Blog #36 – Voter ID
After reading the article, “Can I See Some ID?”, I just wanted to sum up some of the details and arguments:
– In Texas, a new voter ID law requires Texans to have a picture ID with them in order to vote. The article said that this law would negatively impact college students b/c the address for the voter at the polling station and on the ID MUST be the same. Texas is a massive state, one which could take a 12-14 hour drive to cross it (as does Michigan), and so if a student lives up in the panhandle put goes to college in Houston, that student would have a problem. What is he/she to do?
– A majority of these laws are being pushed by states that have Republican-led legislatures, and with the 2012 elections coming up, this could be seen as a partisan (political party) tactic to limit the number of eligible voters who could vote for the Democratic incumbent, Barack Obama. Those being affected by this call for voter ID are the poor, the elderly, college students, and minorities (estimated 21 million, according to the article dated April 2, 2012). Many of these groups voted for Obama in 2008, and voter ID opponents like Civil Rights pioneer and Congressman, John Lewis, called these laws “another form of a poll tax.” Obviously, this could have a huge (read HUGE) impact on the election in November:
Twenty-four laws or executive orders restricting access to the ballot have passed in 17 states since the beginning of 2011 and 74 more such bills are pending. By November 2012, there will be at least 30 states that will require identification to be shown at the polls. This requirement will disenfranchise up to 11% of eligible voters in America, and will have an even larger impact on groups that have traditionally faced discrimination at the polls. 1
– Republicans state that these laws are intended to reduce incidents of voter fraud. Also, they argue that showing an ID like a driver’s license or passport at the airport is a normal procedure, so why couldn’t you be expected to confirm your identity at the polling place? It is just common sense to carry a piece of ID with you in order to function in today’s society. Isn’t our democracy worth safe guarding with a simple, free ID? Opinion polls cited by Republicans also state that 75% of Americans “including majorities of Hispanics and African-Americans — routinely support such laws.” 2
The Supreme Court has also weighed in on the Constitutionality of Voter ID laws (like Indiana’s) and has said YES! in 2008.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
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The South Carolina law mentioned in the Colbert video above in which Governor Nikki Haley promises to drive all of those who are inconvenienced by the law has been blocked by the Justice Department. It says that the SC law would target eligible minority voters. 1 In March, the Justice Dept. also blocked the Texas voter ID law for the same reason. Wisconsin’s voter ID law was also blocked by a federal judge in March 2012. The judge in the Wisconsin case said this about his decision:
“Without question, where it exists, voter fraud corrupts elections and undermines our form of government,” wrote Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess in his decision. “The legislature and governor may certainly take aggressive action to prevent its occurrence. But voter fraud is no more poisonous to our democracy than voter suppression. Indeed, they are two heads on the monster.”
In fact, the group that is pushing for voter ID laws has stated that non-citizens with photo IDs have already registered to vote, though the number appears to be small (2,000 in Miami-Dade county of 250,000). Sometimes, in Florida and other places with Latino populations, some U.S. citizens are asked to “document their status” as Americans so they can stay on the voter rolls. Occasionally, these residents are flagged as ineligible voters – in effect, guilty until proven innocent. 3
In a typical, hidden-camera investigative report, PJ Media trickster James O’Keefe sent a film crew to pretend to be the Attorney General of the U.S. and vote in his place, or technically, to see how easy it would be to vote at his precinct posing as a gentlemen named Holder (the A.G. is named Eric Holder) without ID. Obviously according the National Review article, the pollster is plainly clueless, unable to recognize the Attorney General of the U.S..2
A super-lobby group called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) has been cooperating with big businesses and legislatures around the country to write some of these voter ID bills. Here’s a link to one of their co-written laws in Arkansas: http://alecexposed.org/w/images/d/d9/7G16-VOTER_ID_ACT_Exposed.pdf As it says on the document, these voter ID laws aim at disenfranchising the poor, elderly, minorities, and college students because they move often or don’t have a driver’s license or have lost the required paperwork. Sometimes, the states will provide free IDs but the offices aren’t close to the people or aren’t open at convenient hours.
So, what’s the right answer? Voter IDs or not? Or is there another possibility? Put it out there. Discuss the issues in your answer.
200 words. Due Wednesday by 5/22.
Sources:
1. “Voter ID Laws: Silencing the American People,” John Whitehead – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-w-whitehead/voter-id-laws_b_1514422.html
2. “Why We Need Voter ID Laws,” John Fund – http://www.nationalreview.com/blogs/print/295431
3. Fox Points to Voter ID Laws as Solution to Potential Non-Citizen Voters Who Already Have IDs, Emily Arrwood – http://mediamatters.org/blog/201205100024
While I believe Voter IDs should be used at the voting stations, I don’t believe the laws have to be so strict. Before these laws passed requiring government issued ID, such forms of identification like school IDs or bank statements were acceptable forms of ID. Now a government issued ID, such as a driver’s license or a passport, is required in order to vote. The problem is that many people who are eligible to vote don’t own a government issued ID! These laws will affect young college aged students, elders, and minorities. It’s not fair that they should be denied their rights to vote because they are without some form of plausible ID. According to the blog, almost 20% of college-aged students don’t own an ID, and about 20-25% of minorities such as Asians and Blacks don’t own an ID. These percentages account for a very large number of people, 21 million to be exact. 21 million votes can be huge for this next election and it can easily effect the turn out of the election. Most states that practice this law have a majority Republican legislature. While they claim that they issued this law to prevent voter fraud, it’s really because they want to make it significantly more difficult for minorities and young people to vote because the majority of them vote Democratic. In actuality, voter fraud is not so common. I think that this law requiring voting ID is unconstitutional because they are basically denying many eligible American citizens the right to vote based on whether or not they own some ID. Just because they don’t own any of these types of ID, it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Like Congressman John Lewis said, it’s another form of a poll tax. The states that issue these laws are trying to reduce the amount of votes from a certain group (minorities, elderly, and young) by making it extremely difficult for them to vote just like certain states back in the ‘50s and ‘60s enabled poll taxes because they knew that many blacks would not be able to afford to vote. I think the other answer to requiring government ID is to just keep it like before; with bank statements, school IDs, or social security cards still being a plausible form of ID that will let most if not all people vote while still preventing voter fraud instead of disallowing 21 million their natural right to vote.
