stop whining about voter ID requirements
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Anonymous
There are many fallacies to this argument. The truth is, and I've experienced it firsthand, is that if your family has lived in a small rural town for generations, you don't need it for almost anything local because EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU. Like everybody. Hell, they knew me, and I'd been gone for 35 years. I didn't show any ID when I went in to cash my mother's checks. So you won't show ID at your bank, or to apply for a job at the local supermarket, or to get into the local bar, or buy alcohol, or to get a library card, or to get into the local government buildings. The other thing you keep ignoring is people's circumstances change. So in the case of my father, he had all that ID at one point, but as his health and memory failed - and someone stole his wallet -- paperwork went missing and it created a cycle that many people find themselves in: once you lose a government photo ID, is hard to replace, and the REAL ID act has made it MUCH harder. https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/real-id-passport-problems If recent research is any indication, the Real ID roll-out doesn’t need any more obstacles to success. According to a study conducted by the US Travel Association last fall, millions of Americans are unprepared for the looming deadline, with an estimated 99 million saying they don’t have any form of ID that will be accepted come 1 October, and an estimated 182 million – a whopping 72% of respondents – saying they either don’t have a Real ID-compliant license or they’re confused about the concept as a whole. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/getting-a-photo-id-so-you-can-vote-is-easy-unless-youre-poor-black-latino-or-elderly/2016/05/23/8d5474ec-20f0-11e6-8690-f14ca9de2972_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/what-happens-to-people-who-cant-prove-who-they-are/2017/06/14/fc0aaca2-4215-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html https://www.newsday.com/news/region-state/real-id-hurdles-1.42605271 and A Dead-Simple Algorithm Reveals the True Toll of Voter ID Laws Critics of voter ID laws have had a difficult time proving their menace in court. A new algorithm could change that. Recently, however, researchers at Tufts University and Harvard University demonstrated that it's possible to match individuals across government databases with nearly perfect accuracy, using just a few basic identifiers like a person’s name, date of birth, and address. They developed the algorithm while working as expert witnesses in the Department of Justice's case against Texas. Now, in a newly published paper, researchers Stephen Ansolabehere of Harvard and Eitan Hersh of Tufts have explained the underlying methodology. Their goal, according to Hersh, is to create a system courts can easily understand, which can not only be used in future voter ID law cases, but can also help dispel some myths about who those laws do and don’t hurt. "You're down to a small percentage of the population that doesn't have an ID," says Hersh. That's one reason why, despite Alabama's restrictive voter ID law, black turnout in the recent Senate election still exceeded expectations. Still, while the percentages may sound small, that 4.5 percent still represents 608,470 Texas citizens who could potentially be disenfranchised. |
Anonymous
Yes, there are many folks who are living off of social security or welfare benefits who have no ID. There are 7 millions Americans across the country who have had their licenses suspended for unpaid traffic fines. They walk or take public transportation. They get their checks deposited in a bank account and withdraw what they need from a bank machine. They buy with cash only (when they buy things themselves, many of these folks have family that help them with basics like groceries and errands). They don't do anything that requires an ID and frankly they don't want to spend $35-60 plus have to get pretty far away to go and wait in long lines at at DMV/MVA to register for a card that they won't use. For many other's they had a driver's license but it was suspended or expired and they didn't bother to get it renewed or replaced even when a suspension was over, because they didn't need it. And the horrible catch-22. You have outstanding traffic fines. Your license gets suspended. You can't get your license back until you pay your fines. You can't pay your fines until you get a job. You can't get a job without a driver's license. How to get out of this one if you fall into this manhole? Here's an article about many who can't get a job because of a suspended license: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/no-drivers-license-no-job/486653/ And an article about how disproportionately suspensions affect the poor and minorities. Systemic racism in action. Neighborhoods where the poor and minorities live are targeted far more heavily for certain violations that frequently lead to suspended licenses. https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-drivers-licenses-suspended-for-unpaid-traffic-fines.html This article says that 1-in-8 Floridians does not have a current license. And you really want to prevent 12.5% of the population from voting? https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2020/01/21/driving-while-poor-no-more-florida-lawmakers-consider-overhaul-of-license-suspensions/ 7 millions Americans with a suspended driver's license. And discriminatory licenses suspension systemic problems that target minorities and make it harder to get back on track https://www.acslaw.org/issue_brief/briefs-landing/discriminatory-drivers-license-suspension-schemes/ And that's just the tip of the iceburg. And yes, I live in PG County and have seen people at supermarkets who do everything by cash because they can't submit a check without an ID and they have no ID. These people take the bus to the supermarket. |
Anonymous
They are all doing it to disenfranchise blacks, everywhere, all over the world. |
Anonymous
...but don't you know there are tons of black people who never do any of these things, but they do want to vote, and they are too poor, unmotivated, and disabled to get an ID. The Republicans (and most Democrats) are pushing voter ID to disenfranchise this critical voting block. I would love to know in percentage terms how many people exist in America that don't have an ID, preventing them from doing all the things above, can't be bothered to get one, and want to vote. It is amazing watching the manufactured controversy over even the most minimal effort to ensure our elections are secure. |
Anonymous
Again, please provide some evidence that voter ID is needed. There is not one iota of evidence in this thread that there is a need for voter id requirements. Nor has there been evidence that other countries have similar requirements. |
Anonymous
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There where his many cases of fraud in the last election.
