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Subscribe to RSSFrom a continuing series of articles, Who Can Vote?, a News21 investigation of voting rights in America. Read the previous article, Latino vote in Southwest could decline.
By Jack Fitzpatrick
News21
Lizzie Chen/News21
Natalie Butler, a 2012 graduate and former student government president of the University of Texas at Austin, said a Texas law that would prevent voters from using student IDs could have a negative effect on the voting process. She is particularly worried about local elections in Austin, where student turnout rates already are low. Texas residents may not be able to use a student ID, but a gun permit will do in Texas and some other states.
Morehouse College students in Atlanta can use ID cards to buy food and school supplies, use computer labs and get books from the library, but they can’t use their ID to vote. A few miles away, Georgia State University students can use their student ID to vote, because it's a state school.
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Discuss this series of stories on the Facebook page for Open Channel, the NBC News investigative blog. |
Across the country, college students are facing new questions about their voting rights. In some states, communities are debating whether students can vote as state residents or vote absentee from their hometowns. In others, legislators have debated whether student IDs can be used at the polls.
College students, who led a record turnout among 18- to 24-year-old voters in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, could play a major role in this November’s elections, but their impact could be blunted by states’ voter ID requirements.
In Georgia, for example, the debate started with the state’s voter ID law, which accepts student IDs from state colleges but not private institutions such as Morehouse. Legislators have rejected student IDs from private schools, saying the lack of uniformity among school IDs would be a burden for poll workers. There are 198 accredited postsecondary schools in Georgia, including beauty academies and music institutes, according to the National Center of Education Statistics.
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Who can vote? A national News21 investigation of voting rights in America. |
Even many ID cards from public colleges are rejected under some state laws, because the cards do not include addresses, issuance and expiration dates.
In Wisconsin, some colleges paid for new, state-acceptable student IDs while others charged students for new IDs.
Groups that advocate on behalf of young voters say restrictions against school IDs could drive down student turnout.
“They’re another one of these suppression laws that affects disabled, older and younger voters on equal levels, but the older population is in the habit of voting,” said Sarah Stern, a spokeswoman for national advocacy group the League of Young Voters.
Georgia state Rep. Alisha Thomas Morgan, a Democrat, has introduced three bills since 2008 to accept IDs from all accredited schools, rather than just public schools. All three bills failed.
Morgan got the idea in 2008 from one of her office interns. Aubrey Patterson, who also worked as a poll worker in Chatham County, told Morgan that in the 2008 elections, he saw private college and university students told that they could not use their school IDs at the polls.
“There was a lot of frustration from students attending private schools,” said Patterson, a Morehouse alumnus who is now a graduate student at Georgia State.
News21 is a program of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation that is helping to change the way journalism is taught in the U.S. and train a new generation of journalists capable of reshaping the news industry. It is headquartered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Since 2006, nearly 500 top journalism students in the U.S. have participated in the landmark national initiative.
Accepting student IDs makes voting more convenient, Patterson said, because many students don’t have driver’s licenses and don’t have a reason to carry another form of ID.
“Some students don’t carry around too much money and stuff like that,” Patterson said. “The card is almost like an ATM.”
Jared Thomas, spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, said Kemp supported Morgan’s bill and worked with her on it.
Thomas said he didn’t believe Morgan’s bill would be difficult for the secretary of state’s office to implement, and that they would support similar bills in the future. Thomas said he thought the law was clear about its ID requirements, even without adding private school IDs.
“It’s very clear right now that if you’re at UGA (the University of Georgia), it’s a state-issued ID, and if you’re at Emory (University) or Mercer (University), it’s private and would not count by any stretch as state-issued ID,” Thomas said.
On a national scale, voter ID laws could have a significant impact on student voters in the November elections. Stern said college students were one of the demographics targeted by voter ID laws because students are likely to vote for Democrats.
“It definitely will affect turnout,” Stern said. “And people know that. It’s a concerted, partisan strategy.”
President Barack Obama won two-thirds of the vote among 18- to 24-year-olds in 2008, according to exit polls. That was the only age group to significantly increase turnout over 2004.
Obama campaign says laws will hurt turnout
Mahen Gunaratna, an Obama campaign spokesman, said the campaign was making young voters a priority again this year and that voter ID laws worked against turnout.
Arizona state Rep. Martin Quezada, an Obama campaign surrogate, said young voters were just as important now as they were four years ago.
“The youth vote is critical after the 2008 election,” he said. “It’s a different group of 18- to 24-year-olds now, but they have the same reasons to be excited.”
No comment from Romney
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s campaign did not respond to requests for an interview. Regardless of whether student IDs are accepted, voter ID laws might put young voters at a disadvantage.
A 2005 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute study found that white, black and Hispanic 18- to 24-year-olds in the state were less likely to have a driver’s license than the general voting population. The study found that 78 percent of black men in Wisconsin in that age group did not have a valid driver’s license.
Despite the obstacles they present, voter ID laws haven’t received much opposition from students. A poll by the nonprofit Minnesota Public Interest Research Group, which advocates on behalf of environmental and social issues, found that most Minnesota college students support that state’s proposed voter ID amendment, even though the majority of them do not have the necessary identification.
Some states, such as Georgia and Indiana, accept student IDs from public schools because they are issued by the government. Others, such as Kansas, accept student IDs from all accredited schools. And some, like Wisconsin, might exclude many public and private universities by requiring dates when the cards were issued and when they expire. The University of Wisconsin system, with more than 181,000 students enrolled, did not include that information on student IDs when the bill passed.
Wisconsin’s voter ID law has been blocked twice in court, but the state would have some of the strictest ID requirements in the country if injunctions are lifted.
After the law was passed, the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire provided new, optional student IDs including the necessary information. To offset the cost of the new IDs, the university will charge $2 for each, a cost that Democratic state Rep. Gary Hebl calls unconstitutional.
“It’s a poll tax, obviously,” Hebl said. “The purpose of the card is to vote with it.”
And Hebl said the low cost of the IDs didn’t make a difference. “To charge people to vote is unconstitutional,” he said. “If it costs a nickel, it’s unconstitutional; $2 could be the difference between buying a loaf of bread or voting.”
Paydon Miller, president of the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire Student Democrats, said that although the cost for the new student IDs is low, it is wrong to make students “jump through hoops.”
“We are placing a burden on the student body that doesn’t exist for other people,” Miller said.
Gun permits will do in Texas, not student ID under new law
In Texas, student IDs might be rejected at the polls while gun permits are accepted, depending on a lawsuit over the state’s voter ID law. Texas’ law passed the legislature but has been blocked by the Department of Justice. If the state wins against the Justice Department, no student IDs from public or private schools would be accepted at the polls.
Natalie Butler, a 2012 graduate and former student government president of the University of Texas–Austin, said the law would have a negative effect on students. She is particularly worried about local elections in Austin, where student turnout rates already are low.
“If we’re going to make it even harder for students to impact city politics, that’s a huge problem,” she said.
In addition to restrictions on using school IDs, students face challenges based on residency. Out-of-state students must choose which state they want to vote in — their home state, where they may have to file an absentee ballot, or at school, where they face scrutiny from local residents.
