E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSNews21
Ethan Magoc/News21
Barbara Johnson, a National Council of La Raza voter registration canvasser, assists Quilvio Rodriguez, 26, of Miami, with his registration application on May 31, 2012, outside a grocery store in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.
Florida’s hanging chads and butterfly ballots in 2000 ignited the divisive battle that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court denying an election recount, effectively declaring that George W. Bush won the presidential election by 537 votes.
Another potentially close election is ahead, and the nation’s largest swing state is again at the center of a partisan debate over voting rules — this time, a fight about the removal of non-citizens from Florida’s voter roll and how the state oversees groups who register voters.
It is set against a national backdrop of a bitter fight between Democrats who say voting rights of students and minorities are endangered and Republicans who say that voter fraud is widespread enough to sway an election.
|
Discuss this series of stories on the Facebook page for Open Channel, the NBC News investigative blog. |
While many other states have considered laws that would require that people show a photo ID before they can vote, Florida has taken a different tack. Republicans there wrote a law in 2011 that they said would eliminate voter registration fraud by more closely controlling third-party registration, early voting hours and voter address updates.
|
Who can vote? A national News21 investigation of voting rights in America. |
“With the old law, some things weren’t illegal or designated as fraud,” said Rep. Dennis Baxley, an Ocala Republican and funeral home owner who sponsored the bill.
Voting rights advocates were most concerned about these features of the new law: reducing from 10 days to 48 hours the time that third-party groups had to hand in voter registrations and cutting early voting days from 14 to eight, including eliminating the Sunday before Election Day. Those whose address has changed to another county since they registered, must cast a provisional ballot and confirm their new address within two days.
Of the roughly 22 million Florida votes cast since 2000, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has received only 175 complaints of voting-related fraud, 11 of which led to convictions, according to data obtained by News21.
Baxley said his bill was a proactive step. “We wanted to prevent mishap and mischief.”
For Navene Shata, a 21-year-old south Florida college student, the changes meant she would have to update her address at least a month before voting. She works 30 hours a week around a busy class schedule and involvement with student government.
“I do keep watch and want to see what the candidates have to say,” Shata said, “but voting is frustrating when these pointless things get in the way.”
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.
“The whole process was poor. Major changes were made in committee, and none of it was vetted,” Dockery said. “When one party has two-thirds of the vote, you can overrule anything. People go off to extremes.”
Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the 2011 law, took an interest in voter rolls when an analysis by the Florida Departments of State and of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles found 180,000 Floridians were registered to vote, had driver’s licenses but had not confirmed their citizenship status.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner discussed the issue with election supervisors in April. The state cut the list to 2,700 voters before sending it to county officials to verify citizenship status.
The problem? The shorter list included many citizens.
What’s become known as the voter purge worried many — from legal voters who were incorrectly targeted, to county officials to voting rights advocates.
Again, there is uncertainty in Florida, a state with troubled election history. Poll taxes were required until 1937, and voting rule changes in five counties are subject to federal review because of a pattern of civil rights violations.
The Department of Justice in June unsuccessfully sued in federal court to stop the voter removal, and another suit from four civil rights groups is pending.
Federal law prohibits sweeping state voter removals within 90 days of a federal election, and Florida has an Aug. 14 primary. But a federal judge in late June said the state can remove confirmed non-citizens.
“It’s the timing, it’s the fear-mongering,” said Myrna Perez of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, a public policy group that opposed many voting rule changes nationally. “This scare tactic that there are hordes of non-citizens voting is wrong.”
Neither the 2000 presidential election controversy nor the current disputes much mattered to a group of Miami high school students who registered to vote in May.
“Eh, kinda. That was like 12 years ago. I was 5,” said Kristena Swanson, 17, a Southwest Miami High School senior and one of 318 students who registered May 30 in the school’s auditorium. “But, yeah, I know how bad the voting issues have been here before.”
Miami-Dade Public Schools became a Florida third-party voter registration group in March. Sixty district schools registered more than 10,000 high school students on April 4. They held a second drive May 30, and at school year’s end, 12,514 Miami-Dade students had registered — Florida’s third-largest registration group total.
