Fight against so-called voter "fraud" unwittingly targets legitimate voters.

[MrFun]

96-year-old Woman Who Voted During Jim Crow Is Denied Photo ID
POSTED BY JEFF WOODS ON WED, OCT 5, 2011 AT 8:56 AM

TIMES FREE PRESS PHOTO
At age 96, Dorothy Cooper is the new poster child for what's wrong with the state's photo ID voter law. A retired domestic worker living in Chattanooga, she never had any trouble voting even in the Jim Crow era and missed only one election in her entire adult life. But when she went for one of the state's new free photo IDs last month so she could keep voting, they turned her away. Why? Her maiden name, Dorothy Alexander, is on her birth certificate, and she didn't have her marriage license. Her story is on the front page of the Chattanooga Times Free Press today.
It's beginning to dawn on some Republicans that they might have overreached just a tad bit with this photo ID law. Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, is one of the main proponents, and even he is backpedaling. Yesterday, as liberal groups launched a petition drive against the law and the Senate held hearings into whether it's disenfranchising voters, Ketron introduced a bill to let anyone over the age of 60 vote by absentee ballot without a photo ID.

Ketron said he doesn't understand why anyone wouldn't want a photo ID. "They make you proud," he said.

An absentee ballot is the solution that's been offered Dorothy Cooper. But as she told the Times Free Press' Ansley Haman, she prefers to actually go to the polls, even though she has to do it in a walker. That's what makes people proud, not photo IDs. Here's a woman who has gone to her voting precinct to do her patriotic duty her whole life, even when the segregationist laws were intentionally aimed at preventing it. And now they tell her no.

We imagine the network TV reporters will arrive on Mrs. Cooper's doorstep sometime soon. If they don't want to be held up to ridicule around the country, state election officials should go there ahead of time to deliver her photo ID.

Why wasn't voter fraud such a huge, publicized issue in the media before 2008? Oh yeah - because before 2008, we didn't have a black/mixed race president and so back then, racist political leaders did not have to come up with cynical, two faced tactics to prevent the same thing happening again in 2012.

[Jaguar]

Don't worry, I'm sure that the talented and industrious workers at the DMV will rectify the clerical error shortly.

[rah]

Yeah, I'm sure they will. And I missed the part where she wouldn't be allowed to vote. An absentee ballot was offered.

[MrFun]

The point is rah, this **** should not happen in the first place.

[regexcellent]

Oh, so you expect the government to never make mistakes?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Contra the arguement that this infatuation with voting fraud is a reaction to race, most of the outrage stems from the voting fraud that allowed Franken to be the 60th vote in the senate.

[rah]

The point is rah, this **** should not happen in the first place.

Why not? This will be cleared up. It will just require a little more effort.

[Ben Kenobi]

Hey Mr. Fun - voter ID prevents people like me from voting.

That should be the greatest argument in favor of it.

[Felch]

Where did this "Black people don't have ID" stereotype come from? I'd never heard it until a few years ago.

If ID laws would prevent anybody from voting, it would be the cabin dwelling, bearded, heavily armed, survivalist demographic. They're overwhelmingly white.

[Ben Kenobi]

Because the democrat party overwhelmingly believes that black people are children who need government help in order to function.

[regexcellent]

Where did this "Black people don't have ID" stereotype come from? I'd never heard it until a few years ago.

If ID laws would prevent anybody from voting, it would be the cabin dwelling, bearded, heavily armed, survivalist demographic. They're overwhelmingly white.

It's doubly funny because even black people think there should be ID laws by overwhelming margins.

[Wezil]

Where did this "Black people don't have ID" stereotype come from? I'd never heard it until a few years ago.

They usually have ID...belonging to someone else...

[H Tower]

Didn't we just have this arguement 2 weeks ago?

[Felch]

Let's everybody introduce H Tower here to MrFun.

[SlowwHand]

Why wasn't voter fraud such a huge, publicized issue in the media before 2008? Oh yeah - because before 2008, we didn't have a black/mixed race president and so back then, racist political leaders did not have to come up with cynical, two faced tactics to prevent the same thing happening again in 2012.

Oh, **** off.

[MrFun]

Slowwy, so tell me the reason then why so-called voter "fraud" did not become such a huge issue until after Obama won the election in 2008?

[rah]

I remember it being a big issue in Florida for the Bush elections. I don't remember any black candidates involved back then.

