Mike Kelly - Go, man, go!

[BigV]

Originally Posted by classicman

What about the valid vote negated by the invalid voter's vote?
Couldn't this be argued as just the opposite of voter suppression?

Ok, I'll accept that. But my question is how would a voter id law have prevented this?? We don't even know what the mechanism of the fraud was. I am betting that these cases were ones where the voter/fraud previously had legitimate credentials to vote, voted, and later during some audit or something were cross checked with the "felons recently released from prison after serving their sentences but not yet reintegrated enough to vote" list or some such.

Stuffing a ballot box with a bunch of anonymous but just made up ballots is also voter fraud. Voter id will not prevent that. OOOPSIE I accidentally put this box of votes in the recycle bin and they got shredded is also voter fraud, not preventable by voter id. Voting in the wrong precinct is voter fraud, not preventable by voter id. Walking up, voting, going to another polling place, voting again in the same day is voter fraud. I don't see how voter id as described by the PA law would prevent this one either.

Until you can explain to me what the voter fraud was I can't see how the law will make things better by reducing voter fraud, the advertised reason people have been stampeded/bamboozled into thinking this law was created to prevent.

This law is supposed to prevent this scenario. I'm not eligible to vote. If I vote, it's a fraud. Now I need to get a ballot, and get someone's government issued photo id (who presumably looks like me) and go to their polling place where my face matches the face on the id and the name on the id matches the name on the list of registered voters at the polling place then vote. It's supposed to keep ME from doing this, and other stupid bad guys. It's kind of ridiculous. So ridiculous in fact that it's never been attempted, or at least detected and prosecuted, according to everybody in the lawsuit challenging the law.

who the fuck conducts voter fraud this way?

next question.

What in the world is wrong with the way people in PA vote now? I'm asking about the voting process, NOT the recent results nor the anticipated results of elections? Because I believe the law's intended to affect the anticipated results by modifying how people get to vote. NOT the advertised result of keeping people from impersonating voters in person at polling places.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Is that negated vote worth disenfranchising thousands?

Yeah, are 143 cases of voter fraud such a huge big deal that no election results will be valid? I think not.

As an older person on a small fixed income, I know first hand how difficult it can be to get a picture ID - in the state of Colorado, anyhow. Being a complete space case, I seem to loose my purse with driver's license, debit card, etc on a fairly regular basis.

Colorado will only accept a notorized birth certificate or a copy of a divorce decree or a few other such documents to re-issue a picture ID or driver’s license. The birth certificate would seem the easiest route to go unless you happen to be born in the state of Kentucky. The fee is $10.00 – not vast, but a low income person like me still feels the pinch. But there’s another catch. The last time I filled out a request for a birth certificate from Kentucky, they wanted to know which hospital I was born in. Beats me, and I have no one left to ask, so I left that part blank on my application. Kentucky did not like this at all and refused to issue me my certificate (they did keep the 10 bucks though).

So next, I tried getting a copy of my divorce decree. In El Paso County (Colorado Springs) where I got my divorce if you require a copy of something specific from a file, certified copies are $20.00 for the certification and .75 cents per page for the copy. Plus there are additional fees if you need a copy of a record from prior to 1988. My divorce went through in ’87. Total cost $50.00. I didn’t have it.

I knew my ex would have a copy because he is one of the most anal-retentive persons on the face of the earth. I hadn’t been in touch with him for years, but I knew he had a PO box in Manitou Springs. I didn’t know the number though, so I mailed him a letter care of general delivery in Manitou, requesting him to send a copy of our divorce papers. About a month later, he begrudgingly sent me the copy along with the request that I refrain from such communications in the future. Poor man, I hadn’t spoken with him for 10 years, never mind send him a letter. However, I guess the volume of our correspondence overwhelmed him.

Whatever. But my troubles were far from over. I still needed a second document from the official identification list and a document showing proof of address. I managed to come up with those somehow or other.

Then the cost of replacement of a lost license is $14.00. Well, I had 14 bucks, anyhow. But if I hadn’t had such a helpful ex (yeah, right), my total cost to get my picture ID would have been the $10.00 that the state of Kentucky nabbed, plus $50.00 to El Paso County, plus $14.00 to the motor vehicle department for a grand total of $74.00. That’s a big chunk for a low income person, never mind all the time and paperwork involved. If I’d had to present a picture ID to vote, the election would have long been over by time I came up with the required ID.

And there are many, many people in the US in more or less the same situation as mine. Exercising my right to vote is important to me, but someone less dedicated could easily throw up their hands and forget about the whole thing. This is what the Republicans are hoping for.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by BigV

Voting in the wrong precinct is voter fraud, not preventable by voter id. Walking up, voting, going to another polling place, voting again in the same day is voter fraud. I don't see how voter id as described by the PA law would prevent this one either.

In PA you go to your designated poll, give them your address, they check their list, and if more than one person is listed for that address they ask which one you are, and have you sign. They already have the right to ask for your voter registration card if they think something's not right. I think you can still vote but they hold your ballot for further checking. That's what I've heard but have no experience with that.
So no, this bullshit won't do a thing except discourage people from voting, which is already a huge problem in this country. The vote fraud they aren't addressing is the electronic voting machines.

[Spexxvet]

Pennsylvania's repubican Christians attack Amish!

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) Nothing is sacred about your religion when it comes to getting a state identification card without a photo.