A Puzzling Problem...
Rational Nation USA Purveyor of Truth
A federal judge sounded skeptical Monday about a request from voting and civil rights' groups to block a federal official's decision to embrace requirements in three states that new voters submit proof that they're U.S. citizens.
Given the influx of illegal immigrants it is just a bit puzzling why the requirements to submit proof of US citizenship is a problem. It really shouldn't be that difficult to devise a system where US citizen of voting age secures a valid picture voter ID card when they become eligible to vote, Whether natural born or naturalized.. Something along the lines of the old system of registering for the draft perhaps. A one time requirement and you done.
Starting registration in 2018 would certainly give everyone already of voting age enough time to get the documentation needed to secure a voter ID card.
Full article HERE
A federal judge sounded skeptical Monday about a request from voting and civil rights' groups to block a federal official's decision to embrace requirements in three states that new voters submit proof that they're U.S. citizens.
Given the influx of illegal immigrants it is just a bit puzzling why the requirements to submit proof of US citizenship is a problem. It really shouldn't be that difficult to devise a system where US citizen of voting age secures a valid picture voter ID card when they become eligible to vote, Whether natural born or naturalized.. Something along the lines of the old system of registering for the draft perhaps. A one time requirement and you done.
Starting registration in 2018 would certainly give everyone already of voting age enough time to get the documentation needed to secure a voter ID card.
Full article HERE
Are illegal aliens signing up to vote? Show me the problem first, then propose a solution. Why complicate people's lives any further if it is not necessary?
ReplyDeleteIs it complicated to register your car? Your firearm(s)? Was it complicated to register for the draft? Was it complicated to get your social security number? Is it complicated to get your birth certificate? Don't people get papers when they are naturalized?
ReplyDeleteRegistering could be made simple and three generations forward it would not even be talked about anymore. And, I'd be in the front of the line to register. That's how much it would bother me or how complicated I think it would be. It would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. But that's just me I guess.
The three states are Alabama, Georgia, and Kansas. This is just right wing, hot-button, race politics.
ReplyDeleteJMJ
In her autobiography, Condoleeza Rice recalls how her father was denied the right to vote by guessing the number of jellybeans in a jar. During the Jim Crow era, it was one of numerous dirty tactics (i.e. poll taxes and literary tests) used to deny the rights of full citizenship.
ReplyDeletePhotos IDs and registration requirements have been used and abused as stealth attempts to disenfranchise voters and rig election outcomes.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law that required voters to get their photo IDs from a nearest motor vehicle licensing and registration office. In practice, the state shortened or completely eliminated DMV hours in democratic districts, thus creating conditions of unequal access based on voting demographics.
The same tactic was employed in North Carolina when a tea party dominated legislature passed bills targeting black voters, students, and the elderly. One 90-year resident, who had voted her entire life, was denied the right to vote because her baptismal records had been destroyed in a county courthouse fire 60 years ago.
This controversy is a manufactured one. Under cover of guileful intent, proponents of photos ID and proof of citizenship claim rampant “fraud, fraud, fraud!” Once fully investigated, no evidence of fraud has ever been found … in virtually all instances. Thus, a problem which does not exist has been used as a pretext to bring back Jim Crow style discrimination and election tampering.
Here is an opinion written by Judge Richard Posner (appointed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals by President Ronald Reagan):
ReplyDelete“As there is no evidence that voter impersonation fraud is a problem, how can the fact that a legislature says it’s a problem turn it into one? If the Wisconsin legislature says witches are a problem, shall Wisconsin courts be permitted to conduct witch trials? If the Supreme Court once thought that requiring photo identification increases public confidence in elections, and experience and academic study since shows that the Court was mistaken, do we do a favor to the Court-do we increase public confidence in elections-by making the mistake a premise of our decision?
There is only one motivation for imposing burdens on voting that are ostensibly designed to discourage voter-impersonation fraud, if there is no actual danger of such fraud, and that is to discourage voting by persons likely to vote against the party responsible for imposing the burdens (source).
I'm not talking about anything like the Jim Crow laws, guessing the number of jelly beans in a jar, poll taxes, or any such discriminatory activity.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose is simply to show citizenship and nothing more.
I acknowledge all concerns and they are legitimate as they were part of our ugly history.
This issue will continue to precolate occasionally coming to the surface and then submerged again for awhile.
Humans are an odd lot and Americsns are exceptional.
If the burden is to provide a) birth certificate or b) naturalization certificate and nothing more the burden is not discriminatory and infringes on no ones rights.
However, you've made your point (s). Which actually supports my long held belief that governments, because they are made up of people, have the eternal capacity for evil.
Of course it is always the opposition.
Life could be simple if only folks would allow it.
I was born in Brooklyn NY back when the 5 boroughs had separate records. Then NYC merged. Then the private hospital I was born in was closed. Then I lost my birth certificate. It was a nightmare.
ReplyDeleteThere is no evidence whatsoever that these measures are needed, and the very impetus for their enactment should be enough to make a civil thinking man recoil.
JMJ
S*it happens. One reason for the suggested 2017 start. Technology is better, faster, and records can be and are digital. Besides there is the cloud.
ReplyDeleteI consider myself civil thinking as well as acting civil. But who knows, right? Unless and until one has been pushed to the limits of their tolerance.
What Octo and Jersey said. Voter ID is a "problem" manufactured by Republicans to disenfranchise Democratic voters.
ReplyDelete