Guess in which states election laws are tightening?

This never gets old...

http://www.theonion.com/articles/republicans-urge-minorities-to-get-out-and-vote-on,1241/

 

Well, if you have to prove your eligibility to vote -- i.e. your citizenship -- when you register to vote, then wouldn't a driver's license prove your identity, and thus your citizenship?

I know when I went to get my Illinois driver's license, they made me first go get my Social Security card, which I hadn't had for years. This was despite the fact that I had my birth certificate with me.

I'm not sure I agree with this.

We shouldn't need "our papers" to walk down the street or to cross an internal (state) border, but there are times when there is a legitimate need to identify ourselves.

 

You can screw with the system by changing polling sites, making it harder to get your voter card, make people show a valid ID and all sorts of crap.

The wealthy have the ability to vote. They can drive, have IDs, keep up with forms and all the other crap. many times the poor do not have access to transportation or valid IDs. Sometimes all they have is their name and where they were born.

It might sway a vote or or two points, but sometimes, that is all it takes.

 

I suspect voter fraud has happened since the first election.

The kind of systemic, large-scale voter fraud that has to occur to actually move an election in a different direction is much less likely. Especially in the bigger elections.

Fix a sheriff's race in a small county, doable. Fix a presidential election, possible but not probable.

What is easier to fix, is for one side to keep the other side's likely voters away from the ballot box.

Which is what's happening.

 

I know there are some states where they now require an ID to vote. I have no problem with this whatsoever and am stunned that anyone would have a problem with it.

I went to college in a state that was different from the one where I was a resident and I remember it being a colossal pain in the ass to vote.

 

But only in red states, right? I mean Democrats would NEVER try to fix an election...

 

Judging by how popular these laws are among Republicans, one might think the only way Democrats can win an election is if it's fixed.

 

Neither a driver's license nor a Social Security card proves that one is a citizen.

 

Ask 100 people headed into Phoenix Country Club if they have their ID on them or in their car, and I am guessing 99 will say yes.

Ask 100 people waiting to be fed at a homeless shelter, and I am guessing that number is much, much lower. So they cannot vote.

 

If either of those things were fundamental, constitutionally protected rights, you'd have a case. As they're not, you don't.

 

The best despots in history have always been very particular at making sure people had their papers in order.

Of course, that makes it very easy to make the case that someone's paper's aren't in order -- so that they can be shooed away from polls, detained, jailed. Whatever suits your fancy.

 

I'm sure you'd also argue that one need not present ID to purchase a firearm, as it is also a Constitutionally protected right.

Also, do I not need ID to run for political office? It too is a Constitutionally protected right.

Should I just be able to get on the ballot and run as John Doe, and not have to prove I've reached the Constitutionally mandated age for the office I'm running or?

Who are you to question my identity?