1. The issue of imposing voter identification laws is a very real one, made even more controversial because of the upcoming election. Like the blog says, voter ID laws could effectively prevent 21 million citizens from voting—mainly minorities, the poor, and the elderly. Regardless of partisan tactics and politics in general, part of our country’s image comes from the freedom of allowing all eligible U.S. citizens to vote. I agree with both the article and the blog; it is important that any inherent form of voter restriction be controlled, recognized, and deemed unconstitutional; however, couldn’t college students, the elderly, etc. simply request an absentee ballot and vote that way? Requiring all out-of-town voters to do so would likely cause a drop in votes cast, but only due to laziness of potential voters. The idea that a picture ID and proof of citizenship/residency is enough to prevent voter fraud is somewhat unreasonable, but the fact remains that voter fraud isn’t really a huge problem. Actually, some pollsters don’t realize that fraudulent voters are using the identification of the deceased is being used in order to cast a vote. I think it’d be more effective to get competent officials to run the election process that to require residency concurrent with the precinct in which one is voting. Furthermore, the ‘guilty until proven innocent’ method of flagging voters is completely unconstitutional—as is reinstating something akin to a poll tax. In Michigan, a photo ID and voter registration is required, and an address is required on the voter registration card. So, right out of the start, one needs an address in order to become a registered voter, unless a federal homeless association (i.e. NLCHP or NHC) issues a registration card detailing either a homeless shelter or park/bus stop in which a homeless person sleeps (to determine precinct location). These hurdles provide an obstacle in and of themselves—although the law protects the right of the homeless to vote, differing state regulations make it difficult for the homeless to register. There are nearly 100,000 homeless people in Michigan, 50% of whom are adults. Nationally, this is a huge number of people—shouldn’t this be addressed with just as much urgency as voter fraud and identification? It’s a widespread and massive problem, and needs to be addressed nationally as opposed to within state governments.
I think that voter IDs are necessary, but there are some flaws with the restrictions. Voter fraud is a very big issue and should be eliminated, but this effort to do so is also eliminating many eligible voters. To be honest, I think that people who don’t aren’t citizens shouldn’t have the right to vote—not saying that I don’t think they deserve to be a citizen. In a way, that would also be a fraud because there are lots of illegal immigrants who shouldn’t be able to vote. The worst part of the voter ID law is that many students aren’t able to vote. If they have ID, they’re obviously a citizen and eligible to vote, it’s just that they live somewhere else during the school year. If they’re going to pass this law in more and more states, it might be a better idea to higher the voting age because it’s unfair to the students that are rejected from voting. Not just students either, for all the minorities, not all are illegal immigrants and not all aren’t citizens. They all had to wait and work hard in order to earn their citizenship and it’s not fair to tell them they aren’t allowed to vote.
I understand that many states are trying to prevent voter fraud in the elections. To be completely honest, there aren’t enough proven cases in the past that show people trying to take advantage of an election. I don’t think that a few people will greatly impact even in a close election. Yes voter ID’s are free; however, we need to make it easier for people to obtain them. Like the article says, Texas is a massive state and it could take up to 14 hours to drive across it and the address for the voter at the polling station must be the same as on the ID. So if a student lives up in the panhandle but goes to college in Houston, that student would have a problem. The requirement for the voter ID is like the modern day poll tax. The disadvantages outweigh the advantages by far. For example, it is hard for some to get state ID because there are so many underlying documents that are needed to apply for one. Also some states, such as Tennessee, will eventually require that voters have a license. That is completely unfair because many people, including the poor, elderly, and disabled are not able, or incapable of driving. I think the laws partly infringe on our basic civil rights because people who were apart of the Civil Rights Movement fought so hard for their civil rights-the 24th amendment and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 abolished the poll tax literacy tests. Perhaps some of the republican states are voting yes for the voter ID laws because they are trying to prevent the elderly and poor from voting. These people typically vote Democrat. So many people will be prevented from voting-a basic civil right- if these laws are put into place. I do not believe that the Voter ID Laws will positively impact our country.
Voter ID laws are obviously just an off hand attempt at getting less democrats to vote. We see this because those being effected or restricted due to not having identification are college students who some are away from there home state so they don’t have an ID for the state that they would vote in, and then there are poor people and minorities who are generally democrats and some don’t have IDs. Since it is shown that there is a very low amount of voter fraud, saying that voter IDs are to restrict that is total bull. Just another republican trick. I think it said somewhere in the article that in a recent election there was about 4 acts of voter fraud, that’s it, just 4… out of millions of people. I’m not saying all republicans are bad, but nobody should be trying to cheat out the other in any means. The parties should be more balanced and open to cooperate on the problems in society. Racism and prejudices are one thing, but covering that mentality up with lies just to get what you want, that is terrible. All in all, I believe that voter IDs are unnecessary because what the republicans say it is really trying to prevent, is not relevant.
I feel voter ID is like a poll tax. This is mainly because it is doing nothing but stopping the amount of people from voting. If there is only 4 instance of fraud out of 9 million then there is no fraud that is people just making mistakes. People are always going to make mistakes so there will probably be four instance of fraud in the 2012 election with the voter IDs. I think if IDs are stopping 11% of registered voters in American from voting then it is not worth it if it is only stopping one million of a percent of fraud. This is just republicans trying to help themselves in the next elections because most poor people and minorities vote democratic. I am still wondering why we don’t do voting online. This would save a lot of the struggle of voting. You would not have to drive or go anywhere as long as you have a computer in your house and then if you can’t work a computer or if you don’t have a computer you can just drive to were you usually vote. This means people wouldn’t have to leave their work to vote and you wouldn’t have to waste time waiting in a long line to vote.
I think the prospect of forcing people to have IDs to be able to vote has positive aspects of it and negative aspects of it. The idea of voter IDs, although having good intentions, would most definitely prevent a large percentage of eligible voters from being able to participate in elections. If the law were put into effect, it would help to eliminate voter fraud at the polls, as well as exclude illegal immigrants from voting. At the same time, a large number of qualified American voters wouldn’t be enabled to cast their votes. This specific group includes senior citizens who may not drive and/or travel outside of the country, the less fortunate who cannot obtain a driver’s license/passport, and simply anyone who doesn’t have a driver’s license, passport, or any form of ID of that nature. The Democratic party, who benefit greatly from these would-be-barred voters, would take a back seat to other parties boasting ID-holding voters. I believe that from different viewpoints, this proposal could be considered good or bad. If you’re a Republican, the positives would outweigh the negatives, but from a Democratic opinion, or for that matter the opinion of the 21 million people who would be ineligible to vote were this law passed, it would most certainly be a law that you would NOT advocate.
