Voter ID laws: Everyone has an ID, right? Nope

[Rudeboyelvis]

Originally Posted by Riot

This has nothing to do with ACORN, Mr. Conspiracy Theorist Three studies - including a massive one by Bush DOJ - has put incidence of documented voter fraud at 0.0002, 0.0003, or 0.0004% depending upon the study.



Nope. Sorry. You need to read a newspaper now and then. Judges are indeed throwing out nonsensical voter ID laws as unconstitutional.

Don't you ever get tired of you own lies?

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Rudeboyelvis

Don't you ever get tired of you own lies?

Watching you flat-out deny that judges are indeed throwing out the latest ALEC-GOP voter ID laws as they are too restrictive is funny. Which ones specifically are you denying happened: Texas? Wisconsin?

I'll bet you don't think the President's birth certificate is real, either

[Riot]

Brennan Center: 500,000 legal American citizens could be disinfranchised due to restrictive "free" voter ID laws

The Brennan Center, NYU Law School's public policy institute that focuses on democracy and justice issues, has a new report detailing the challenges faced by voters in 10 states with new, restrictive voter ID laws.

Those laws ultimately mean that as many as 500,000 eligible voters won't cast ballots because of the insurmountable barriers these laws erect, particularly for rural voters. In other words, yes, these new laws are basically poll taxes.


The cost of the IDs aside, most of these voters don't have access to transportation to obtain the ID. To complicate matters more, in many of these states, the offices that are designated to issue IDs are open infrequently for short periods of time.

Even if someone seeking photo ID manages to travel to an ID-issuing office, there is no guarantee it will be open during regular business hours. In Wisconsin, Alabama, and Mississippi, fewer than half of all ID-issuing offices are open five days a week. None are open on weekends. And some offices maintain truly unusual hours: the office in Woodville, Mississippi is open only on the second Thursday of each month.

The report also provides an extensive look at the scarcity of ID-issuing offices in areas heavily populated by people of color and those in poverty — the exact population that most lack government-issued photo ID.

In 11 Alabama counties within the rural “black belt,” there are more than 60,000 eligible black voters but no driver’s license offices open more than two days per week. In Texas, in 32 counties near the Mexico border, there are 80,000 Hispanic eligible voters but only two such ID-issuing offices. Across the voter ID states, many of the offices with limited hours are located in rural areas with high concentrations of minority voters.

There's even one office, in Sauk City, Wisconsin, that's open "only on the fifth Wednesday of any month. That would limit the office to being open just four days this year." Sure, you can get a free voter ID, if you happen to have one of those four days free, have transportation, and already have the necessary documentation—birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree—all lined up.

One state court judge found that these barriers are a "substantial impairment of the right to vote" guaranteed by Wisconsin's constitution, and blocked the voter ID law from being implemented.

So voters in Sauk City will at least be able to exercise their franchise. They're among the lucky.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/0...free-voter-IDs

[OldDog]

[Riot]

A gift for Old Dog, and others to whom voting rights for their fellow Americans is less important than themselves:

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by Riot

A gift for Old Dog, and others to whom voting rights for their fellow Americans is less important than themselves:

when you are drunk you get to see six of them!!!!

[Riot]

Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice launches formal investigation into Pennsylvania's new voter ID law to determine if the law discriminates against minorities.

DOJ's probe marks the first time it has publicly acknowledged a formal investigation of a voter ID law passed in a state which is not covered by Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires certain states with a history of racial discrimination to have changes to their voting laws precleared.

The Pennsylvania investigation falls under Section 2 of the VRA, which prohibits any state from enacting a “voting standard, practice, or procedure that results in the denial or abridgement of the right of any citizen to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.”

The state itself has estimated that more than 750,000 eligible voters don't have acceptable photo identification. A new study from a University of Washington expert pegs that number at nearly 1.4 million. That's Pennsylvanians who are eligible to vote.

More striking, more than a million actual registered voters don't have the proper id. Most of those registered voters think they have valid ID, but actually don't, the researchers found.

Relevant to this investigation, they found that women, low-income, minority, and both young and senior voters are far more likely to not have the necessary ID. As usual.

Specifically, female eligible voters lack ID at higher rates (17.2%) than do males (11.5%). Latino eligible voters lack ID at higher rates (18.3%) than do non-Hispanic Whites (14.0%). The elderly (over age 75) lack ID at higher rates (17.8%) than middle-aged residents (10.3%) and younger respondents (age 18-34) also lack at higher rates (17.9%).

Eligible voters who make less than $20,000 annually are more likely to lack a valid photo ID (22%) than all other income categories, most notably those who make $80,000 or more (8.2%), and finally 18.5% of respondents who did not complete high school lack an ID compared to 8.3% among college graduates.

If the DOJ does end up suing Pennsylvania, it will have to show that there is significant racial disparity in the law's effects, as well as the significance of the burden the ID requirement places on would-be voters. In the meantime, the ACLU's case on behalf of Viviette Applewhite will be heard this week.

[bigrun]

Originally Posted by Riot

A gift for Old Dog, and others to whom voting rights for their fellow Americans is less important than themselves:

The all American girl, and they are real...

[Antitrust32]

Originally Posted by OldDog

though accidental or unintentional ALWAYS are deliberate deep down.

[OldDog]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

though accidental or unintentional ALWAYS are deliberate deep down.

[Riot]

Ahead Of Voter ID Trial, Pennsylvania Admits There’s No In-Person Voter Fraud

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmem...oter_fraud.php

As the Justice Department investigates Pennsylvania’s voter ID law on the federal level, a coalition of civil rights groups is gearing up for a state trial starting Wednesday examining whether the law is allowable under Pennsylvania’s constitution.

In that case, Pennsylvania might have handed those groups and their clients (including 93-year-old Viviette Applewhite) a bit of an advantage: They’ve formally acknowledged that there’s been no reported in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania and there isn’t likely to be in November.

The state signed a stipulation agreement with lawyers for the plaintiffs which acknowledges there “have been no investigations or prosecutions of in-person voter fraud in Pennsylvania; and the parties do not have direct personal knowledge of any such investigations or prosecutions in other states.”

Additionally, the agreement states Pennsylvania “will not offer any evidence in this action that in-person voter fraud has in fact occurred in Pennsylvania and elsewhere” or even argue “that in person voter fraud is likely to occur in November 2012 in the absense of the Photo ID law.”

Pennsylvania has said that over 750,000 registered voters do not have ID from the Transportation Department, a problem more concentrated in urban centers like Philadelphia.

One top state Republican has claimed the voter ID law would help Mitt Romney win the Keystone state.

Democrats have already altered their campaign plans should the law survives legal challenges.