Politics & Current Events
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Picture ID to vote
Just wondering about everyone's thoughts on this.. DH and I were watching the news this weekend and saw a story about how some states are wanting to make it manditory to have a picture ID to vote. DH and I are politically neutral and aren't even registered to vote, so we thought it was already a requirement. It seems silly to us that it isn't yet.
Personally, I think it is a good idea. Since only people who are 18 an older can vote anyway, most of them already have photo ID. And almost everyone has a form of photo ID in one way or another, even my Costco card has my picture on it, so I don't think it would be that hard for voters to get...
What do you think? Should voters need to show picture ID before they get to vote?
Re: Picture ID to vote
It will hit the elderly and poor especially hard. It's a subversive way to hinder a certain segment of the voting population, especially stricter states that have severe limits to what is an acceptable photo id.
You only need a voter registration to vote - the whole point of the voters registration card is so you do not have to provide any additional ID because you have a national/federal one.
Picture IDs vary too much between states and states could get picky about which IDs are acceptable and which are not. For people who do not drive, a picture ID is normally not necessary for them anyway, so its an additional cost in both time and money to have them go out to the DMV/DPS and wait there several hours to get one made just to have one, then the next time a national election comes around, they have to go do it again because they normally expire every 3-4 years, often sooner than driving licenses.
Also, this disproportionately hits the poor, the elderly, and minorities. There is a reason they wait this long before publicizing stuff like this too - those without picture IDs have around two months right now to get one made, so many people will not be able to get one and therefore will not be able to vote.
UFO sightings are more common than voter fraud.
Granted, the source is way biased but I loved the statistical comparison. So I broke my rule of unbiased sources in the name of a good chuckle.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/voter-id-laws-charts-maps
haha. good info!
Thanks all for your answers. This was something that had been bugging me all weekend- surely if voter fraud was that prevelant, something would have been done about it by now!
Exactly. It's only an "issue" right now because it would heavily favor one party, so they're pressing it.
Are you guys going to register to vote this year?
No, we are politcally neutral b/c of our religion. Aside from that, my dad is politically neutral just because he hates politics, so I doubt I would have ever reigstered to vote anyway. But DH and I like to stay on top of things so we don't look/sound like idiots when others talk about current events. Even though we don't want a say in the political scene- we still like to know what's going on in the world we live in.
Not at all- We are Jehovah's Witnesses.
How will absentee ballots be handled? I don't recall hearing this
mentioned.
Well, (speaking from having read up on procedures in Ohio) you'd either pick it up in person (presumably showing your voter registration at the time) or request it mailed, in which case you have to provide either a soc sec # OR driver's license number OR include a copy of a check/bill/govt document along with your permanent address and separate mailing address if you have one (military, college, etc). Theoretically, all of that would prevent me from submitting absentee requests to my Oklahoma residence for anyone that isn't me... or someone else from submitting a request for MY ballot.
So you do need some further ID in Ohio, anyway, but I don't think any of that is unreasonable for absentee stuff.
As for their early voting clusterfluck... *eye roll*
Edit: actually, upon further examination, Ohio, unlike Virginia where I was first registered, doesn't issue formal registration cards, just notifications that your registration went through. So they DO require proof of ID at the polls (not necessarily photo-proof) but if you don't have it, you can still cast a provisional ballot and basically sign something swearing that you aren't committing election fraud.
Silly Ohio.
We've always had to show photo ID to vote here so I never really realized it was an issue until recently.
I also live in a Blue state so trying to block a portion of the population from voting wouldn't affect the election outcome, so... :P
This has been the policy in my state for a l ong time. I think it should be the law of the land. All votes should be legally cast and all legally cast votes should be counted.
There are ways to assist those who have problems obtaining an official ID. This isn't an insurmountable issue. Mobile DMV unit, help with obtaining birth certificates or records lost for proof etc.
I have issues with the military votes not being counted because of issues beyond their control.
This is all true. I have always had to show ID or a bill/credit card statement at the polls, so I didn't really think anything of it until I realized that it wasn't that way across the nation. I am okay with this unless they really do try to restrict it to photo ID. I feel like everyone can produce some sort of official mail that comes to their residence, regardless of socioeconomic status or age. Not everyone has a drivers license, though.
my read shelf:
The right to vote should be free. IDs cost money.