Yes and no. Yes, I would agree that preventing voter fraud is important, but at the same time I do not think that the course of action in preventing this should have any effect on people who should be perfectly eligible voters. The entire concept of having voter ID’s just seems downright confusing and unnecessary, especially because it does not seem apparent that we have many cases of fraudulent voting in the U.S. anyway. It sounds to me like the republicans are just trying to eliminate a democratic threat to themselves. Given that I am, obviously, and African American and soonishly will be able to vote, I would not want to have to go through all this just to take part in the very democratic process that is supposed to make this country so great. In a weird twisted kind of way, I do give the Republican Party props for dressing up this attack on democracy itself in such a presentable manner. If they can be that creative, I’m sure they can find a better, fairer way to eliminate the treat of voter fraud (which admittedly would be a problem if it became common enough) without having to put so many other perfectly good voters on the chopping block.
I think that voter ID’s are completely unconstitutional. As we saw on the Colbert Report, in the state of Ohio there were only 4 cases of voter fraud out of over 9 million votes. With a number that small, voter fraud is clearly not the real reason for voter ID’s. It has been proved that the majority of people without voter ID’s, (African, Asian and Latino American’s, along with young people) vote democratically. And it’s the Republican legislature’s that are proposing and pushing these voter ID laws. I feel that this is almost like literacy tests and poll taxes. For many minorities and poor American’s it’s not easy to get an ID, let alone a picture ID. They cost money plus there are not always offices that are open at convenient hours for these people. Since many people work full time that don’t have ID’s you can see how finding time to go to an office and wait for hours for an ID would pose a problem. Being a Democracy is something that America has always prided itself in. And the fact that everyone above the age of 18 can vote no matter what race or gender you are is what makes us proud Americans. By giving these voter ID laws we would be stripped of our rights that we are promised as American citizens.
Having voter IDs should be the right way. Yes it prevents voter fraud. We see the complaint though then of the Republican Party making up the alleged voter fraud to make it seem like a bigger problem than it actually is. A way though to fix the ID problem if you are away from where you registered to vote should be a temporary ID. At the beginning of each year or when you first register to vote you should be allowed a temporary voter ID. This would allow you to vote if you were not in the place that registered. A person would have to prove where they were going to be temporarily. If you were going to college for example somewhere else you would have to show an acceptance letter or something of that nature. Then there would be some flaw with the temporary voters ID because then one of the parties would make it so that you would need an excessive amount of different kinds of proof to show that you were going to be where you said. It seems that no matter what one of the parties or both of them are going to find a way in which it will be harder for the opposing party to vote.
I believe that there should be no voter ID laws. I understand where people are coming from, but voter fraud is so rare and there are so little cases of it that it does not have a significant impact on elections. Not only is there little voter fraud, but many Americans are not able to vote because they don’t have a picture identification. The number of Americans not able to vote because of this outweighs election results greatly, even more so than voter fraud. It is unfair to the poor, elderly, minorities, and students who don’t have ID or only have ID from a different state. I think even though voter fraud is a very bad thing, and it does happen, there is not enough of it for being able to eliminate thousand and possibility millions of peoples abilities to vote. I think that this law will eventually be taken away at some point. I think so because peoples complaints will rise, and the government will have to do something about it. An alternative to stopping the law would be for the states to provide free photo identification to all American citizens. The voter I.D. Laws should not exist because it is unfair to too many Americans.
From what I understand from the statements above, voter ID means that wherever you vote, the address of the voting booth and the address stated on your ID card must be the same. If I am correct, this is completely wrong. As stated in the article, if you are a college student who is registered to vote, and really excited that you are voting for the first time, and the ID that you have has the address of your university/college, and you vote somewhere in your state that’s much farther away, then they would ban you from voting. I do not feel that this is right. I think that an ID should be required to vote, so they can make sure that the people are old enough to vote, but i do not agree with the address part. I think that as long as you have an ID from the state within you are voting, you should be able to vote. College kids who live in big states like Texas, Michigan, California, etc. would be at a disadvantage because the address on their ID would be different than the address at the voter registration rolls. If they were able to just vote with a state ID, anywhere in the state, I think this problem would be solved. I also think it will stop voting fraud, because you still have to have an ID to vote, and you still must be of age, but as long as your ID card has the same state from which you are voting, it will work out just fine.
I don’t think that these new voter I.D. laws should be passed; however, I’m not fully sure that the current system works either. Like it said on the blog, the issue is a two-headed monster. If the voter I.D. requirements go into effect, there will be millions of people (primarily Democratic voters) that will not be able to fulfill their constitutional rights and vote for the candidate they think is best suited for office. On the other hand, as also noted in the blog, the current voting system is subject to voter fraud. So what’s the solution? That is a good question, and as I sit here, pondering the ever so touchy subject, I think I may have come to a conclusion. In my eyes, the only way to truly address the issue, would be to have the government issue every single person in the country who votes in the upcoming election an I.D. Since this is extremely unrealistic, I think that we have to go back and readdress both sides of the argument. While voter fraud is an issue, not even people pushing for the I.D. requirements will argue that it is a huge scam. The number of incidents concerning voter fraud are said to be in the tens of thousands. Fraud at the polls is undoubtedly an issue, but when stacked up against the drastic change that voter I.D. requirements would have, it is miniscule (I.D. requirements could stop tens of millions from voting). As a result of this, I concluded that it is better to have maybe a thousand scandalous ballots than 21 million uncast.
No I do not think there is a need for a voters ID. With more and more Americans choosing not to vote the upcoming elections are bound to suffer. If a law is passed for a voters ID it will increase the number of non voting citizens. college students and the elderly make up a large amount of todays voters. With the new law it will make it impossible for many students to vote if they choose to go out of state. Also with the passing of this law it will make it almost impossible for less fortunate people and minorities to vote. For the government this lack of latino and black votes might be just what they want. But if they try to play it off as if voters fraud is a huge epidemic, people will begin to ask questions because its just not believable with the small reports of fraud. If the law restricts minorities from voting it is bound to spark a major racial controversy.
Although I agree with the fact that people need to have voter ID’s in order to vote, I feel like it is unfair to those people who don’t have any way of showing that they are from this country and are able to vote. Many states are starting to follow this voter ID idea and it isn’t right because, there are people who have been living in the U.S. for a long time without any form of ID and they’re doing just fine and living a normal life until this new requirement came along. On the other hand, it makes sense to me that they don’t want people who may not be from the U.S. voting because, it could dramatically change the polls in who would win. It is understandable that some states, that are facing this problem with difficulty, might choose to incorporate this because, they might be having problems with keeping out people who could not be from the U.S. or are trying to re-vote or something. Texas was the state to start doing all of this and it is understandable to me because, they have to watch the borders and make sure that there are no immigrants coming through to the U.S. Texas might have just reached it’s final straw in determining who is from the U.S. or not and an easy way to do this is to incorporate photo ID’s. Overall, I agree that there should be some sort of way in showing who’s apart of the U.S. and who’s not, but I feel it could be done in a more simpler matter.