In New Hampshire, Republican state Rep. Gregory Sorg tried last year to bar college students from voting in the state unless they lived there before enrolling. And state House Speaker William O’Brien, a Republican, received national attention when he mentioned voting restrictions that would affect students, such as same-day voter registration, and then attacked how he presumed students would vote.
“Voting as a liberal, that’s what kids do,” he was recorded saying at a New Hampshire Tea Party event. “They lack the life experience and they just vote their feelings.”
Sorg’s bill, which did not pass, included provisions that would have let students prove their state residence if they really planned to stay there, but Sorg said most college students live on an isolated campus and have no community ties.
“It distorts the way a community is run,” Sorg said. “Transients could descend on a community and take it over.”
In Maine, state Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster accused 206 out-of-state college students of committing voter fraud. That prompted Secretary of State Charlie Summers to investigate.
Summers, also a Republican, found no cases of voter fraud or double voting, but he mailed letters to all the students, asking them to either cancel their registration in Maine or apply for a state driver’s licenses.
Despite these challenges to out-of-state students, Stern said the League of Young Voters encourages college students to vote in the state where they go to school because the process of receiving an absentee ballot is so complicated.
“The likelihood of students registering at their parent’s house and then correctly filling out the application for an absentee ballot is low,” Stern said.
Discuss this series of stories on the Facebook page for Open Channel, the NBC News investigative blog.
Lizzie Chen, Alia Conley, Emily Nohr and Alex Remington of News21 contributed to this article.
Jack Fitzpatrick was a Hearst Foundations Fellow this summer for News21.
Leave a Comment:
Texas, a state where they have rifles in the rear window of every p-up truck. That's probably why there aren't so many robbery's etc...
Every perp knows that everyone is packing heat so they think twice about messing with you. Yup, mess with the best, die like the rest.
On another note, funny how they'll allow a gun permit to vote over a student ID. Obtaining a gun permit has multiple background checks and a series of hoops to jump through over a student ID.
It is no surprise that an individual can vote with a Concealed Weapon Permit but not a Student ID in Texas.
Remember, the platform for the GOP, in Texas, includes the elimination of "critical" and "higher-level thinking" in their school curricula.
Pathetic.
Heck of a job, Party of No.
So that's it Steve? You righties are justified in suppressing the vote of anyone you disagree with? Of any class or group of people that tends onward supporting what you disagree with? Wow.
Well.. Why not, from your point of view? Y'all have already started a political class war, multiple race wars, gender and sexual orientation wars, several wars of religion and regional wars in this country. Why not generational warfare too? Why not just restrict suffrage to white Protestant male, straight property owners (but only those who pass income and language checks, of course, and who live in the right zipcodes), over 50?
Interesting...looking up the crime index, it seems Texas is on par with the national avg for robberies and other crimes; Houston almost ties Chicago for robberies in particular. ( ref: Wikipedia and FBI national crime index ).
I'm not here to debate the whole "If everyone had a gun debate..." as I want to, but when debating it I want to have good information/facts.
Though I do agree with your last comment, it's funny about the fun permit. It's like "sorry, we can't accept a student ID, but if you had a security clearance we accept that. you should get one of those" :).
Texas, a state where an article in the paper about a drive-by shooting will also note how many of the intended victims returned fire.
Go to the DMV and get a drivers license or a non-driving ID card. Problem solved. Voter ID laws are intended to keep voter fraud to a minimum. I know that doesn't sit well with some on the left that think people should be able to vote 5 or 6 times and also think it is OK for dead people to vote.
actually it i snot legal to keep a rifle in your back window in Texas. Thanks for continuing a stereotype though, because after all, profiling is fun right?
give
When you pull your head out of your a@s. Could you provide a link to one dead person who voted?
You want voter fraud; perhaps you should go look at the gop.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120810/POLITICS02/208100377/1022/rss10
I would think the problem with taking student IDs is that someone will inevitably start a "school" and give id's to anyone who goes online and signs up as a "student". And that WOULD happen because there's nothing to keep it from happening. It seems not completely unreasonable to accept a student ID from a state school because the state has control over the process that resulted in the student getting the ID. The state has no idea what processes, if any, are followed by a private school in insuring that the person on the ID is the actual person holding it.
According to recent articles from State's Division of Elections (or equivalent) voter fraud is so small it isn't worth considering, much less spending government money on.
Students traditionally are liberal, comes with an education I guess, but there is good reason to keep them and other young people with hopes of the future from voting if you are a Republican.
Some good ways of keeping certain groups from voting in the past worked well and maybe the Republicans should consider bring them back: Poll tax, owning property, being able to read and understand what someone (the one getting elected obviously) thinks is important to vote, etc.
I'm perfectly fine with an article saying "check to see that you have valid ID if you want to vote", I'm really bloody tired of reading more and more "they are trying to take away your voting rights" articles. You've had YEARS to get a valid ID, you've still got MONTHS to get one, and you've got to make sure that you are REGISTERED to vote at all.
Waaa waaa waaa, they are trying to stop me from voting. Grow up and get real. It's your personal responsibility to have a valid ID- they aren't hard to get (if you are a law abiding citizen). You need IDs to buy cigarettes, alcohol, get on a plane, get into a government building, get a loan, pick up your kids at school, get into a nightclub, etc. etc. etc.- they are part of our daily lives so it shouldn't be "offensive" to be asked for one to prove you are whom you say you are and that you can legally vote. Get off your couch, make a few calls to government offices, maybe a quick visit to one and get and ID. Wow that was sooo difficult. Really tiring partisan non-issue here.
John Stewart was moaning about this last night- stating that voter fraud was only identified 20 times in the last election cycle, that it's a non-issue. Well, if it's a non issue then why fight it!?!? What's the big deal with showing your ID if you've got nothing to hide and have to do it to pay with a credit card at a store anyways?!?!
Here's an interesting dittie from Wisonsin's last election (recall election btw)- "Local radio reported that parts of Madison recorded turnout of 119 percent of previously registered voters by 4 p.m., with four hours still to go. The extraordinary figure was attributed to a late surge in registrations by union and grassroots activists, taking the voter roll far above its previous levels." 119% of previously registered voters?!? If their best response is that voter registration is unprecidented well that's something, but it seems clear that there is an opportunity for fraud when the numbers can be that loose. Not saying that I can prove it, but it sounds like a bit fishy when the average voter turnout for an election is usually 40-60%.
No one really knows, and democrats don't really want to look. The fact the Erick Holder refused to prosecute Black Panthers standing outside a Philly polling place with clubs tells me that this administration is turning a completely blind eye to voter integrity issues.
Tex,
My brother lived in TX a while back and that was how it was then. Guess things have changed since. If you ask me, I'd love to be able to do that here in NJ. Got no problem with it. Too bad it changed. I'm NRA, all the way. No stereotyping or profiling here.
If you reread my comment, I do not say anything bad about TX.
Have a good weekend.
Can a student buy Liquor with a student ID can the get on a plane with a student ID could they get into a DOJ lie fest with a student ID NO NO NO so what gives then the right to vote with it??? I have a concealed weapon permit and it takes a lot of back ground checks proof of who you are. NOT just getting into a college and they take a pic of you...WOW the paper work eh...
flnobody: Just Google "dead people voting" and you will find all the proof you need. And by the way, the GOP commits fraud in an entirely different way. They just throw out votes that don't match their master plan. Just look at what they did to Ron Paul in Iowa.