Under the 2011 law, voter registration groups that formerly had 10 days to turn in completed registration forms were given just 48 hours to do so. They faced a $50 fine for each form turned in more than two days after completion, among other restrictions. But organizations statewide developed strategies to turn in voter registration forms within 48 hours, as the 2011 law required.
“When the law changed,” said Millie Fornell, a Miami-Dade associate superintendent, “we at the district office sat down and said, ‘How do we take the onus away from the schools?’”
The day after Miami-Dade’s second voter drive in May, however, a federal judge threw out the 48-hour rule, reverting to the previous 10-day period.
Baxley said he wasn’t that upset with the decision. “I don’t think they got much for their money on the lawsuit,” he said “If they want 10 days instead of two, fine.”
“They” are the League of Women Voters, the Florida Public Interest Research Group Education Fund and Rock the Vote, federal lawsuit plaintiffs. The league and Rock the Vote suspended registration drives for 13 months.
“We need the state to settle down and make sure people can be proud of Florida’s elections,” said Deirdre Macnab, the league’s Florida president. “Registering voters is our most popular job, and it was the first thing we did in 1939.” Its efforts were more informal door-to-door canvassing until the 1970s when counties first started deputizing registrants.
About 100 other third-party groups, including the nonpartisan National Council of La Raza, which advocates for Latino civil rights, continued registering voters throughout the past year.
“We don’t tell people who or what to vote for. We just want them to register,” said Natalie Carlier, La Raza’s regional coordinator. And its canvassers do not only register Hispanics.
On a humid May afternoon, about 20 La Raza canvassers gathered in an upstairs room of their nondescript office building near downtown Miami. Carlier stood in the middle of the canvassers’ half-circle, speaking to part-time workers who cover parts of Miami several hours a day, five days a week.
Carlier fielded questions and problems that the canvassers recently encountered. Charts on the wall noted each day’s voter tally. A paper cutout of a thermometer’s mercury showed how many voters her group has to register to reach its goal of 35,000-plus before November.
Through July, La Raza had registered more than 35,000 voters, according to the Florida Division of Elections.
Barbara Johnson, 36, was born in Cuba to an African-American father and Cuban mother. She joined La Raza two years ago on a whim — quitting a retail job — and became dedicated to the work.
Hundreds of times a day, any time someone walks past her spot outside a Little Havana supermarket, she has a rapid-fire approach.
“Hola! Como esta? Esta registrada para votar?” she gets a curt nod in return from an older woman. “Any updates? Change of address? New voter card?” Johnson, like other canvassers, moves easily between English and Spanish.
Angelica Arroyo, 36, came out of a Publix supermarket and filled out a card with her teenage daughter watching. “I wasn’t registered and wanted to vote,” Arroyo said in Spanish. “I would have tried to register, but I’m happy I found her just now.”
Navene Shata was up early during the school year, in class all day at Palm Beach State College and worked almost full time at a CVS pharmacy.
Her schedule is typical of many working college students without much free time.
Shata recently moved from Boca Raton to Deerfield Beach — moving from Palm Beach County to Broward County in the process — which will help accommodate her new studies in pharmacy at Nova Southeastern University. Before the 2011 law, voters could change counties, update their address on Election Day and vote. Now, voters who don’t change their county registration before Oct. 29 can cast a provisional ballot and must return to the elections office within 10 days of voting and prove their new address is valid if they want their provisional ballot counted.
It was not an issue in January’s closed primary, when only Republicans could vote.
In Broward County, where Shata now lives, voters cast 4,222 provisional ballots in 2008; 3,958 were not counted — one of the worst acceptance rates in the state for that election.
Voters who recently moved between counties and don’t update their registration could face problems in November. Shata said she’ll make time this summer to update her registration, although “I don’t understand why the law was changed.”
The governor continues to defend the state’s non-citizen voter purge.
“We’re doing the right thing,” Scott said on CNN in June. “I can’t imagine anybody not wanting to make sure non-citizens don’t dilute a legitimate U.S. citizen’s vote.”
The process began well ahead of the 2012 election. For months, Florida’s Department of State requested access to a federal database with better information about citizenship than the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied access, claiming the database was not designed as a voter-roll maintenance tool. The state sued, claiming that federal law requires the database be shared.
The U.S. Department of Justice countersued to block the purge. The same judge who reversed the 48-hour third-party registration law said Florida is allowed to remove non-citizen voters, but most county officials refused to do so because they do not trust the state’s list.
