Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Voter ID - My Take

Was just over at Tom's place where there's all kinds of caterwauling and gnashing of teeth over the myriad of voter ID proposals floating about these days.  It's now reached the point to where every single proposed plan is viewed as some sort of scheme designed to screw Obama out of the election by disenfranchising all of the poor people who would vote for him.

I don't for one moment doubt that squadrons of right-wing zealots spend their every waking hour trying to figure out some scheme to screw Obama out of the election, but this ain't one of them.

I can't speak for the rest of the country, but in my home state of Florida, the whole thing got started by a routine check in the Supervisor of Election's office in Dade County (Miami)(or someplace in them parts).  Anyway, the routine check uncovered several thousand registered voters who were not U.S. citizens.  Some of them were illegal aliens.  Some were green card aliens.  Regardless, none of them were citizens and the Constitution is pretty clear that you have to be a U.S. citizen to vote.  Makes sense to me.

Because of the Dade County findings, other counties began to check as well and they have all found registered voters who are not citizens.  Not a great number of them mind you, but enough to let us know that there is a hole in the dyke that needs to be patched.

Most states are leaning towards requiring a birth certificate for proof of citizenship and this seems to be the major cause of the ruckus.  But here's the thing, the reason we can't use a driver's licenses is because you don't have to be a citizen to get a driver's license.  Green card aliens, even tourists on extended visas, can get a driver's license.  The reason you can't use a Social Security Card as proof of citizenship is because you don't have to be a citizen to get a card and pay into the system.  Indeed, you are required to pay into the system if you earn money in the U.S. of A. regardless of your citizenship status.

So, what does constitute proof of citizenship?  What document does the average American possess that proves citizenship besides a birth certificate?  I had to come up with the original copy of mine to simply renew my driver's license and the frigging thing is from Panama!  Can you imagine the bureaucratic red tape I would have had to go through to get another one had I not had it?  You tell a Florida Cracker whose family settled this country in 1664 that he ain't a citizen and there's gonna be fireworks.  (The way things are going however, I might just go back to Panama!)

Of course, I guess I could simply have asked Obama where he got his.   (Just kidding.  Just kidding.  Don't get your bowels in an uproar.)  

14 comments:

  1. I understand why people call them "illegal," but as far as I'm concerned, they're just "undocumented." Many pay into social security and will never see a penny of it because they can't legally apply for it (interesting link on that).

    I'd just as soon say if you're 18 and you live in this country, you ought to be able to vote. Yeah, yeah, technicalities... but the Constitution wasn't written with the view that citizenship was a privilege that would be kept from people (well... except native Americans, and maybe black people in many places... but can't we agree that those instances are wrong, as this is wrong?).

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  2. I came, I saw, I caterwauled :)

    I don't disagree that there's a problem (in border states anyway) with undocumented aliens trying to vote. But it's obvious the GOP is milking this issue for all it's worth. According to some news stories, there are a lot of elderly people who were born at home and never got a birth certificate. And there have been other stories of Catch-22 laws in some states, where you can't get a driver's license unless you have a birth certificate, and in order to get a birth certificate you have to show your driver's license.

    In Minnesota, Democrats proposed an ID system that would enable people at the polling booth to bring up their personal information that would prove their citizenship. I don't remember the details, but the GOP legislature shot it down in a hurry.

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  3. As I understand it there is more corruption among election officials than the electorate themselves. The fact that a "good" turnout is about 2/3 of eligible voters it would seem that anyone who actually WANTS to vote should be able to just by giving a rat's ass on election day.

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  4. Several thousand!!!, actually less than 2700 people in the state. Several thousand???
    If you say so. How many were on the list incorrectly???? Did you look that Up.

    Have you heard of Google, it is a good tool to fact check.
    Politifact is another. http://www.politifact.com/
    Get a grip son.

    YOU said NONE of them were citizens.

    Hell you sound like MITT Rmoney.

    Or no I meant Glenn Boy.

    You are in insult to freedom loving Florida crackers. Maybe, just maybe, you should go back to panama. I hear the are still looking for a dictator.

    You sound like a parrot for the Rmoney boys.
    Have cracker, get out of the heat, sit down have a Beck’s, chill,
    until
    they say you can Vote.




    GodDAmn Yankees!!

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    1. Perhaps you should heed your own advice and do a little more fact checking before you rant. The 2,700 were in Dade County. Ever hear of reading? Try the part about there may not be a lot of them but it is a potentially big problem that needs to be fixed. Maybe kneejerk jerks, ah, left wingers should get a grip before they rant like right wing idiots.

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  5. OK, so I have a German birth certificate (I'm currently still a legal, green card alien). What would I have to produce once I become a citizens and want to vote? I'll never have a U.S. birth certificate, because I wasn't born here. Will I get "papers" at the citizenship ceremony that I would have to show instead of a birth certificate?

    Just curious.

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  6. Pixel...you would qualify after citizenship for an American passport which in all cases is accepted as proof of citizenship...except maybe in Florida and Ohio the two places where it has been proven the GOP has actually gamed the system through government officials oh yeah and maybe Indiana where their attorney general a fine republican was actually convicted of voter fraud.

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    1. But then there is the city of Detroit and 5 other predominantly black cities in MI where the governor has taken away not the right to vote but the right to have the vote count once he installs his personal representative as an emergency financial manager with absolute solely held plutocratic powers.

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  7. I just did a post on this very topic yesterday. The problem is not having some sort of ID. In Texas, we already have to show an ID of some sort. The republicans want to make it more restrictive, a special voter's ID which will be extremely hard for a lot of people to obtain. The amount of voter fraud in this state, and I daresay in this country, in negligible compared to the number of legal votes that will be lost. It's an extreme solution to a minor problem. and I don't believe it will stop voter fraud as the people affected by this new ID are not the ones who commit voter fraud. It's the cronies and moneymen who have a personal stake in the outcome and they will continue to commit fraud. So, what's the end result? disenfranchising large groups of people who traditionally vote democrat. and that is the whole point. voter fraud? really? you think republicans care about that? they weren't so concerned when they stole the election and put Bush in office for his first term. and this is typical stuff for them. in Texas, they are constantly changing the borders of districts to enhance their voters and marginalize democrats.

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    1. That's all true, but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem. Voter fraud is a problem and there needs to be a way to eliminate it no matter where it comes from. In Florida you must show your voter registration card which is then checked off against your name on a list. The card is an easily forged paper card. Seems to me that a credit card-sized photo ID that can be scanned might work.

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  8. Seriously. What does it matter? Everyone knows Florida's voting results are rigged regardless.
    Sorry Mr. Charleston.

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  9. The saddest thing here seems to be that we the "official" people don't care enough to go out and vote...*sigh*

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