Dumbfounded and Agog: Voter ID AGAIN?

ICU 812's Avatar
Dumbfounded and Agog: Voter ID AGAIN?

The non-election news today about the federal court ruling on voter ID law in Texas caught me by surprise. This was settled—right?

Now we hear, yet again, that requiring positive ID from someone when they register to vote and when they cast a ballot somehow discriminates against minorities. I have never understood this argument. While it may infect be the case that an individual cannot get the documentation together in time for a specific election day, major elections come up every 24 to 48 months. Two to four years is plenty of time to get your affairs in order for voting.

There are any number of ACORN surrogates and spin-off organizations that make a big deal out of this issue . . .but they never buckle down and work to get their constituents what is needed to comply with the voter ID law.

The mid-term elections in 2018 are over 36 months off now—plenty of time for any potential voter to get it right.
gfejunkie's Avatar
That's right. Looks like the Texas dimocraps will once again be able to vote early and often. Even dead ones.
jbravo_123's Avatar
So it's telling that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (a notoriously conservative court) struck down the voter ID law in a 9-6 decision.

While they did not agree that the law was purposefully discriminatory (they kicked the case back down to the lower court to re-try that part), they did find that it had a discriminatory effect. Part of that ruling, I believe is based on the the Texas law accepted forms of ID (military ID, concealed carry license) but not others (state employee ID, student ID), which the court found to favor one demographic over another.

Regarding voter fraud, while of course, we don't want it to occur, the facts are that there are simply very few verifiable cases of voter fraud that actually happen here in the US.
gfejunkie's Avatar
That's right. Looks like the Texas dimocraps will once again be able to vote early and often. Even dead ones. Originally Posted by gfejunkie
Yep ! You can bet that some of the dumbascrap party faithful are out " registering " some new " absentee " cemetery voters to help shriLIARY's chances. Damn shame that a person could have voted all their lives as a Republican only to have the dumbascraps screw them , AGAIN, upon their passing ! That on top of the Estate tax that the libs are so happy with using to screw a dead person out of their EARNED income , savings and assets !
  • DSK
  • 07-21-2016, 11:02 AM
Yep ! You can bet that some of the dumbascrap party faithful are out " registering " some new " absentee " cemetery voters to help shriLIARY's chances. Damn shame that a person could have voted all their lives as a Republican only to have the dumbascraps screw them , AGAIN, upon their passing ! That on top of the Estate tax that the libs are so happy with using to screw a dead person out of their EARNED income , savings and assets ! Originally Posted by Rey Lengua
They are pulling the noose tighter around the necks of productive citizens in favor of their own dependent, lazy and violence creating troublemakers.

Amerika is totally fucked.
ICU 812's Avatar
They want a background check to buy a gun (OK, I think that's a good idea too) yet they don't want some assurance that a potential voter is eligible to vote . . .or even that they are in fact who they say they are, eligible or not.
Yssup Rider's Avatar
none of this shit makes any sense.

Awww Prairie Shit!
  • DSK
  • 07-21-2016, 07:02 PM
none of this shit makes any sense.

Awww Prairie Shit! Originally Posted by Yssup Rider
I agree with you. I blame Obama!
CuteOldGuy's Avatar
none of this shit makes any sense.

Awww Prairie Shit! Originally Posted by Yssup Rider
That's my favorite Slim Pickens quote!
dilbert firestorm's Avatar
Regarding voter fraud, while of course, we don't want it to occur, the facts are that there are simply very few verifiable cases of voter fraud that actually happen here in the US. Originally Posted by jbravo_123
voter fraud is not that easy to detect.

the voter id law helps reduce it, but doesn't prevent identity theft of dead & living people who never voted from voting.
jbravo_123's Avatar
voter fraud is not that easy to detect.

the voter id law helps reduce it, but doesn't prevent identity theft of dead & living people who never voted from voting. Originally Posted by dilbert firestorm
It's simply a problem that doesn't happen on any sort of large scale. What is typically thought of as "voter fraud" is usually just clerical errors.

Think about it - we can barely get people to get off their asses to vote once and now we're spending all of this time and effort to try and stop people from voting twice?

Btw, I'm not saying that voter fraud doesn't happen or that it's not a bad thing. I'm just saying that statistically,
1) It's not a large problem by any means
2) we are wasting a bunch of time and resources on a basically nonexistent problem
3) the voter ID laws that claim to be aimed at stopping voter fraud actually have an impact of preventing those who do have the right to vote from voting.

John Oliver had a pretty good segment on the subject. Probably NSFW due to language.

TheDaliLama's Avatar

Regarding voter fraud, while of course, we don't want it to occur, the facts are that there are simply very few verifiable cases of voter fraud that actually happen here in the US. Originally Posted by jbravo_123
And how many unverifiable voter frauds are out there?

With today's close elections it doesn't take much to overturn an election.

If I need an ID to purchase my god given right to own a gun then asking to show an ID to prove my eligibility and to protect my vote seems reasonable to me.
Munchmasterman's Avatar
So it's telling that the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (a notoriously conservative court) struck down the voter ID law in a 9-6 decision.

While they did not agree that the law was purposefully discriminatory (they kicked the case back down to the lower court to re-try that part), they did find that it had a discriminatory effect. Part of that ruling, I believe is based on the the Texas law accepted forms of ID (military ID, concealed carry license) but not others (state employee ID, student ID), which the court found to favor one demographic over another.

Regarding voter fraud, while of course, we don't want it to occur, the facts are that there are simply very few verifiable cases of voter fraud that actually happen here in the US. Originally Posted by jbravo_123
2 convictions out of 20 million in-person votes.

"Ballot integrity is undoubtedly a worthy goal," Judge Haynes wrote. "But the evidence before the Legislature was that in-person voting, the only concern addressed by SB 14, yielded only two convictions for in-person voter impersonation fraud out of 20 million votes cast in the decade leading up to SB 14's passage. The bill did nothing to combat mail-in ballot fraud, although record evidence shows that the potential and reality of fraud is much greater in the mail-in ballot context than with in-person voting."

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/poli...ackers-n614281
Chung Tran's Avatar
It's simply a problem that doesn't happen on any sort of large scale. What is typically thought of as "voter fraud" is usually just clerical errors.

Think about it - we can barely get people to get off their asses to vote once and now we're spending all of this time and effort to try and stop people from voting twice?
Originally Posted by jbravo_123
the Republicans were not concerned until the demographics started tilting away from them.. while the law seems reasonable on its face, I have no doubt the intent is to discourage certain groups from voting.

and while I'm at it, that abortion law is the same thing.. the one requiring a hospital to be so many miles from an abortion clinic.. total horseshit, designed to discourage certain groups from exercising their right to an abortion.

and before I leave my soapbox, the parental notification law regarding minors and abortion is more horseshit..