About a week ago, Republican Mike Turzai, Pennsylvania's House Majority Leader, made a startling confession. Boasting about the state's new voter-ID law, which was ostensibly about the integrity of the electoral process, Turzai bragged that the law "is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania."
The surprising candor helped reinforce what Democrats have argued all along: these laws are about disenfranchising voters Republicans don't like. The right usually maintains the trumped up "voter fraud" pretense, but once in a great while, a GOP official will slip and tell the truth.
And the truth, at least in the Keystone State, is that Republicans are prepared to block a huge chunk of the voting-age population from participating in their own democracy.
Nearly 10 percent of Pennsylvania's registered voters do not have photo identification cards from the state transportation department and could be ineligible to vote in November under the state's new Republican-backed voter ID law.
The Pennsylvania Department of State reported Tuesday that more than 758,000 registered voters lack a standard driver's license or a non-driver photo ID. That's 9.2 percent of the state's 8.2 million voters.
In Philadelphia, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by about 6-1, 18 percent of the city's registered voters do not have the state photo ID, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
One of them is a 93-year-old widow by the name of Viviette Applewhite.
Can this change the outcome of the 2012 election? Actually, yes.
Most recent polling shows President Obama with fairly strong leads in Pennsylvania, but I suspect none of the surveys account for the fact that Republican state policymakers just put new, unnecessary barriers 9.2% of Pennsylvania's voters and the ballot box.
The next question, of course, is what the demographic breakdown might be for the 758,000 registered voters in the state who lack photo ID, but if I had to guess, I'd say a very high majority are either poor, students, minorities, or some combination therein. In other words, they're likely Democratic voters -- which is why Republicans approved this law in the first place.
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Guess this election, the Supreme Court won't have to compromise it's "integrity" given how many state officials have done it for them.
I can understand the Republican motivation, though.
The right absolutely needs to now cheat just as much as possible to get this meandering monied Mormon into the White House, since it's completely whored itself to the man. The conservatives have compromised everything to swallow this nomination with a smile, utterly disgracing their dignity applauding his see-sawing pontifications, and will vote for him for the singular qualification and for no other reason than he isn't Obama. His greasy-plate views, his cultish religion, his Bain v. Governer record, nothing he presents solidly fits the new radical conservative ideology. Romney's conservative views have been pieced together like Frankenstein's monster. They know it. We know it. The GOP officials know it and in their furvor to prostrate themselves at the foot of the rich who are buying our election, must now cheat, lie, and steal to put this political flaw into the highest seat of our land.
And the right may well succeed, but what it won't be is happy for very long with the victory it's prying from the hands of voters. I'm sorry, but if Mitt gets elected, the greed, the hate, the anger on the right isn't going to suddenly vanish on Jan 20th. The GOP propoganda juggernaut will have to swing from "enemy" mode into continually justifying and spinning the actions of conservative leadership for cover like they did Bush, least the already weary masses begin to realize the severity of their ever-widening losses.
Efforts to subvert our democracy should be punishable by death. Mike Turzai would be an excellent place to start.
Whilst it's a despicable tactic to prevent a significant percent of the population from voting purely for your own political needs, it's very much standard in most European countries to provide photo ID when voting. Saying that, the vast majority of Europeans have easier access/require access to ID/passports than in the States, so it's not the best comparison to make. It seems however as though this part of a larger plan to disenfranchise the democratic public e.g. barring those with a criminal history from voting in some states. Surely this is all contradictory to the 15th Amendment?!
While Dems could certainly take this "opportunity" to help otherwise-to-be-disenfranched voters to acquire the ID the GOP-controlled PA government (which is where I live, by the way) has mandated, recall that it may be next to impossible and often quite expensive to generate the documents to get that ID. Further, then the GOP will simply create more steps, and more steps, and more steps for those they don't want to get to vote to fulfill to prove they have an affirmative right to vote.