Yes, because God knows, we wouldn't want the youth to vote Obama a second term.
Stop Republican voter suppression.
Vote Obama/Biden 2012.
Flnobody & On it :
John Ford, who had been a member of the Tennessee Senate for over 30 years, resigned in 2005 after he was indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz. Ophelia Ford ran for her brother's state senate seat and defeated Henri Brooks by 20 votes in the special Democratic primary. She went on to defeat Republican candidate Terry Roland by 13 votes in the special general election. Both elections fell under allegations of improprieties. Names of deceased persons and felons were found on the rolls, and dozens of additional votes were counted from voters living outside the district. Further investigation of the election revealed that one of the election officials purportedly certifying the name of many of the voters in question was actually in New York City the day of the election and that her place was taken, without authorization, by a relative.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated aspects of the election, and District Attorney Bill Gibbons obtained 37 indictments, 35 of which are felonies, against three Shelby County poll workers for alleged election fraud.
Perrusquia, Marc (22 June 2006). "3 District 29 poll workers indicted: Accused of faking votes to help elect Ophelia Ford". Memphis Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on 23 July 2006. .
So, tell me again how voter fraud is a rare event and that ID laws are to keep certain populations from voting? You want a link to show where a dead person's vote was counted? Obviously anyone who thinks voter fraud doesn't impact election resluts has never lived in Memphis, TN.
You bet your azz I want to keep certain populations from voting with strict ID laws - namely the dead, the felons and those with multiple or stolen identities.
On It,
Students traditionally are liberal, comes with an education I guess
Students traditionally vote Democrat because they are still immature and easily influenced by hype. Go back to those same students who voted for X while in college and see his opinion two years after he graduates. A well educated person would not vote straight party because he/she would have the good sense to investigate each and every candidate and vote for each candidate in each position individually. A well educated person will not vote for just the candidate who will put more money in his pockets. There are too many variables to consider.
BTW, I am a university graduate with a bachelor degree and i DID vote for Obama in 2008. I will not again. He is a very deceitful person as a public servant. He changes his mind depending on what he thinks will get him the most votes, and I and I DO believe he had knowledge of the White House leaks on Osama Bin Laden, and all of the other "top secret" issues that are now public knowledge.
"intended to keep voter fraud to a minimum?!?"
It's already non-existant, why do we need a new law to "minimize" a problem that doesn't exist? It'd be one thing if the FEC had concrete evidence of massive voter fraud occurring throughout this country, but when the political party pushing these VoterID laws can't even provide one example of fraud it begs the question of "why is this necessary?" Unless of course your intended effect to vote suppression...
except of course that it was the Bush justice dept. that initially dismissed that case...
I live in Ohio...they tried to pass a law to require picture id when you vote. That's what the backers of the law claim. Those of you stating all of us "whining" about having our voting rights restricted because we are too lazy, whatever, to get a picture id better sit up and pay attention. The law contains a LOT more restrictions than just requiring a voter id, such as restricting early voting times, making it harder to get an absentee ballot, and picture id's are not "FREE"! For people who work long hours, or people like me who are "road warriors", that definitely impacts our ability to vote. Voting is not choice, like buying a gun, or getting a passport. IT IS A CONSTITUTION RIGHT!!! You don't mess with people's rights.
With so little actual reported voter fraud, and the push by people in the Republican party whose laws mostly impact those in the Democratic party, this is nothing but a blatant effort to steal the election. If the Republicans can't win an election fair and square, then they deserve to lose. People hear Limbaugh and Beck go on and on about Mickey Mouse and Fido on the voter registration polls and how that is proof of voter fraud. No it isn't. Mickey Mouse and Fido DO NOT show up to actually vote. This is just a red herring to manipulate people into following an ideal that is not in our best interest, but instead for people like the Koch brothers. Amazing the stupidity of those who fall for it.
I think these voter fraud laws are awful, but student ID's aren't ID's IMHO (at this juncture). The 3 places I've been to school (all state schools in the south) there's no expiration date, no address.
The problem of voting when you're an out of state college student is not a new one. It was an issue when I went to school in the late 80's early 90's. The deal then, as it is now, students are going to have a drivers license in the state they are legal to vote. They should use that if these laws even affect them. If you want to vote where you go to school, get a drivers license and change residence.
This is a mountain out of a mole hill.
What a pathetic attempt by liberals to try to give their whining a shred of substance.
So you've made it into college... but obtaining a proper government issued I.D. is too much for you? What percentage of college students do liberals actually believe this is even remotely an area of concern for? .5% or 1%? Bars and Night clubs don't accept student I.D.s people.
Are you kidding me? Why do you think Romney wants to reduce taxes for the super rich like himself, congress and others in that category. An altruistic Republican, give me a break!
By the way I voted Republican when I was young but never voted Republican again, he was a crook and was pardoned by Ford.
Bruce-308647:
Yes, they have looked, and we do know. Please educate yourself on the subject.
Voting should be as easy as possible and be encouraged as much as possible. The risk of granting a vote to someone who isn't entitled to it is nowhere near as bad as the risk of denying a vote to someone who is entitled to it.
It's depressing to how the repugs try to justify their party's massive attempts to suppress the protected right to vote. To let a permit to carry ID vote, but not a student ID, shows the true intent of the law. To let only CERTAIN types of citizens vote. Most TRUE Americans will look back on this period of time in our voting history with utter SHAME!!!
These are oldies but goodies....
I guess we can agree to disagree here. Voting should not necessarily be as "easy as possible". There is nothing wrong with having to prove that you actually do have the right to cast a ballot, because we have a lot of people here in this country who do not have the right to legally cast a ballot. I also disagree with your second point. Allowing someone to vote who shouldn't essentially negates the ballot of a person who legally voted for the other candidate. I tremendously resent the fact that my vote can be negated by an illegal or someone who is voting multiple times. If it's too much trouble to get an ID, then your right to vote really doesn't mean all that much to you and you probably aren't informed enough to be casting an informed ballot anyway.
Bruce-308647:
We also have a lot of people who have the right, but not the ability to easily prove it. Voting is already restricted by age, and requires registration. It does not need any more barriers than that.
Well then, you should be happy to learn that the amount of proven voter fraud that actually happens in this country is so negligible as to be practically non-existent.
You're fully entitled to that opinion, but neither of those things matters at all as far as the Constitutional right to vote is concerned. There is no legal threshold as to how "informed" anyone's vote must be (even having literacy as a prerequisite for voting is illegal!), or how important it must be to them. They have the right to cast it, regardless.
But I guess you're right, we'll have to agree to disagree. I prefer to err on the side of granting rights, and you choose to err on the side of denying them.
On it....SERIOUSLY???? are you friggen kidding me??? The students vote for dems cause it is JAMMED down their throats for years!!!!! My personal experience in going to school later in life (early 30's) showed me full and well the "way of thinking" and how critical thinking is suppressed...I wrote a paper that didn't support the "agenda" of a writing class and failed it miserably...But at the end of term I wrote a paper that "Fit" the agenda while making certain it had many mistakes and what happened??? I received a B....WTF is that?
And now I am dealing with my son and his school now pushing an agenda on him...He comes home directly on one side of an issue and NOT even given the other side's view point....