It was less than a century ago that women were finally granted the right to vote in the USA, and only 37 years ago that African Americans were at last given their suffrage as well. Following years of marches, boycotts, hunger strikes, speeches, protests, (I could go on forever), ‘equality’ had finally arrived at the American voting booths; however, could all of this be in jeopardy? Laws requiring photo IDs only hinder the Democratic system itself. It is shown that thousands–I’m sorry, millions (21) of people would have much harder of a time stepping into the poll booths, most of them being poor, young, or a minority. And… most of these hindered voters tend to side liberal? Who would have known–what a coincidence! If only four out of the 9.078,728 votes in Ohio in the election of 2004 were fraud, either Ohio is some random angelically honest state, or voter fraud is not a large issue. The current system states use to prevent fraud is clearly working in tip-top shape and as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it… unless of course you wish for “Mrs. Pankhurst [to be] clapped in irons again” (from ‘Sister Suffragette of Mary Poppins). These pic ID-requiring laws would definitely be injustices, not legally as extra security can be good at times (though sometimes unnecessary), but in a moral manner. It is censoring the people: yes, the people can still vote, but only after struggles to actually get to the polls where they are allowed to vote (which is a huge complication for people like college students) or to obtain a picture ID, because being a citizen and presenting some other valid form of proof isn’t enough. Plus, how much harder is it to create a photo ID compared to some other one? If someone really does wish to conduct voter fraud, I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the extra bit of work to do so. One thing I found interesting is that in Texas, one can submit an absentee ballot from space (because of the astronauts and NASA stations there) (according to Wikipedia)… so why wouldn’t out-of-town college students be able to do that at an actual poll booth? Picture IDs should not be required.
For every 1000 Americans there are approximately 775 cars (not motor vehicles so doesn’t include motorcycles trucks ect.) now that doesn’t mean that 775 out of 1000 US citizens has a license, that statistic is very very hard to find online. But a goodly portion of people in the US have a drivers license or have at one point. Most states licensing fees are minimal. But if you cannot afford between 20-120 for a drivers license you can buy a passport card for the minimal fee of $10.00 plus a photo. That is such a minimal financial commitment that I believe nearly everyone could afford this, and therefore could vote. I do not think that this restriction would be hazardous to our freedom, nor would it truly impede people from voting. Although it might cause people to not vote simply to avoid any sort of hassle. But laziness and apathy should be no reason to avoid eliminating a possible source of fraud. I can see where democrats may be coming from. The people most likely to not know about (hehem people who shouldn’t be voting anyways, if they cannot make an informed choice voting could elect oh I don’t know a convict. (it almost happened n west Virginia K.R. judd)) would be people who are poor or uniformed. And since they might not know who is the best candidate, they might vote for people promising to give them money for nothing in return. The 10 dollars generated plus a stamp would help generate new federal income, so why not eliminate fraud and get the government more revenue? Because democrats may (Obama especially) have a higher chance of being voted out of office.
At first glance, voter IDs seem like a good idea. It minimizes voter fraud. However, the technicalities of having to have the address on your ID be the same as the where the voter currently lives is a problem for many college students. Another major problem seems to be excluding minorities, the poor, and the elderly. However, state IDs are free and can be relatively easy to obtain. I think that IDs could be a good idea if the rules regarding addresses were loosened. As long as someone can prove that they are who they say they are, what does it matter if they aren’t living in the same place as when they first got the ID? But really, as voter fraud isn’t a very big problem I don’t see why we should be causing more problems just to attempt to solve it. People that can’t get to government buildings where IDs are issued at a convenient hour would find it hard to get an ID despite the fact that it is free. Sometimes these buildings are too far away from the poor or elderly that can’t make the trip. As the saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Clearly, no Voter IDs is the right answer. Sure, maybe it’s a problem but it is such a miniscule problem that it makes absolutely no difference in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t even matter a bit. If we went by significant figures in a scientific study, Voter fraud wouldn’t be even an area of thought. Like how in the 2008 election in Ohio it was 44/1,000,000% chance of voter fraud. In a key swing state 4 votes do not make the difference. Because of the way the Electoral College works, 4 votes cannot decide an election or practically even how a state will split up delegates. And US elections have been arbitrarily decided in the past, even when the popular vote was in different areas (See: Elections of 2000 and 1800). This is such a miniscule problem that it can’t be for the benefit of the people, it can only be for socio-economic and racial discrimination. The ends do not justify the means in any way, if the people pushing forward Voter ID legislation are pretending that it is for the benefit of the people they are blatantly lying to the public. And the whole idea that only landowners and older people should be allowed to vote is completely disgraceful to democracy as a whole. If one tries to bring in the founding fathers into an argument, they have to look at the facts. They wanted everyone to vote and to be represented in the government. The Greek Republic had only a Senate of wealthy men, but poor Chinese people toppled that. Everyone should be represented, even the uneducated and the poor. If we can represent idiots who don’t know anything about politics on cable news shows, why can’t we have the idiots be represented in government? The whole argument disgusts me at how blatantly some people will try to swing an election outside of the fundamentals of our country’s policy.
I do believe that we should require voting IDs. However I don’t think that the address from the voting station should have to match that of the one on the ID because of how it will negatively impact some college students like the article said. I think it is important that we try to limit the amount of voter fraud that’s going on during elections. You have to show ID when buying alcohol, or at an airport, so why not voting? Majority of people who are of voting age have some form of ID and as far as I know getting one is free. “Without question, where it exists, voter fraud corrupts elections and undermines our form of government,” this shows the severity of voter fraud and how it can unfairly swing an election. It was mentioned in the video that you have the option of showing a passport, which is even easier to get then any other form of ID. The article says that college students move often or don’t have a driver’s license or have lost the required paperwork. But as was said earlier you can bring in a passport, which most students have. I feel like a birth certificate would be sufficient too.
I believe that voter IDs are not necessary when voting. Voter IDs are a caution that doesn’t need to be taken because there is a small percentage of voter fraud. The IDs can be believed to be a devious way of not having minorities, elderly, and poor not vote. Which, in turn, would probably cause President Obama to lose the re-election. The Voter IDs would be denying people the right to vote; which is unconstitutional. I think we should just leave it alone and keep voting the way it has been for years. That small percentage of fraud is most likely not going to increase exponentially. If it becomes more of a problem, then we should have Voter IDs but have them cost little or nothing and be available in most neighborhoods. This makes it easier for everyone to get them and it wouldn’t be as much as a pain to vote. The IDs should only be used if a higher percentage, such as 10%, were reported for fraud. Right now, its too low and we would be changing the history of polls and voting. Plus, they would cost money to get them and not everyone can afford to spend money for voting.
