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

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Clip-Clop

They have the same right to register to vote, provided they have the required identification of their state, yes.
I would like to see the punishment for voter fraud be extraordinarily severe then, if even ONE person votes illegally then my vote is nullified and that person has taken away my legal right to have my vote counted. Surely this is an initiative you could get behind, no?

I am also hoping they cannot find their local polling place. Though I am certain they will get a ride from somebody.

an id requirement is not banned under any amendment to the constitution. the only way they can fight this is to say it's a form of racial, sexual or religious discrimination. so, any attempts to paint this all as racist will absolutely be made.
i am NOT a racist.
attempts by democrats to play the race card in this case is abhorrent. but that's all they can do to fight the rule, because of what the constitutional amendments contain. so, i am not surprised that democratic voters would spout that insult to anyone who supports i.d. rules, it's what their party wants them to say.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Danzig

attempts by democrats to play the race card in this case is abhorrent. but that's all they can do to fight the rule, because of what the constitutional amendments contain. so, i am not surprised that democratic voters would spout that insult to anyone who supports i.d. rules, it's what their party wants them to say.

Why are you blaming Democrats? It is our judicial system that is throwing these new laws out as proven discriminatory. That decision has nothing to do with political parties.

It's neither "abhorrent" nor "racist" to point out when these laws measurably discriminate against minorities more than whites. And overturn them in the courts for that very reason. And that they discriminate against the young and elderly more than the middle-aged. And overturn them for that reason.

Civil Rights Act. Voting Rights Act. They are the law. They matter. Poll taxes are illegal. Making it more difficult for certain demographics to vote is illegal. You cannot illegally disenfranchise American citizens from voting, just because you don't like the political party they will vote for.

[Riot]

Friday, July 27, 2012
Texas voter ID law won’t stop fraud, history shows
By Jim Lamare

http://www.voxxi.com/texas-voter-id-...nt-stop-fraud/

A three-judge panel of the Federal District Court of Washington, D.C. heard arguments this month concerning the legality of Texas’ Senate Bill 14, the voter identification law enacted by the Republican-controlled state legislature last year.

In March, the U.S. Department of Justice refused to clear the bill under its powers authorized by the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Texas appealed that decision to the Washington, D.C., court.

SB 14 requires Texans to produce suitable personal identification to vote. “Suitable” is legislatively defined as one of the following photo ids: a valid Texas driver’s license, an election identification certificate, a U.S. military id, a U.S. citizenship certificate, a U.S. passport, or a license to carry a concealed handgun.

If would-be voters lack any of these documents, they can go to a Department of Public Safety office to obtain, for free, a personal Identification card. The DPS will issue this card once the applicant provides other documents, the principal one being a birth certificate.

Almost one-third of Texas’ 254 counties do not have such an office, necessitating for some a 120-mile road trip to the nearest DPS.

Until this year, presentation of a valid voter registration card would suffice. If a person did not have this card, a wide sampling of photo and non-photo forms of verifying one’s id could ensure a ballot.

Why the change?

SB 14 is ostensibly designed to prevent voter fraud. However, finding widespread patterns of irregular voting has been elusive. More than 39 million ballots have been cast by Texans since 2004.

By the count of Texas Attorney General Republican Greg Abbott – a staunch defender of SB 14 – only 62 cases of fraudulent voting have been recorded since 2002. Forty of those cases involved doctored mail-in ballots – an illegal act not covered by SB 14.

Rice University political scientist Bob Stein told Houston’s KHOU “that the attorney general has made the case for the plaintiffs. Voter fraud in this state by [his] account is small, if not infinitesimal.” Dana DeBeauvoir, Travis County’s chief elections official, says SB 14 is “a law in search of a crime.”

If the law goes into effect, it will have impact. How much depends on which expert is to be believed.

Stephen Ansolabehere, professor of government at Harvard, argues that there are 1.5 to 1.9 million Texans who voted in recent elections but lack a valid driver’s license, personal identification card or a permit to carry a handgun.

