Voter Suppression may Hand Election to the Republicans
By Steve Kinsman, 25th Jul 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsPolitics
A third of Pennsylvanians may be ineligible to vote in this year's presidential election.
No state issued I. D? You can't vote here
Pennsylvania Republicans passed a law earlier this year, signed by the Republican governor, which requires all voters to have a "valid PennDOT-issued ID with photo identification." A driver's license will not work. The problem is, according to Daniel Dinver, writing in the Philadelphia City Paper, at least 1,636,168 registered voters are not in possession of the ID. In Philadelphia, which is heavily democratic according to registration figures, 437,237 voters, or a whopping 43 percent, do not possess the ID required to participate in the election. The law requires that voters show up at a state-designated location to obtain their IDs. Unfortunately, many elderly people and poor people to not have the means to to that.
Republican House Majority Leader Mike Turzai boasted in June of this year that the Pennsylvania law "is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."
The Republicans say that the ID will prevent wholesale voter fraud, but their use of the term 'voter fraud' is simply code for voter suppression. Over the last decade less than a dozen individual cases of voter fraud have been prosecuted in the entire nation, so for all intents and purposes, it does not exist.
In Florida, a purge of voter rolls continues despite a court order to stop. Republicans know that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the key swing states that will decide the election, and they fear they cannot win elections that are fair and square, so they are resorting to instituting these laws. It is a blatant and egregious attempt to steal the election for themselves, and it is a threat to the very core of our democratic process. Shame on them.
Preview image from photosearch.com
Comments
26th Jul 2012 (#)
You beat me to the punch again, good buddy :-))
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
I guess we're running on the same wavelength these days, Jerry.
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
Its surprising that such a thing exists in America. Something must be done about it and its good you have highlighted it
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
Thank you Madan. I appreciate your comment.
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
again you have Hi lighted the wrongdoings of those people...it is unbelievable that such things can be allowed...
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
Well, they control both the legislature and the governorship in both Pennsylvania and Florida, and it looks like they're going to get away with it.
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
If this is to outwit the poor voters and defranchise them, then it is less than fair - siva
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
That is exactly what it is for. Thank you Siva.
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
Try looking at it this way. You walk into the polls to cast your vote and give your name and address w/o ID because why should I need it? The law says I don't! You discover that Someone has already given your name and address and you can not vote because someone, "without ID, because the law says you don't need it," has stolen your vote. This is how I see it and having had to show my ID to vote in all three states I have lived since I started voting, fail to see the issue, personally. Not having anyone worth a crap to vote for, now that should be an issue!
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
@Robb714 I have lived and voted in a number of different states and I have always had to show my voter's registration card, so they could match the information on that to what they had in their records. No one could have stolen my vote unless they had also managed to steal my voter's registration card. But now a Voter's Registration Card will not be enough to get me in the voting booth, I will also have to show my official picture ID.If all of this was to protect the voter, why not simply issue voters, Voter's Registration Cards with his or her picture on the card?
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
Right on, Jerry.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
Jerry, you raise a very interesting point there. I have had a voter registration card for 37 years and never had to show it to anyone, it usually stays in a drawer, I have had always had to show my photo ID though. I was in the Navy for eight years and had to submit an absentee ballot for several years because I was defending your and my freedom to vote. It is not a disenfranchisement of a person’s right to vote, trust me, if I could do it from the middle of the Ocean than they can too!
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
Hi Robb714,
I just picked up on your reply and the fact that you were in the Navy. I was in the Air Force and am medically retired because I had my right knee blown away in the line of duty. I was with Air Force Security. We both served to defend the homeland even if it was different branches and most likely we had different MOS classifications.
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26th Jul 2012 (#)
You don't see the issue? The issue is that the officials passing and enforcing these ID laws are purposefully disenfranchising thousands upon thousands of voters. Thanks for commenting Robb.
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27th Jul 2012 (#)
This I have to agree with Robb on this one. I personally think showing an ID is a good thing. Although the one in PA a person with a different type of ID might be going a little to far. But I am gladly show my ID with my registration for voting and cast my vote. One thing though Jerry, if a Voter's Registration is sent through the mail it can be stolen and if someone who stolen it and without ID and cast your vote and you tried to and can't and that is where I have a problem.
I am for showing a picture ID with a Voter's Registration Card. This is my opinion that is all.
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29th Jul 2012 (#)
Some time back, I received an e-mail, with a video attached, showing individuals voting in New Hampshire. The person going in would claim they had left their ID out in their car or truck, or at home. The ladies at the voting location said, "That's ok. What's your name?" The person would give a name, and the ladies would proceed to find it in the registers on the table. Then, flashed on the screen, was the date that the name given by the individual was the name of a person recently deceased, with the date of their death. At least 5 instances of this were recorded. It is problematical that the poor and elderly have difficulty getting the required I.D., but I would hope that someone would pursue a program or course to rectify this situation.
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29th Jul 2012 (#)
raise good points, Glenn, but the current effort by Republicans in both Florida and Pennsylvania is an effort, not to correct what you comment about, but to disenfranchise thousands of eligible voters.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
Steve, if you want to vote there is a way to do that, knock it off!
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
No wait, my Grandfather (he’s dead now) voted in all NC and FL elections for thirty years because he found a loop hole. Yeah, he made his vote count twice which probably got Reagan elected! Go Granddad! We all know these voting laws need to be adjusted for modern times and wipe out voter fraud.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
So, you're perfectly ok with what they're doing in Florida and Pennsylvania. I think, with all due respect Robb, you don't understand that the Republicans in those states are not aiming to curb voter fraud, they are fixing to steal the election by disenfranchising thousands of voters, most of whom are elderly, black or poor, and most of whom would vote for Democrats.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
I did not say I was OK with what they are doing, if that is their intentions. I might point out that most elderly black folks that I know are very conservative and take issue with this administration’s liberal attitude towards social issues and will not be voting democrat. I would never agree with disenfranchisement of anyone. As a result of your article, I will follow this issue more closely though.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
Thank you Robb. We'll have to see if liberal or conservative on social issues swings the election one way or another. All the black folks I know are progressive on social issues. I appreciate your comment.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
@Steve and Robb714
One of the problem we faced when leaving a comment on someone's page is that comments, like emails, are easily misinterpreted. Trust me when I tell you that I learned that about emails the hard way with my own Toastmasters Club executive board. I had thought ny email was crystal clear, I knew that it was inline with Toastmasters International Policies, but my fellow officers misinterpreted it completely and before the ensuing dustup was settled, the District Governor was called in as an arbitrator.Since that dustup, I now conduct all by board business by video conference calls. Communications is so much more clearer when one can see each other facial expressions and can get any questions about meaning cleared up immediately.
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1st Aug 2012 (#)
You're right on there Jerry. Thank you.
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3rd Aug 2012 (#)
I enjoy my permanent residenty status. I am lumped in with criminals and illegal immigrants and wil have no responsibility for what could be a very traumatic outcome.
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7th Aug 2012 (#)
The fact that we the people do not have a choice or voice in the the matter bothers no one. While they go on about who raises the most money and discuss voter disenfranchisement, we miss the whole point. We have no leadership is loss among the sheep. Reminds me of a line from a star wars movie, that's how the republic ends, with an applause.
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7th Aug 2012 (#)
I agree.
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