Voter identification laws have taken a main stage in debates this year.

In a nation where voter participation is consistently very low, any restrictions on voting need to be examined carefully.

In 2006, Indiana made national news for enacting one of the first in a wave of voter identification laws.

The law requires potential voters to have a valid photo ID to cast a vote in any governmental election.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld this law in 2008.

Critics argue that these laws indirectly target the elderly, young, poor and racial or ethnic minorities.

Even in states where photo identification is provided for free, one must have the proper documents to qualify.

These documents—like birth certificates and social security cards—cost around $25 in many states.

Rural voters may also have difficulty getting to offices that provide valid ID.

In other words, these laws can place strict restrictions on voting for those without valid state identification.

The problem affects a significant portion of the voting pool.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, 11 percent of the voting population does not have valid photo ID.

This includes anything from expired identification, to changing genders, to moving, depending on the law and the enforcement involved from state to state.

The solution is not to just simply allow any person who wants to vote to walk into the ballot box.

But when the restrictions might prevent legitimate voters from voting, they need to be reexamined.

In 2008, record voter turnout meant 57 percent of eligible voters went to the ballot box, the highest since 1968.

When a noteworthy number of voters is not even 60 percent, it should be this nation’s priority to make voting as convenient and accessible as possible for all citizens.

The strength of a democratic system relies on government officials’ understanding the will of the public—not just the motivated few, those who can get out of work or those who happen to have an up-to-date identification card.

States are not unreasonable in making sure all voting is done legally.

However, they should temper this goal by also making sure every citizen who wants to vote has the opportunity to do so.

If people are going to claim the political system works, they need to make certain the government is doing the best it possibly can to be inclusive for all individuals.

As the law stands, Indiana and other states seem to be focusing on only safeguarding against fraud—regardless of how real a problem it may be.

News21, the self-proclaimed Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, reported that actual voter fraud occurs only once out of every 15 million prospective voters.

In a nation of 320 million citizens, not all of whom can vote, that’s roughly 21 cases.

The actual number of voter fraud cases is smaller, due to those who are too young or have lost voting rights by being convicted of felonies.

The U.S. faces many other issues.

One of the largest that springs to mind is a consistently frustrated group of people who do not feel represented or protected by the government.

If this nation wants to attempt to address these concerns, the government needs to seriously reconsider the issue of identification restrictions on voting.

The right to vote is under attack across our country, and this attack originated in our state.

Beginning in 2008 when the U.S. Supreme Court backed Indiana’s 2005 law that forced voters to show photo identification, thousands of senior citizens, the poor and minority voters have been locked out of casting ballots.

Butler University students have  also been affected because we do not have a state-issued identification card saying that we are residents, since we are enrolled at a private institution. Students at Purdue University or Indiana University could use their student IDs as proof of residency.

This action is keeping college students from voting and registering, and lawmakers should recognize the impact.

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn said that not since the days of Jim Crow has he seen such an organized and direct attack on the voting rights of Americans.

The attack on college students is only occurring in states where conservatives control the governor’s mansion and the legislature, such as in Indiana.

The motivation is part of an effort to restict millions of voters out of a fear that our generation will be more engaged and more informed.

This year there are 64 million eligible young voters, and 90 million will be eligible by 2020. Young voters who turn out to the polls tend to vote for Democrats. In 2008, young students delivered two-thirds of their votes to Barack Obama.

Conservatives will create barriers for voting under the cause of preventing voter fraud. But these laws disenfranchise our generation,  since the laws create many barriers for those registering to vote.

Under Indiana law, each person who registers to vote must state his or her permanent address. But for Butler students, some have permanent addresses out of state while others make their campus address their permanent address. There is no rule on legal residence that applies to all college students, and each case is very different.

Nevertheless, with the May 8 primary right around the corner in Indiana, Butler students should know that if they wanted to vote and are not registered, they are out of luck. They had to register to vote by Monday—29 days before the election.

But I do not blame students for missing the deadline since they had no idea about the law, or they probably thought that they were unable to register to vote in Indiana.

However, they can still register to vote for the general election in November even if they live out of state. A social security number, and an address in Indiana, such as a residence hall, are required to register.

But the confusing part about the voter ID law is that some people might not have an Indiana issued photo identification card. The Butler ID might get students into the Health and Recreation Complex, but it will not allow them to vote. They can either go to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and get a free voter ID card, or they can even bring their passport and use that as a voter identification card when voting.  This is often a misconception.

At this point, college students are confused and frustrated over this process, resulting in low turnout numbers of young people—which is exactly what the conservatives want.

Defenders of this law will say that they are trying to prevent voter fraud. But not only would impersonating other voters one-by-one be an absurd strategy for stealing an entire election, there is already a deterrence for this: five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Sadly, these laws have disenfranchised many college students across the country and on Butler’s campus.