In my opinion, I think we shouldn’t have voter ID’s. The law requires voters to show a government issued photo ID that matches the address on voter registration rolls. This law makes it much harder to vote, for many different people. In many states like Texas, there are a lot of out of state students with driver’s licenses from their hometowns. Students in general were huge in last election with electing Obama. I think with the new law, it would affect the election in a major way. This law won’t just affect students, but many minorities. In the picture of those without government issued ID’s there are a lot of people without them. It shows that 25% of African Americans don’t have an ID, which is a huge percentage. That alone would change election in so many ways. An estimated 21 million Americans, many of them poor, elderly, black or Hispanic doesn’t have government ID cards. I think we shouldn’t have the ID’s because it affects so many people. I think the law would discourage and block the eligible voters changing everything in the process. I think the only reason republicans are pushing this law is because they don’t want Obama to win. Knowing that it was the young and minorities that pushed Obama to victory, I think they are putting a stop to it. They say the rules are necessary in order to prevent voter fraud but, I feel like there is more behind the new ID laws. Even with voter fraud I don’t think it would have a major affect on the election unlike this new law would. If there were more cases of fraud, I would understand but also offer another possibility that is better for everyone.
Obviously voter fraud in the U.S is a problem, but I do not see it as one that causes the need for voter IDs. Voter fraud isn’t all of sudden a new problem that will cause a huge catastrophe, so why freak out about it? I don’t think that there has been big enough cases to prove that voter IDs are necessary. The examples given in the blog give me the impression that requiring voter IDs is just a Republican plot to lessen the amount of voters in favor of the Democratic Party. I do agree that people should be carrying some sort of ID with them all of the time, but for those who cannot/ do not have an ID, this law would make it much more difficult, if not impossible, for them to vote. Voting is an important right and part of being an American citizen so I believe that requiring IDs would definitely decrease the amount of voters in the country and make it a lot hard for some to vote, for example the college students in Texas. All in all, I think that passing the voter ID laws nationally would have a major backlash from the younger voters and minorities because it would make it much more difficult to share their opinion in the polls.
I think it is important to be required to present an ID to be able to vote. It is important that everyone had the equal opportunity to vote, but it is also extremely important to make sure that it is a fair election and there is no voting fraud. A majority of people have the idea required to vote, the groups that it would mostly affect are poor, elderly, college students, and minorities. So many people take our country’s rights for granted. The small step of making sure you have the proper form of idea to vote would be well worth your time if you are serious about voting. If the issue is money or something other than just the fact that getting the required form of idea is just not convenient for you, then there should be an alternate form of identification that the state can help you acquire to make sure that you’re right to vote isn’t being taken away. If you are unwilling to take these actions it’s not the state taking away your right to vote, because if you valued it you would be willing to take a small extra step to participate in a fair election. In fact, if you are serious about voting you should take comfort in the idea that states are trying to make sure that the election that you are voting in is a fair one. I think it is very important to ensure that there is integrity in the elections, and requiring ID would help reduce Impersonation, fake voter registrations, double voting, and voting by non citizens.
I say there should be no voter ID’s, because one there really isn’t fraud (I mean that much) nothing to a point where it could even be considered a crisis. And I personally don’t think it is correct or necessary for you to have to carry I.D everywhere you go now a days in order to function in our society. Plus everyone that is affected by this ruling of having I.Ds is 21 million (according to the blog) and are elderly, poor, and college students that need help as it is, and don’t need I.Ds in order to vote. Let’s say that out of those 21 million people (which there are probably more now) 5 million of those people are denied the right to vote which is against the Amendments. All because some of them can’t afford an I.D or they are college students and they don’t have them because some college students don’t have driver’s license, but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Or the elderly who voter’s I.D cards have expired and even though they are U.S citizens they shouldn’t be denied the right to vote. That’s why I think it is not necessary for citizens to have I.Ds in order to vote.
I think that requiring voter ID is the wrong answer. One reason is because it goes against our constitutional right to vote. If your a student that lives up to 15 hours away from the polling station your address is at, then you are probably not going to be able to vote. Voting is very important, but I’m not sure you’re going to be willing or able to put your life on hold for two days to cast the ballot. I realize that the reason people are saying this is right is because they are trying to prevent voter fraud, which I admit is a problem that really need to solve, but I’m not sure this is the right answer. It’s not so much as having the ID is the problem, but it’s having to be at the right polling station. I know people are using good reason to defend this, but this is really just a political tactic used by republicans to limit democratic voters. This is fairly evident in the fact that this law is being pushed mainly in states with republican legislatures.
Voting is very important to Americans because we are able to determine who leads our country. Voter ID has had controversy because there are some people that deem it unnecessary and unfair but I want to ask them, what is so unfair? One argument would be that for the elderly and poor it is not always easy for them to get a new ID. That is why I think America should come up with a system that allows people over 65 to vote without an ID so that it is easier for them. For the poor, there should be a center for the poor to go to so that they can get their ID for free. The person that has trouble buying an ID could show their documents that their either on welfare or in great debt, then they would be given a free ID. Although it may not work out, it is one possible way to make sure everyone that wants to vote, can vote. ID would be of great value so that there wouldn’t be as much voter fraud and it would help the country keep track of who voted or not. Honestly, people shouldn’t complain but should find alternatives that benefit both sides.
I think that laws requiring voters to show IDs are unnecessary, but they are constitutional. If we want to make sure that only U.S. citizens are voting, then we have the right to do that. However, if there is almost no voter fraud in the United States, as the video said, (only 4 cases in Ohio) then it is not necessary, and only poses as a hassle. Only when people start creating voter ID laws for the wrong reasons does it become wrong. If republicans are trying to prevent or discourage minorities, or students, or the elderly from voting then the laws are wrong. In a way they could be comparable to literacy tests or poll taxes in that they are laws for the purpose of preventing certain people from voting. I think that everyone in America should be able to vote regardless of their wealth, age or race. Some of the people in the video disagree, saying that property owners better know how to vote than students or economically challenged people. Requiring voters to show photo identification is not unconstitutional but may make it more difficult for certain groups of people to vote, and I think that that is wrong.
On the matter I vote no voter IDs. It is clear that the Republican Party is making an attempt to cut down the number of votes received by the Democrats because young and minority voters are often going to vote for the Democratic candidate. The amount of voter fraud that has previously occurred in elections has been so miniscule that it could in no way effect the outcome of the election. Thus the voter ID law is unnecessary because voter fraud is not a significant issue in the United States. This also raises suspicion that if people are willing to make such a big deal out of something so small, there’s a good chance there is an ulterior motive. This law is unnecessary and would create a hassle for many Americans who would like to participate in upcoming elections because the state offices are not close or open at convenient times. This would also prevent approximately 11% of eligible voters from voting in the future. If it isn’t broken, stop trying to fix it. Voter fraud has never even somewhat significantly corrupted an election in the past so it’s unneeded for people to just start worrying about it and bringing it up out of nowhere. It’s illogical unless they have an ulterior motive.
