Moderator: Dictators in Training
Adivina wrote:We are the most bipolar acting community, bunch of manics with the mood swings on here.
This morning I took part in a sacred civic obligation: I voted. The casting of one’s ballot is a truly egalitarian American experience — everyone has an equal say in how they will be represented in matters of governance. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, religious or not, a Mayflower descendant or a newly sworn-in U.S. citizen.
But in Maryland, my rights were infringed upon when my identity as a legal voter was rendered insignificant. Nobody asked me for identification, nor was anyone obliged to do so. As a result of this inaction, voter fraud will not only be tolerated but is rendered likely.
Maryland is one of 23 states that maintain the most minimal standards for voter identification, only requiring that you show ID (photo not required) when you register, and never again after that. This allows anyone who knows your full name and polling location to vote in your place with no recourse.
Liberals led by the ACLU, the League of Women Voters, and the NAACP contend that voter-ID requirements are designed to suppress minority and Democratic votes, but that has been proven wrong time and time again. In 2008, Georgia and Indiana, two states where identification is required to vote without a provisional ballot, saw historically high turnout among African-Americans and Democrats. In Indiana, where voter-ID laws are strictest, Democratic turnout increased by over 8 percent in 2008 over 2004; this was the largest increase in the nation. Georgia’s voter-ID requirements got stricter between 2004 and 2008, but African-American turnout increased. And when compared to other states with similar populations but less strict voter laws, the argument that the turnout would have been even higher without the enforcement is laid to rest.
A Rasmussen poll in August 2010 found that a full 82 percent of Americans believe all voters should show photo ID before they are allowed to vote, representing a majority in every single demographic group. This is not a fringe opinion, but a national consensus.
Retired liberal Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, a former anti-corruption lawyer from Chicago, agrees that lax voter-ID requirements lead to voter fraud. In the 6–3 majority opinion upholding Indiana’s new law, he writes: “That flagrant examples of [voter] fraud…have been documented throughout this Nation’s history by respected historians and journalists…demonstrate[s] that not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election.”
In ruling after ruling, strict voter-ID laws have been found to be constitutional and not in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Yet that doesn’t stop liberal activist groups from spending countless court hours and taxpayer resources working towards an end goal that invites voter fraud.
Most recently, the Obama administration has made clear that it will not prosecute illegal immigrants who violate our voting laws by taking part in a process that is explicitly for U.S. citizens only. When Putnam County, Tenn., recently reported to the Obama administration that a person had voted illegally before becoming a citizen, the response was simply to ask if he had been taken off the voter rolls. This of course ignored that it is a felony under federal law to register and vote in elections as a non-citizen.
Illegal-immigration advocates address these instances as innocent mistakes, but the federal voter-registration form explicitly asks at the top, “Are you a citizen of the United States of America?” It then asks you to swear and reaffirm that statement when you sign your name. How many free passes do certain criminals get in the Holder Justice Department?
The point here is not that people should be denied their right to vote. Quite the opposite: Legal and registered citizens should not be denied their right to have their votes fully count by illegal ballots cast mere feet away.
The yearning to cast a vote in an American election is admirable but nevertheless punishable if done illegally. Those who wish to defraud and corrupt the process should not be given an easy path.
It’s time for all 50 states to have commonsense voter-ID laws that require photo identification every time you vote. It is the only way to protect the integrity and security of this sacred obligation for millions of legally registered Americans. Please, will someone check my ID?
Lyion wrote:Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, a former anti-corruption lawyer from Chicago
Tikker wrote:I don't understand why anyone would be against providing photo id to vote. IMO it makes 100% sense to do so
Lyion wrote:I have to disagree. While these may slightly raise costs in the short term for a few, by and large this will be better for the entire process.
Now, we just need to incorporate E-verify into elections to stop the rampant fraud that occurs there.
Adivina wrote:We are the most bipolar acting community, bunch of manics with the mood swings on here.
(CNN) -- In an outrageous recent fundraising letter the Democratic National Committee solicited funds from the party faithful on the grounds that the DNC was the last remaining bulwark against a series of anti-election-fraud initiatives "in more than 40 states."
That's right, the DNC appears to be standing up for potential fraud — presumably because ending it would disenfranchise at least two of its core constituencies: the deceased and double-voters.