Homeland Security agreed in July to share its Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, a system that Detzner said updates every 72 hours.
“Keep in mind,” Detzner said, “if we have a name that we run across the SAVE database and it’s a citizen, that person will never be processed on down to the (county election) supervisors. Supervisors are ultimately the ones that make a decision about taking someone off of the rolls.”
Michael Ertel, supervisor of elections in Seminole County, just north of Orlando, is concerned about the dispute’s effects on voters: “What I don’t want to see is people reading these stories and then saying, ‘You know what? The process doesn’t work. Forget it. I don’t want to vote.’”
Ertel supported the law’s changes and voter-roll maintenance — presuming it’s conducted properly — but said he fears the fight could disillusion voters.
“When they don’t go to the polls,” Ertel said, “that’s a sad bit of collateral damage.”
Andrea Rumbaugh and Joe Henke of News21 contributed to this article. Joe Henke was a Hearst Foundations Fellow this summer at News21.
Discuss this series of stories on the Facebook page for Open Channel, the NBC News investigative blog.
Leave a Comment:
Time is running, you got 60 days to get your ID. No ID no Vote.
Just as it should be.
But don't worry, some time in that 60 days, your name will be purged from the voter lists, unless you have consistently voted as a Republican.
Only the brain dead need not worry.
ZOMBIES for ROMNEY/RYAN 2012!!!
Another propaganda piece from NEWS21. This is like the 6th or 7th article about disfranchisement of voters in the past WEEK.
NEWS21 IS SERIOUSLY A BIASED LIBERAL PROPAGANDA MACHINE and does NOT report news at ALL.
You either prove your a citizen of the USA or GTFO.
NEW21 the KING of infotainment leading the sheeple to the water.
Voter suppression is the antithesis of true democracy...
...the right wing Republican-T-Party scumbags are going to rue the day...
...they cast their lot with withered, dying, old racist Obama-haters...
...who will soon be worm food...
...After all, evil always loses in the end...
WILLARD! SHOW US THOSE RETURNS OR ELSE!
Obama-Biden 2012!
4 MORE YEARS OF PRACTICAL, PATRIOTIC LEADERSHIP!
If you don't even have a decent enough ID to get a library card, which requires a photo ID, then your to lazy and stupid to vote, period. Imagine a library card being harder to get than voting in a national election? This is a con game being played daily on MSN and MSNBC. No photo ID, no vote!
The race card is always the last vestige of a loser who has run out of ideas to promote his side of a discussion. Big Papa stick your race card, because you Sir are the racist for bringing it up.
"Big Papa stick your race card, because you Sir are the racist for bringing it up."
...Well, J(erked)C(rackhead)B(uttface)...
...if what you say is true, (I vociferously beg to differ though)...
...Throughout my lifetime, and during this past three years especially...
...I've had plenty of right wing Romney/Ryan, racist neo-Confederate white-supremacist Republican-T-Party anti-American, Obama-hating skanks...
...(that'd be YOU- in particular-- and your people)...
...role models...
...who've taught me everything about being racist...
Obama-Biden 2012!
Time to Move America Forward!
Calm down everyone; both sides of this debate have legitimate concerns. I think what most people object to is the partisan source of most of these laws.
Dirp; Nice of you to tell the libs they don't need to worry.
When you have to show your birth certificate, in order to get a driver's
License, THAT should be proof enough, that you ARE who you say you are.
If they throw a grocery list at me, I'm going to the ACLU and suing them for
OBSTRUCTING my right to vote, guaranteed by the Constitution.
The Republicans have an ENTITLEMENT mentality, and believe that WEALTH can
buy them anything they want. Let's shake them up, and show them that the
Presidency cannot be BOUGHT, it has to be earned through the trust of the citizens
of this Country. Once we clean out the House of Representatives, of the dead wood
who won't do their jobs, we will see the improvements we hoped for. A House Divided
falls. Mr.Romney will not have anymore success, as long as the Congress will not work
with each other, so no matter WHO we vote for, unless we fire the members of Congress
who refuse to do their jobs, the POTUS will be IMPOTUS! :)
Interesting that DMV was able to assign *citizenship* to 175,000+ people who hadn't provided documentation of that citizenship... Either explain how you're able to do this (in a legal fashion) or don't be surprised that people get uptight and know that something underhanded is going on.
