitate it, he added. “We are prepared to help our brothers no matter what the size of the problem.”

But Harper insists the international community needs to be part of the solution.

“If [we] are serious about international burden-sharing and trying to help those in need, then Jordan is doing the first step, the second, third and fourth steps, but at some point, it can’t do it alone.”

The UNHCR response plan includes cash assistance for vulnerable Syrian families and support for host communities, including the refurbishing of schools and health facilities.

As part of the plan, UNICEF hopes to repay the Jordanian government for the tuition and textbooks costs of Syrian children going to school, who number at least 10,000 according to al-Majali.

Through its partners, it is also hoping to provide psycho-social support for traumatized children who wet their beds, jump at every sound and whose vocabulary has come to include blood-covered streets and rocket-propelled grenades.

The International Organization of Migration (IOM) is requesting funds to be able to monitor the border and evacuate Palestinians or Iraqis in Syria who may eventually need to flee.

The Jordanian government will also be conducting an assessment of the refugee population in the coming weeks, to better define the needs.

Some agencies, like UNICEF, present in Jordan for decades, have been able to use some of their own funds to start projects immediately. But others, like UNHCR, have been hamstrung. “In Jordan, we’ve got basically nothing to work with at the moment,” Harper said.

As funds become available and the UN starts providing more assistance, people who have not registered with UNHCR are likely to come out of the woodwork, which will put an additional pressure on aid, he warned.

The UN is preparing a separate three-month plan for a response to humanitarian needs within Syria, where there are an estimated 200,000 displaced people in need of immediate humanitarian assistance. It will be launched in a few weeks, following the results of a government-led assessment of affected areas, in which technical staff from the UN and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are also taking part.

Other agencies, like the Jordan Red Crescent, will be launching their own appeals.

“The capitals around the world who are deploring what is going on [in Syria] should also step up [with support],” Harper said. “We will see whether the rhetoric is hollow on the humanitarian front.”

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– Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

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Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) – As water balloons drenched the unsuspecting, the celebration of Fagu Purnima or Holi — the festival of colors — was in full swing in Nepal on Wednesday.

To make the most out of this color-filled fete, people gathered in the early morning with their friends and family and commenced the celebration by applying colors, including vermilion powder, to each other and making merry amongst themselves.

Holi is observed by Hindus around the world to celebrate the victory of good over evil.

Celebrants, especially children, pelted pedestrians with balloons and plastic bags filled with water.

The younger demographic is reported to have stepped up the celebrations this year by using enamel and other face paints and consuming hemp-based substances in a religiously enthusiastic spirit.

With a high degree of surveillance in the capital streets in the run-up to Holi, the festival of colors this year has been the most decent ever, and very few incidents of girls and women being harassed by males have been recorded, according to the police. Since the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Office (MPCO) launched a special security campaign for the festival on Sunday, police have rounded up around 200 individuals for throwing water balloons and colors at passers-by.

As part of the drive, 2,200 police officers have been deployed to avoid untoward incidents during Holi. An additional 125 traffic police personnel were to be deployed on the main day of the festival on Wednesday to check for drunk drivers.

According to MPCO Spokesman SSP Ravi Raj Shrestha, the number of those arrested is far below when compared with previous years.

“With the new security drive in place, police had expected to make a large number of arrests this year,” he said. “But we are surprised to see the number fall this time.”

By bringing in the special security provisions, police aim to control road accidents and gang fights that often take place during the festival, he said.

However, the increased police presence did not prevent tragedy from marring the festive day. Media reports suggested that a girl died after falling off from the roof of a building in Kathmandu while celebrating Holi.

Different programs have been organized by various organizations inside and outside the Capital with the intent of bringing people together during this joyous occasion.

The government has declared Wednesday a public holiday for the capital and the hilly regions, while the holiday will celebrated on Thursday in the Tarai regions.

Meanwhile, security has been tightened in the Capital to preclude brawls and other possible mishaps.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Two diametrically opposed experts clashed Thursday on the status and impact of newly framed voter identification laws.

Appearing at a debate hosted by the National Press Club Newsmakers Committee, Laura Murphy, director of the Washington legislative office of the American Civil Liberties Union, and Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, discussed the actual and potential impact of the photo voter ID laws.

Spakovsky stressed the need to identify and determine citizenship, saying, “Those kinds of requirements also increase public confidence in our election process.”

Of the 31 states with laws requiring voter identification, eight have strengthened or enacted their laws within the past year. Supporters of the photo ID requirement argue the tighter restrictions prevented voter fraud while opponents say the laws single out minority groups less likely to have photo IDs.

With the latest judicial challenges going on over voter ID laws in South Carolina, Texas, Kansas and Wisconsin, both speakers agreed on one point: the dispute over Texas’ voter ID law to be decided soon.

“What we do know is that it’s very unlikely that these laws will be adjudicated before the election,” said Murphy, adding, “The Supreme Court is not likely to hear any cases before the November 2012 election.”

Spakovsky noted the Texas case might have to wait its turn in court behind earlier challenges from South Carolina and Alabama.

Labeling most Republicans and a handful of Democrats as behind these latest strict laws controlling voting procedures, Murphy blamed “Republican-controlled legislatures who may fear that low-income people, students, the elderly, the disabled and racial minorities are taking aim at their political powers.”

Murphy noted that more than 21 million voting age Americans don’t have government-issued photo IDs and that the groups were most at risk of not being able to get the necessary IDs or even documents to get those IDs. “In Texas, for instance, the pending new photo ID law permits an individual’s license to carry a concealed firearm but will not accept a college student’s ID as sufficient to cast a ballot,” she said.

Murphy reasoned that many people did not have the money, couldn’t get time off from jobs, or transportation available to go and acquire the supporting documents to get a photo ID that itself might be free to acquire.

On the prevention of voter fraud, Spakovsky said, “There have been cases prosecuted across the country for many different problems and election crimes.”

Citing examples from different states, he argued that photo ID laws “can prevent double-voting by people who are registered in more than one state,” and could also prevent “illegal aliens from registering and voting.”

Giving one example, Spakovsky said that some of the plaintiffs in the ACLU case in Wisconsin have drivers licenses from other states. He minced no words in alleging “They could be attempting to vote twice and perhaps the ACLU wants them to vote twice.”

But when asked how a photo ID would stop a fraud, Spakovsky said, “No one says that photo ID is a perfect solution to this kind of security problem.” He, however, argued that the new laws would make it much tougher for anyone to vote illegally.

The frequency of fraud taking place was rare, Murphy argued. “We have to ask ourselves whether the burden of going after this tiny group of people is worth the burdens placed on legitimate eligible voters,” she said, highlighting that the Supreme Court had described the right to vote as the preservative of all rights.

The advocates agreed on one other point–that a major cause of voting fraud is poor record keeping, because people who move to other jurisdictions or die often remain on voting rolls.

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