As I see it, the issue with voter fraud is that it does not show the opinions of the public. Voter IDs make it hard and inconvenient for some groups to vote. This also shifts the votes so that they do not display the true heart of the public. This puts both of these in the same category in my opinion. They both are tools that change the voting pattern and therefore they should both be prevented. Since it is much harder to catch voter fraud than to pass a law, we should prevent the law first. Another possibility to limit voter fraud is to create a database of all the peoples’ names/stats and make that a requirement when you are voting to fill it out. Then if there are mysterious new people who appear they can discount that vote or if there are multiple votes for one person they can nullify the multiple votes and call them in to vote again. This might be easier if it is done electronically so that the data can be compared quickly to the profiles. The profiles can be created based on the social security numbers of the living. One person for each social security number and the account must be activated on an interview with a public employee. One of the issues I see with this plan though is that if it gets hacked a lot of personal information is available to the hackers.
People were in outrage after these voter ID laws were created. They were said to be absurd and unfair and I agree with all that is said about them in a negative way. It is ridiculous to force people to bring an ID that has to match information with information they have there. Sure, without the voter ID laws some people who shouldn’t be voting will get in, but the keyword there is SOME. It’s not like the how many people that sneak by, especially in a state as big as Texas with as many people as it has, will make a ridiculous difference. All 25,674,681 people that live in Texas (according to the 2011 July U.S. Census), will a few people who trick the idiots of security guards make a difference? Even in a less populated state like Pennsylvania, it will not make a big difference. There are an estimated 21 million people being affected by these laws, but not nearly even half of them will grow the “kahunas” to even attempt to get through to vote. In conclusion, why the republicans would care so much as to try to pass these is still a mystery and they are ludicrous.
I think Voter ID’s are a good and a bad thing. I like them because it makes it harder for the immigrants and not US citizens to get them. People say it also affects college students and older people but in reality it isn’t that hard to obtain a voter ID if you are a legal US citizen. Another way that they could do it though instead of the voter ID’s are if you just show another Photo ID, for instance, a Driver’s License or a Student ID. But even places including Texas have now outlawed Student ID’s to be used which is a little crazy because it is looking like they do not want students to be able to vote. This is a little ridiculous; I think that to make it fair we should have it as you can use your Driver’s License or Student ID. But this will cause people to fight the issue that non US citizens could still vote. You should also be ready to show proof of US citizenship if you are asked at the polls to show that information. I think that would make us have a better chance at slimming down on voter fraud.
In my opinion, these voter id laws are not that bad. These new laws do exactly what they say they do; they stop voter fraud which although it may be a small margin is still an illegal issue. People are upset because students can no longer vote on campus but that issue can be solved with a simple absentee ballot. My sister who is going to college next year has already applied for an absentee ballot because she won’t be in the state near home and this way she can still vote. Also, this law will force any citizen who wishes to vote to get some kind of government issued id. This will allow the government to keep better track of its citizens and this will also encourage people to get their licenses. Many people do not have a government issued id and many of these people apparently vote democratic and this could definitely sway the upcoming election but should people who aren’t even responsible enough to get an id be voting for who should run this country? I realize that all people are allowed to vote but I think voting really should be left up to those who are responsible enough for the job. Also, it’s not that hard to get an id so people need to stop complaining and just get an id before the election and we wouldn’t have these problems.
In my opinion, Voter IDs should NOT be required. As the article stated, some people simply do not have access to a picture ID. Arguments are made that they can simply go to the secretary of state to get a picture ID; but what if the person can’t get there? Maybe they have a job that they work during secretary of state hours, and can’t get off work. Maybe they can’t get to the secretary of state. And while the people arguing for picture IDs may not have this problem, some people don’t have the $50 it costs to get an ID. These are all reasons why voters IDs are unfair, and yes, they seem to be a way to wean out the ‘lesser half’ of voters. However, I do agree that some form of security should be taken to prevent voter fraud. I think that people should register to vote farther in advance than laws require now. While the Republicans behind the IDs may appear to only want the rich, white voting, I think they also want people to be educated before voting. I agree with this. I don’t know how voting really works, as I have not participated yet, but I often hear people talking about whom they voted for. “Whom did you vote for?” “Oh I don’t know, I just picked random people and the guy I wanted for president.” It seems that people enter the polls not very prepared to vote, and while I don’t think voters need to study up on their candidates, I think advance registration would get us more accurate results.
I think no to voter ID’s because apparently the number of voter frauds in a year is too little to really count, especially compared to the number of eligible citizens who would be unable to vote with the voter ID’s. I think the idea of some kind of verification that you are who you say you are at the polls would really be unnecessary; I mean voter fraud right now just isn’t a huge problem, it certainly isn’t the biggest fish to fry out there. I don’t see people impersonating someone else to take their vote, in the long run it probably won’t change the total outcome, and there is really nothing in it for them so I just don’t see it as a crime in high demand right now. To be honest, I think this is just a certain party trying to sway the majority by taking out the minorities. If free ID’s were more easily accessible to minorities, senior citizens, college students, and the poor then I guess it wouldn’t hurt anybody, but I still think it’s an unnecessary precaution when the percent of voter fraud is so small.
Brian Jelinek
Apush/3rd
5/22/12
Blog 36- Voter I.D. Laws
There has always and will always be a problem with voting fraud, if that’s even the correct term. Voting fraud is not in any way new. We have been dealing with this for a long time and now we feel it is at a pinnacle and has increased a lot over the past years. However there should be no voter identification present when you are voting. That whole idea is just really stupid. This is just a way for republicans to say something because they are losing at the polls because they think that all democrats are hicks who don’t carry identification around with them. There is no way I agree with that, Being able to vote is so important if you are living in America because it means that you have a voice and you are voicing your opinion on who should be in office. I also thing that all people should have identification on them because that is also just as important, if something were to happen with that person and you were standing there and he didn’t have identification on him you would not know what to do or who to contact. If this were to ever pass, it would mostly (in my opinion) would college students or kids who just tuned eighteen, just like the college student in Texas. This law would never work for all of America; it would help rich men and women but not the rest of the country.
I believe that people should have an idea with them at all times, not just for voting. When going to movies; when buying tobacco or alcohol; or even at stores to check for credit card fraud. However, I also believe that people will definitely be inclined to not vote if the poll station is an hour or more away from them. To some, voting isn’t that big of a deal, so why make the location further away if it’s hard enough to get people to vote when it is close? Another thing is just DON’T lose your freekin’ papers! I f voting means that much to you in the first place, keep a close eye on it. And public transportation is literally dirt cheap these days, people can get on a bus and get a new ID at the Secretary of State office.