Hence, the only truly workable approach to stop this kind of election engineering to help GOP candidates by disenfranchising people based on the lie of vote-protection is to win the case in court. To wit: as a Constitutional argument, a state can set reasonable requirements for someone to show that they qualify for the vote at registration, but cannot set additional barriers to the exercise of that vote on the presumption that the voter is not who they say they are. Prior to this law, for me to vote in my precinct simply required me to sign the book next to my name, where a replica of my registration signature was available to the pool watchers to confirm I was who I said I was. I think most people feel that's a reasonable requirement, and the lack of widespread vote fraud cases prosecuted in either PA or the USA confirms that that is a sufficient check to secure accurate voting.
But the GOP would gleefully deny voting to hundreds of thousands of people to prevent a relative handful of prosecutable voter fraud cases. This is the opposite of our form of jurisprudence, which is designed to allow a hundred criminals go to free to prevent one innocent party from conviction. Many people may not like those odds, and the GOP certainly doesn't like Dems voting for Dems, but to change the LAW to assume fraud is so blatantly political that the courts cannot allow it to go forward.
How would the GOP like it if the Dems passed a law that every citizen PROVE that they didn't own property in another state and was registered to vote there? That would adversely impact wealthy people -- who tend to vote Republican -- and anybody with a home on the Jersey shore or a winter home in Florida and a summer residence in PA. After all, what's to stop them from registering in both places and voting absentee for one or both?
That's what makes the whole GOP argument a crock. Anyone voting absentee doesn't need to show ID at the "polling place". It's designed just to make it harder to vote.
I agree this is a poll tax.
I would love to see Rachel meet a voter who has to navigate this law and follow her to PennDOT to figure this out.
Acceptable IDs cost money. They include a driver's license, passport, government ID, or current public or private PA college ID - despite the fact that PA issues voter registration cards with no picture.
A voter ID card from PennDOT costs $13.50 and it must be done in person. To get the card, one must bring a social security card and an assortment of other proofs of citizenship and residency. I believe PennDOT only accepts checks and money orders.
I live in PA and my driver's license costs me $36 every 4 years or $9 per year. I have a passport that cost $110 for 10 years. A current college ID is acceptable. That costs about $25,000 per year (only $16,000 if you live at home). Neither my voter registration card nor my PA Attorney's License are acceptable: no picture.
So, how does one physically go to get a voter ID with a picture? Does it require taking some time off from work? Does it require bus fare, a taxi? Does it require a neighbor, friend, or relative to take some time off and pick her up and take her to PennDOT? Where is the closest location?
The PA Voter ID Coalition is forming with an office in Germantown in Philadelphia. Rachel, please help us get the word out!
You folks in PA got what you deserve. You vote the Republicans in and voila this is what you get. You even put idiot Toomey in the Senate. Look, I just moved to Maine from PA and wish you the best. At least up here citizens voted down in referendum an effort to restrict voting access - a Republican effort supported by our Repub governor and his lap dogs in the state legislature. While you're at it - have a go at the shameful gerrymandered congressional districts.
The law is being challenged in Commonwealth Court, an intermediate appellate court with a 7-2 Republican majority. I assume from there is will go to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which is 4-3 Democratic. (I hate that my reflex is to list partisan id for judges, but there it is.) Is this law going to be in effect in November?
Litigation is going first to Commonwealth Court, which is 7-2 Rep. majority. From there I assume it would go to Supreme Court of Penn--4-3 Democratic majority. Will this law be in effect in November?
Even if it isn't actually a law by November, a) how may polling station workers who are GOP or Tea Party flunkies are going to be truthful about it?
b) How may people do you think will be told that they can't vote because they don't have voter ID?
c) And how many of those people will be engaged enough to know that's BS?
I fear the answers are not many, a lot, almost none.
Lets talk about real voter fraud:
During the 2002 New Hampshire senate race, the GOP hired GOP Market place to Jam the phone banks belonging to the Democratic party. On May 17, 2006 James Tobin, of Bangor, Maine, who resigned in October as New England regional chairman of President Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for his involvement. He got off on a legal technicality. His trial, however, left the New Hampshire GOP nearly bankrupt, with only $733.60 in its bank account.. Chuck McGee, who resigned as executive director of the state GOP after the incident, pled guilty to conspiracy charges. Allen Raymond, who headed the now-defunct company GOP Marketplace, also pled guilty to one count of conspiring to make harassing phone calls.