It does not matter to me if both sides are looked at and he is using critical thinking...IF HE IS GIVEN A CHOICE.....BUT the kids are NOT given that choice...
Doeyes101:
Let me guess. Evolution?
Not just evolution (I am more for evolution but I want my son to also know what other thoughts are on the subject so he can decide for himself later on)...I am talking mostly about things that have to do with the environment...what is happening with certain projects around the states and things like voting for a president.
I know this might be real hard for a liberal to understand but I will try anyway. That student ID is not proof you are a resident of the state. All it proves is you paid your tuition. Now as a resident of Cameron Cty Texas Here are somethings you liberals are too stupid to think of.. The University of Texas Brownsville is directly across the street from the international bridge to Matamoros Mexico. Many students from Mexico cross the bridge daily to receive an education. We don't mind as they pay out of state tuition but that doesn't make them legal to vote in the state of Texas. The University of Texas El Paso UTEP is within gunshot range of Mexico and they have the bullet holes in the walls to prove it. They also have many students from Mexico who paid tuition but that also doesn't make them legal to vote in Texas. Please quit being so dense and making stupid comments when you have no idea what you are talking about.
What makes you think those Mexican students want to vote in our elections? They know they can't, why would they even try? Per your description they don't even live here illegally. Is it really a concern?
To the OP, Texas has a higher rate of violent crime than NY and California, two states with notoriously stringent gun laws (tho outside of NYC, and I imagine LA, it's actually relatively easy to carry).
Except that none of that is a qualifier for voting per the Constitution. You could just be lazy - still have the right to vote. The burden, as understood by the basic precepts of our legal system, would be on the state to prove you invalid, not on citizens to prove they have the right to cast a ballot. That right is kind of assumed.
Check out Jim Greer you folks who are posting here saying it's all about preventing voter fraud:
http://politic365.com/2012/08/10/fmr-florida-republican-party-chair-we-sought-to-suppress-black-and-latino-voters/
He is the former Repub party chair who was in on that state's meetings re: voter laws. He is one brave S.O.B. to tell the truth about all of this. You nincompoops who believe this is about voter fraud should check out this link and learn the truth.Don't be so naive and drink the Kool-Aid that is spoon fed to you by folks who want to turn this country into a really awful place to live.....Our founding father's must be rolling over and over in their graves.
SouthernAmericanMom, not a single thing in your post is 'voter' fraud. Not a single one of those fraudulently cast votes would have been prevented by requiring state issued ID. What you have posted is an example of 'election' fraud committed by the officials charged with running a fair election and this is the most likely kind of fraud to occur during an election. 'Voter fraud' and 'election fraud' are 2 entirely different animals.
Lonereb, students from Mexico pay in state tuition because of Texas' good neighbor clause or bill or what ever you want to call it. You basically have to be an American to pay out of state tuition in Texas.
Re: college students and financial situation, college students are more likely to drive and have nicer cars than we saw when I was in college--but certainly not all. The oldest daughter of a friend of mine slept on my couch for 3 months her first semester of college because she was homeless. She had grown up in extreme poverty, used my computer to do her online application--which was difficult because her family had never owned a computer (and rarely even had a home phone). She'd use my computer for homework since a lot of courses required online participation. It had taken her until age 21 to graduate from high school, attending alternative high school part time while working as a night fast food shift manager. She and her fiance are financially fine now (to the point where she can be a stay at home mom to their 1-year-old), she's been out of college for 3 years--and you can darn well bet she will still be voting for Obama.
This so called news organization has put out at least THREE articles, very recently, about three different groups of people, who they say will have a hard time voting because they have to show ID...
Fell free to click each name to see the propaganda...err articles.
1. SENIORS
2. COLLEGE STUDENTS
3. LATINOS
Imagine that.... I say they have an AGENDA and are NOT reporting news.
and guess what...today all three articles are at the TOP of the headlines lingering for no reason.
Dear NBC... print the news and stop the propaganda. This is why this network has a the worst rating in television. As for NEWS21, what a total joke.
this whole article, and it's sister articles are all CRAP.
CORRECTION: Correct link to LATINOS article
I would guess you should vote in whatever state you pay state taxes in, because that would be your legal residence. As far as allowing people to use gun permits for voting ID- you have to jump through more hoops to obtain a gun permit than you do to obtain a student ID so that makes sense. And the comment that the extra $2 may be the difference between voting and a "loaf of bread", really? Come on, get real. Better put that $2 may be the difference between voting and buying a beer.
thats AMERICA
Its a lot easier to get a student ID or a staff card ID from a public university than it is a CHL in Texas at least. Virginia, I am glad you have such a high regard for the standards set by other states.
Also, most public university IDs that I have seen in Texas have no expiration date, address or anything other than a name and a UIN. That does not seem like enough info to meet the Texas' laws requirements.
Having lived in Atlanta for 16 years very close to Morehouse College, just show me one student at that college that doesn't have a drivers license. Just show me one, because not one exists. In Atlanta people, especially students, drive cars. There is no mass metro in that city, it's an asphalt town. Complete media hogwash, this whole issue. If your to lazy to get a proper ID, I don't want you voting. No ID, no vote, period.
The $2 is a poll tax.
Enough voter suppression Republicans.
30 years ago I had a driver's license when I was in college even though I didn't have a car. I didn't have one in the state that the college was in though. And that is fine. I don't think that students should be able to affect local politics in an area that they don't reside permanently in. They should absentee vote in their own district. And all the hoopla about the ID, nobody who absentee votes needs one so how is it preventing ANYONE from voting?
Eric
Get over yourself, get and Id and you can vote.
Festerhawg,
Get over yourself, there is no widespread voter fraud. You are just trying to rig the election for Romney.
Fester - Liberals like to pretend that obtaining an I.D. is too complex for someone enrolled in college and working on a college degree to handle.
It doesn't matter how cheap or how simple it is, the fact remains that it's an unnecessary barrier to exercising the most fundamental right we have in a democracy. If these laws keep just one legally registered voter from voting who would have voted otherwise, that's still too many.
It is simple the same people issue the state ID card , Drivers license and concealed carry permit Texas DPS. All requiire certain things proof that you are a citizen of the US (birth certificate, naturalization papers) or proof of legal residency in the US. They also have your thumbprints encoded and are scannable. They can pull up your license and tell if you have vehicle insurance at the county offices. UT student IDs only prove you paid your tuition not that you are a resident of the state. With two campuses in gunshot range of Mexico, they have the bullet holes in the walls to prove it and one that I know has an office to help illegal aliens file for the new amnesty I don't think student IDs are a viable ID for voting.
FYI In Texas if we ever get the ID law the ID for those who don't already have one will be FREE not $2 not $1 FREE. Do you also want us to go out rope them and get them over to the DPS office?
Re: "No Ticket - No Laundry!" Voting Requirements
Regarding citizens' new voting-related requirements like I stated earlier, is the 'sticking point' - I totally agree with the politicians' favoring this and their premise: that it is a fact that many, many poor, minority and senior citizens do not have; and therefore cannot produce even a basic photo ID.
Most favor ID for voting, of course - that's obvious. However, at the same time - filling out and signing a voting ballot with a valid address and the forms that locality sent to your home; is a most definitely a basic right that these governments owe to their citizens.
