Want to vote? Passport, please.

[kurth]

September 20, 2006
Want to vote? Passport, please.
Posted by Frank James at 4:55 pm CDT

The House passed today by a largely partisan vote of 228 to 196 the Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006 which would require anyone wanting to vote in a federal election to present polling place officials with a government-issued photo ID. But according to the legislation, it can’t be any old government-issued photo ID. It must be one that proves its holder is a U.S. citizen.

That rules out driver’s licenses since a legal, non-citizen U.S. resident can get those. And in many states illegal immigrants can still get drivers licenses though that is set to change in a couple of years when the federal REAL ID Act is scheduled to take effect. So under the legislation whose sponsor is Illinois' own Republican Rep. Henry Hyde, a lot of people may wind up needing to take their U.S. passports with them to vote on future election days if the FEIA is passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Bush.

... Republicans repeatedly talked of non-citizens voting in U.S. elections. Opponents, however, said there’s little proof of an epidemic of voter fraud. The legislation is a solution in search of a problem, they say. They warn that large numbers of voters will be disenfranchised because older and poor voters, among others, won’t easily be able to obtain an unimpeachable government-issued ID. It costs $85 /actually it's $97/ to get a passport, not counting the cost of photographs. And a passport isn’t something that a lot of Americans have. Indeed, the State Department says only 27 percent of Americans possess one.

State issued IDs would be allowed. But states with voter ID laws like Georgia and Missouri are requiring voters to show proof of citizenship like birth certificates before issuing the documents and, hard as it is for many to believe, some Americans don’t have birth certificates. A Kansas City woman the opponents use as Exhibit A, Maria Frencher, can’t get a birth certificate because she was adopted and doesn’t know her actual father’s details. Opponents consider the photo ID requirement as a new poll tax, the descendant of the insidious poll taxes that were common in the South and meant to disenfranchise black voters after the Constitution's 15th Amendment gave them the right to vote following the Civil War...

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/news_theswamp/2006/09/want_to_vote_pa.html

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. Passports can't prove residence, though

What is to stop me, a Washington State resident with a passport, from voting while visiting family in California?

Once again, our idiots in the other Washington have proven that they don't have a single brain among the bunch. How many Democrats voted for this idiocy, anyway?

[Sydnie]

2. Not to mention

that we KNOW these documents can be forged well enough to get past the old lady working at the polls!

Check out this thread and see just how well trained these poll workers are on the laws. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2169701&mesg_id=2169701 Just how are they supposed to be educated well enough to tell a forged document from a real one?

Edited to add - will we need FBI at every poll to authenticate the "papers" for each voter?

[AspenRose]

6. I believe it was a straight down party line vote

So the dems and the one independent voted against it...

[SoCalDem]

7. Voter registration?

You would still have to register to vote in advance of actually voting..

The passport would just prove your citizenship.. That, along with a utility bill would prove actual residence, if necessary..
We are way behind the curve when it comes to identification.. We are no longer a small country, full of idealistic do-your-own thingers..

We apparently have a problem with figuring out just who is here, and if they deserve to be here.. It's about time we actually find out how many citizens we really have..

The government should just set aside a few days' worth of Iraq war $$ and set a date by which all US citizens must have their FREE passport.. The first one's on the house !!

Renewals cost very little, and even an expired passport would still prove citizenship..(you are very unlikely to be born again ...in that sense)...


Probably 99% of the people here ARE "known" to a federal agency already... IRS, Social Services, Medicare, Medicaid, VA, etc..

[TechBear_Seattle]

10. Free passports would be nice, as they cost a bundle to get

It currently costs $67 to apply for a passport (non-refundable, even if the State Department refuses to grant it) plus a $30 "execution fee," making the total cost $97. (See http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/fees/fees_837.html)

Think about it for a moment. The federal minimum wage is currently $5.15. Assuming 20% taken out in withholding, that is $4.12 an hour take-home. A minimum wage earner (ie the vast majority of younger, generally more liberal, would-be voters) would have to work a bit more than 23.5 hours to buy a passport. What is more likely: the kid will put almost a week's wages towards getting a document that will be used once, maybe twice a year to vote, or that the kid will say, "Fuck politics, I can't afford to vote."

[SoCalDem]

11. That's why a savvy senator/congressperson would tie

the bill to a FREE first passport.. the renewals (after 15 years, I think) are quite reasonable

[magellan]

3. Well, it looks like regardless of how enforceable it is

...this will have the desired chilling effect on those who would otherwise vote but now can't afford to (or simply can't) meet the requirements. They just won't try to vote.

[Crabby Appleton]

4. There is a requirement for the individual states

to provide the ID.

this may not copy and paste very well - it's out of the pdf

‘‘(4) MAKING PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS AVAILABLE.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—During fiscal year
2008 and each succeeding fiscal year, each State
shall establish a program to provide photo iden
tifications which may be used to meet the re
quirements of paragraphs (1) and (2) by indi
viduals who desire to vote in elections held in the
State but who do not otherwise possess a govern
ment-issued photo identification.

‘‘(B) IDENTIFICATIONS PROVIDED AT NO
COST TO INDIGENT INDIVIDUALS.—If a State
charges an individual a fee for providing a photo
identification under the program established
under subparagraph (A)—
‘‘(i) the fee charged may not exceed the
reasonable cost to the State of providing the

24 identification to the individual; and

‘‘(ii) the State may not charge a fee to
any individual who provides an attestation
that the individual is unable to afford the
fee.

[Keepontruking]

5. Passports, get out of jail free cards

Missouri' Gov just passed a law stating it was illegal to ask
for Driver license and picture ID as many residents don't have
the means, paper work, understanding of how to do this and
therefdore more than half the state wouldn't vote.  so get out
of jail free.  I like this Gov.  He pitched a law that was
getting out of hand and taking away freedoms.  Circus Girl

[radfringe]

8. can’t get a birth certificate because she was adopted

not exactly true - while you can't get a "birth certificate" there is a document which can be obtained which does certify your birth but doesn't contain parent information.

my partner is adopted and has such a document and it's legal for getting a passport

that being said - getting a birth certificate illegally is pretty easy. it's done all the time as part of identity theft scams and setting up other false identities.

the only thing this will actually accomplish is a traffic jam at passport offices when people rush in at the last minute

[Leopolds Ghost]

9. Not a single mention of Civil Liberties so far

I'd think all you radical types would see through this.

ID test is a test. There shall be no test for eligible voters to vote, nor for citizens to assemble and walk down the streets. If I can prevent you from voting without ID, I can prevent you from internal travel and free assembly without ID. Papers... please!