Paul Schurick’s trial took place in Baltimore Circuit Court, where he was brought up on charges of conspiracy, election fraud and a charge relating to his failure to include a disclosure on the robocalls that were authorized by former GOP Governor Robert Erlich's campaign. He was indicted by state prosecutors alongside Julias Henson. Schurick, chief of staff to Ehrlich, was found guilty on four counts, including election fraud, for his role in setting up robocalls intended to suppress minority voting turnout in the final hours of Election Day last year.
Republican Secretary of State Charlie was accused of lying about his address on voter registration forms. A Hamilton County jury found Charles White guilty of six of seven felony charges, including false registration, voting in another precinct, submitting a false ballot, theft and two counts of perjury. He was acquitted on one fraud case. He voted for the Voter ID law
I am from NH, and though I knew this, certainly not to the extent you have just provided me. Its disgusting -- even more disgusting it was never fully covered (apparently) on the state's major tv station, WMUR. It should have been completely covered and should have taken up the majority of its airtime.
The Democrats should see this as a great opportunity
They need to get out there and make a campaign
about getting EVERYONE a picture ID
and combining that with a
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE campaign
a get-out-the-vote campaign
Seems to me that Democrats would win most elections if 100% of registered voters did vote. The big majority of voters who do not vote would vote for Democrats, so this needs to spur the Democrats to get everyone out to vote.
make it a national pride movement.
Democrats lose so many elections because of Voter turnout
that it just makes one want to cry.
Exactly what I proposed below!
From the ACLU-PA Website:
Above, I had stated I didn't know if any legal challenge to the law was being brought up, so I went and checked. The ACLU does a lot of things, not that I always agree with what they do, but, I think I'm going to support them on this one.
when they stop you from voting, the only solution is to pick up the guns. i hate what the republicans are trying to do to this country. if they ever mess with MY right to vote, someone's going down.
If we sign a loyalty oath to vote straight republican, do we still need an id?
My 87-year old mother (who has not driven since she got her license at 16) recently had her license revoked by PennDot because they received a form from a "medical authority" claiming she had "seizures." Apparently, if Penndot receives a "DL-13" with the state ID of a physician, they will revoke your license no-questions-asked, and it requires a court order to find out who the physician was who reported the condition. Because physician ID #s are a publicly available record, it appears to me it would be a relatively simple matter to forge the DL-13 and cause an undue amount of red tape to ANYONE to restore their license. http://www.phillyburbs.com/blogs/working_my_butt/doctors-can-put-brakes-on-driver-s-license/article_542c6a7d-598d-5f75-b4b8-2fbbd5eea52f.html?mode=print
I would like to see a federal judge review this decision by Pennsylvania. It looks like they are trying to restrict access to the polling booth in ways that harken back to what the South did from the Civil War until the 1960s.
The photo is not the problem... neither is the DMV.. the problem is PROVING to the DMV you are who you say you are.. meaning a birth certificate.
Many of the very old never had a birth certificate, having been brought into this world by a midwife in their parent's home. So, according to Penn., these people just don't exist.. BS.. and for those whose birth was registered and don't have a birth certificate, obtaining one from the county of birth could cost up to $100.00 which many cannot afford and afford it or not, that cost then becomes a poll tax, which is illegal..
It's even worse for a woman... She has to have documentation for every name change.. so, marriage/divorce documents, second marriage documents, etc.
Since statistics show voter impersonation is virtually non-existent (in EVERY state), this is a fix in need of a problem.
How do they certify absentee ballots then? Clearly, they can't check the state issued photo ID. Does that mean absentee ballots have to be thrown out since they do not follow the letter of the law?
Good question... Anyone in the legal profession in Penn. have an answer.?
I presume it would but only if the person voted for a Democratic candidate.
In Connecticut, the Driver or Non-Driver ID is the standard. Unfortunately, the non-driver version costs $25.00. The documents allowed as proof of identity to get the ID can be in themselves hard to get. You need A to get B and B to get A and around it goes in a circle. It can be especially difficult for persons with disability or chronic mental illness who frequently have no documents at all.