I propose a campaign to set up tents in poor areas in big cities where people can get new ideas if they’ve lost there old ones. Voter IDs need to be necessary in future campaigns, not only in 9 states, but in all 50 great states. If voting is that important to people, than get out there and get ‘r’ done!
I think that voter ID’s should not be required because, it could have a great effect on Presidential elections. I Also that people planning on voting should have some kind of proof that there are in fact Americans citizens. I think that you should be allowed to vote with a ID, or if you don’t have an idea then you should have to pay a 10 dollar fine to vote This way the government gets money, and people can still vote even without an idea. Some voter fraud still might occur, if voters use a fake id or a outdated license. Minorities and women have sacrificed altos of blood, sweet, and tears in the fight for the right to vote, and they shouldn’t be denied because of the fact that they don’t have a picture ID. Voting should be fast, easy process. I also think that showing Id is not that big of a deal, because getting a sate id very easy to get, and only cost about 15 dollars. Also I agree with the politician who said that voter id is another form of poll taxes used back in the 1950’s and 1960’s to keep African Americans from voting.
I obviously believe that voter id’s should not be required. As of seeing the data and the percentages I am under 2 out of 5 of the categories that can’t vote. Although I do believe stupid people should be able to vote but that doesn’t mean African Americans, Latinos Asians etc. shouldn’t be able to vote I mean I’m pretty sure that’s what the civil rights movements were partly about. I also believe there shouldn’t be any voter’s ids required because for one the amount of people without voter ids is ridiculous those kind of numbers can make a person a president or not, also the people who agree with the need for voter ids are a bunch of cranky old men who believe that young people don’t know how to vote. I repeat that there is a difference between stupid voters and young voters. Rush Limbaugh says that if you can’t feed yourself you don’t vote that’s logic is as bad as saying if you’re not cool you can’t sit at our table. In other words voter id requirement is stupid and unnecessary. Let everybody who is American vote it’s that simple.
I think that the Voter ID is a set-up to steer away the very few percent of people who do not have IDs of any kind such as minorities and the elderly that are too confused to have it on hand. Also many very poor people that almost always vote Democratic have not been voting in Republican states as much because of this ID requirement. This seems to be more of a voting scheme than an actual defense against voter fraud which is more of a Republican theme. So I think that voter IDs are not even close to worth what they were supposedly made to do. They limit many people from voting and there were only 4 cases of voter fraud before so that means that the reward is not even close to equaling the cost of these checks. It is not fair for people who are in the country to vote and have lost their only type of identification or cannot afford to go to the DMV and pay the fee to receive their new ID or license or something like that. This also get rid of 11% of the voters that have voted in previous elections and most of them have voted Democratic.
“Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare. Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud. Voter fraud is often conflated with other forms of election misconduct” (http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/). According to this analysis, it is clear that voter fraud is exaggerated. When voter fraud is exaggerated, what is the reasoning behind 17 states having voter restriction laws? Attorney General Eric Holder said it best in the article, “Resist the temptation to suppress certain votes in the hope of attempting electoral success.” There is no question as to why these voter restriction laws are spontaneously popping up in mostly red states. The 2012 election is coming up, and Obama receives a solid part of his votes from minorities and college students. With voting restrictions, who has the hardest time voting? Minorities. And college students. Coincidence? I think not. I think the only legitimate argument for making voter restrictions is to prevent voter fraud, but with the above study that goes into great detail describing why fraud is exaggerated, there are no reasons as to why we should have these restrictions. Sorry it’s kind of obvious that Obama is going to win this election, Republicans. Maybe you should pick a better candidate for next time, and leave voting restrictions alone.
So my opinion on this matter is sort of 50/50. I think the idea of forcing people to have IDs to be able to vote has some positive things and some negative things to it. Having voter IDs, although it has good intentions, it would for sure prevent a large percentage of eligible voters from being able to vote in elections. If the law were put into effect, it was of helped to eliminate voter fraud, which would be a really great thing, but it wouldn’t let illegal immigrants to vote. At the same time, a large number of American voters wouldn’t be enabled to cast their votes. This large group included senior citizens who may not drive and/or travel outside of the country, the poor that can’t get a driver’s license or a passport, and even people who don’t have a driver’s license, passport or any kind of ID. The Democratic party, who benefits from these voters, would take a back seat to other parties boasting ID-holding voters. I think that this proposal could be good or bad. If you are a republican, the positives would definitely outweigh the negatives, but if you were to be democratic, then you wouldn’t be into this law being passed.
I consider the requirement of voter I.D. at the polls to be unconstitutional. It’s the same idea behind the poll tax, to stop people’s voices from being heard. While the poll tax and literacy tests affected African Americans’ ability to vote, the voter I.D. is hurting the poor, elderly, minorities, college students, and other democratic voters. They will be affected, because they face issues that other groups do not. For example, majority of college students attend school far away from home, and since the law requires the address on the I.D. to be within the same residence of the poll station, many college students will be discouraged from voting. In addition to college students, the poor and minorities will be impacted, too, considering these are the people who are most likely to be without a drivers license and other forms of I.D. due to economic predicaments. Anyways, laws that restrict innocent voters shouldn’t be allowed. These people make up an estimated 11% of the voters in the upcoming election. If 11% likely democratic votes are taken away, there is no doubt that the outcome of the election will be at stake. This law was only made in the first place to stop fraud voters, so why are these people being made guilty until proven innocent? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around? Also, voter frauds come around much less often than the people who are actually stopped from voting because of this law.
I think that having voter ID’s are the right choice. I understand the concept that many of the minority groups don’t have ID, but I feel like that’s their own issue. If they can’t manage to get themselves some identification, maybe they shouldn’t be voting anyways. But back to the point, I feel that in this world today we are so advanced that everyone should really have some sort of ID. As the world continues to advance, I think everyone will eventually be required to have some type of ID on them at all times whether its with them physically or somehow electronically. I agree that if you should have to have identification in an airport and such, then why shouldn’t you have to show ID when your choosing the leader of our country. Yes, this may help republicans but at the same time that’s not how people should look at it. It should be looked at in a way that the winner of the election should win the right, legal, and fair way and if the case happens to be that in order to vote you need an ID, then so be it. That’s just what you have to deal with when being a candidate. We need to get rid of voter fraud and try to make this process as legitimate and fair as possible. Just like the Circuit Judge Richard Niess said, “Without question, where it exists, voter fraud corrupts elections and undermines our form of government”. I think it’s crazy that non-citizens have been able to register to vote. There needs to be a system to crack down on this type of voter fraud and I think photo ID’s are the beginning to the answer. For those without ID, I think that there should be work going on with trying to get everyone some type of identification. If everyone could get an ID, then we would be able to minimize the voter fraud, creating a better voting system.