By the same token, someone shouldn't have to fork over a picture ID for the same municipalities to some elected autocratic dictatorial official; in order for the firefighters from that area; to proceed to plug in and then turn on the hoses and put out the fire because you do not have valid and up-to-date home insurance photo ID.
Or to pick up grandma when she keels over - just because a particular political party believes it is inconvenient or that you may not have your valid, paid-up and current health insurance card and a photo ID. That's obvious. Most people would like everyone to have a valid insurance card. Making it the REQUIREMENT for service is unjust.
Nobody is currently disputing that they NEED and ID for a more convenient life in our modern society. These affected people are nearly all; likely not showing their ID because they most often do not HAVE one available - not because of 'the refusal to offer' one - as is now being 'required' in more and more places.
Additionally, not having the ability to have/carry any basic valid ID on you AT ALL can have other unintended (even dire) consequences as well. In our neighborhood an elderly man passed out in the street one time a while back and someone saw him and called an ambulance.
He wasn't from that area and evidently had absolutely nothing inside his wallet that identified exactly who he was or where he was from or most importantly in this case, who to contact in an emergency.
Unfortunately, hospitals can actually do precious little for someone who finds themselves in this precarious type of situation - without being able to ascertain past medical information or the even knowing the persons name. In this case, the local TV station covered this and luckily his children came forward and were able to find him, thank goodness. :)
If these affected citizens were potential voters were right-leaning voters, the Republicans would be sending interns as volunteers in stretch-limo bus service to their homes and offering to assist in pulling the voting levers for them. (lol)
We should also offer their parents more assistance in obtaining ID. It is an undisputable it fact that many, many poor, minorities (and also 'senior' not-yet-citizens) do not have; and therefore cannot produce even a basic photo IDs for Non- Citizens.
I believe that - as a society - we are we should also be very concerned about as well as possibly come to offer some more assistance to just about 'anyone' out there who does not actually have either the knowledge, financial means or the wherewithal to be able to apply for, keep and carry around a basic photo ID in the first place.
One cannot even accomplish even very basic undertakings in our modern society; such as enter a bank and open an account or cash a check, register your children for school, apply for needed senior-related financial and medical government benefits and literally dozens of other basic things in the modern world without being able to produce a current (as well a legitimate) photo ID.
Not having an ID can severely jeopardize a person's ability to do many of these things - not to mention not being able to cast a ballot in states that require a citizen produce one beforehand. Therefore I think it would also be more prudent to place more of the emphasis on offering more assistance to these fine folks; as well as addressing their voting requirements.
Additionally, I entirely agree that these laws are being enacted by those who have absolutely no concern whatsoever as to why the people have no ID at all... and that they are being entirely disingenuous, regarding the 'proven to be fantasy' claims of even the remote possibility these laughable proclamations regarding any rampant 'multiple voter' fraud.
Making it the REQUIREMENT is that sticking point - these laws are being enacted by those who don't care as to WHY the people have no ID at all.
Their only concern that because those affected by the law do not vote for their party - and requiring ID is a way to deny them the 'opportunity' to vote for the other side. See the Truth Here - Site URL: to is
its the point that nobody votes 10 times under ten different names now lamar and rosheena cant vote for OBAMA TEN TIMES KNOW secondly they have the money to bye there drugs and alcohol so how come they cant scrounge up 5 bucks for a picture I.D. please they are living ghetto fabolous while blue collar people like myself are paying for it i dont have cable but i bet you shienieka in north philly has it and she probally does'nt work or anything because its people like me and my mother paying there crap
realoser
Hmmm, wonder who they voted for?
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120810/POLITICS02/208100377/1022/rss10
But then some still believe voter fraud doesn't exist! Nothing against Ill or Mich. personally but when I went to vote for the recall There were vehicles with Ill and Mich plates in the parking lot.
The ninety year old woman who cried about not having a photo ID and the court through out the case. Gee if she has know all to hire a lawyer and go into court herself but she could not go to the DMV and get the ID shows how stupid people are...Oh and by the way she went and got her ID whats that tell ya eh..
There is no provable voter fraud, yet everytime we get to a close election there are the Republicans trying to suppress the vote again.
Texana Deb
On It,
Students traditionally are liberal, comes with an education I guess.
Texana, and Morons are traditionally Conservative, comes with a LACK of an education I guess!
When my mom gave up her drivers license. She didn't have an ID the city judge found out a few of the city's senior citizens didn't have IDs. He called DPS arranged a time, made sure everybody had the paperwork they needed, loaded everybody in the van the city paid for to drive them around everyday and had the driver take them to the DPS office and wait. Maybe the problem isn't the people in Texas maybe YOU need to elect better people if you have such trouble getting your elderly to the office to get their IDs. We have very nice helpful bi-lingual people working at DPS. They are fast and efficient. They can over the phone or online tell you everything you will need. It took me one hour to switch my license from Iowa to Texas. BTW compared to say NYC very few Texans over 16 do not already have DL's It is a more rural state with less mass transit.
Voting is a right not a privilege, gun ownership is a privilege, driving is a privilege. There is no voter fraud, charging any fee to have the ability to vote is a poll tax, $2 or $20 its still a poll tax.
Actually, gun ownership is still a right.
The Republicans will soon realize that these new ID laws will end up biting them in the ass. Two solid Republican voting blocks have the same issues with lack of ID as minorities, seniors and poor white trash rednecks in the trailer parks that litter America's countryside.
Virgina, gun ownership licensing is a privilege in a bunch of states, i.e. New York, I think I'm speaking more on the hand gun issue, not rifles etc. I agree, hopefully people will really recognize this trend for what it really is. Here in Fl. A birth certificate signed by a Doctor and registered with the state of birth is not acceptable proof of citizenship, this effects a lot of our elderly who were born at home and not in hospitals. Go figure, they were lucky to have a physician attending.
Voting is a right, per the Constitution, that is held by all citizens. It is the citizen's responsibility to provide proof of citizenship. Individual gun ownership is a right, per the Constitution as upheld by the Supreme Court in 2008 and 2010. Don't let your partisanship blind you to the difference between ownership and concealed carry.
A "privilege"?
You could not be more wrong.
You could try, but you would not be successful.
Read the Constitution.
That's the thing about Republicans always touting the Constitution and never understanding what's in it.
Nothing like Obama stomping on the Constitution.
^this.
huh? To what are you referring? Be specific.
Drowning - Using U.S. resources in Libya with no congressional approval, mandating a tax on American citizens for healthcare insurance, refusing to enforce border laws, etc... Have you been living in a cave?
Dream Act for starters.
I didn't realize Obama sent troops to aid Nato in Libya. Oh wait, he didn't. There was nothing unconstitutional about our meager involvement in Libya. Contrary to Republican wishes now that a Democrat is in office, the Executive office does come with quite a few perks...
I think you missed a big story a couple of months ago (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/06/28/155901105/live-blog-the-health-care-ruling)
he'd deported more folks than George W. Bush. A border fence is not a realistic option, get over it.
Now, but it appears you might have been.
Hell, Republicans impeached Clinton for lying about a blowjob. Had Obama actually conducted any truly unconstitutional actions over the last 3.5 years, you bet your sweet ass that Republicans would have brought up some charges...
