Little League Requires More Documentation Than Voter Registration

My twelve year old made the All Stars baseball team again this year. We’re very proud of him. Even though he’s not one of the most powerful players in the league he works hard, he’s smart and he knows the game. All Stars is different than the local Little League because they play other districts and could wind up playing at the state championship or even beyond that. The league wants to make sure coaches don’t cheat and try to recruit better players so they’re really strict about verifying age and residency. This is the documentation we needed to show for our son to play:

1. Your son’s original birth certificate
2. A copy of your son’s birth certificate
3. 4 documents to prove residency:
                Copy of your valid driver license
                Copy of your vehicle registration, dated between 2/1/2012 and 2/1/2013
                Copy of your NY State Insurance ID Card, dated between 2/1/2012 and 2/1/2013
                Copy of either your tax bill, cable bill or pay stub, dated between 2/1/2012 and 2/1/2013

4. Completed and signed Tournament Player Verification form (attached), fill out:
                Player name
                Address of parent or legal guardian
                Name (printed) of Parent/Guardian, Signature of Parent/Guardian and Date

5. Fully competed medical release form (attached)

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with providing all of this documentation. (Well, I did have some technical problems, but that’s another story.) These kids work really hard - practice starts on Friday, then they have practice Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There will be more after that, we just don’t know the schedule yet. They’re serious little baseball players, and nobody wants to see their kids work really hard for something only to lose because some other team cheated. So we understand the need for all of this documentation.

What we don’t understand is why is it okay for Little League to require all of this proof so kids can play ball, but it isn’t okay for states to require simple proof of citizenship in order for people to register to vote. Heck, they don’t even need to show ID to vote. Sure, they “attest under penalty of perjury” but what’s to stop someone who breaks immigration laws from breaking voting laws?

It’s extremely troubling to think that it’s harder to register a little kid for baseball than it is to register to vote. From what I hear, it’s easier to get food stamps and welfare than it is to be on a baseball team. I guess America’s pastime has gone from enjoying baseball to being a taxpayer-funded couch potato who can vote for more benefits. Or something. It’s all so insane, there’s no making sense of things anymore.