Re: The 2012 Presidential Election Part I - The guns of August
So are people upset that those with picture ID normally leave them at home and the act of asking them to bring it will suppress votes or are we talking about registered voters who don't have any picture ID at all?
Do you need an ID to register in the first place?
I haven't walked in to cash a check lately but don't you need an ID. To do that?
Can you register a car without one?
I get asked for picture ID fairly often, but I travel fairly often too.
I wouldn't have thought we have tons of people who are registered and likely voters but don't have the time, opportunity nor need to get a picture ID .
The requirement to get the card is deemed "suppression," at least by those obsessing on this issue. As I've mentioned and posted, the WaPo on this matter found nearly 3 out of 4 of us don't find the requirement to show ID burdonsome, and that includes a majority of African Americans. And the opponants have used grotesquely inflated figures to support the "suppression" argument. One way opponants do that is to consider only state issued ID cards, without considering the alternatives many states say they'll accept.
After the recent defeat of the suit challenging the ID law in Pennsylvania, the lead plaintiff, the person chosen to represent how draconian and unfair and racist that law was, took the bus to the DMV, and walked out of there with an ID card. States are providing the cards for free. And in some cases, have brought the issuance process to where people are.
If someone forgets to bring their ID, these states provide for the casting of a provisional ballot, which will be counted once the ID is provided. You're right, there was a time when we had to register to vote in person. No more. Now you can mail in a postcard.
In today's society, it's nearly impossible to get along without having and producing an ID card from time to time. And a requirement to bring it along to vote is neither "repressive" nor "racist." Having grown up in Chicagoland during the regime of Daley I I may be a tad more cynical about these matters than the average poster.
Opponants argue there's no evidence to support the notion that there's a lot of voter fraud going on. How much is acceptable? We recently decided a senate race in Minnesota by about 500 votes, and an analysis of the rolls has revealed that nearly 2,000 felons participated. A few hundred votes recently decided who would be POTUS. It reminds me of folks who argue against seat belts because they don't work all the time, in every accident. Wasn't it Voltaire who observed that the perfect is the enemy of the good?
Opponants argue, with zero evidence to support it, that the movement to make voters provide ID is "racist" and designed to "suppress" Democrat votes in big cities. The former is nonsense. The latter is true, if by "suppress" you're talking about only permitting legal voters to participate, and then only once.