Poor White Trash? A little racism there Virg. Dem.?
Funny, I don't remember the Dream Act getting through the Senate. Nevermind that the act was initially introduced back in 2001 by that flaming unconstitutional marxist liberal Orrin Hatch...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DREAM_Act
Obama's Deportation numbers are up for two reasons, More illegals then ever getting caught doing crimes (only way they get deported) and at the boarder every time a person is turned away it is now counted as a deportation. A paper work scam for numbers.
okay...
link?
Fair enough. But more is more. If you're going to attack Obama for not deporting enough illegal aliens, you should have hit Bush harder. Somehow I doubt this was the case though...
{As an aside, upvoting your own posts is bad form}
Believe me Eric anybody in my age group understands that Constitution better than you do. Especially the way the liberals have taken a hatchet to the first amendment. But the tide is turning thanks to the ADF and the ACLJ. The ACLU will have to fight out every first amendment issue now not bully schools by saying they will sue.It is going to be a fun school year. PC teachers take warning the kid will have a lawyer. Roc another addition to Obamas deportation statistics for you . INS at Brownsville managed to deport a native born citizen of Texas.
Going to a school of higher learning but cant figure out how to get to a DMV to get an ID if you don't have a Drivers License? Though can find a ride to the party or game and pay the money to get in and get alcohol. Pathetic, another we want something for nothing, handout story. ID good for years do these educated students ever think they may need one after graduation to use a credit card, cash a check, go to pharmacy etc. etc. Love that liberal anti gun rehtoric thrown in. Who wrote this story Obama?
And grandma who lives with one of her children and doesn't drive and doesn't have any cards beyond an atm card to withdraw her spending cash from her direct deposit ss check? Why should she have to get an "approved" ID to exercise her right to vote that she has been using for the last 60 years ?
You want ID cards to vote then the govt should provide them at no cost at the polling places on election day.
Otherwise its just another example of what the party of NO wants, only the white rich guys with the right to vote and all the rights. The rest of us should all just be quiet good little serfs and get back to working for the master.
roc-
It's not that they don't have ID. It's that their residence in at their college, but their ID is at their parents' home. This means that they either have to vote absentee or change their ID. I think that all of us can agree that we don't want to encourage more absentee voting, as this is where the majority of voter fraud occurs.
Most states if not all if you show financial hardship to obtain an ID Its free. Next Excuse,
As far as Absentee Ballot they can at this time get a absentee ballot and cast a vote from there home state plus walk down to the nearest poll next to campus and vote again with ease. Should be if you get absentee ballot ID should be shown and recorded.
Roc-
Once again, absentee voting is where voter fraud occurs. Why would we want to encourage voter fraud with a anti-voter fraud law?
It occurs at the polls also.
Genenut
South Carolina offered free ID cards that people could sign up for on line and they even called the people to give them rides to get the IDs. Only 25 responded even though they took care of 2 of your complaints (cost and transportation). If you want to vote, stop complaining get an ID. It's simple and easy
It's not about financial hardship, they can make ten million dollars a year and you still can't charge them a poll tax!
jen- "It's not about financial hardship"
So they're just too lazy or too dumb to obtain an I.D.? No wonder Democrats willingly sell their votes for "free" handouts, with this lack of effort/competence they have little hope of ever being self-sufficient.
No tax involved, if its a financial hardship one can get an ID for Free in most states. I have the right to purchase a fire arm but to do so I MUST show ID and MUST pay a fee for back ground check. Double Standard here if ones against ID to vote but for ID and a fee for back ground check to purchase a fire arm. Voting AND gun ownership are rights correct?
Voting is the most essential right of a democracy and should have fewer barriers than any other right.
If you reside at college during the school year and at your parents house the rest of the time are you actually a resident of the state? Changing your drivers license is the automatic way of changing your residency as I have done four times in my life. If you are living in Texas as a resident you are required to change your drivers license within 30 days or you are in violation of the law. If you do not change your license you are a tourist.
Gun Ownership is a RIGHT! To buy a gun at a store I must show ID and pass background check. Is this an infringement on my right to do so plus a poll tax to pay the fee of background check?
I think that you will find that there is nothing in the Constitution regulating cost and fees of guns.
Fee for background check.
A citizen has the right to vote. Is there then in referance to post #7.1 anything in the constitution that states proof of citizenship ie ID Unconstutional?
If the ID costs anything, that constitutes a de facto poll tax, which is expressly forbidden by the 24th Amendment.
If it is free, but obtaining it requires traveling to some place that might necessitate a voter taking time off from their job, thereby potentially costing them lost wages, that could very easily be argued to be a poll tax as well.
If there were guaranteed to be literally no burden of any kind whatsoever to obtaining the ID in question, only then might its requirement be acceptable.
Well on the lost wage argument here in Wis the DMV (place to get ID also) is open one night a week past 5 and another night till 7.
How many college students don't have a driver's license?
Two? Three?
Alot actually. Cars cost alot as does drivers ed classes and many colleges don't allow underclassmen to have them the first couple of years on campus. Rates of licensing for those under 25 are dropping and have been for the last decade.
Still can get an ID without having a drivers license.
Get a non-driving ID card.
And if you truly can't afford it (which I don't believe), the fee can be waived.
Practically every college student is going to need a more substantial ID than their student card (which usually has no personal info) for a variety of reasons.
No and Roc-
It is clear that you did not read the article. The issue here is not that these college students do not have ID, but that their residence listed on their ID is their permanent address. Thus, they must either get a new ID that lists their college residence or vote absentee in their 'home' district. Absentee voting encompasses much more voter fraud than live voting ever does.
At this time a student can vote absentee from home state and walk to nearest poll by campus and vote again with ease.
What is really disgusting about this is that this Karl Rove tactic will fail in the end because it is clearly obstructing ( something the GOP who are sorry losers and can't stand the fact that more disagree than agree with them) ir now rigging the game. And doing it pretty blatantly with their rich elitist buds financing the fraud. No problems with voter fraud so lets fgo fix it..LOL Oh if you own a gun your more likely to vote our way so that is ok..college student?? You must be doing weed..IDIOTS!!!! Something for nothing??? Voting should be one thing that is free for all you hypocrites ...No evil people who judge others and do not want to have understanding for those who may not have the same resources as you...Take care of me and screw the rest of you...Not what I am looking for in this country and I am telling you, if the right continues this crap there will be a waqr...I do not advocate that but ultimately you can only beat people down...let them rot in the street..sick??? Let them rot in the street..you cant get something for nothing even though your rich Republican masters will not pay anyone any salaries worth a flip and send so many jobs overseas..oh yeah..but do not lower prices here even though they are making record profits...you people are liars and deceivers....you have enough and no you folks that are not as successful as me can't have anything I get to wlak on you...That is what the GOP is really saying to those poor who work hard and can't keep up with your right wing greed. Don't make the poor have to fight to live and survive much more than you are now...cause if you do it will come back to bite your sorry selfish butts...that my friends, is a lesson from history..something you righties and your Constitutional experts like Bachmann and Palin ( yeah their real astute about history aren't they LMAO) know nothing about and are ignorant of at your own peril.
OOOPS sorry the Dream Act recipients votes are needed this Nov.
