Court: Ariz. Can Seek Photo ID for Vote

[IDemo]

By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Friday, October 20, 2006; 4:55 PM

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Arizona may require voters to provide photo IDs when they cast their ballots next month.

The justices cautioned that they were not issuing a ruling on the constitutionality of Arizona's law. "As we have noted, the facts in these cases are hotly contested," the court said in an unsigned five-page order.

The ruling merely allows the Nov. 7 election to proceed with the photo ID law in place. Federal courts still will have to resolve a lawsuit contending that the law will disenfranchise numerous voters, particularly the elderly and minorities.

Courts in Georgia and Missouri have blocked similar laws.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001084.html#cooliris

[Poppyseedman]

1. I'm still really not sure why producing a photo ID is that

bad of an idea. As much fraud is happening in our voting process, making someone prove who they are is bad?

I find it a bit of a disingenuous argument that asking people to produce a photo ID to vote is a burden.

Literally, everybody I know has some type of photo ID from a DL, credit card, state issed ID.

I'm open to understand why this is an issue

[Alexander]

3. You can prove someone's ID without a photo ID.

In most places in the US where you get a job, a birth certificate will suffice. No photos on that.

Why wouldn't that work for voting? Are there that many birth certificate thefts?

Quite frankly, I've seen more borrowed, stolen and fake licenses than I have birth certificates.

[seriousstan]

6. You also need their current address.

[Alexander]

7. My license address didn't match my current address, and they let me vote.

This was in AZ.

What I cited as my "current address" was my real current address, and the same one they had in their registration lists. It just didn't match my license.

They still let me vote in the primary this year.

Licenses, in AZ, only need to be renewed every 40 years or so (ridiculous, I know). If they tried this shit, half the state would be disenfranchised.

[MGKrebs]

8. There are 200,000 confirmed eligible voters in Georgia without photo ID.

They have cross-referenced the voter roll with other state records to identify these people.

These are most likely elderly urban voters, perhaps minorities, who vote regularly but do not drive, and may live in a retirement home type situation. They value the right to vote, which some of their peers died to protect. There is no known fraud that is taking place that a photo ID would solve that would justify making it harder for them to vote.

How does a photo ID prove anything? Are there standards for the poll workers to follow as far as "identity recognition"? Aren't we just actually making things worse by introducing a judgemental decision by an individual into the process?

What fraud is taking place? Would a photo ID do anything to prevent it?

In Georgia, you have to register to vote, in which your eligibility is supposed to be verified, and that gets your name on the roll. After that, you have to sign a statement every time you vote as to your identity, for which it is a felony to lie, and your information must match the roll. Nobody gets away with voter impersonation. During multiple court cases here, no one has been able to come up with even one case or even a plausible scenario for how it could happen- even without the photo ID.

[SharonAnn]

9. Almost no VOTER fraud is occurring. Perhaps lots of VOTE MACHINE

fraud and COUNTING PROCESS fraud is occurring.

Almost none of the suspected fraud had anything to do with an unregistered person showing up and voting or a person voting by pretending they were someone else.

This is a scam by the GOP to try to block votes from peoople who don't have a Photo ID (usually elderly, disabled, or poor). Naturally, these people usually vote overwhelmingly for Democrats.

And, this scam not only prevents largely Democrats from voting, it also diverts attention from the REAL problems in the voting process. Nearly all of those favor Republicans.

So, the get "two bangs for one buck".

[Benhurst]

13. Many poor and older people do not have photo IDs. That's why

the Repubs what such voter identification laws.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. I have posted on here many times about my mother

who died this past week. She moved to MO in March and spent most of the last few months of her life trying to register to vote in MO, where they had passed a voter ID bill. My mother was born at home, so she had no birth certificate and she had quit driving 10 years ago, so she had no drivers license.

My mother had no identification. So she could not register to vote.

IF she had a birth certificate, she could have paid to get a copy and then a state ID would have been given to her at no cost. However, because the supporting documentaton costs money, the MO Supreme Court threw out the voter ID bill. It is a poll tax. They ruled on the day my mother died, so we see this as her legacy to the other voters in MO who have no ID.

My mother was not alone. I know a US congressman who has no ID (he doesn't drive) and another congressman told me his father is in the same boat as my mother was.

So no, not everyone has an ID. Unless IDs for voting are FREE, any voter ID bill is a poll tax.

[panader0]

2. I an an Arizonan, and I have a driver's license with a photo

but there are many voters that do not drive. Yeah, you can get a photo ID from the DMV, but this rule is a repub thing, it affects the poor, those without licenses, without rides, on fixed incomes, limited english ability, etc.

