Yahoo/AP: Tough ID laws could block thousands of 2012 votes

[CrabR]

I have always been for showing ID to vote. But you do not need a gvt id. andy photo ID or 2 forms of other ID should be fine. There is no excuse to not having ID these days. IF a cop stops me and asks for my ID I think it is against the law not to show him one

They say it is against poor people my question is how do those poor people get gvt benefits without ID. I have never been on gvt benefits so i do not know if you have to show ID to get them but if you don't then that is not right either

[stevemcqueen1]

But, again. Any law which would make absentee voting even slightly more difficult? (And which, therefore, might cause some people to just blow it off?) Can't have that.

This is simply another racist policy from the Republican party. And they wonder why minorities don't vote for them.

This is straight out of the 1870's. It's detestable.

[Larry Brown #43]

I found this via a Google search. This list is compiled by a conservative organization, so obviously the group is biased. So take it for what it's worth.

I don't have time to research each example of registrations being thrown out and other suspicious activity by ACORN that they allege. But I looked up a few examples and found mainstream press coverage for the examples I did look up, so I'm guessing they're not completely making this stuff up. Again, take it for what it's worth.

http://rottenacorn.com/activityMap.html

[Larry]

I found this via a Google search. This list is compiled by a conservative organization, so obviously the group is biased. So take it for what it's worth.

I don't have time to research each example of registrations being thrown out and other suspicious activity by ACORN that they allege. But I looked up a few examples and found mainstream press coverage for the examples I did look up, so I'm guessing they're not completely making this stuff up. Again, take it for what it's worth.

http://rottenacorn.com/activityMap.html

Oh, there have been LOTS of big, scary, ALLEGATIONS made about the evil vote fraud machine, ACORN.

Granted, what all of the allegations have in common, is that ACORN was the VICTIM of the fraud. but hey, who cares about that?

ACORN got hired to register people to vote. They got hired by the Democrats, so of course the Democrats want them to register people in Democrat neighborhoods.

ACORN wants to do this as cheap as possible, so they hire really low-wage workers.

And the workers have to work out in the field, which means that they are out of sight of any supervision. Nobody to watch them and make them actually work.

So, ACORN pays their employees bonuses based on how many applications the employees get. They're kind of working on commission.

And there have been multiple cases where ACORN workers have gone out into the field, and then they come back a while later with 30 applications for Mickey Mouse, or 30 applications for the one person, and say "I got 30 applications, where's my bonus?"

When this happens, it is illegal for ACORN to toss the voter registration card for Mickey Mouse. So, ACORN turns in the registration forms, in a seperate stack, and says "these are obviously not real, but legally, we're required to hand them to you. And, by the way, here's the name and address of the employee who filled them out, if you want to go after him, too".

And the Supervisor of elections then takes those forms, which ACORN specifically told him were obviously fake, and calls a press conference, to announce that his trained investigators have caught the criminal organization ACORN attempting to steal an election.

Now, note. There was no attempt to alter the election in any way. The supervisor of elections is not going to put Mickey Mouse on the voter rolls. And even if he did, no one is going to show up at precinct 43 and attempt to cast Mickey Mouse's ballot. And he certainly isn't going to attempt to do it 30 times.

There was a fraud committed, here. But ACORN was the victim.

[Kilmer17]

This is simply another racist policy from the Republican party. And they wonder why minorities don't vote for them.

This is straight out of the 1870's. It's detestable.

When a liberal lacks facts to support their idea, they are always quick to simply call Republicans racist. Cry wolf much?

[Larry]

deleted post.

[Kilmer17]

Kilmer17

http://www.usccr.gov/pubs/vote2000/report/ch2.htm

In each of these cases, there was a process that could have been followed to allow those people to vote. The first claim appears to also have a poll worker who doesnt understand the law. That can happen with or without more voter ID laws.

None of them were denied the right to vote. It should, however, have been easier for the worker to explain the procedure needed.

[Larry]

In each of these cases, there was a process that could have been followed to allow those people to vote.

Yes, you've made your position very clear.