Voter "fraud" is avoided without ID by requiring a signature, which the BoE keeps on file from your voter registration card. That system, as evidenced by the low incidence of voter fraud, is not broken.
I disagree. It's unlikely, but imagine an 18-yr-old who doesn't drive and has never had a job. Lives at home with parental support so no bills come to the address in his/her name, has never had a credit or debit card. The closest thing to official mail would probably be a report card or something and that isn't a given- a HS dropout, someone who got a GED at 16 or 17 (I believe the mail must be dated within a year of the election?), whatever.
You'd most likely find such a set of circumstances among the very poor- and that's the point. As PP said, voting should be free.
Requiring a picture ID to vote is a clear violation of the Voting Rights Act as well as a slap in the face to everyone who fought and died for American rights and freedoms from the Revolutionary War to the more recent Civil Rights Movement. Millions--MILLIONS--of people will be disenfranchised by these backwards and ludicrous laws ranging from students who don't have an ID to seniors who were born at home, were adopted, or any other of a dozen reasons why they wouldn't have a birth certificate. In TX, they are purging voter files based on faulty social security databases, informing tens of thousands that they are, in fact, dead, and will not be able to vote. One woman reported trying to call for 3 days to get it straightened out to no avail. Tons of stories are coming out of every state with these laws about people--mostly elderly and minorities--who have voted for 40, 50, even 70 years who are no longer eligible to vote.
It kills me to see so many people pounding their chests on memorial day and veterans day and then do nothing to stand up against these ID laws that spit at both. It's shameful and my grandchildren will read about it in their history books the same way that I read about the Jim Crow laws. Shame on anyone who votes for anyone who supports this.
Not everyone has a license, but the dmv will provide anyone with a photo id, including those that do not have a license.
Oh, cool, I'm sure the working poor will be able to take time off of work, pay for a cab across town, pay the photo ID application fee, then pay for the cab to return home. I in no way see how this would disenfranchise anyone.
Dorothy Cooper, people. Dorothy Cooper.
Any Newroom fans in the house?
Not to mention the fact that you can't just show up and ask for a photo ID. You have to have proof of your identity, like a birth certificate. Where I live, it costs $35 to get a copy of your birth certificate. If you depend on every penny just to survive, that $35 is a big deal.
Okay...you got me there. Out of curiosity I went to look up exactly what is considered valid identification in Ohio and they don't even consider the registration acknowledgement card they send to you as ID! My state is seeming lamer every day (but I still love it...for nonpolitical reasons of course).
If you're interested:
http://www.sos.state.oh.us/sos/elections/Voters/FAQ/ID.aspx
my read shelf:
Happily for me, I'll be voting absentee and mailing in my ballot request, which only requires my driver's license or social security number. But funnily enough, one of the options (in the absence of the above two) is to photocopy assorted documents as proof of ID- one of those is a military ID, which is actually illegal to copy. Ohio for the win!
But at least they supposedly will let you vote without any ID, though I'm hazy to what the whole provisional ballot thing means in the long run. Does it ultimately require you to supply proof of ID to the election board? Does Ohio really suck that much? Why can't they just issue voter registration cards like a normal state?
Or, you know, not prohibit weekend early voting in big cities where there will be the longest lines on election day.
I do love Ohio as well though. I miss it a lot, actually. I'm in Oklahoma right now for military reasons, but I would love to either wind up back in Ohio or back in Northern Virginia where DH and I went to school.
Im a poll worker in Ohio and if you cast a provisional ballet because of improper ID, you have to go to the board of elections within 72 hours (I believe the time is 72 hours but I don't have my book in front of me) to provide proper ID.
I have only seen voter fraud once in Ohio. It was by what I would assume was a white upper middle class young man (based on voting precient and seeing his ID). He was 17 years old and voted in the presidential primary. Individuals who are 17 but will turn 18 prior to election day in November can vote in all primaries in Ohio except the presidential primaries. In presidential primaries you are electing delegates. In other primaries, you are not electing anyone but just stating who should appear on the ballot. He selected a presidential candidate (Romney) and scanned his ballot. Therefore, he committed voter fraud. We told him not to scan it after voting but he followed his dad to the scanner and scanned it. Once it's in, we can't get it out.
Thanks for the input! Though I've now totally lost faith in Ohio election procedures. Which doesn't really surprise me in the long run, I suppose.