Gov. Rick Scott, who signed the 2011 law, took an interest in voter rolls when an analysis by the Florida Departments of State and of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles found 180,000 Floridians were registered to vote, had driver’s licenses but had not confirmed their citizenship status.
Secretary of State Ken Detzner discussed the issue with election supervisors in April. The state cut the list to 2,700 voters before sending it to county officials to verify citizenship status.
jock59801 said: "Calm down......both sides of this debate have legitimate concerns." and I'm sorry to remind you that the people advocating these ID laws have never produced sufficient evidence of voter fraud, this is punctuated by the fact that many of these laws and rules were changed in committees, not in legislature which would demand such proof (unless the Republicans had a majority in such legislature, in which case they would ram the bill through without bipartisan support). Therefore your statement that both sides have legitimate concerns belies credulity.
It's the same type of issue as the supposed "New Black Panthers" party, who when photographed, have only included two and always the same two members and therefore can't even be considered a party, but a Black Panther Couple. Yet, this "party" is being used all over the country as a way to scare white people away from voting for Obama, since "he's not doing anything about the New Black Panthers". I'm therefore unable to fault Obama supporters for their lack of placidity in the face of what appears to be a sytematic attempt to steal another election from the United States of America through manipulation, fear and literally erasing people's names from the rolls of voters, which happened in Florida in 2000 & 2004.
Both sides don't appear to have legitimate concerns; it seems only one side needs fear election fraud and it's not the one trying to change rules to require ID to cast ballots, it's the rest of us. All of us.
One of the best lines heard lately was from Izzy Kapp, a now
retired shop foreman from the old Republic Steel Plant in Cleveland. At 17
Izzy immigrated to the USA from England after his family escaped from Poland
when he was 12. A more proud American can not be imagined. He often said,
"I am overwhelmed by the opportunities my county offers me!"
All five of his children graduated from college. One got an
MS, another got a JD, and the third an MD degree. It took Izzy 13 years of
night school to get a college degree.
When a young Black kid was being laid off at the end of his 90
day evaluation period he confronted Izzy in the huge Republic Steel Plant
break room at lunch and tried to intimidate him with all sorts of NAACP /
ACLU / Etc threats.
"I want this on-the-record in front of everybody." the young
man said. "You' firin' me 'cause I'm Black!"
Without even looking up from his sandwich the foreman said,
"No. We hired you because you're Black. We're firing you
because you're useless."
Hey Barrak, If the shoe fits.......
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012... it's time to get America Back To Work!
old story and you repeat it every chance you get, made up anecdotal baloney. There is no voter fraud.
Obama 2012
There is no voter fraud?
Here is the FUNNY thing about laws... you cannot break one unless there is one to break...
Watch how many people get jacked up "by the union bus loads" when the voters have to show proper ID for the most important right any registered citizen has.
If you are against showing proper ID when you vote then you have a HIDDEN agenda to keep people voting with no identification. Why would that be????
Maybe so illegals can vote for Odumbo? Nah liberals would never pull anything like that.
ssmithlg sounds like an old bagger tale. You were wrong on two counts. You should have never hired him because he was black. That's the problem. You should have hired him because he was qualified. Then you say he was worthless...no that would be you. Why do you guys make stuff up? Why? Maybe because you are liars from the inside out. "You People" make me sick.
and you think Romney is your solution ? think again. You are blind.
There are none so blind as those who will not see. I believe that was written about liberal sheeple.
why are you talking about "liberal sheeple"? Do you think conservative sheeple do not exist? Or do you not care that they exist because they vote for your political "team"?
I wouldn't vote for Romney/Ryan if I had a gun aimed at my head. With voter surpression alot of tax paying american citizens won't be voting at all. Courtious of the republican party, because cheating is the only way they can win!!!!
Read right above your post.
trouble46545 And you sir, read the post below mine.
Need a good smack down come November, help the shut-ins and those that need transportation to and from the voting precincts. Every American has the right to vote, whatever their druthers. There is no voter fraud.
Obama 2012
Unless Odumbo gets his way.