The fact that voting improperly has ever existed anywhere in the world, is relevant to this discussion. (The fact that these laws do not in any way address these cases of voting improperly is irrelevant.)

Whereas, the fact that these laws make voting more difficult (that, in fact, making it more difficult is the actual purpose of the law), that's irrelevant. Unless someone can produce a case where these laws have made it completely, totally, impossible to vote, then the fact that it has resulted in people being prevented from voting, and the fact that the laws are guaranteed to make it more difficult, well, you'll simply announce that it doesn't exist at all.

[skinsfan_1215]

A big reason this is a big deal politically, apart from the Constitutional implications, is that a majority of these scenarios involve Rmoney taking Pennsylvania:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/26/politi...tie/index.html

[Burgold]

Someone just made an interesting point that I hadn't considered.

How do you deal with soldiers in Afghanistan that want to vote? They can't present an ID and prove that the envelope that contains their ballot belongs to them? Should they be disenfranchised? What about college students? Or other people who want to participate, but can't make it home due to very real circumstances? People with IDs who just can't present them in person.

If you demand proof of identity for every vote than no soldier not housed in a military base in his home state can vote. That seems about as wrong as you can get. (Mind you, I suppose you could get the vote certified by some outside agency and stamped as having an official identify them, but it still could invalidate 100,000's of legal votes or at least make these guys have to pay to vote)

[Larry]

They don't demand ID from people who are voting through the mail. Only people who are voting in person.

Because, after all, people who are conducting business via the mail never impersonate other people. Only people in person. And everybody knows that, if I wanted to vote 20 times, I would never do it through a channel that allows me to vote without any human ever seeing me, AND allows me to spread my voting over a two week period. Nope, if I want to commit voter fraud, obviously I'm going to go in person, to a place that has witnesses and law enforcement, and I'm going to go to one place 20 times (or to 20 places, one time each), and I'm going to do all 20 of them in a 12 hour period.

(Or, maybe, because absentee voting favors Republicans. And therefore, making it more complicated would suppress Republican voters.)

[skinsmarydu]

They don't demand ID from people who are voting through the mail. Only people who are voting in person.

Because, after all, people who are conducting business via the mail never impersonate other people. Only people in person. And everybody knows that, if I wanted to vote 20 times, I would never do it through a channel that allows me to vote without any human ever seeing me, AND allows me to spread my voting over a two week period. Nope, if I want to commit voter fraud, obviously I'm going to go in person, to a place that has witnesses and law enforcement, and I'm going to go to one place 20 times (or to 20 places, one time each), and I'm going to do all 20 of them in a 12 hour period.

(Or, maybe, because absentee voting favors Republicans. And therefore, making it more complicated would suppress Republican voters.)

Larry, you're gonna cause me to die by laughing. I swear, I thought my husband had the monopoly on sarcasm...

[Kilmer17]

Someone just made an interesting point that I hadn't considered.

How do you deal with soldiers in Afghanistan that want to vote? They can't present an ID and prove that the envelope that contains their ballot belongs to them? Should they be disenfranchised? What about college students? Or other people who want to participate, but can't make it home due to very real circumstances? People with IDs who just can't present them in person.

If you demand proof of identity for every vote than no soldier not housed in a military base in his home state can vote. That seems about as wrong as you can get. (Mind you, I suppose you could get the vote certified by some outside agency and stamped as having an official identify them, but it still could invalidate 100,000's of legal votes or at least make these guys have to pay to vote)

I think military servicemen should be the ONLY ones allowed to vote absentee. But if we need stronger systems in place to ensure they are who they say they are and are voting in the correct districts, then Im fine with that.

[skinsfan_1215]

I think military servicemen should be the ONLY ones allowed to vote absentee. But if we need stronger systems in place to ensure they are who they say they are and are voting in the correct districts, then Im fine with that.

Nice, so people who go to school, the young folks voting dem, are screwed. Cool.

[Duckus]

Does anyone know how the vote-by-mail program in Oregon has gone over the last decade?

I wonder why that stats are on voter fraud, voter turnout, engagement, etc.