You may need ID to vote (Ohio Legislature's solution to vote fraud)

[democraticinsurgent]

Legislators say ballot security needed; critics say elections will end in doubt

All Ohio voters likely will be required to show identification before they can cast a ballot next year. The requirement is one of the changes expected in a bill that could pass the Senate this month.

Voters could provide any number of documents, including a driver’s license, paycheck, utility bill or bank statement. Voters also could sign sworn statements declaring their identities or submit the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, but that would allow them to cast only provisional ballots, which are counted within 10 days after the election if deemed valid.

Critics say the ID requirements would discourage people from voting.

Kathy Johnston, advocacy director for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, said she doesn’t see the need, noting there is no evidence of voter fraud across Ohio.

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2005/12/02/20051202-A1-00.html

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Unfortunately the Columbus Dispatch restricts its web news to subscribers, so I'll paraphrase the key points of the rest of the article:

- Provisional balloting will skyrocket, as anyone who forgets ID will be tossed into that pile, and we know what happened to those votes in 2004.

Worse, there are several provisions in the proposed law that are designed to keep Ohio Republican, including

- clarifying where a provisional ballot can be cast
- raising the price for requesting a recount and
- requiring counties to send an information card to each voter every two years. If cards are returned as undeliverable, the voter must cast a provisional ballot in the next election.

Those are already in the House version, which passed in May. In the Senate version, there are even more goodies:

• Maintaining when people declare their political affiliation, which is during a primary election.

• Removing a provision requiring counties that use electronic voting machines to conduct a recount of a random sampling within two months of a countywide general election. One senator said it’s an "undue burden on county boards of election with no greater certainty of the result."

• Reducing the number of signatures that county municipal judges need to get on the ballot to 50, consistent with county commissioners and state legislators. Current law requires 1,000 signatures in five big cities, including Columbus, and 250 for a number of other countywide judges.

• Giving the attorney general, in addition to local prosecutors, the power to file criminal charges if fraud is discovered during the signature-gathering process for ballot initiatives.

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This is BS of the highest order and must be given national attention now!

[Debau2005]

1. Georgia

We are currently battling the same thing here. A higher court has placed an injunction on our law until it can be ruled on for being Constitutional or not. I'll look for a link.



Try this link. Oh and Rep. Sue Burmeister (R-Augusta) has a son that has been arrested and charged with aggravated child molestation of a sixteen year old girl over a nine year period.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/1105/18natvra.html

There has been some question as to what the polling people are doing or did in our election last month. My district actually has a run off, I plan on using a non-picture ID to see if they allow me to vote. I was in a rush in the regular election and forgot everything but my drivers license.

[mod mom]

2. While lobbying on election reform with Common Cause this year I met with

a Republican State senator Jeffrey Armbruster (R-Lorain) you told me (I KID YOU NOT!) that if I was truly interested in election reform I would be pushing for breath analzyers for voters, because the true fraud that occurred in Ohio was Dems pulling voters out of bars to vote. This is the sad mind set of elected republicans in Ohio who know they control the vote through Blackwell.

[Debau2005]

3. Well of course!

After all voting is on a Tuesday, and most Dems get drunk on Tuesdays because none of us actually have a job or families, we sit around all day and drink! :sarcasm:

:wtf:


Did you have to resist the urge to hit him?

[mod mom]

6. I held my tongue, went home and researched a whole file on him which I

present to the area Dem clubs, which includes liberal Oberlin College, when he is up for election next year.

[mod mom]

If you wonder how Ohioans could elect such a guy, here is how:

PHIL HELSEL, Morning Journal Writer 10/11/2004

In Lorain County, where the winner on election night isn't always the person who takes office, voters are accustomed to holding their breath for several days to see if close races and levy requests will end up being decided by provisional ballots.
<snip>
Ohio Sen. Jeffry Armbruster, R-13, of North Ridgeville, saw his lead of 524 against challenger Sue Morano eventually shrink to just 370 votes after provisional ballots were counted.


<snip>

More than 2,500 provisional ballots were cast in the 2000 election while only about 865 Lorain County provisional ballots were cast in 2002, Jacobcik said.
Although there were almost three times as many provisional ballots cast in Lorain County in 2000 than in 2002, records from the Board of Elections show a significant disparity in the number of people who voted in those elections.
In 2000, there were 114,480 ballots cast in Lorain County, which means the provisional ballots made up about 2.2 percent of the vote.
In 2002, a total of just 81,245 voters cast ballots, and the provisional ballots made up about 1.1 percent of the vote.
*****
370 votes-who decides which provisional votes to count?

[One_Life_To_Give]

16. Your Bars are Open? On election day!

I can remember when Connecticut was a Dry State every election day.

[madmom]

24. even if this were true, aren't drunks allowed to vote too?..n/t

[Benhurst]

4. What a crock! It wasn't the voters who committed fraud in

Ohio, it was the election officials.

As the late Bette Davis would have said, "What a DUMP!"

[tx_dem41]

5. I know its heresy to say this, but doesn't it make sense to ask for..

some form of ID? On its face, it sounds like a great way to decrease a form of vote fraud.

[Robb]

7. We have this in our muni elections here in CO

Been part of our town charter for years; alternatives include utility bills and someone vouching for you.