[Jon Miller]

My issue is how it is done, not the principle.

Generally it is done with the assumption that everyone who can vote has certain forms of ID. This isn't true.

JM

[rah]

Without proper ID, what would you suggest? I have no problem arguing type of id, but if it doesn't include a picture, I don't know how effective it would be. And as long as there is enough warning so people have time to get one even if there are issues, I don't see a problem. How people can see this as unreasonable is beyond me.

[Jon Miller]

A lot of places don't allow you to register unless you do so long before.

This is bad due to busy/lazy/travelling people.

I would suggest:

Register to vote as you do now, but just have a photo taken + 1 piece of ID included in the registration process (SS card, Driver's license, ID card, Passport, Birth Certificate).

During the counting of the absentee ballots/etc, photos + ID information is cross referenced for all voters with other ID information to assure that the people exist/etc.

Additionally, at the voting booth the person is required to show the piece of ID used in the registration process. Also, the person is checked against the photo on the voter registration card (obviously).

This must all be free.

JM

[Jon Miller]

"The 2002 federal Help America Vote Act requires any voter who registered by mail and who has not previously voted in a federal election to show current and valid photo identification or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. Voters who submitted any of these forms of identification during registration are exempt, as are voters entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act."

From wikipedia.

Actually, just do the above but require that a photo be included with the registration and the card returned should have that photo on it.

JM

[MrFun]

A lot of places don't allow you to register unless you do so long before.

This is bad due to busy/lazy/travelling people.

I would suggest:

Register to vote as you do now, but just have a photo taken + 1 piece of ID included in the registration process (SS card, Driver's license, ID card, Passport, Birth Certificate).

During the counting of the absentee ballots/etc, photos + ID information is cross referenced for all voters with other ID information to assure that the people exist/etc.

Additionally, at the voting booth the person is required to show the piece of ID used in the registration process. Also, the person is checked against the photo on the voter registration card (obviously).

This must all be free.

JM

Yep. Not only am I concerned that legitimate voters might still be denied their right to vote by clerks or others who would abuse/misuse the process, but this will add more costs to state governments that implement the voter ID laws, because the information and the IDs need to be provided for free. Otherwise, we should call it a poll tax.

[Dr Strangelove]

Where did this "Black people don't have ID" stereotype come from? I'd never heard it until a few years ago.

If ID laws would prevent anybody from voting, it would be the cabin dwelling, bearded, heavily armed, survivalist demographic. They're overwhelmingly white.

I have a lot of black patients who don't have ID. The most common form of picture ID as a driver's license. What if you're blind? Epileptic? Crippled? What if you lost your job due to illness or injury, then your car got repossessed, so you didn't renew your driver's license? Maybe you lost your license due to your illness.

[Felch]

Are black people disproportionately likely to be blind, epileptic, crippled, or lose their jobs due to illness or injury?

While a driver's license is the most common form of photo ID, plenty of people have regular state IDs. I had one when my license was suspended, because that was the only way I could board an airplane, ride Amtrak, or buy a gun (among many other things).

[DaShi]

http://www.brennancenter.org/content...gory/voter_id/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...p_ref=politics

[Felch]

Those links are broken.

[Ben Kenobi]

Not only am I concerned that legitimate voters might still be denied their right to vote by clerks or others who would abuse/misuse the process, but this will add more costs to state governments that implement the voter ID laws, because the information and the IDs need to be provided for free

Yeah, the evil conservative scrutineers. They didn't do a very good job of screening out Obama voters last time.

[DaShi]

http://www.brennancenter.org/content...gory/voter_id/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...p_ref=politics

Try these.

[Dr Strangelove]

Are black people disproportionately likely to be blind, epileptic, crippled, or lose their jobs due to illness or injury?

Yes. Poor people, a category into which black people disproportionately fall into, are more likely to be afflicted by illnesses and injuries in general. Diabetes and malnutrition are major causes of blindness. Both afflict black people more than whites. Cerebral palsy is a major cause of seizures and cripplung disability and afflicts black people more than whites. Black people are less likely to get adequate treatment after a major injury and are therefore more likely to be permanently crippled.

[Guynemer]

Are black people disproportionately likely to be blind, epileptic, crippled, or lose their jobs due to illness or injury?

Ummm... yes, they are. I thought this was well-known.



EDIT: Oops, I see the good doctor has beaten me to the punch.