Trouble, you've got to be kidding! First of all, he should be addressed as President Obama, because he is our president. Secondly, it's the Republicans who started this voter registration thing, when there were only 11 cases of voter fraud! What's they're (your) problem? What makes it so important to you, when it's been proven to be a non-issue?
It was a Minnesota Democrat that started the ID process long ago.
When I showed up last time - I had to show ID to Vote.
And Just how is it the RNC would be cheating - if ID is used -
It's just the opposite FFS.
No ID - then lets see by those who don't of legal age - Of course - they don't have a computer.
They don't have bank account - or divers lic, or library card, or student ID, welfare card.
It's just an imaginary flock of crow - That don't qualify.
Florida, Ha! What do you expect from a state that has the following laws on its book... seriously!
Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal.
It is considered an offense to shower naked.
Oral sex is illegal
You may not kiss your wife’s breasts.
When having sex, only the missionary position is legal.
most of those sound like uptight,looney religious based laws.probubly the porcupine one also.learned the hard way by some pastor.
Vls-2985939...
You do realize, don't you, that EVERY state has absurd laws on the books from the 18th and 19th centuries that haven't been enforced in decades but simply haven't been formerly removed from the books. To use those as examples is a bit ridiculous. I'm just saying
What do you expect from libs?
But none so stupid as the ones you in Fla.
It is only people up to no good who are concerned with the voting process. It is those people who want to pick up a bus load of people and tell them who to vote for "after they give them a sandwich".
It speaks volumes that every time verification of voters comes up the Liberal Democrats oppose it. Now why would that be? I'm tired of these supposed people who just can't get to wherever they need to be to register to vote. If they can get to the polls then they can get registered. There are so few people who can't produce documentation to prove who they are that you could count them on one hand. They can get down to the welfare office to sign up for food stamps, WIC, housing subsidies and on and on but somehow during that busy schedule can't find time or a way to get to a place to get registered. College kids don't seem to have a problem getting a proper photo ID to get into bars so how about taking time off from Spring Break and get registered. If you're too dumb and too lazy to get registered properly then you are way too dumb and lazy to vote.
Did someone say tax paying citizens? Tax paying citizens are all voting for Romney!!!
I thought that romney-supporters don't like taxes? Oh right, only for those making 250k+ a year...
By the way, it is also instructive that the Liberals spend as much if not more time trying to suppress the military vote-now again, why would that be-as they do worrying that their illegal base might not get in to vote.
Rich: There has never been a Liberal pol trying to supress Military voting and in 2004, when overseas ballots were not going to be counted by Bush, liberals fought for changes to make sure they were so......you made that up. If you didn't, someone in your party who is equally dishonest did. There is no voter fraud other than the type your party is engaging in now: supression of the poor and minority groups....same old-same old.
Is there a correlation to the fact that Obama may be leading Romney in FL? You bet there is!
Obama 2012
Are you trying to say that people in Florida are stupid?????
count the chads jeb.
Hang the Chads. (Liberals too).
while were at, hang jeb!
States like Florida that are trying to enact the full-scope of this new ID Voting Law, are engaging in race, class, age and gender warfare! It all sounds so legal and self-righteous, but the real intent lays hidden!
Florida and the Republicans have a sleazy history/relationship when it comes to voting in presidential elections - Any right-thinking citizen wouldn't trust anything political coming out of Florida!! Overall, elections are rigged and are now becoming more suspect with this measure - Those behind this dirty tactic have no shame, and they're not truly interested in reforming the vote so that everyone has access - This is indeed a not so funny joke!!
Homeland Security involved? Hummmmmm
"Navene Shata was up early during the school year, in class all day at Palm Beach State College and worked almost full time at a CVS pharmacy.
Her schedule is typical of many working college students without much free time."
I'm not sure why they keep repeating how "busy" she is. I work 40 hours a week and have sole custody of a first grader. I manage to not only work, help with homework, clean the house, get him bathed, read him stories, have downtime etc but also I manage to update important documents such as voter registration to make sure everything is current. I also used to juggle school with all of that. Its not all that difficult. Oh to be a single childless college student again, when I thought life was so hard.