[puerco-bellies]

4. Last election a poll worker at my precinct asked me for ID

This occurred in Mar Vista CA. I refused and he asked again. I told him that I've been voting since 1976 and no one has ever asked me for ID before. Then as another poll worker handed me my ballot, the first asked "are you really not going to show me ID"? I was boiling by that time and I barked "HELL NO!". While I was voting I heard the first one tell one of the other two poll workers that they need to see ID so that there is no shenanigans.. It was a primary and while I was there only one person walked in that identified as a repub. That son of a bitch did NOT ask him for ID!!!

[Miss Chybil]

5. You don't need a photo ID.

All voters must now present identification in Arizona

In order to vote in a city, county or state election in Arizona, the voter must present:

(a) one form of appropriate identification bearing the name, address and photograph of the voter
OR
(b) two different forms of identification that bear the name and address of the person appearing to vote

What qualifies as an acceptable form of photo ID?

The following government issued IDs are acceptable, if they also include the name and address of the person presenting themselves at a polling place:

Valid Arizona driver license or non-operating identification
Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification

What other kinds of documents are acceptable as ID for voting purposes?
In lieu of one of the photo IDs listed above, a person who wishes to vote may bring any two different items from the list below to the polling place, as long as those items have the person's name and address on them.
Utility bill dated within 90 days of the date of the election.

A utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television
Bank or credit union statement that is dated within 90 days of the date of the election
Valid Arizona Vehicle Registration
Indian census card
Property tax statement of the person's residence
Tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification
Vehicle insurance card
Valid United States federal, state, or local government issued identification
Voter Registration Card / Recorder's Certification
Any "Official Election Material" mailing bearing your name and address

http://phoenix.about.com/od/citiestownsgovernment/a/voterid.htm

I think this back and forth thing with the courts is going to cause a lot of confusion. Not good.

[davidinalameda]

10. as long as the government provides free IDs for people without them

I have no issue with this requirement

but if the government makes people pay for them, that in effect is a poll tax

[journalist3072]

11. Yes, however....

If you look at the case in Georgia, the lawmakers there went back and revised their voter ID law, to make the IDs free for whoever needed them.

A federal judge said that while that was a positive step, more needed to be done to fix that legislation. The judge said that even though the IDs would be free, it would still pose an undue burden.

[davidinalameda]

12. as long as the government deals with the issue of "undue burden"

which I'm not quite sure what that entails, then once again I have no problem with the requirement

[zalinda]

14. As long as the government, comes to your home

and takes the picture and gives you the ID for free, I have no problem with it.

There are many, many people in this country who do not have ID. In this city there are 2 DMV's, one that you can take a bus to, it closes at 5 and one that you have to drive to, that is open till 7 two times a week. If you work till five and take the bus, how do you get a DMV ID, do you take off work? This would be a burden even if it was free, and it's not.

Ever wonder why there are pre-paid credit cards? Or check cashing places? Why don't they use banks? They get money orders at the post office to pay their bills. They live in a total cash world, no ID required. This is the way they stay afloat.

And then you have the people who don't work, for whatever reason. Women who got married out of high school and stayed home to raise their kids. People who are disabled, you don't need a photo ID to get social security. And of course, the elderly who's driver's license never had a photo on it, and is now expired. In NYC alone there are probably a million people or more who don't have a photo ID. You'll find that a lot in big cities where buses are readily available.

zalinda

[MGKrebs]

16. We are talking about making eligible voters ineligible.

There are hundreds of thousands of known eligible voters who will be made suddenly ineligible with this idea.

If someone could show a problem- or even a potential problem- that a photo ID addresses, then we could have a discussion as to whether it is proper or not. No one has yet.

I can't speak for other states who may have less stringent registration requirements than here in Georgia, but I still see the same problem in any case- a person's right to vote is dependent on the opinion of a poll worker. Way too arbitrary for me.

[MGKrebs]

15. What purpose does the ID serve?

What problem does it solve?

This is not like a saloon that can choose to serve whomever it wants or not. This is an important part of our democracy, a right we have chosen to give ourselves, and should not be made more difficult for no good reason.

[lonestarnot]

17. Solves nothing, purpose to suppress poor and disabled.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. The supporting documentation is where the problem lies

Even if the IDs are free, the birth certificates may not be. So if you have to pay for the birth certificate, that's a poll tax.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

18. Doesn't AZ issue voter registration cards?

My Chicago voter registration card is the only ID I'm asked for at the polls. It doesn't have a photo, just my current address. Don't other parts of the country have these?

[MGKrebs]

21. Georgia has voter registration cards, but

it is not required to show at the precinct.