Voter ID laws are unconstitutional UNLESS

[Eliot Rosewater]

said ID being required is given to the voter not only for free but if the voter has to extend ANY effort AT ALL it is unconstitutional and is a poll tax.

Sure the ID is free, all you have to do is go get a birth certificate and then drive to the DMV after you spent 6 hours on the phone with bumfuck county to get the birth certificate, blah blah blah...

Sorry, no, unless you FIND me and HAND the ID to me, you cant require it.



These filthy fucking traitorous assholes know there is no voter fraud, so what they are doing is the EPITOME of anti American.

[hvn_nbr_2]

1. K&R. nt

[ProudLib72]

2. Birth certificates aren't free

I had to pay through the nose to acquire mine (part of it was expedited shipping, though). I don't know where my SSN card went. That got lost around the fifth time I moved. There are fees for ID cards at the DMV.

But then again, as long as it takes and as much as it costs to prove some unsubstantiated claim by Dotard.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. Of course not nor is the gas to put in the car to drive to the place to get whatever

What we have accepted as to voter ID is a scandal.

Or the internet bill you pay to have access to the net to get the birth certificate.

[ProudLib72]

6. IF this is the way it's going to be

it calls for ground forces to assist these people. We could have voter ID day when a dozen volunteers round people up and take them to the DMV or come by their homes to help them fill out forms. I am hoping (not expecting, but hoping) that Dems see this volunteerism as an absolute necessity. It could actually be beneficial doing all the legwork. It would be good publicity for the party. (Yeah, I said that, but I'm not saying I'm happy about the circumstances.)

[Averagegrunt]

4. I'm actually pro voter ID

Wouldn't even be that hard to implement this. Doesn't have to be a learners or DL. I mean Christ most high schools can pull this off.

[loyalsister]

5. It's a poll tax

And it is biased against poor people, people of color, women, and disabled people. To support it is to support voter suppression.

[Averagegrunt]

7. So

So instead of coming up with a way to issue everyone a legal photo ID card for free is doing all those things?

[loyalsister]

9. Prove that it will happen and funding will never be cut

and you might have an argument. As it stands, the photo ID requirement goes into effect next month in this state and IDs have not been provided. We are losing Democratic votes by design. It's a pure RW policy.

[Averagegrunt]

10. I'm just offering a solution

I'm not saying it is happening I'm just saying that if high school can provide students with photo ID why would it be so hard for states to issue "voter IDs" through the email?

[loyalsister]

12. I don't know how hard it would be

But until there is an affirmative right to vote it's up to the states. Mine is not doing it and people will be disenfranchised - by design.

[csziggy]

8. When most states have complied with the Real ID laws, why do we need MORE checks?

Real ID requires standardized checks for citizenship and residency to acquire drivers' licenses and photo IDs - the last time I renewed my DL and got a new one I had to provide a certified birth certificate, Social Security card, and a utility bill.

Although all states should be compliant with that law by now, many have delayed. Oddly enough many of the ones not compliant are the ones squealing about Voter IDs.

Once someone has an ID that meets the Real ID requirements, they should only ever have to show that photo ID in order to register to vote.

Even so, it is a poll tax. In Florida it cost me $10 for a certified birth certificate and was only that cheap since my Mom went to the county courthouse in the county where I was born to obtain one for me. Otherwise, it would have cost me $15. If I had changed my name when I got married, I would have had to pay another $15 for a certified copy of my marriage license. A widow or divorcee who remarried would have to pay double that, once for each marriage, and another fee for the death certificate for her deceased husband or for the divorce papers.

On top of all of that, Florida photo IDs cost $25 each time they are renewed. Drivers' licenses are more.

They nickel and dime you until it is costly just to have the ID that Americans now have to have to prove their citizenship.

Now, on top of all of that, they want you to pay even more to prove who you are - all over again - just to exercise your right to vote.

I do not understand how anyone who supports the Constitution would support voter ID laws. EVER.

[caraher]

14. Look at how and why it's being implemented

Republicans haven't been shy about their glee at winning elections because of voter suppression. And while in some ideal world yes, it wouldn't be too hard at all to provide free voter ID to eligible voters, that is the opposite of what happens in the states that have brought this in to address an imaginary problem they invented to provide cover for their plan to win elections by making it harder for people who might vote for Democrats to have their ballots count.

I was in Indiana when their law went into effect. Taken to court by the League of Women Voters, then-Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita admitted that they couldn't point to even a single instance of voter impersonation fraud in Indiana elections. Veterans trying to use military ID were denied the vote; I remember a blistering letter from one who insisted that his service should count for something, but the law said he needed to show up with a state-issued photo ID. On one hand yeah, he didn't do what the law asked, but on the other, why should someone who feels evidence of his military service should count for something (even though it may not be entirely rational to imagine it serves as ID) be denied a vote over a concern about a kind of fraud that is virtually nonexistent?

In attacking this imaginary threat, they not only made a requirement for state-issued photo ID, they also closed a bunch of Secretary of State offices in urban areas. And they closed polling places as well, with patterns pretty clearly designed to further advantage Repulicans.

It really doesn't matter whether it *could* be done in a fair way; the fact is that the real motivation for doing so is specifically to make sure it is *not* done fairly. So it hasn't been, and won't be.

[onenote]

11. 2008 SCOTUS decision suggests otherwise

Crawford v. Marion County Election Board

[loyalsister]

13. There is no affirmative Constitutional right to vote

There are limits to barriers, but there must be agreement on what is a barrier. Whether or not SCOTUS sees photo ID requirements that way may be discovered soon. The most recent decisions have been pretty hostile to voters, so I'm not hopeful.