First citizen's united, then voter suppression laws. "We the people" is slowing turning into fascism in this country.
Is by requiring an ID and back ground check with fees suppressing my right to purchase and own a fire arm?
Isn't it also disgusting the way the U.S. "suppresses" young people from purchasing alcohol or tobacco, or driving without obtaining an I.D.?
Liberals will cry about anything that limits their ability to exploit the feeble/incompetent for their own political gain.
Sorry dudes, apparently the writers of the 24th Amendment thought that the right to vote was just a little more important than the right to possess alcohol, tobacco, or firearms. Which is why you have to purchase those things instead of getting them for free.
Sorry Ash, Doubt there was a preferance on one right over another.
Ash, how would you like to compare that to the right to bear arms? Where, by federal laws, you must have a valid state ID at the time of purchase. One of the original enumerated rights require ID.
MOM 1010
"You provide just as much or more info for your college ID" Are you for real? The last college ID I saw revealed nothing about whether the owner was a US citizen and eligible to vote. Background checks for gun permits verify citizenship, which automatically verifies voting rights.
Personally, I think college students should be required to vote at their home of record, either in person or by absentee ballot. That would give their parents the opportunity to participate in their decision making process, instead of their piers getting them swept up in the rah rah hopie changie crap like happened in the Fall of 2007.
I lived in Greensboro, NC in the mid eighties when the city council was trying for force an extremely expensive bond issue, for the expansion of the coliseum complex, down the voters throats. It failed a referendum vote twice. Eventually it passed after the proponents completed a massive voter registration drive at the local colleges and universities. As a homeowner my share of the taxes required to retire the bonds was $1,200. Following graduation or quitting, the majority of the students that voted in favor of the bond issue simply moved on down the road. Sure they got to enjoy the new $50,000,000 expansion to the coliseum while they were in school and I got to enjoy paying the higher taxes for years after they were gone. Where is the justice in that?
In this article, one of the proponents for allowing students to vote in the district where the colleges are located made the following statement; "The likelihood of students registering at their parent’s house and then correctly filling out the application for an absentee ballot is low,” Stern said. If they can't correctly fill out the application, how in the hell do they qualify to be in college, let alone vote?
Army Vet, you are so right. The community college in our county has a very low tuition for out of state and international students, who make a very large percentage of the student body. The college decided it wanted to increase the student base by offering even lower rates for only international students. A bond election was held and did not pass. The voting public, and land owners who pay most of the school taxes, have had enough, no more money. If students had been able to vote with only their student ID's, the turn out would have been different, even though THEY are on the receiving end, not the paying end.
Most people who fill out the absentee ballot do not fill it out correctly. It is difficult to fill out and to get.
There is no requirement that people are educated to vote. Yes, this may not apply to college students, but that practice was deemed illegal long ago.
Absentee voting is responsible for most of the voter fraud in the system. So, yes, to eliminate voter fraud, let's encourage absentee voting...except for the fact that it is responsible for the voter fraud. How does this make sense?
I voted absentee while in the military, I found it no harder to fill out then things like a loan application or to open checking/savings account, grocery store application for discount card, utilities application. If you feel that a friend or relative may have difficulty filling one out wouldn't you ride along to assist just as you would if they were going to the bank?
Roc-
Yes, I would. Except for the fact that I have a job and don't live near my relatives that use absentee ballots.
Who helps them then if needed for other tasks that require paperwork etc.?
You're talking about college students, over the age of 18, who can die in wars for their country, but you don't think they're smart enough to make their own decisions about how that country should be led? You think they need their parents to tell them how to vote? That's ridiculous and offensive.
jen I was replying to post #11.2
this works out well for republicans... who are generally under educated, dull witted, ignorant, and living in the 1800's
Using an "ad hominem" strategy generally reflects on you as the "under educated, dull witted, ignorant..."
.....Or it just verifies that you probably have no reasonable basis to your argument.
Greg
as in contrast with all the welfare, gang bangers, and felons, AND "undocumented immigrants" who vote Democrat? You obviously have a very narrow field of reference.
By this argument, background checks and ID requirements for gun purchases are a violation of your Constitutional rights.
I guess you should be able to walk into a gun shop, say who you are, and buy a gun;)
This analogy gets funnier and cleverer every time someone trots it out. Really, it does.
Well then Ash, try responding to it. It is not an analogy as much as a legitimate argument. The courts have ruled that every one over the age of 18 and not a felon can purchase a long gun and the same holds true for voting. How are the situations different. Please explain to me how it is all right to restrict the right to bear arms via ID but the situation is so different for voting?
As a 2009 university graduate, I know that college ID's do not show state of residency, or age. Being a college student does not guarantee that you are of legal voting age. I was in school with a sophomore who was only 16 (home schooled). Besides, a student ID is linked to the college data base, not the voters data base. All, at least the majority, of the students, even the 16 year old who are legal residents have state issued ID's or licenses.
Good point.
Texana-
Most college IDs do not show that information. Some do. Such as the state IDs in GA.
zieglo
I am not familiar with GA state universities since I went to school in Texas. Neither the community college or the state university (University of Texas/ Arlington) had any information other than what was necessary to buy books, use the library, use the cafeteria, etc. They did not show age, address, state (or country) of residency or legal status. Using a college ID is no better than trying to drive using a library card as your ID.
Having the age on the ID (or not) has nothing at all to do with voting - it just proves who you are - and they still have to find you in the voting rolls. Just because you have an ID doesn't mean you can vote. You have to be a registered voter to vote, and to become a registered voter you have to be 18 or older. My 21 year old daughter has a drivers license that shows her age. That doesn't mean she can vote, since she has never gone and registered to do so.
zieg, not all private universities in GA have that information on the card. There is no set standard because they are private and thus free to do what they want. And on that note, I do not believe that all of the state colleges do either. I know that when I went home for summer classes a few years back, the school I attended, KSU, did not have that information on the ID. I also do not think that my brother who attends UGA, a state school, has that information on his ID either.
Orwellian act of desperation that diminishes the entire election process.
Absolutely. If you do not posses the will/ability to simply obtain an I.D. you certainly do not need to be voting on issues that have real effects on other peoples lives. You should posses a shred of personal responsibility before being allowed to place responsibility for the results of your vote onto others.
Sorry, but you don't get to determine the conditions that validate someone's right to vote. You have no idea why anyone might not have an ID. Maybe they want to live as much off the grid as legally possible. That's their right! They are under no legal obligation to have a government-issued ID. But they still have the Constitutionally-protected right to vote.
What? NONE of these college kids have a driver's license or any other form of offical government ID? I bet if they were trying to buy alcohol (legally of course) the valid ID's would be everywhere. College ID cards mean nothing other than you are paying tuition to X University, it doesn't mean you are a resident of X state, city or even the United States. Just another example of the whiney me-me-me generation, get over it and show some real ID.
College students have official I.D.'s, bars and night clubs do not accept student I.D.'s. Liberals are just desperately pandering to the sheep. You will not see such a ridiculous article on any reputable news site.
It is perfectly legal to live in this country without owning any of the forms of ID that these laws require. People who choose to live that way, whatever their reasons may be, still have the Constitutionally-protected right to vote.