Let’s see 4 Republicans in PA all voted illegally used dead people ids and are being prosecuted. Two in NC same. Try again OP and Trumpets Maybe there should be an iq test for morons posting on social media. Do your homework people this is not hard! |
Anonymous
It’s actually poor people all over the world, but I know some of you think that’s interchangeable. |
Anonymous
None of those things are unalienable rights per the US Constitution. |
Anonymous
Haven't read the Constitution I see... another failure of our education system. |
Anonymous
Most of your examples are ridiculous b/c I don't have to do any of them. A 90 year old woman whose let her id lapse doesn't go to bars, colleges, buy liquor, etc. If these states make it super easy for the elderly and disabled to get an id, I'm ok with it, but they don't do that. |
Anonymous
Are you still asking someone to provide data about the voting requirements of other countries? Why are you so lazy? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_identification_laws |
Anonymous
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1. You don't actually need an ID for most of those. Businesses often ask for one as a means of limiting their liability but one isn't strictly required. Air travel is the big exception.
2. There are often a variety of different documents one can use in those circumstances. It is not strictly limited to one specific type. 3. The new voter rules being pushed tend to limit things to one specific form of ID. For example, one of the Dakotas limited it to a state issued drivers license with a street address. It just so happens that Native Americans that lived on the reservation tended to have a Tribal Authority ID and did not have a standard street address. Notice that a passport doesn't count under those rules. At this point a national voter ID is probably a good idea just to make this issue go away. Ironically, there is a lot of overlap between people against a national ID but for ID requirements for voting. |
Anonymous
I FEEL that you are an idiot if think the Republicans have any intent other than to suppress black and Latino and young voters that just beat them in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. They are not responding to any fraud. They are responding to too many legal Democratic votes. |
Anonymous
Exactly. And not that OP will read this, but it affects older people a great deal. For Older Voters, Getting The Right ID Can Be Especially Tough https://www.npr.org/2018/09/07/644648955/for-older-voters-getting-the-right-id-can-be-especially-tough Three dozen states require voters to show identification at the polls. And almost half of those states want photo IDs. But there are millions of eligible voters who don't have them. A 2012 survey estimated that 7 percent of American adults lack a government-issued photo ID. While some organizations have sued to overturn these laws, a nonprofit organization called Spread The Vote has taken a different tack: It helps people without IDs get them. And people over 50 years of age have presented some of their biggest challenges. On a recent Tuesday morning in Austell, Ga., 53-year-old Pamela Moon tried to get a replacement for an ID she had lost. She worked with a Spread The Vote volunteer at the Sweetwater Mission. The group sends volunteers to the mission every other Tuesday, so that people who come for food and clothes can get help obtaining a Georgia ID at the same time. Georgia is one of seven states with particularly strict voter ID requirements, which demand that voters show a government-issued photo ID in order to cast a ballot in person. Advocates for voter ID laws argue that showing identification at the polls reduces the incidence of voter fraud, although studies have repeatedly shown that in-person voter fraud is extremely rare. Moon never had a driver's license. "I can drive," she said, but she never got her license, "'cause I can't afford to buy no car." Bill Cox, a volunteer for Spread The Vote, told Moon she needs a birth certificate to get a replacement ID. She lost that, too, she said. "We will help you get that," Cox told her. "We will pay for it." This is a relief for Moon. In Georgia, the cost of a birth certificate and a photo ID is $57 and she lives mostly off her disability benefits. In fact, studies show that most people who lack official state IDs are low income and they have more urgent concerns than just voting. 57 bucks is outrageous. It's a poll tax, and is should be unconstitutional. |
Anonymous
+1. I'm ok with voter ID laws as long as states also make it alot more convenient to get an ID. In my area it takes four hours 9-3 pm, weekdays only. That's crazy. |