Photo IDs Required to Vote

[2happy4u]

The state ain't concerned with that. It's the minorities and people over 85 they want to DISENFRANCHISE.

[raider.adam]

Great question! And I suppose they can't...

You have to supply your id to get your absentee ballot.

The state ain't concerned with that. It's the ... and people over 85 they want to DISENFRANCHISE.

Everyone over 65 is allowed to vote by absentee.

[LUCas]

You have to supply your id to get your absentee ballot.

No, I have to supply a copy of the id of the person for whom I'm applying for an absentee ballot. How do they know I'm that person? Isn't that the purpose of requiring ID? To prove you are the person you claim to be?

Heck, doesn't even have to be the ID of that person. Could be any ID I photoshop onto the photocopy I send them.

[mixiboi]

And both parties are guilty of that sin....

FBI arrests 8 in Florida for absentee ballot fraud | RedState

Republican Candidate In Arizona Accused Of Voter Fraud | ThinkProgress

RealClearPolitics - The Democrats' Election Forgery Racket

Republican candidate quits after companion caught voting while dead | The Raw Story

And what does the new Voter ID law say about that?

Both Parties Wrong On Voter Fraud: Voter ID Laws Won’t End Endemic Practice Of Absentee Ballot Stuffing | Mediaite

This blog post chronicles and links to stories about the more than 40 individuals who were arrested on charges of absentee ballot stuffing in order to influence both local and national elections in favor of Democratic politicians.

In December 2011, six Democratic operatives were arrested and pleaded guilty to charges of absentee ballot stuffing in New York state. “This is an on-going scheme and it occurs on both sides of the aisle,” convicted Democratic operative Anthony DeFiglio told police after his arrest in November 2009. “The people who are targeted live in low-income housing and there is a sense that they are a lot less likely to ask any questions.” DeFiglio continued, saying “it was common knowledge that these people were never going to receive an absentee ballot.”

But the phenomenon is not limited to Democratic party operatives. In June of last year, Indiana’s Republican secretary of state was found guilty of six of seven counts of voter fraud including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and perjury.

In 1997, the Miami Herald won a Pulitzer Prize for deconstructing how Republican Joe Carollo defeated Democrat Xavier Suarez in Miami’s mayoral race despite losing at the polls via absentee ballot fraud. “That’s how it’s really done. How elections are pilfered. With absentee ballots,” writes the Miami Herald’s Fred Grimm.

These are just the cases that become known. Many more cases of absentee ballot fraud go undetected and unreported.

This is one instance where both parties are truly guilty of ignoring a corrupt status quo. Democratic opponents of voter ID who dare suggest there is no voter fraud are being patently disingenuous. Republicans who submit that voter ID laws are the answer to every instance of voter fraud are guilty of being similarly coy about the real problem.

Democrats and Republicans are benefiting from energizing their base voters by insisting their vote is under assault from the other side, but neither is addressing the real problem. Institutional absentee ballot fraud is an epidemic that threatens the integrity of America’s political system and no one seems particularly concerned about it.

[Naveen]

No, I have to supply a copy of the id of the person for whom I'm applying for an absentee ballot. How do they know I'm that person? Isn't that the purpose of requiring ID? To prove you are the person you claim to be?

Heck, doesn't even have to be the ID of that person. Could be any ID I photoshop onto the photocopy I send them.

I've never used an absentee ballot before, so I don't know the process as it has been thus far. So do you have to pick up an absentee ballot in advance (in person) knowing you won't be around to vote? That seems difficult for people overseas, particularly military folks. So do you just have to send in for a ballot? If it's the latter, then you're right.

[LUCas]

I've never used an absentee ballot before, so I don't know the process as it has been thus far. So do you have to pick up an absentee ballot in advance (in person) knowing you won't be around to vote? That seems difficult for people overseas, particularly military folks. So do you just have to send in for a ballot? If it's the latter, then you're right.

Yep, mail order. Just send a photo copy of your id. You know, so they can match it up to ?????

[mixiboi]

Not that it stop a man's dead wife from voting for 5 years after her death....

[Jayfar]

Monica Yant Kinney: Identity crisis: A lawyer's own photo-ID struggle

[Jayfar]

Judge upholds Pa. voter ID law

http://media.philly.com/documents/CM...Inj_081512.pdf

[mixiboi]

Judge Won’t Block Voter ID Law | The Philly Post

On Tuesday, a Commonwealth Court judge announced that he will not block Pennsylvania’s voter identification law from taking effect prior to the upcoming November election. Civil rights groups sought to have the law stayed until after the election because they say it will disenfranchise scores of voters.

[Jerry19127]

OK here's a question...why is this "issue" posted in the local mainstream media almost daily as if it were more important than anything else? The numbers are overly exaggerated as to the "disenfranchised." If that means black people like Naveen states, they all need a valid ID to get on their specific entitlements anyway... So what's the big deal? It costs what? $10 at 9th & Market to get a valid State issued ID? It's not like they aren't used to government bureaucracy. I thought Democrats liked regulation?

[mixiboi]

ITs not just about the cost, or the hassle, but the timing.

Why they rush this through and trying to enforce this in less then one election(and one of the BIGGEST elections of all the election cycles) is the biggest issue of disenfranchising people who voted just fine in past elections.

And on top of that, they are now rushing around making changes to this stupid law to make sure free ID are available for those who can't get their Birth Certificate(or any other issue with that paper), which will be available later this month....