Hispanics are two-thirds more likely than whites to face this situation. To vote in the future, those affected must secure at their own expense the necessary documentation to obtain an SB 14-approved photo id.

University of Texas political scientist Daron Shaw, co-director of polling for Fox News and director of election studies for George Bush in 2000, surveyed a sample of registered Texas voters without a driver’s license.

Among this universe of 800,000, Shaw estimates that only 46,245 will be negatively affected by SB 14. Almost all surveyed — African American, Hispanic and white alike — have an SB 14-sanctioned ID, according to Shaw.

Critics of Shaw’s methods, especially as applied to the Hispanic sub-samples, express concern about how the sample was drawn (based on Spanish surname), the method of conducting the poll (over the telephone), the reliability of the questions asked, the accuracy of responses and a very low response rate.

To interview 600 Hispanics in one study, 72,131 contacts had to be attempted. That is a strike rate of .008%, far below acceptable response rate standards in social science.

The federal court is expected to render a decision in August. A ruling against Texas is likely to bring an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, at which time the state might very well challenge Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act which empowers the federal government to vet and approve any changes to state electoral practices.

The VRA was extended to Texas because of its extensive historical record of inhibiting the voting rights of people of color.

A ruling in favor of SB 14 might result in its implementation in the November elections. Although that should have little impact on Governor Romney’s strong chances of winning the presidential race in Texas, SB 14 might affect some congressional and state legislative races.

On the other hand, counties in charge of executing SB 14 will likely seek a delay in enforcement owing to the short preparation time and a lack of administration resources.

(Dr. Jim Lamare is the author of Texas Politics: Economics, Power and Policy, the 7th edition of which was published by Wadsworth in 2001.)

[Riot]

Second Judge Finds Wisconsin's Voter ID Law Unconstitutional

Thursday, 19 July 2012 12:54 By Brendan Fischer

A Wisconsin judge has found that the state's American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -inspired voter ID restriction imposes an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote, writing that the law "tells more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not now have an acceptable form of photo identification that they cannot vote unless they first obtain a photo ID card."

"That is a lot of people, and most of them are already registered voters," wrote Dane County Judge David Flanagan, making permanent the injunction he issued against the law in March.

In his decision, Judge Flanagan found that the potential burden on voters from Wisconsin's voter ID law -- Act 23 -- was great, but the risk of voter fraud very limited. "Since 2004, voter fraud investigations have been undertaken by the Milwaukee Police Department, by the Mayor of Milwaukee and by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, working with various county prosecutors working through the Attorney General's Election Fraud Task Force," he wrote. "None of these efforts have produced a prosecution of a voter fraud violation that would have been prevented by the voter ID requirements of Act 23."

On balance, the benefits of the law -- stopping the nonexistent voter fraud -- did not outweigh the costs of disenfranchising more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters.

"Act 23 addresses a problem which is very limited, if indeed it exists," Flanagan wrote. "Given the sacred, fundamental interest at issue, it is clear that Act 23, while perhaps addressing a legitimate concern, is not sufficiently narrow to avoid needless and significant impairment of the right to vote."

Additionally, although the law provides for a voter identification card at no charge, Judge Flanagan found that obtaining the ID "can easily be a frustrating, complex and time-consuming process" that "can require the expenditure of an amount of money that is significant for an eligible voter who is indigent."

http://truth-out.org/news/item/10434...constitutional

[Clip-Clop]

Judges are always right.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1708114.html

Why won't they just listen to the judges?

[Danzig]

yeah, no fraud occurs...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48360858...ws-jackson_ms/


well, if they do decide to have yet another run-off, perhaps the third time will be the charm.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Danzig

yeah, no fraud occurs...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48360858...ws-jackson_ms/


well, if they do decide to have yet another run-off, perhaps the third time will be the charm.

I don't see in the article where the fraud is on the part of the voters. It says, if I read it right, that more people signed the rolls than apparently actually voted. Which seems to point the blame at the election officials for hiding votes that were legally cast.

Pennsylvania's new law is so cockamamie even the governor couldn't explain it. Voters with valid photo IDs are going to be deprived of their civil right because of non-matching addresses.