Voter ID controversy

[Ed Anger]

I got yelled at once by the old lady polling nazi for using 'Chris' instead of 'Christopher'. Damn old people.

[Razgovory]

I got yelled at once by the old lady polling nazi for using 'Chris' instead of 'Christopher'. Damn old people.

You know, for a guy who's concerned about revealing private information on the net, you've been dropping your name a lot lately.

[Eddie Teach]

Chris is a pretty common name.

[PDH]

His name is Sulla anyway.

[Ed Anger]

His name is Sulla anyway.

You can call me Lucius.

[CountDeMoney]

Aside from that I agree with Berk and think it's a disgrace.

I do have to commend the Republican Party in these specific swing states for their ability to maintain such a disciplined script.  They do the Evil Mastermind thing very well.

I was watching an interview with Tom Brokaw the other morning, and he was saying how an election as tightly contested as this, it doesn't even come down to a handful of states, but a handful of specific counties within those states:  13 of them.  The voter turnout in 13 specific counties spread over 4 states could very well determine the election.

That's why the Pennsylvanian voter ID law is going to be so impactful;  with over three quarters of a million registered voters in Pennsylvania that are, as of this moment, no longer in compliance with proper ID, that will impact 20 electoral votes.  In a race as tight as this, that may be all that's needed. 

In Pennsylvania, you need your birth certificate to get a driver's license, but you need a driver's license to request a birth certificate--and you can only get a certified copy of your birth certificate in person in 6 offices;  6 offices in the entire state of Pennsylvania.  Never mind the bullshit you've got to go through to get a birth certificate from the state you were born in.  Wonderful plan they've designed, specifically to lock certain demographics out.

At least the ACLU, National Action, League of Women Voters and other civil rights groups have the ineligibility lists too, and are fanning out to make sure these people have the documentation they need to in order to vote.

Never figured that the civil rights movement would have to come back to the Union to get this shit done, from helping people get their birth certificates from other states to driving them to PennDOT locations.  It's a fucking disgrace. 

But it's 20 electoral votes for Mittens, and that's all that really matters.

[Admiral Yi]

Where'd you get 750,000 voters from?

[CountDeMoney]

Where'd you get 750,000 voters from?

The motherfucking Commonwealth of motherfucking Pennsylvania.

[CountDeMoney]

The Department of State announced July 3 there are roughly 758,000 registered voters statewide who do not appear on PennDOT's photo ID list, with some 98,000 of them in Allegheny County. On Monday, the AFL-CIO received another data set from the department that adds those with voters carrying PennDOT IDs that have expired since Nov. 6, 2011, rendering them invalid under the law for voting this fall: that number is 1.64 million statewide, with 218,000 in the state's second-largest county.

That would mean up to 25 percent of voters in the heavily Democratic county could be without acceptable licenses, and 33 percent of all its seniors. In Philadelphia, the number is 437,000, covering 43 percent of total voters and 48 percent of its seniors.

http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/expired-licenses-muddle-voter-id-numbers-646210/?print=1

[Martinus]

THe reason this is an issue in the states is that the Republicans have figured out that they can systemically remove huge numbers of voters from the voting pool by instituting these laws to force people to bring ID under the guise of combatting voter fraud.

It just so happens that the vast, vast majority of people who will end up NOT voting as a result of not having ID are in those demographics that heavily vote Democrat.

Absent any political agenda, I have no theoretical problem with insisting that people who vote prove they are who they say they are - sadly, this is not driven by any kind of actual concern about voter fraud (plenty of studies and common sense have shown that this simply is not a real issue in the US), but as a means to dis-enfranchise the poor and minorities.

It is as cynical and underhanded as politics gets, IMO.

That was my point in the OP - I don't think a measure is bad only because it inconveniences the lazy and the stupid, even if they happen to predominantly vote Democrat.

[The Brain]

Is Berkut OK with not letting prisoners vote?

[CountDeMoney]

That was my point in the OP - I don't think a measure is bad only because it inconveniences the lazy and the stupid, even if they happen to predominantly vote Democrat.

That's why, when it comes to the law, nobody listens to you.  Stick to your shitty eastern continentalism, at least you have a frame of reference.

[mongers]

That was my point in the OP - I don't think a measure is bad only because it inconveniences the lazy and the stupid, even if they happen to predominantly vote Democrat.

That's why, when it comes to the law, nobody listens to you.  Stick to your shitty eastern continentalism, at least you have a frame of reference.

[grumbler]

That's why, when it comes to the law, nobody listens to you.  Stick to your shitty eastern continentalism, at least you have a frame of reference.

I disagree with the implication that someone listens to Martinus when the issue isn't the law.  His problem isn't "shitty eastern continentalism," it's that he is otnay ootay ightbray.

[OttoVonBismarck]

THe reason this is an issue in the states is that the Republicans have figured out that they can systemically remove huge numbers of voters from the voting pool by instituting these laws to force people to bring ID under the guise of combatting voter fraud.

It just so happens that the vast, vast majority of people who will end up NOT voting as a result of not having ID are in those demographics that heavily vote Democrat.

Absent any political agenda, I have no theoretical problem with insisting that people who vote prove they are who they say they are - sadly, this is not driven by any kind of actual concern about voter fraud (plenty of studies and common sense have shown that this simply is not a real issue in the US), but as a means to dis-enfranchise the poor and minorities.

It is as cynical and underhanded as politics gets, IMO.

Agreed 100% except I think it's fine, because I honestly feel like if you can't get your shit together enough to get some form of government issued ID I don't really want you voting either. What I find hilarious is the Democrats are making all kinds of crazy claims about how tons of poor people have absolutely no way to ever get to a DMV office so can never get ID, and when they get there they have no money whatsoever to pay for an ID. However virtually everywhere I've ever lived, DMV offices, even in rural counties that just have county-wide buses running a few times a day, have bus routes that go to a DMV office. Additionally, every State that has done voter ID to prevent it being a "poll tax" have stipulations on how the indigent can get free ID.