2 months before the election...really a cluster**** way of doing something...

[Reds]

OK here's a question...why is this "issue" posted in the local mainstream media almost daily as if it were more important than anything else? The numbers are overly exaggerated as to the "disenfranchised." If that means black people like Naveen states, they all need a valid ID to get on their specific entitlements anyway... So what's the big deal? It costs what? $10 at 9th & Market to get a valid State issued ID? It's not like they aren't used to government bureaucracy. I thought Democrats liked regulation?

'Cause, you know, this is really is kind of important. Robbing citizens of their right to vote--in effect, silencing their voice--is a very "big deal". It's not just the local mainstream media that recognizes the unique situation that Philadelphia is in, given our demographic make-up and the fact that we're controlled by a conservative state legislature.

The Startling Urban Dynamic in Pennsylvania's Voter ID Law - Politics - The Atlantic Cities

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Hits Philadelphia Blacks, Latinos Harder

And I thought Republicans liked less bureaucracy and regulation. Where's the less-government-involvement mantra now? It really is a huge cluster&%$#

[robot]

2 months before the election...really a cluster**** way of doing something...

I think this is the big issue for me. It is hard to argue that requiring an ID is an unreasonable requirement. When I voted for the first time I was frankly surprised I didn't need to show one. However, having such a requirement go into effect so close to an election is ridiculous. What they should have done is had the law go into effect for the next presidential election and going forward start issuing voter registration cards with photo ids.

[mixiboi]

Brilliant...Shame that they didn't think of that when spending millions of dollars to rush this thing out in less than a year...

[wollstonecraft]

I moved a few years back, from one township to another in Montgomery County. The first time I showed up to vote in my new residence, I had to provide a photo ID and another form of ID, both with my new, current address. Then I had to sign a roll book. The clerk entered that into my record, and since then, I sign the roll book they keep at the desk, showing that my signature matches my previous signatures. I don't see why that wouldn't continue to be sufficient.

[annie]

Monica Yant Kinney: Identity crisis: A lawyer's own photo-ID struggle

People's birth names not matching up with their Social Security cards happens pretty frequently. I am continually amazed at the names Social Security issued cards for over the years when the person has not legally changed their name. Husbands and wives making the wife's maiden name their middle names which actually takes a court order in most states, taking on a new first name in college ("it was the 70s" was the reason given), an out-of-wedlock birth with mother's maiden name but parents got married soon after and lied about it and told the child their last name was the father's name and used the baptism certificate for school. I'm lucky my DL lists only my middle initial as for awhile I thought it was spelled with Anne with an "e" (seems prettier, don't you think?) but on my official docs it's actually Ann.

[seand]

So here's the thing. Supposedly the photo id requirement was to stop fraud (though there has never been a single example of fraud offered that could have been stopped by this proposal). In theory somebody could create fake registrations (which still required showing an ID or proof of address from a utility bill or piece of government issued mail the first time you voted anyway) and then the same individual would in theory vote multiple times. In each subsequent election your signature had to match the one in the roll book.

So in theory requiring a photo ID each time you vote would raise the threshold to vote to valid state-issued IDs, making multiple registrations tougher, in theory. Except because old black folks born in the South and Puerto Ricans born prior to 1990 (due to problems in the Puerto Rican Dep't of Health records) can't get birth certificates, or put better face barriers that won't be fixable by the time of the election, now the state is going to roll out some new state-issued picture ID that does not require a birth certificate, only proof of residence. The same proof of residence that was already required to vote for the first time with a new registration. Meaning that the exact same level of proof we already have to vote is all you need to get this new state picture ID and actual voter fraud (if that was ever the actual issue) is exactly as easy as it ever was hypothetically to commit. No difference whatsoever - except that it times a bureaucratic cluster**** for this one election day so a lot of people won't be prepared and there will be delays while they fill out provisional ballots and lines at the polling place will be huge and as a result some people won't vote out of frustration.

Increased protection against fraud = none, but chance of hassles and delays huge.

If ever there was proof this law was about stopping or at least significantly hindering certain people from voting rather than raising the bar against supposed fraud, the state making a new picture ID that only requires proof of residence, but no birth certificate, is it. We've come full circle in terms of actual proof of ID, except for the delays on this particular election day, which was apparently the plan from day one.

Edit: to be clear the new ID's for currently registered voters without birth certificates was something thrown out there by the Secretary of State mid-trial but to the best of my knowledge no explanations of how that would work has been announced. Which is not very reassuring this close to the election. Officially, lacking details for the new plan, you still need a birth certificate, a Social security card (with the same name) and two proofs of residence. Screw you if you are old or a Puerto Rican born prior to 1990, your vote doesn't matter.

[2happy4u]

Democrats RELAX!!! ID won't stop voter fraud, you just won't have as many as previous in elections The main problem is the people running the polling station. Take South Philly, we have 3 places within a 4 block area. So you have ID, you go into to vote, the guy asks if you want to vote for your mom,dad and 2 sisters who are still on the books, you say of course. 5 votes for 1. Strict poll watching is the only cure,in all reality it may take the Nat'l Guard to watch all the polling places. Voter ID is a good beginning.

[mixiboi]

And how many where in the previous election? Proof would be nice then this fantasy world stuff that more or less doesn't make or break election(Hint there arenot enough fake votes to sway an national election(Local, sure...but how the Presidency works, it not a factor).