Across America, Republican and Democratic legislatures have put forth voter identification laws this year to protect the constitutional values of equal protection and one person one vote, and for good reason. Election fraud is a real and persistent threat to our electoral system, with allegations cropping up in every election cycle. Just in December, for example, a prosecutor in Indiana launched an investigation into allegations that some fraudulent signatures on petitions may have allowed President Obama to get on the ballot in that state's 2008 primary.
Unsurprisingly, 69% of 1,000 likely voters, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, believe voters should be required to show photo identification before being allowed to vote.
But Democrats in Washington disagree. And in their fundraising letter they even went so far as to reference the despicable Jim Crow laws of the segregated South. Will Crossley, the DNC's counsel and voter protection director, wrote, "Republicans are introducing and passing laws that make voting more difficult." He went on, "If that infuriates you...there's something you can do right now. Help us keep up the fight by donating to support Democrats."
But the DNC's premise is fundamentally flawed. It rests on the assumption that it is harder for certain groups of voters to cast their ballots because they don't have access to proper identification. This overlooks the fact that states include provisions to provide free identification cards to those who can't afford them. Moreover, a study for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, reported that voter participation increased for the 2008 election in states such as Indiana and Georgia, even after the passage of stronger elections laws. The disastrous results that opponents predicted never materialized.
Voter identification laws are common sense and an effective way to combat election fraud. And, according to the U.S. Supreme Court, they are constitutional. In 2008, the court upheld Indiana's voter ID law, saying it could find no evidence that the new requirements burdened voters.
And that all raises the question: Why the hostile letter from the DNC?
I'm afraid it may reveal something very disturbing: Democrats know they benefit from election fraud.
Consider the sordid tale of the liberal organization Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. In 2008, Acorn was responsible for 400,000 faulty voter registrations, including those of deceased individuals, nonresidents, previously registered voters and fictional characters. Other voter fraud allegations surfaced in at least 10 states. That same year, the outcome of the election in many states was determined by a fraction of that many votes. In other words, fraudulent registrations have the potential for significant consequences.
And here's the thing to remember: Acorn's political arm enthusiastically supported Obama's candidacy, and Democrats have long defended the organization.
There are other examples of faulty or fraudulent voting. In the 2010 midterms, 5,000 non-citizens voted in the Colorado Senate race, according to a study by the Colorado State Department. It also found that 12,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in Colorado. In Illinois, an analysis of Census data earlier this year revealed that 14 counties have more registered voters than voting-age residents, due in part, one county clerk said, to slowness in purging voter rolls when residents move.
In my home state of Wisconsin, recent legislation attempted to curb voting irregularities, which were of such concern that the Milwaukee Police Department commissioned an unprecedented two-year investigation. The 2008 report warned that some instances of illegal voting in the 2004 election left open the possibility of an "illegal organized attempt to influence the outcome" of a state election.
In an effort to show that voter fraud is not isolated to a handful of states, the Republican National Lawyers Association recently began documenting known cases of voter fraud. To date, they have found at least one documented case of fraud in each of 46 states over the last decade. And no one knows how many instances of fraud go unnoticed.
Something has to change. If not, fraud will dilute the power of the individual's vote and destroy the integrity of our system. The sole purpose of voter identification laws is to avoid that fate. The right of every citizen to have a vote must be vigorously defended, and these laws protect that right. No matter what Washington Democrats say, there is absolutely no evidence that anyone has, or would be, disenfranchised.
Lyion wrote:Brinstar, that was an *editorial*. The circular reasoning is akin to saying drunk driving doesn't actually kill someone so it shouldn't be illegal. Requiring photo ID and E-Verify would make our elections far more valid and remove the issue of dead voters on the rolls and ineligible people voting.
Lyion wrote:Is there a valid reason you would like to argue against simple, fair precautions in place that make the process less open to fraud and which does not disenfranchise anyone?
but i sure as SHIT don't trust the GOP to write laws that guarantee the bolded part, and neither the fuck should you.
Spazz wrote:brinstar sometimes you crack me up. Whenever I read your posts I do so with andy dick voice and it makes them so much better.
silly article wrote:sacred civic obligation
everyone has an equal say
Nobody asked me for identification,
82 percent of Americans believe all voters should show photo ID
lax voter-ID requirements lead to voter fraud
it (the Obama administration) will not prosecute illegal immigrants who violate our voting laws by taking part
Zanchief wrote:Yea whiteys work harder then the latino's...wtf man.
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