I absolutetly believe that there should be voter ID. In our country there are a lot of people who come here ilegally and if they don’t have to have ID to vote then any of them could vote and screw up an important election. If there had to be ID in order to vote then it extracts all the ilegal immigrants and others that don’t have an ID from the equation. Voting is a right, if people abuse that right than it ruins it for everyone and that’s why it’s so important to have voter ID. Voter ID would affect the elderly, poor and college students but it’s not hard to acheive a ID for voting so if those group of people can take a little time out of their day and get a voter ID then it would eliminate that problem. Some people might argue and say that there is no need for voter ID because there is very little voter fraud, but in my opinion voter fraud is a big deal because those few votes could be the difference between a win or a loss in a political campaign. And that’s a big deal a needs to be handled and the best way to do it is by enforcing voter ID.
I most definitely do support voter ID’s for several reasons. As the article mentioned the U.S.’s population is filled with Latinos, some of which could be illegal immigrants. When you have voter ID’s it limits voter fraud and creates a more election. I would predict that eventually we will need ID’s for everything. Voter ID will also affect the elderly, college students, and poor which equals 21 million Americans. I also prefer that this be enforced in all states not just 30; the more we enforce this, the better results we will get in upcoming elections. We should also consider that we have a lot of illegal immigrants that don’t have citizenship. The government should first solve that before dealing with voter ID’s. In order for this to follow through we need support from the Democratic Party. According to a Republican survey 75% of Americans have already agreed to these laws (including Minorities). The Supreme Court supports voter ID’s as well. The only downside of this is that it will take time and work in order for the whole process to follow through. Establishing voter ID’s can have a chain reaction as well; it might even eliminate security, ATM, and bank fraud. If we can eliminate any type of fraud by creating voter ID’s, it might just transform American society.
In my perspective, I got the feeling that we stepping back in history by a couple decades, because it sounds like they are trying to limit our voting rights that we worked and fought so hard to obtain in 1964. The reason why I think that this voter ID thing is like a voting segregation episode, is that the government is trying little tactics to eliminate certain types of peoples votes, just as they tried to not allow the blacks to vote and I agree with civil rights pioneer/congressman John Lewis when he stated that “this is another form of an poll tax” because it is exactly what these laws relate to. But the only difference is that instead of the primary targets being blacks it has turned to immigrants, the elderly, and college students; so that knocks out 10% of the votes. My verdict on whether there should be Voting ID laws in various states is, absolute 150% NO, because voting is a very personal and confidential decision that a U.S citizen chooses to make, and I don’t think that when they make this decision they should be required to provide personal identification as if it is necessary, it’s just the fact that they are really nosy, and discriminate against the minority population of the U.S. Also my opinion is no because the president who luckily win the election in November will obtain a bad image when they tell the public that he/she won by disapproving votes by those who are minorities.
Mitchell August
APUSH BLOG
Voter ID’s
Voting is a constitutional right given to ALL citizens of the United States of America. Not only is it a right but it’s a freedom something that has been battled for by many different communities (such as the black community). The government should not be allowed to restrict the right to vote based on literacy or competence. Everyone has their opinion and education does not change the fact that they are entitled to it. With 25% of African Americans not having a voter ID, the given right is being stripped from their hands! Twenty one million voters are without a voter idea and among those (based on the categories of people with out a voter ID) would mostly be democrats. The election can be swayed or impacted by Twenty one million votes, especially of those from African Americans and other races/cultures. Americans say it is a privilege to vote and that everyone should get out to vote but, where is the encouragement if the people you are talking to can not even acquire an ID to vote! It is a ridiculous assumption that people who do not obtain a voter ID should not be allowed to vote and are not competent of voting. This is an offensive statement made by voter IDs and it must be changed! This law goes against everything America is funded on, everything groups have been fighting for, over the course of hundreds of years. A black man or someone making less money is just entitled to vote as me and should be treated with that same respect. The way people are being stripped of their dignity with voter IDs is remarkable to me and this must change. Republicans can no longer be allowed to decide who can vote and why. Many people can not vote because of their money or lack of education (often caused by lack of opportunity) and they are not allowed to elect someone who is going to represent them? Or help them? Voter IDs must be illegal! With a change to the criteria (of the law) or a overall repeal of the bill.
I believe that there should be I.D.s required to vote, but they don’t necessarily have to be government ones. I think that government issued I.D.s are not that much better than ones from school, work, or other sources. It is often difficult for people to track down government identification, and some people, such as college students, don’t own any. It is more important that citizens are able to vote than troubling that non-citizens can vote. I don’t believe that non-citizens should be able to vote because they often are not paying the taxes and supporting the government and economy in the same ways that citizens are. It would be problematic if there were enough illegal immigrants voting that it could shift the results, but this is not the case. There are not enough people voting fraudulently that we should create a law to prevent it, and in the process hurt the system of democratic elections. The worst part about this law is that it specifically hurts certain groups in America, such as students, the elderly, and certain ethnic groups. Before these laws are passed, a new system should be created to prevent fraudulent voting. With all of the technology and communication power of today, it should be easy to identify people without requiring specific cards or papers. It is especially important that we come up with an alternative to I.D. laws before the next presidential election so that a single party isn’t hindered.
I believe that there should be some sort of voter I.D. but the current system needs to be replaced. Many young people as well as minorities are unable to vote due to this current I.D. system that requires I.D. and a home address any time you go to vote. Millions of people will be unable to fulfill their constitutional right to vote due to this voter I.D. law. I believe the best solution to this problem is for the government to issue every citizen of the United States of America a government issued I.D. so that voter fraud would not occur and more people would have the ability to vote. This new form of I.D. should be the only I.D. that can get you to vote to prevent counterfeit I.D.’s and other things of that nature. I believe that this is a very good solution to the problem of I.D. needed for voting. The other solution (which is probably more realistic) is that these laws are abolished completely. As stated in the article that there are some cases of voter fraud there are not many and I don’t believe that it would affect the results of an election. If these voter I.D. laws are abolished there could be positive repercussions that go along with it. There would be a higher voter turnout because more people would be able to vote as well as many people would feel less intimidated when voting because they don’t have to show I.D. This could be very beneficial to both parties in the upcoming elections. Overall I believe that these voter I.D. laws could be improved in an ideal world but even if they can’t then they should be abolished because a couple thousand fraudulent votes are better than millions of people not voting at all.