Obama, Voter IDs and background checks

[mloamiller]

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cns ... elses-name" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In trying to explain why he doesn't think Voter IDs really solve a problem, President Obama stated "it doesn't actually address a real problem because there are almost no instances of people going to vote in somebody else’s name. It’s just not a common crime." According to the story, the statement "it's just not a common crime" was "based his conclusion on government data on the number of people the government prosecutes for this crime."

So if the government doesn't prosecute a lot of crimes related to a specific illegal activity, it's not a real problem and doesn't need to be addressed. By that logic, I expect him to stop pushing for background checks on gun purchases any day now.

http://www.politifact.com/new-hampshire ... enator-ke/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Just a side note, we now have a very easy way to reduce crime in this country to zero.

[cb1000rider]

Isn't this mostly a state issue? IE - it's not the choice of the Obama administration to enforce / not enforce voter fraud, at least at the state level.

Honestly, I don't know that I suspect a high degree of voter fraud. It's a bit like illegal immigration. It's hard to narrow down the exact amount of drag on the economy and it's hard to narrow down the exact amount of contribution to the economy.

What isn't as hard to document is that the people in the demographic who are most likely to be affected by voter ID typically vote Democrat... And that's perhaps a powerful tool.. If the demographics were reversed, I'd be surprised if liberals weren't pushing for these laws.

I believe that this just got kicked back by the courts as "discriminatory" but they didn't go so far as "intentionally discriminatory".

Making a parallel with gun purchases is valid.... It's not exactly like they arrest people for attempting an illegal purchase, but looking at it another way, you'd have to be the bottom of the criminal intelligence ladder to even try it when you can buy private party without any sort of background check...

[powerboatr]

how is it the court struck down texas voter id. but left in place
a birth cert, some form of id like a passport to get a drivers license.

voter id argument of so far past its lifespan it needs to be put to rest under piles of rubbish

just answer the one question. What does it harm, having to prove you are who who say you are to cast a vote ?
texas gives ID out free to the eldery.
if your on assistance there is a program to get an ID for free
and if you work and have means an ID costs 25.00 for 6 years.

do people that argue against id, drive or have bank accounts? use debit cards or write checks? then they need an id.
amazes me this keeps going and going

[tommyg]

when I go to Houston to see my grand kids they make me show an id to get a hotel room
THEY MAKE ME SHOW AN ID AT THE BANK
They make me show an id when I go to pay my bill at Home Depot
THey make me show an Id when I pick up packages at the post office
They make me show an id when i pick up a prescription at the pharmacy

IT SEEMS LIKE SHOWING AN ID TO VOTE IS NOT ANY DIFFERENT

[Cjwglock19]

when I go to Houston to see my grand kids they make me show an id to get a hotel room
THEY MAKE ME SHOW AN ID AT THE BANK
They make me show an id when I go to pay my bill at Home Depot
THey make me show an Id when I pick up packages at the post office
They make me show an id when i pick up a prescription at the pharmacy

IT SEEMS LIKE SHOWING AN ID TO VOTE IS NOT ANY DIFFERENT

[MeMelYup]

Do people need ID to get social security benefits?
Do people need ID to get welfare benefits?
Do people need ID to get medical benefits?
Do people need ID to be signed up for Obummercare?

[JALLEN]

Isn't this mostly a state issue? IE - it's not the choice of the Obama administration to enforce / not enforce voter fraud, at least at the state level.

Honestly, I don't know that I suspect a high degree of voter fraud. It's a bit like illegal immigration. It's hard to narrow down the exact amount of drag on the economy and it's hard to narrow down the exact amount of contribution to the economy.

What isn't as hard to document is that the people in the demographic who are most likely to be affected by voter ID typically vote Democrat... And that's perhaps a powerful tool.. If the demographics were reversed, I'd be surprised if liberals weren't pushing for these laws.

I believe that this just got kicked back by the courts as "discriminatory" but they didn't go so far as "intentionally discriminatory".

Making a parallel with gun purchases is valid.... It's not exactly like they arrest people for attempting an illegal purchase, but looking at it another way, you'd have to be the bottom of the criminal intelligence ladder to even try it when you can buy private party without any sort of background check...

Of course, voter fraud is not limited to voting in someone else's name, although I do not believe for one minute that it is unheard of. It's a classic Clintonian straw man distraction. How do all those dead people get IDs?

The problem for Texas is it is subject to special requirements of the Voting Rights Act applicable to the states of the old Confederacy to correct past voting rights abuses.

[JALLEN]

Isn't this mostly a state issue? IE - it's not the choice of the Obama administration to enforce / not enforce voter fraud, at least at the state level.

Honestly, I don't know that I suspect a high degree of voter fraud. It's a bit like illegal immigration. It's hard to narrow down the exact amount of drag on the economy and it's hard to narrow down the exact amount of contribution to the economy.

What isn't as hard to document is that the people in the demographic who are most likely to be affected by voter ID typically vote Democrat... And that's perhaps a powerful tool.. If the demographics were reversed, I'd be surprised if liberals weren't pushing for these laws.

I believe that this just got kicked back by the courts as "discriminatory" but they didn't go so far as "intentionally discriminatory".

Making a parallel with gun purchases is valid.... It's not exactly like they arrest people for attempting an illegal purchase, but looking at it another way, you'd have to be the bottom of the criminal intelligence ladder to even try it when you can buy private party without any sort of background check...

Of course, voter fraud is not limited to voting in someone else's name, although I do not believe for one minute that it is unheard of. It's a classic Clintonian straw man distraction. How do all those dead people get IDs?

My mother was a Republican all her life. Now that she has died, I see she's been voting Democrat.

The problem for Texas is it is subject to special requirements of the Voting Rights Act applicable to the states of the old Confederacy to correct past voting rights abuses.

