Haven't been following this much so if someone would please clear this up, how is requiring a state issued ID to vote a barrier to poor folks voting?

The GOP was so close to having the wasteful bureaucratic government restriction on rights they love so much. What a shame.

bhcompy: Fabric_Man: Judge decides illegal immigrants and dead people the poor still allowed to vote in PA

I know it's sarcasm, but still

I never understood this. Why does being poor prohibit you from having a state issued ID?

Lots of people who are "poor" work at jobs that don't give them time off, or if they don't work, may not have a vehicle, or have to rely on public transportation that doesn't go past whereever the ID office is located and is open. Some states closed ID offices in areas of heavy Democratic populations, others changed the times they were open to very restrictive hours. Other states don't come out with the requirements for the ID's, so someone needing an ID may have to make multiple trips to the office to get all the documents.

/still don't see what the actual goal is, do you?

bhcompy: Fabric_Man: Judge decides illegal immigrants and dead people the poor still allowed to vote in PA

I know it's sarcasm, but still

I never understood this. Why does being poor prohibit you from having a state issued ID?

Some people are really poor and cannot afford something that they see has no value in their life. Why get an ID if you don't need it?

Good. Suck it, Pennsylvania GOP.

bmongar: The dead always favor Democrats because they no longer live in the fear it takes to maintain a Republican affiliation.

OhLuverly: Haven't been following this much so if someone would please clear this up, how is requiring a state issued ID to vote a barrier to poor folks voting?

It is a poll tax and thus violates the constitution. The right to vote is contingent on showing up, nothing else.

Okay, ALL is fair in WAR.....NO ID, no problem...TAKE ANY ONE AND EVERYONE you know who isn't registered to the polls. IF you have guest from out of town take them to vote....HELL TWO CAN PLAY THE SAME GAME!! If you can rent a van, pick up folk from the streets and take them to vote. Hell offer them a pack of cigarettes, a beer or an ex-large soda in exchange for their vote....DON'T JUST MOAN AND GROAN....TAKE ACTION AND STICK IT UP their BUTTS WHERE THE SUN DON'T SUNSHINE!! link

Republicans seem slightly upset by this turn of events.

You know... let's take a look at all you need an ID for:

Driving
Purchasing a firearm
Carrying a firearm
Cashing a check
Opening a bank account
Using a debit or credit card
Opening a line of credit
Boarding a commercial flight
Going to college (you may or may not need one for registration, but they will make you get one from them when you're on campus)
Getting a passport
Buying tobacco
Buying alcohol
Buying medical marijuana (in states that allow it)
Going over the border into Canada or Mexico
Transferring large amounts of cash (thank the PATRIOT Act for that)
Apply for a job at a government institution (they're going to want to make sure you're here legally)
Being shown an apartment you're considering a lease on

With all of that in mind... just who the fark is going around without an ID? Forget whether or not these people could vote if that law had been passed... how much of a disadvantage are these folks at in their every day lives without one? How about we focus on that?

Voter fraud occurs in 2/million cases.

Voter ID is a fine idea. The problem is that Republicans want to push these laws through as fast as they can making it harder for people that typically vote Democratic. Students, minorities and the poor will all have a more difficult time voting.

Want to do it right? Do the ID part of the law first. Make sure every citizen has an ID (for free) so they can vote. Then put the ID requirement for voting through. That is, if you're really interesting in preventing voter fraud and making sure everyone can vote.

bhcompy: Fabric_Man: Judge decides illegal immigrants and dead people the poor still allowed to vote in PA

I know it's sarcasm, but still

I never understood this. Why does being poor prohibit you from having a state issued ID?

It means you have to schedule time off from work to travel to and wait around at whatever office or registry is issuing those IDs, and while that may certainly be possible, the closer to a minimum wage job you have, the stricter the supervisor tends to be about schedules. So, maybe it takes a month or two to schedule that time off. No problem... you'll get your ID in December.
... too late.

That's why it's unreasonable to push through a new voter ID requirement a month before a national election, while it's perfectly reasonable for the judge to say "fine, this law takes effect starting next year. People will have almost two years before the next national election to get their ID, rather than four weeks."

The only people who could possibly have a problem with this are those who were explicitly relying on this to unfairly affect the outcome of this election. In other words, complaining about it means that you're in favor of disenfranchising people.

qorkfiend: Constitution forbids anyone from having to pay to vote. Make the IDs free and automatically issued for everyone and you might get somewhere.

Funnily enough, if you want an ID to vote PennDOT will give you one for free.

Oh, and your nursing home ID and student ID are OK too if they have an expiration date.

I'm still struggling to understand how you can get through life without a photo ID in today's world - that is to say not needing one at least once every four years, our validity period in PA.

Chabash: What about rich old white people? Are they still allowed?

They can still buy as many votes as they want.

bhcompy: Fabric_Man: Judge decides illegal immigrants and dead people the poor still allowed to vote in PA

I know it's sarcasm, but still

I never understood this. Why does being poor prohibit you from having a state issued ID?

If the ID costs money, it's a poll tax, which is unconstitutional.