KG3178: You intentionally omitted the fact that 3900 of 4200 provisional ballots in her county were tossed making an almost ironclad case for voter supression, but showing no evidence of voter fraud from the other direction making your statement deception, and a distraction from the issue. I read the article, though. All the things you do for the child you chose to bring into this world are your responsibility, not options, so no "brownie points" for those, that was your choice and you could've chosen not to, correct? How many times have you moved? I mean, you obviously wouldn't comment about how hard it is (now, as compared to before the law was changed) to change registration when you move to a different county without having done so yourself, right? I mean, that would make your whole statement nonsense, wouldn't it? When a young person is learning how to fit their responsibilities as a citizen and college student and working too....it IS hard! What I find problematic is that the government of Frorida makes it harder by changing the rules as soon as you learn them, aside from the fact that you are using your lack of family planning to somehow justify it or minimize this young person and all of the people represented by those 3900-plus "stolen" ballots. If you have it all figured out, that's great for you but how does that affect the people in this article? It doesn't, and there is no reason for these laws other than voter supression: an age old tactic of the Republicans to make their fewer votes carry the election.
So sad and hypocritical of the pseudo-libertarians to demand another law to address a non-issue! I thought the right wing was for less laws, not for more (particularly for ifctitious problems)
The problems in Florida last time were caused by Bush's brother hiring a Texas firm with no experience to supply voting machines and manage them. THAT was the voter fraud, and has never been dealt with. BUt hey, let's make up statistics and wild eyed lies to disenfranchise anyone who does not vote Republican!
For shame. An election should be won or lost on ideas, not on disenfranchisement. Desperation breeds cruel and vicious ideas, but allowing them to become laws hurts us all.
Libertarians are not right wing stupid. And this is more about Democrats that like to vote, and vote, and vote...................
Actually, it is about libertarians who like to lie, and lie, and lie in order to disenfranchise those they diagree with.
Study after study shows not evidence of voter fraud, so why pass laws for a problem that has been repeatedly proven to not exist??
Hint: we already know the answer - so the right can steal another election.
OH, for Goodness sake..how hard is it to get a piece of ID? NOT hard at all.
Anyone having a hard time getting ID simply isn't trying...therefore, part of the problem.
You get your ID, you register to vote, you either have the ballot sent to your residence and mail in your
ballot or you go out and vote. No excuse for all this mess. Even the very poor have ample time to get ID
and mail their ballot in.........this "poor and discriminated against" is BS and goes on every time their is a vote foranything. It's old and boring and ridiculous. Why doesn't someone actually find out what is really going on in these counties that they have to have SOOOOO much longer to vote? Mail their ballots to them...they mail them back...how hard is it? They have all year to get an ID...really, what excuse is there to that? There is not "poor and discriminated against" in a simple rule that says bring ID or show ID.....they have to do that to drive, sign up for food stamps, open a bank account, cash a check....etc, etc.....it's total taxpayer money wasting BS.
I do not see how your comments have any relevance to the issue.
Large corporations can easily comply with regulations, but right wingers spend all their time trying to roll back any corporate regulations.
Yet, the same folks want to impose regulations on poor and elderly voters for absolutely no valid reason.
Concluding that it is an easy law to obey in no way makes it a sensible, necessary, or worthwhile law to pass!
Let's REALLY get the government reined in, and stop disenfranchising the poor. That is the ONLY and sum total of the reason for this "movement" For shame.
All that is needed is to eliminate illegal immigrants from casting fraudelant votes negating the national election.
They are not naturalized citizens...thats all.
I bet these people that can't make it any place to get a voter registration or any ID could come up with a way to get there and someID if they had to show it to pick up a check, get their food stamps, pick up a package from the post office. It's all phoney excuses. ONLY people trying to commit some fraud or commit some crime that can't "get there" or produce some ID. The extra days to vote...sounds like more days for the same people to vote over and over again....."I voted 5 times"..."Well that's nothing. I voted six times"......
"IAmSmarter": Your 'handle' isn't even true. That is a ridiculous argument to justify supressing someone's vote, it should be made easier to cast authentic ballots, not harder since the right to vote is the most important right in this country. Every time I've voted, the volunteer has crossed my name off the list and that disallows multiple votes and signatures are compared to last year's to verify it's the same person. Comparing what people say after voting on American Idol to the excercising of their fundamental American right is just dishonesty. Only someone trying to commit some fraud or commit some crime would prevent the majority from deciding the elections in this country, as the Republicans have repeatedly and for years tried to do. Over and over it's Republicans attempting to do this, and for the specific purpose of amplifying their own power over the majority and you know it! You agree to it as a member of the minority who thinks that you are more qualified to decide which direction this country is steered. You are NOT more qualified to vote than everyone else.