[ScottDLS]

Isn't this mostly a state issue? IE - it's not the choice of the Obama administration to enforce / not enforce voter fraud, at least at the state level.

Honestly, I don't know that I suspect a high degree of voter fraud. It's a bit like illegal immigration. It's hard to narrow down the exact amount of drag on the economy and it's hard to narrow down the exact amount of contribution to the economy.

What isn't as hard to document is that the people in the demographic who are most likely to be affected by voter ID typically vote Democrat... And that's perhaps a powerful tool.. If the demographics were reversed, I'd be surprised if liberals weren't pushing for these laws.

I believe that this just got kicked back by the courts as "discriminatory" but they didn't go so far as "intentionally discriminatory".

Making a parallel with gun purchases is valid.... It's not exactly like they arrest people for attempting an illegal purchase, but looking at it another way, you'd have to be the bottom of the criminal intelligence ladder to even try it when you can buy private party without any sort of background check...

Of course, voter fraud is not limited to voting in someone else's name, although I do not believe for one minute that it is unheard of. It's a classic Clintonian straw man distraction. How do all those dead people get IDs?

My mother was a Republican all her life. Now that she has died, I see she's been voting Democrat.

The problem for Texas is it is subject to special requirements of the Voting Rights Act applicable to the states of the old Confederacy to correct past voting rights abuses.

SCOTUS says no more pre-clearance required for Texas or other states under the VRA. That happened a couple years ago. Unfortunately a 5th circuit panel just through out voter ID for Texas. Maybe gets re-heard en banc.

The real push here is to sign up as many illegal aliens to vote (Democrat) as possible. It's already laughably easy for non-citizens to register and DoJ is working hard to make it easier.

[karder]

The whole argument that voter id laws prevent minorities from voting is grade A nonsense. I have a hard time believing that there are big populations of people in this country with no id who actively participate in the election process. That is a strawman argument.

The only reason any political group would argue against requiring people to have an id to vote, is if they are encouraging or participating in election fraud.

The U.S. likes to send folks like Jimmy Carter to countries in Central and South America and the Middle East to monitor elections for fraud. To assure everything is on the up and up they require ids and then dip everyone's finger in purple ink so that they can vote only once. The media then flock down to snap pictures of happy, dancing voters waving their purple stained fingers around and trumpet the democratic process. I tell you this, if anyone were to even suggested that we employ those same standards in the U.S. and tried to make voters id themselves and stain their fingers as they leave the polls here, the liberal/progressive mouthpieces would lose their minds. They would never tolerate the same standards they promote in other countries. In both cases they are trying to control voter fraud, except in other countries they want to stop the fraud and in this country they want to manage it. I mean hey, what good are 11 million illegal aliens if they can't vote? Might as well send them all back.

[VMI77]

when I go to Houston to see my grand kids they make me show an id to get a hotel room
THEY MAKE ME SHOW AN ID AT THE BANK
They make me show an id when I go to pay my bill at Home Depot
THey make me show an Id when I pick up packages at the post office
They make me show an id when i pick up a prescription at the pharmacy

IT SEEMS LIKE SHOWING AN ID TO VOTE IS NOT ANY DIFFERENT

I agree in principle, but really, you have to show an ID at the PO to pick up a package? I've never been asked for ID at the PO. Maybe that's big city versus country living?

[treadlightly]

On a side note, there is a bit of voter law that has always had me steamed. It sounds a bit geeky, but it's terribly important. Election integrity was ruined one year in Alaska because of it.

Texas election law 52.007, I think, says there must be a specimen ballot in each format used in each election. That requirement can be waived, but no Secretary of State has ever written a waiver to the requirement.

Here's where it gets geeky. A specimen ballot is different from a sample. Samples get printed in the newspaper and tacked up on the polling place walls.

Specimens are actual, unmodified, weapons-hot ballots pulled out of inventory and kept under lock and key at the election clerk's office. They are there for public inspection, but it is unlawful to distribute them.

There is never a specimen ballot of the electronic form - the ballot format that's actually counted in most precincts is not available as a specimen.

As to why that's important, besides the law just saying specimens have to be available, check out what happened to George Bush in Alaska. The world fixated on low hanging chads in Florida and nobody outside of Alaska noticed he lost one third of his votes up there.

It didn't matter to the outcome, but the situation was still horrible.

The statewide total for Bush, coughed up by Diebold software, was about 200,000 votes.

But if you added up all the precincts, it came to 300,000.

And here's where the situation gets unsettling for Texas.

There was an outcry to audit the ballot data and find out why the precinct subtotals were so wildly different from the grand total, but Diebold refused. The data in the electronic ballots belonged to Alaska, no problem, but the format in which that data was stored belonged to Diebold. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act forbids the uncorking of proprietary data format.

Alaska couldn't audit the ballot data.

The headlines say Diebold relented a couple of years later, but the full story is they said they would allow audit of the ballot data only after they redacted what shouldn't be public.

Nobody wanted to bother auditing modified data, the recount never happened.

It could happen here. The setup for an unauditable, bad total is having ballots in secret format. The law says that format can't be secret - but it is.

I've contacted politicians until I've run out of spare change for postage. Senators, representatives, attorneys general, secretaries of state - nobody will do anything.

There's all kinds of fun to be had with this little wrinkle. If an election clerk can recognize a valid ballot when he sees one, he's committed a felony under the DMCA. It's unlawful to be able to recognize an electronic ballot in Texas, even for election officials.

Was Donald Duck on the ballot as a Governor's candidate on the last ballot you voted? I'm sure The Donald wasn't on the touch screen, but how about on the actual ballot, the electronic form that was counted? Careful how you answer, there are DMCA considerations.