If the ID does not cost money, there's still the time involved in obtaining an ID. Generally speaking, the working poor in the US don't have the type of career where they can say "hey, I need to take off from work to run to the DMV and grab an ID", because management can easily find another minimum-wage worker who will actually be able to stay at work.

hetheeme: qorkfiend: hetheeme: Gotta love the legalization of voter fraud.

God forbid anyone actually have to prove who they are in order to vote.

Constitution forbids anyone from having to pay to vote. Make the IDs free and automatically issued for everyone and you might get somewhere.

Fine by me. If there were anything worth the taxpayers money to pay for, it's making sure that the elections are not prone to fraud.

These laws hinge in people NOT being able to afford the ID. In NH they passed a law which said that students wishing to vote at school had to not only have a NH licence but had to have a REGISTERED vehicle. Guess who the students will vote for? Guess who controls the NH legislature.

(hopefully will be scuttled as well)

slykens1: qorkfiend: Constitution forbids anyone from having to pay to vote. Make the IDs free and automatically issued for everyone and you might get somewhere.

Funnily enough, if you want an ID to vote PennDOT will give you one for free.

Oh, and your nursing home ID and student ID are OK too if they have an expiration date.

I'm still struggling to understand how you can get through life without a photo ID in today's world - that is to say not needing one at least once every four years, our validity period in PA.

Oh, ok. Since you can't think of any way it could happen, it must be impossible.

Good. I now live in PA, and hearing the stories about how people were being turned away by idiot clerks at the DMV upset me. I finally got my voter registration card in the mail the other day. Going to put it to good use.

hetheeme: Gotta love the legalization of voter fraud.

God forbid anyone actually have to prove who they are in order to vote.

I'd rather have this kind of voter fraud than the kind of voter fraud perpetuated in Florida in 2000...

I'd also rather see all states use paper ballots with optical scanners. They have a paper trail for manual counting and marking a line with a pen between two dots is about as failsafe as one can get.

Every citizen has the constitutional right to vote. Anyone who denies them that right should be prosecuted and thrown in jail. If states want all registered voters to have ID, then the burden should be on the states to compare their voter rolls to their state ID system, and to notify all registered voters without a record of ID that they need it, and then the state should see to getting them that ID. If not, the state is disenfranchising them through its own action.

WTF? You dont have to show ID?

What could possibly go wrong?

Rwa2play: hetheeme: Gotta love the legalization of voter fraud.

God forbid anyone actually have to prove who they are in order to vote.

Yes because it's Democrats AND ONLY Democrats that commit voter fraud.

Maybe you should try using Google before you say something this asinine.

Voter fraud help whoever has control of the political machine in the area. If Republicans win due to fraud, then throw those bastards out as well. The machine in PA is solid blue, so allowing fraud there helps Democrats out more than it would Republicans.

On any level, from any party, voter intimidation, voter fraud, and voter disenfranchisement are wrong.

If it means paying a little more from the state for a free version of the state IDs that are already issued, that can be used to make sure that one person, one vote means just that, then so be it.

oh and 2wolves: Bag of Hammers: hetheeme: Gotta love the legalization of voter fraud.

God forbid anyone actually have to prove who they are in order to vote.

*notsureifserious*

Lubbock TX, you make the call.

You are a bigot.

slykens1: qorkfiend: Constitution forbids anyone from having to pay to vote. Make the IDs free and automatically issued for everyone and you might get somewhere.

Funnily enough, if you want an ID to vote PennDOT will give you one for free.

Oh, and your nursing home ID and student ID are OK too if they have an expiration date.

I'm still struggling to understand how you can get through life without a photo ID in today's world - that is to say not needing one at least once every four years, our validity period in PA.

That's why. Lots of older and/or poorer people only get an ID when they need it and then once it's expired don't renew it.

FlashHarry: Marine1: With all of that in mind... just who the fark is going around without an ID?

old people and poor people who are still americans with a constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

Dude, if you don't have an ID, you're off the farking grid these days. I mean, no ID? None? Whatsoever?

slykens1: qorkfiend: Constitution forbids anyone from having to pay to vote. Make the IDs free and automatically issued for everyone and you might get somewhere.

Funnily enough, if you want an ID to vote PennDOT will give you one for free.

Oh, and your nursing home ID and student ID are OK too if they have an expiration date.

I'm still struggling to understand how you can get through life without a photo ID in today's world - that is to say not needing one at least once every four years, our validity period in PA.

So are you disputing the surveys that say a significant portion of the population don't have a valid idea or are you just straight up using the fallacy of incredulity?

bhcompy: I never understood this. Why does being poor prohibit you from having a state issued ID?

It fraking doesn't.

You want to make voters better off? Get rid of the electoral college.

A judge on Tuesday blocked Pennsylvania's divisive voter identification requirement from going into effect on Election Day, delivering a hard-fought victory to Democrats who said it was a ploy to defeat President Barack Obama and other opponents who said it would prevent the elderly and minorities from voting.

This claim is entirely without merit. Democrats would have an audience believe that the governor of Pennsylvania was recorded as stating that the "Voter ID" legislation would enable Mr. Romney to win the state.