League of Women Voters

The LWV has been opposing these photo ID laws which target disenfrachisement of the poor and disabled. Aside from the transportation problem to appear for the photo ID there is the matter of the fees. Poll taxes were outlawed during the civil rights movement. This reinstates them in a different way. It is self-evident that the Republicans are the ones trying to suppress the vote. They haven't a leg to stand on.

by Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 8:25:42 AM
 

Are we not obligated to stop fraud?

I say we are. Although showing ID does not stop all forms of fraud,it does stop some and returns some integrity to our elections. That some people can't be bothered to obtain proper ID and won't be allowed to vote is their own problem. How hard is it for anyone to get ID? What happens once Real ID comes into force? All these people who have no ID now will be forced to get it if they want to continue to use banks, travel, or collect government benefits anyway, so why not just get ID now and stop complaining already?

by Watching (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 313 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 8:39:33 AM
 

SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE

Pardon me but your lack of a grasp on reality is showing, not to mention your lack of empathy for people less fortunate than yourself!  Eliminating ELECTION FRAUD replacing it with Election Integrity (better ELECTION TRANSPARENCY) will be returned when all electronic voting machines are banned to be replaced by hand counted paper ballots (or at the least made transparent by eliminating secret software, scanning paper ballots, and banning elections run by electronic voting machine vendors).  The only widely documented case of "voter fraud" was committed by that shameless, right-wing, pundit harpie Ann Coulter (I swear I can see her Adams Apple) when she voted out of her precinct in Florida.  Only a moron or a Republican, wait I repeat myself, would give any creedence to allegations of voter fraud versus the millions of votes that are stolen by disenfranchising voters and manipulating the vote counts caused by electronic voting.

by Mike Shelby (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 9:47:55 AM
 

Voter ID is the new Poll Tax

A basic tenet of democracy, upon which all stable governments rest, is that the government is only legitimate if it has the approval of the people. Not just of a few, registered, identified people, but of the vast majority of the people.

Every person should have a say in making the law. It is immoral to expect a person to obey the law if he or she has no say in making the law. Even basic voter-registration laws are immoral, by that measure. The only justification for any form of voter registration is to prevent "outsiders" affecting local elections. But, even that claim is morally suspect. If a person is at the place where the election is being held, he or she is expected to obey whatever law is made in that place, and so should have some say in making that law.

Poll taxes were common a century ago. The purpose of ever poll tax was, specifically and intentionally, to prevent poor people from voting. Each poll tax was evidenced by a receipt, a piece of paper, that the voter got from the county clerk when he paid the tax. That imposed two conditions on the voter: First, the voter had to travel to the county seat; Second, the voter had to pay money, which was as much as a week of wages for some people. The result was that most working-class people could not vote. And, that was exactly the intention of the tax.

There are only two differences between a poll tax and a voter ID. One is that the receipt for the voter ID includes the persons photograph on the paper. The other is that the voter must posess (that is, buy) other forms of ID before being allowed to pay the for the voter ID.  The voter still has to travel to go get the voter ID, and he still has to pay money.  The requirement for other ID means that the voter has to have a birth certificate, passport, or other forms of ID that are not free, before being allowed by buy the voter ID.  On the whole, the process to get a voter ID is even more difficult and expensive than the old poll taxes. And, clearly, the purpose is the same: to prevent poor and working-class people from voting.

There is no legitimate argument in support of voter ID (a.k.a. poll taxes). In many countries, everyone is allowed to vote wherever they want. On Election day, each person may appear at any polling place to cast a ballot. Some countries use indelible ink to stain the voters finger when he/she casts a ballot, and do not allow voters whose fingers are already inked to cast another ballot. That very effectively eliminates double-voting. Voters have an incentive to vote in the place where they live, so that they can have a say in the making of the laws that affect their own lives. So very few people travel elsewhere to vote. And, in particular, the poor people don't travel elsewhere to vote.

The purpose of voter ID laws is transparent. They are designed, specifically and intentionally, to prevent poor and working-class people from voting.

by Stephen Hansen (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 10 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 9:27:30 AM
 

The Myth of Voter Fraud

Let's not forget the notorious Mark "Thor" Hearne, Rove operative and his RNC front organization American Center for Voting Rights whose job was to promote the false argument for "voter  fraud." Let's also not forget the role the EAC could have played in promoting the "problem" of "voter fraud." The EAC decided to bury a study they commissioned which actually proved that "voter fraud" is virtually non-existent. Sometimes all you can prove is the truth. In Ohio, a restrictive voter ID provision was plugged into House Bill 3, the "Voter Suppression" bill, a provision promoted by Ohio Senator Kevin Coughlin whose (fabricated?) testimony before the Ohio Senate Rules Committee, convinced them to write the repugnant Voter ID provision into the bill. That was just not nice Kevin. Let's also not forget the fired USA's who would not pursue "voter fraud" cases for a lack of any real evidence of the "problem." I have to say the "Voter Fraud Fraud" Campaign is a scheme Karl Rove could never get to work right for him and his neocon crony base. Based on all of truth of the situation you would think the Voter ID provisions of House Bill 3 would be struck down and all this noise about voter fraud would just go away, but nooooooo. Not if we don't insist that the issue is discussed HONESTLY! Indiana, are paying attention to this story too?

by Victrola (10 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 16 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 5:12:18 PM
 

election fraud

     The most obvious perpetrators of election fraud here in Arizona are party politicians.  In 1988 they noticed some independent voters becoming deputy registrars and so they passed a bill signed into law by Governor Rose Mofford requiring that deputy registrars be recommended by the chairman of a political party, and, accordingly, all deputy registrars who were registered independent were sent a letter of dismissal on December 31, 1988, and informed that they were no longer eligible to hold that position. 

          Then an independent voter filed a lawsuit seeking re-instatement of independent deputy registrars.  Shortly before the court date for that case, the legislature met again and abolished the position of deputy registrar, effectively nullifying the court case.   This made it possible for any person, including convicted felons and illegal aliens to go to County Recorders, obtain voter registration forms, and register voters.  People in Arizona continued to register independent, for a time giving Ariaona the highest rate of independent voter registration in the nation.  By 2004 party leaders were starting to panic.  At the rate of independent voter registration that existed, independent voters would outnumber members of either major party within a few years.  Suddenly party leaders became concerned about fraudulent voter registration.  Illegal aliens were registering illegal aliens to vote.  Whether it actually ever happened has never been proven, but it certainly was possible without any deputy registrars in the state.  

Party leaders circulated an initiative petition called Proposition 200 which was approved by the voters.  A new voter registration form was required.  The new voter registration form went into effect in September of 2005.  In November a party spokesman now on the state committee of his party was bragging that the problem of large numbers of people in Arizona registering as independent voters had been remedied by a new voter registration form.  Statistics for independent voter registration since 2000 are as follows.

            2000-2002             107,715

            2002-2004              165,771

            2004-2006                26,483

      If there are party politicians talking about voter registration fraud, they probably have a plan to slow independent voter registration.  Other than that, fraudulent elections are a way of life for them.

by Robert Winn (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 28 comments) on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at 7:23:47 PM