Repeal Of Voter ID Laws Hurts Election
Comments (11)
Voter ID laws help keep the voting process honest. (Kempton, Creative Commons)
Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina have already thrown out similar laws, and justice departments in Florida and Ohio are severely restricting the identification laws.
The Pennsylvania judge ruled that Pennsylvania residents did not have sufficient time to acquire the photo identification in time for November’s election; but, the law still exists and may be applied in the future.
The ruling is “great news” for President Obama and other Democratic candidates who believed the laws would keep potential supporters from voting, and they were right. The law would largely affect the poor, elderly, students and minorities, who constitute a great portion of the Democratic vote.
So the Democrats are happy, but how should the rest of America feel?
These laws are not discriminatory or prejudicial in their founding. Yes, certain segments of the population are more likely to be affected, but the laws were not designed to intentionally suppress Democratic votes.
The laws stand as a way to prevent voter fraud. Double voting, “ghost” voting by deceased people and voting with made-up names are pervasive issues that capitalize on the government’s inability to accurately determine voter validity without photo identification.
Voting with a photo ID essentially extinguishes each of these threats to voter integrity, and keeps our democratic process more honest.
Furthermore, the necessity of photo identification eliminates human error. Possession of drivers’ licenses and identification cards allow voters to access the contemporary and electronic voter booths. Long-gone are the days of laboriously hand counting votes, which could be misread or mishandled in the process.
Voter registration laws have an additional bonus: providing accessible and free identification. The laws negate any previous fees involved in obtaining government identification. For the left-wing critics of the laws, this actually stands to benefit the poor, who could perhaps not previously afford ID.
These laws are not discriminatory in nature, and repealing them nationwide is a poor decision. They serve to benefit the populace and keep voters honest when entering the polls. On the eve of what is expected to be a very close presidential race, the United States should hold on dearly to anything that will make the process more uniform, authentic and error-free.
Comments
You do know the statistics to actual voter i.d fraud is 10, right? Not 10,000, but 10. Sorry, I'm going to have to go with the 21,000,000 that are affected by this bullshit law.
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Repeal Of Voter ID Laws Hurts Election | Neon Tommy.
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"Yes, certain segments of the population are more likely to be affected, but the laws were not designed to intentionally suppress Democratic votes."
Unintentional discrimination is still discrimination. This ruling has been reached before by Justice Kennedy in LULAC v. Perry (2006), where the state of Texas tried to do partisan redistricting, which resulted in Hispanic votes being drowned out in south Texas. The state tried to argue that it had no intentions of taking Hispanics' voting power away with the redistricting, but Kennedy said even if the intentions were solely partisan, not racial, the redistricting still had an unintended impact on the Hispanic voters, and the redistricting was thrown out.
I support the idea of verification practices to secure the integrity of the vote. ID cards can be lost or stolen. Why not instead issue voters a photo id card when they register or verify their driver's license ID or other appropriate photo ID at the time of voter registration? Why not simply register all citizens automatically when they reach the age of voting? We could do this for all High School seniors and ensure that we were having most all eligible citizens registered to vote with proper photo ID cards.
Also, I hope all fellow citizens who are concerned about transparency and integrity in our voting process will also put their attention on the privately controlled electronic voting machines that include proprietary software that could easily be manipulated. This is the REAL serious threat to the integrity of our voting system and yet there is very little public concern/discussion about it. How can we verify the integrity of our vote (make sure there is no cheating) when the courts continue to uphold the proprietary rights of the vendors who supply the electronic machines and why would our elected officials allow this potentially disastrous practice in our system. We need to have machines that are subject to review by voting officials and the only way to do that is if they are run with "open source" (transparent) code. Without that, there is no way we can verify and trust that are votes are being counted as we cast them.
"The laws stand as a way to prevent voter fraud."
Photo ID laws only can prevent IN-PERSON voter impersonation fraud. But there is no evidence that such fraud occurs. In fact, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ADMITTED so, in writing, in the lawsuit challenging the PA law: pilcop.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Voter-ID-Fraud-Stipulation.pdf.
"Furthermore, the necessity of photo identification eliminates human error. Possession of drivers’ licenses and identification cards allow voters to access the contemporary and electronic voter booths. Long-gone are the days of laboriously hand counting votes, which could be misread or mishandled in the process."
You lost me on this one. The photo ID law only requires voters to show photo ID to the poll workers. The poll workers then sign the voter in and direct them to a voting booth or machine, just like they used to before the photo ID law. Showing a photo ID has nothing to do with the process of casting a ballot or the process of counting the ballots. Those processes have not changed.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided Tuesday . . . "
It was not the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. It was the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, which is one of the two intermediate appellate courts below the PA Supreme Court.
Paige, when liberals resort to insulting you it means that they cannot argue the substance. Take the below comments as proof of a job well done.
Whoever claims voter fraud is "pretty much nonexistent" is horribly ignorant on the subject. Make an attempt to educate yourself on a topic before you post something arguing an article of substance. And clean up your language. Your proanity laced name calling only further exposes your ignorance on a real issue AND your overall intelligence.
Paige, you are a fucking moron, voter fraud is pretty much nonexistant. The only reason these laws exist in the first place is because republican legislatures in the states thought it would be a way to suppress the minorities, elderly and students from voting.