Photo ID required...

[The_Douger]

You should have to prove that you are who you say you are to vote. Pretty simple stuff.

[il Padrino Ute]

You should have to prove that you are who you say you are to vote. Pretty simple stuff.

Exactly. I don't understand why one side thinks this is such a problem.

[The_Douger]

Exactly. I don't understand why one side thinks this is such a problem.

And who the hell doesn't have ID of some sort?

At our clinic, ID and a current insurance card are required to receive medical care, and strangely, everyone seems to come up with one.

I don't get why people dig in their heels at the most basic of requests. Sorry, but you should have to prove who you are when you vote. It's not unreasonable to pee test welfare recipients. They shouldn't be getting a card they can easily sell for cash if they're using it for drugs.

This is pretty basic stuff that should be required to get basic government services and to vote. Getting ID is hard, I hear.

[wuapinmon]

Why does it matter, really, if someone has ID in order to vote? Is it really all that much of an issue? Couldn't a voter registration card via the mail be fine? Does it need to be a photo id? Is election fraud really that big of a deal?

Should it cost money to vote? The poll tax was overturned. If we give free IDs to people, then I'm fine with requiring the ID to vote. But, until we do, it's a de facto poll tax. Having lived in the inner city and the poor rural South, most suburban whites have precious little conception of what poverty and lack of transportation is.

EDIT:

Here's an old post of mine from April 2012 on the subject:

When you grow up with money and access to transportation, the idea of getting an ID seems easy. When you grow up poor without private transportation, the only ID you really ever need is a birth certificate and a social security card.

Most states only issue IDs at the DMV, which is rarely located in urban areas. Obtaining ID in some places can be really difficult, and therefore it puts the poor at a disadvantage come voting time because it's more complicated for them to obtain an ID.

That said, I think that you should have to show ID to vote, and I believe that states should make it easier to obtain ID/voter registration cards for those who lack access to private or affordable transportation. A mail-in system could work just fine.

__________________

[The_Douger]

I'm fine with a voter registration card or a social as ID.

And yes, I think election fraud is a big deal.

[oxcoug]

I have to agree with New Mexican Disaster too- I don't understand the rationale for stripping voting rights from felons who have served their time.

Well that's a different conversation - the fact is that they are not currently permitted to legally vote in the state of MN and therefore shouldn't have voted.

Preventing felons from voting could be achieved without ID - but any system of cross-checking benefits from ID.

But the point for me is that you constantly hear the refrain that "there isn't any voter fraud" - well this is voter fraud.

[Ma'ake]

My wife is from the 'hood in a medium sized city of 50,000 in the South (Kentucky). She talked with her sister about this issue, specifically how widespread the issue is of folks in the hood not having IDs.

Her sister said there are actually quite a few shut-ins and people who are distrusting who don't have ID, mostly older people who went through some of the really, really bad times in our nation's history of racism.

The Republicans know this. They're not stupid.

The Ohio law is particularly foul. After the 2004 election when the lines at the polls were so long many people had to be turned away, the Ohio legislature - recognizing the problem with not allowing people to vote or some kind of logistical issue with the way their voting prescincts are arranged - passed the law allowing early voting on Saturday, Sunday & Monday leading up to the election on Tuesday.

The Republican Ohio Legislature & Governor passed the law eliminating this early voting, except for active duty military. Interestingly, veterans are also restricted from voting during the early voting period, along with everyone else but active duty military (which are more likely to vote Republican).

There's a very simple solution, but it's unlikely that Republicans will go for it - Mexico had a problem with falling voter turnout, so the Mexican government issued voter ID cards that have BioMetric authentication.

Maybe it won't work in the US because the levels of distrust are so high, and I suspect Republicans would object because it would cost tax money to have such a program.

[il Padrino Ute]

My wife is from the 'hood in a medium sized city of 50,000 in the South (Kentucky). She talked with her sister about this issue, specifically how widespread the issue is of folks in the hood not having IDs.

Her sister said there are actually quite a few shut-ins and people who are distrusting who don't have ID, mostly older people who went through some of the really, really bad times in our nation's history of racism.

The Republicans know this. They're not stupid.

The Ohio law is particularly foul. After the 2004 election when the lines at the polls were so long many people had to be turned away, the Ohio legislature - recognizing the problem with not allowing people to vote or some kind of logistical issue with the way their voting prescincts are arranged - passed the law allowing early voting on Saturday, Sunday & Monday leading up to the election on Tuesday.

The Republican Ohio Legislature & Governor passed the law eliminating this early voting, except for active duty military. Interestingly, veterans are also restricted from voting during the early voting period, along with everyone else but active duty military (which are more likely to vote Republican).

There's a very simple solution, but it's unlikely that Republicans will go for it - Mexico had a problem with falling voter turnout, so the Mexican government issued voter ID cards that have BioMetric authentication.

Maybe it won't work in the US because the levels of distrust are so high, and I suspect Republicans would object because it would cost tax money to have such a program.

I wouldn't mind taxes being used for something like this, as it's not an abused entitlement and it would provide a photo ID so folks could vote.

[old_gregg]

Is there not some form of poverty/hardship standard in most states that makes obtaining an ID of some type free? That seems like more of an issue than requiring it to vote.

[Danimal]

And who the hell doesn't have ID of some sort?

At our clinic, ID and a current insurance card are required to receive medical care, and strangely, everyone seems to come up with one.

I don't get why people dig in their heels at the most basic of requests. Sorry, but you should have to prove who you are when you vote. It's not unreasonable to pee test welfare recipients. They shouldn't be getting a card they can easily sell for cash if they're using it for drugs.

This is pretty basic stuff that should be required to get basic government services and to vote. Getting ID is hard, I hear.

I live in MS and know lots of people with no ID. Almost all of them are African American and very poor. And we still treat them at our clinic.

[The_Douger]

I don't make the rules. The admin got tired of people perpetuating fraud on the clinic through insurance and identity, so this is what they did.

We're in one of the more socioeconomically disadvantaged areas here, lots of Hispanic people who are here legally, lots of AA as well, and plenty of very poor. If it's required, people will do it.

[pellegrino]

Debold is the brand of the machines used where I vote.

Nearly every year around election time I write the election board pointing out studies like this and making the simple suggestion of adding a printer to the machines so there is a hard copy on how I voted. With a print out I could review the print out to make sure it is how I voted. Then I could place the print out in the locked box so the voting process could be easy audited, if needed. To date I still haven't even received any kind of a response to my suggestion.

which is exactly why I have little faith in the integrity of our elections.

[calicoug]

Well that's a different conversation - the fact is that they are not currently permitted to legally vote in the state of MN and therefore shouldn't have voted.

Preventing felons from voting could be achieved without ID - but any system of cross-checking benefits from ID.

But the point for me is that you constantly hear the refrain that "there isn't any voter fraud" - well this is voter fraud.

The law you are supporting in PA would have done absolutely nothing to stop felons from voting. Nothing.

What else do you have?