Illegally keeping legitimate people from voting is the only way the GOP can win. 6 documented instances of voter fraud over 12 years in every election in the USA is the weakest argument there could possibly be for denying the vote.
So the Tea Party Christians now have to vote for a mormon and a catholic to save them from the big black socialist/communist in the White House.
Must suck to be them.
lol
reminds me of my younger days. people who said we were inferior to them; when we were allowed to compete against them, would cheat. my take is if you really have what it takes to win, you don't have to change anything. all you have to do is show up. so, be objective. why put all these new laws in place, if you've got a winner? nobody including gopers know who romney really is. he's a weather vane, turning whichever way the wind is blowing. check his whole record. he's been on every side of any major issue. so, in order to win, cheating is the order of the day.
Four Demoncratic votes there and only three Sheeple. That's par for the course. (I notice one voted twice. That's the Odumbo way).
Hmmm... in recent years there have been thousands of dogs voting, dead people voting, felons voting, illegals voting, and individuals voting several times in different districts. Of course they were all voting for Republi... oh wait. They were voting for Democrats... Thus why all the libs are screaming foul and accusing responsible legislation as being 'racist' and denying American's their rightful vote. No, these laws are needed to ensure ONLY American's vote (requirements are: must be human, not a felon, alive, and even if diagnosed with schizophrenia, only vote once).
I don't see why you want to discriminate against recent Americans. My Dad fought for his country and got a purple heart. He has earned the right to vote and now they want to take it away with this stupid ID requirement. Why can't he vote absentee? He may be very far away now but he's better informed about the candidates and issues than most living Americans.
There is absolutely nothing in these changes that would keep any legal American from voting. Absentee ballots are still being accepted. This is just another example of distorting the facts and fear mongering by the left. Again, they have the most to lose by closing the loopholes in voting across the country. As per the Florida Division of Elections:
You (or an immediate family member or legal guardian on your behalf, if directly instructed to do so) may request an absentee ballot from your Supervisor of Elections in one of the following ways:
When a request is made the following information is required:
If a member of your immediate family or legal guardian is requesting an absentee ballot for you, the following additional information must be provided:
A request to receive an absentee ballot by mail must be received by the Supervisor of Elections no later than 5 p.m. on the 6th day before the election. Otherwise, you can obtain an absentee ballot up until and including Election Day. However, it must still be returned by no later than 7 p.m. on Election Day if the voted ballot is to count.
It is very easy for any American to get a photo ID. Every State can issue a photo ID for non-drivers. There isn't any excuse for not taking the time to get an ID if you are entitled to one.
Thanks for your help. Just one more question: when I give Dad's address, should I use my address, the address at the Nursing Home where he used to live or the address of the cemetery where he resides now? If the cemetery, do I need the plot number or is the street address of the cemetery enough?
Oh and Dad still has a valid Driver's License but he hasn't used it much since he died. Is it OK to use that?
I love it.
While everyone here is bitch*ng about voter ID I see no one commenting about the Federal Government quietly stockpiling ammo, body armor and so on for the past 6 months. Why in the world would TSA need 2 1/2 suits of body armor per employee? Why does the Social Security Administration and Dept. of Agriculture need millions of dollars of hollow point ammo? What do you think is going on there " folks?" You kool aid drinkers need to smell the coffee.
Obviously everyone is out to get you.
That ain't coffee your a smellin Nana!
The names of dead people and names of people who moved are on the eligible voter lists? That’s the excuse for voter ID? To stop voter fraud? Are you kidding me? It would take someone having a list of every Ineligible name then silently recruiting that number of people (smart enough not to get caught) to cast those votes. How utterly ridiculous!
Why would you not simply legislate that ineligible names be removed? Those names are readily available in several other places in almost real time. Voter ID’s is about the dumbest way I can think of for stopping voter fraud. ID’s are a part of our culture at age 14 not to mention when a person dies or moves their ID is in the public sector and ready for sale. Voter ID’s could conceivably enhance voter fraud by making it easier.