Personally, I do not have a problem with it. In today's society we are required to show ID to cash a check, pick up a prescription, make a withdrawal from a bank, show that I am over 18 to see an "R" rated movie and buy spray paint. The legislature has been talking about this since I moved here 2 years ago. There are many, many things that I do not agree with in the great commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but this I do. One cannot function without proper legal state issued Identification. Just do it.
I"m nobody special, yet, I am everyone. And, I want to know, where is the America I learned about in civics?
"We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator w/certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"
I believed in these words; I believe in these words. I believe "all men" means men and women, regardless of personal expressions.
So tell me, why has it has fallen to the states-mere fractions of this nation--to dictate who may vote?
IMHO, no Right to Vote laws can be/ nor should be allowed at the state level. We, as citizens of the USA, invited you/all of you/ to join us with a promise of equality. Yet, now, we offer discrimination especially at the state level.
"Give me your hungry, your huddled masses, yearning to be free. The wretched refuse of your yearning teaming shore. Send these the homeless tempest --lost to me, i lift my lamp beside the golden door" Lazarus 1882
In 1967, I played the Statue of LIberty in a high school play. Her words were sung strongly; I was swathed and painted in silver.
What am I suppose to believe in Now? The current Republican party is mired in money and has effectively constrained the voting rights of hundreds of thousands Americans at the State level. Shame on them. Have they read the Declaration of Independence; have they read the Constitution. The current Democratic party is less convicted than I like {one ought not be shy about convictions) yet remains sensible when it comes to practical humanity.
What am I suppose to believe in Now? The Republican part of today which has proben to be contensious and mired in money, or the Democratic party, less convicted than I like, but still sensible and connected to humanity"
thea
I, too, will not be able to vote in this years election due to Indiana's votor ID law. When I first became disabled my driver's license was still "good", but then I didn't need it to vote, just needed my registration card. I used to take my power wheelchair down two blocks to a church where my area voted. I told them my name, address, signed the book, and voted.
I've voted for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents over the years, I was taught to vote for those who could change my life for the better. I've tried not to pay attention to tv and radio ads but look at the votes that people make, did they vote for us, the people.
But now, since my driver's license is long since expired, if I try to go to vote, I would be denied. It's not like I can go get a driver's license or a state issued ID. I'm homebound. The only way I leave the house is if I am transported by medical transportation.
I had hoped to get my wheelchair van repaired and had it almost finished, would have been able to wait until a cool day and get my ID, but someone cut out the catalytic converter out from under my van, and my deductible is $500, not going to happen on my social security check.
I don't mean to complain but the people that actual commit voter fraud and have been convicted of it are very few, but the amount of people that these changes affect are huge. Lots of people don't have the money or ability to get a state ID, but we are not important. I will attempt to vote by absentee ballot, if not I will try to drive my wheelchair on a cool day about 5? or so miles to get a state ID, I doubt my family will go for it, I may have to sneak out in the middle of the night and be there when they open, so the heat doesn't wilt my muscles but I want my right, I hope they find a way to help all of the people who want their right to vote to be able to do so. No matter what party you are, you should be allowed to do what is American, vote for who you believe can help you the most.
May I make a suggestion - instead of governors or states or the media continueing to complain about this - why not be proactive and set up a way for people to GET the correct voter/photo id card type information so they are actually ARMED with what they need prior to voting day.
You're welcome.
In North Dakota for the first time in 25 years i also had to show a photo ID before being told i would have to come back because they were out of ballots. This after standing in line for 20 minutes. Two hours later and another 20 min wait in line and i was able to cast my vote. IS have an idea that will eliminate voter fraud in this country. Give me a printout of my ballot and a voter number. It should be an easy thing to do. Think about it, you can buy hundreds of dollars worth groceries and get a printed receipt for everything you buy. Why not the same when you vote.
.
So,just what is the Democratic establishment doing about this republican fraud to stop Americans from voting?