The only fallout we've seen is people bringing their IDs to "larger" elections, where they aren't needed. :shrug:

Although I can see potential for problems in larger areas.

[Bacchus39]

8. yeah, I show my ID

big deal. you show your ID or your voter registration card.

[Debau2005]

17. The difference in the Georgia law is

that the ID has to be a picture ID. Not your social security card or voters card will do. So the elderly woman who does not have a drivers license any longer or a state issue picture ID is now out of luck.

[havocmom]

11. I agree with you

I do not see a problem with providing a picture ID to an election judge.
It would sure as hell be better than being told I had already voted because someone claiming to be me had voted in my name.

Where I live, 90% (or more) of the population was born and raised here. Everybody knows everybody in the county and probably knew their folks too. There was no problem when they insisted on picture ID's or some sort of official mail to show their name and county of residence.

I do not see the problem. So long as there are no financial barriers to obtaining such IDs it is not like a poll tax.

That said, the issue is NOT gonna fix vote fraud, which nowadays is gonna be VOTE COUNTING FRAUD. But it will make it less likely someone will vote on your behalf and that's damned important.

[mainegreen]

19. Only if IDs are free

and don't require people to show up at some office in the burbs between 10am and 3pm M-F to aquire, otherwise its way to hard for poor people to get them, hence discriminatory. Otherwise, sure I'd agree with it.

[unpossibles]

9. I'm pretty sure I was asked for ID and registration

last year. I didn't mind at all.

[LA lady]

12. I want IDs

A few years ago my husand and sister went to vote only to discover they already had. Someone had stolen their vote. I want required ID, I see it as a good thing.

[mtnester]

26. That is unfortunate, but, ID's are not free in Ohio, and until they are

it effects aged individuals, poor individuals, working class individuals, homeless individuals, etc.

My signature on the books is enough, you can see my signature is identical across rows and rows where I have been voting. If you have to show anything at all, it should be the voter registration card (which is free).

What bothers me the most about this is where it will lead...fingerprints/retinal scans, implanted RFID chip validation anyone? You know it could happen, and is completely logical.

[meow2u3]

10. We should give Repunks lie detector tests

Be it polygraph, voice stress, or brain scan (if they indeed have one to be scanned), we should give every repuke a lie detector test to check to see if they're racist, sexist, on the take, molesting a kid, or otherwise not on the up and up.
Repukes should also have to pass a conscience test as a prerequisite for voting. There is no law AFAIK against such a test.

[tx_dem41]

13. We can do that...

if we want to flush the Constitution down the toilet.

[havocmom]

14. As a requirement to vote?!? Gee, that'd be helpful.

It's called discrimination and we generally are opposed to that sort of thing, or did I bumble into the wrong web site this morning?

[Debau2005]

18. Agreed

Picture ID to vote?! I don't think so. To me this is like a poll tax. My grandmother no longer drives and allowed her license to expire. So she should have to go PAY for a State issued ID to vote when she does not need it for anything else? That is a poll tax in my humble opinion! Of course, they tell her she can vote on a provisional ballot or a mailed ballot. To me THAT would increase voter fraud. Someone could go to a nursing home, have them all get mailed ballots and "fill" them out for the person.

[havocmom]

20. Most election boards also allow for use of any sort of mail

coming from some government agency, utility company or something which shows the person's name and address to take care of just such situations. Since most adults can come up with a couple forms of ID and mail, it just isn't a problem.

[imported_dem]

25. I hope your grandmother never has to go to the Social Security office,

any bank, or has to write a check for anything. Without some form of picture ID, there is very little you can do that deals with financial transactions other than ATM and cash.

[LittleWoman]

15. I have been a poll worker in Ohio for over 15 years

This legislation is totally unnecessary and is only designed to cause more problems for legitimate voters. What happens if a voter shows an ID and the poll worker says it is a fake? Trust me, there are a few officious poll workers who will try to ban voters from voting and require them to vote provisional. A very small number of poll workers seem to feel that they are the gatekeepers to democracy and act accordingly.

It is not my job to prevent people from voting, but rather to facilitate voting. When the occasion warrants I remind the voters that when they sign the poll book they are affirming they are that person and I also tell them the penalties for vote fraud. Contrary to some urban legends, we have not had any real problems with people pretending to be someone else in order to vote illegally.

The real problems reside in the use of electronic voting which in my opinion should be totally banned. We should go back to paper ballots and be done with it. We would save millions, some of which could be used to recruit qualified poll workers in enough numbers to run the elections more smoothly so that people would not have to stand in line for hours at a time. Other countries all over the world use paper ballots with great success. and we could too.

[hunter]

21. Honestly, how often does it happen?

...that you show up to vote, and somebody has already voted in your name?

This is something election officials could collect EXACT statistics on, but I'm not hearing what those statistics are.

They are flinging FLAMING LIQUID BULLSHIT in our faces hoping we won't notice something far worse.

[disndat]

22. Dean's top priority

DU has a Forum item with Dean's assurance that the Dems will win in '06 and '08. Election reform is on the top of his list of what needs to be done to achieve this nirvana. We have to put our faith that his word means that it is good as done, or else the 'Dr.' in front of his name is not worth the ink it is printed with.

[KamaAina]

23. Whitewell strikes again!

Maybe we could make repukes go through a metal detector, and if they're found with any rare coins, they get hauled off to jail straightaway.