Its a Protected Right to own a Fire Arm also! Voting is also a choice, nothing states you must vote! Anology gets funnier doesnt it!
John Ford, who had been a member of the Tennessee Senate for over 30 years, resigned in 2005 after he was indicted in Operation Tennessee Waltz. Ophelia Ford ran for her brother's state senate seat and defeated Henri Brooks by 20 votes in the special Democratic primary. She went on to defeat Republican candidate Terry Roland by 13 votes in the special general election. Both elections fell under allegations of improprieties. Names of deceased persons and felons were found on the rolls, and dozens of additional votes were counted from voters living outside the district. Further investigation of the election revealed that one of the election officials purportedly certifying the name of many of the voters in question was actually in New York City the day of the election and that her place was taken, without authorization, by a relative.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation investigated aspects of the election, and District Attorney Bill Gibbons obtained 37 indictments, 35 of which are felonies, against three Shelby County poll workers for alleged election fraud.
Someone tell me again how voter fraud is a rare event and that ID laws are to keep certain populations from voting? Obviously anyone who thinks voter fraud doesn't impact election resluts has never lived in Memphis, TN.
You bet your azz I want to keep certain populations from voting with strict ID laws - namely the dead, the felons and those with multiple or stolen identities.
And as for this article if you are capable of obtaining a student ID, a work ID, a gun permit, a library card, a bus card, a debit card or a card of any kind with you name on it - you can go the extra block and get a voter ID card. Sheesh. How come the ACLU and everyone screaming about keeping people from voting aren't raising the roof about needing an ID to cash a check or drive a car or buy cigarettes or beer??
The hilarious thing is that the situation you described was a completely different kind of fraud that would not have been affected one bit by voter ID laws. The kind of voter fraud that the ID laws are allegedly supposed to prevent is the kind that basically never actually happens.
What in the hell is happening in "Democratic country of America"? I came from the country where people don't want to vote (because they know it will not matter), and here Governors are trying to do everything possible to make people do not be able to vote.
Amazing.
Only GOP governors!!
You are correct, only GOP governors are making sure American citizens vote in American elections that impact all Americans. Democrats are all too happy to sell-out the country and its citizens to foreign voters with foreign interests.
Another FOX troll!!
My state didn't go for that Photo ID law.Millions in my city don't drive a car,millions don't smoke or drink.Check cashing places here will accept your Photo ID from your employer.
The GOP does not want you to vote unless your going to vote for Romney !! Cheating is another form of winning for them!! And you wonder why the minorities, women and the elderly does not support the GOP!
You are right, how could dead people and Dream Act recipients vote if needed to show ID?
You mean "non-Whites" I see.
PissedOff - Congratulations on taking Liberal racism to new lows. "Dead people" is now racist because only "non-whites" die. Great job.
With such a feeble mind and skewed outlook it is no wonder you are pissed off.
Whites live now forever????????????. Doesn't the Dream Act cover all races and color or is Obama singling out a particular race for this? Wouldnt that be racist then?
No it was not me, Im not the one saying Drinking the "kool-aid", or saying the "welfare president" or the one yelling to show his Birth cert because he is an illegal. I was not the one calling him a Muslim or Non-American. So since the gopbaggers and tea bag groups has started their racist comment i will chose to use my own . Okay.
So then its OKAY Right?
A student ID is for access to the school and its functions. The only other use is to get a discount on a cheese burger and such from an outside vendor. This is an attempt to get anyone who is demographicly liberal in the voting booth. The wet dream act is more of the same. I dont see liberals coming to North Dakota skin head compounds to ask if they are registered. I'm sure no voter drives at southern malitia compounds either. These are desperate times. Idealists want to push their ajenda in any they can. The re-election of the liberal god might be slipping away. Anything is fair game to save the cause. Vote early vote often. Dont let those conservatives take away our free stuff.
Funny you should mention militia people living in compounds, since those are actually the sorts of people most likely to deliberately NOT have a government-issued ID, which is completely within their rights. However, they still have as much right to vote as you do. There is no reason they should be forced to get an ID if they really do not want one.
Ash, people living in militia style compounds are actually likely to have ID because they can not exercise their constitutional right to bear arms other wise.
When you can't win on you own merit...
Import foreign voters and pay them off with U.S. taxpayer money... its the Democrat way.
Change the rules to fit your needs - it's the republican way.
They are bringing back the Poll tax for minorities, elderly and college kids who might think first before they vote.
This is a poll tax. About $70 to $80. Birth certificate and other documents cost money and pay for the PHOTO ID CARD. Why don't all the states have this law?
[Quote] “It’s very clear right now that if you’re at UGA (the University of Georgia), it’s a state-issued ID, and if you’re at Emory (University) or Mercer (University), it’s private and would not count by any stretch as state-issued ID,” Thomas said. [End Quote]
Now combine that with: [Quote] College students, who led a record turnout among 18- to 24-year-old voters in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, could play a major role in this November’s elections, but their impact could be blunted by states’ voter ID requirements. [End Quote]
And I can only surmise that your average 18-24 year old college student is almost to ignorant (notice I did not say stupid) of the entire system to vote intelligently, and is easily fooled by smoothly spoken promises and an inability to distinguish between "state issued" and anything else.
In Georgia alone there was a substantial larger amount of voters after voter ID then prior to.
LOL, is anybody surprised by the random sh-t that happens in the South?
So here's a question for the GOP: Why aren't you implementing voter suppression laws around mail in ballots? Voter fraud occurs far more through the mail in ballot process, not in person voting. Could it be that GOP voters historically use mail in ballots at much higher rates??
Until mail in ballot voter fraud is dealt with by these GOP States, then everyone knows these acts are completely partisan and intended to keep Democrats from their right to vote.
Yep. Voter fraud is such a problem that it happens once every 15,000,000 (that's million) votes, as investigated by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative who researched voter fraud in all 50 states. That makes it right to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters to prevent those 10 people from ever committing voter fraud again. I mean, who really cares about your Constitutional right to vote.
Brought to you by your local Republican Party.
So you don't care about your constitutional right to not be taxed just for breathing (Obamacare) and you also don't care about only have U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections?
No wonder you are a Democrat.
I think he's saying that he'd rather have 10 non-citizens casting invalid extra votes than have 100,000+ citizens be prevented from casting their valid votes.
I'll have to double-check the math and get back to you, but I think he might be onto something there.
Do those 10 non-citizens have the right to vote?
My daughter is a minor and I just got done registering her for High School not college High School. By the time I filled out all the paperwork and paid for all the fees including fee for mandatory picture ID it was over $100. Is this an infringement on myself and my daughter to receive a High School education. These are fees that must be paid every year for four years. I had to even buy books, in wich I asked what if I do not wish to pay for the book and the reply was she would be denied the ability to take the class, One required for graduation. So in essence I am forced to purchase their book from their supplier at their established fee.
That's the problem anymore. Everybody wants everything FREE.
Trouble - want to borrow my glasses - "...forced to purchase their book from their supplier at their established fee. I didn't read anything in there that implied wanting something for free - get over it - not everyone is looking for a free ride!
One book was almost $40 I inquired for I knew were I could get a used one used the previous year cheaper and was the exact same book but was denied. Not wanting for free but just trying to save a few bucks if I could.
You're right Peg. Just Dems.