Apr 29 2008
Pick on Jeff Week
I swear, it isn’t pick on Jeff week, but sometimes I just can’t help myself 
In one of his recent posts, he said the following:
If IDs for voter are required then whatever state is requiring them needs to take all of the steps necessary to make getting an ID insanely painless. That’s not the case where I live and I doubt it’s the case in many states. Going down to the Department of Motor Vehicles is a big giant pain in the ass. It costs money and time. If the process of getting an ID continues to be hard it will stop people from voting. The cost right now is essentially a small poll tax. Requiring IDs for voting also puts us on the path to having a national ID card. Another thing I think is a bad idea.
Okay… To wit, from today’s New York Times, here’s Indiana’s law:
The Indiana law, adopted by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2005 without a single Democratic vote, is regarded as the strictest in the country. It requires a voter to present a photograph as part of an unexpired document issued either by Indiana or the federal government, a requirement that in most cases can be satisfied only by a current driver’s license or a passport. The state’s motor vehicle agency provides a free photo ID card for people who do not drive, but obtaining it requires a “primary document” like an original birth certificate or a passport.
Would-be voters without proper identification may cast a provisional ballot that will be counted only if they appear within 10 days at a county clerk’s office and present acceptable photo identification or, alternatively, swear either that they are indigent or that they have a religious objection to being photographed.
Seems like they’ve taken everything into account in making sure that the poor people who show up to vote, can. I had a discussion about this once with some Canadian friends of mine, and I was told that it’s laughable that we don’t have ID requirements for our elections because they do. In a very common sense way, my very liberal Canadian friend told me outright that it makes sense to make sure that a person who’s casting a ballot is actually a person who’s allowed to do so.
I tend to agree.
While I understand Jeff’s point (that this will make voting harder for some people), I don’t see that as more important than keeping dead people from voting, as an example (Google it; it happens a lot more regularly than you think and has been investigated by various metropolitan news outlets over the past few years). That to me makes making the process slightly more difficult worthwhile.
The idea that a government-issued photo ID is a luxury is laughable. You can’t do anything in this country without a government ID, so it’s not outrageous to say that most people probably already have some form of government issued state or federal ID. If you live in NYC, for example, and you’re so poor that you need benefits, guess what? Your benefit card has your photo on it. So does your military ID.
In Indiana, you have to validate your identity before you get your card, which means you have to have a birth certificate or a passport (or, contrary to the story in the Times, approximately 10 other forms of proof) , and if you can’t afford a card, they give you one as long as you can prove who you are! Oh, and if you don’t qualify for the free one, the card is $13 and $10 if you’re a senior. This isn’t a poll tax, and it isn’t a way of keeping the poor out of the voting booth. It’s a way of maintaining the integrity of our elections.
It would be interesting to see a few interviews with people who are so poor that they can’t afford to get a $13 ID card. I’d be willing to bet they live pretty well and have no problem spending $10 on Burger King or some other wasteful shit. I’ve seen it first hand; in my neighborhood, there’s a Pathmark store, and at the Pathmark, people dressed better than me use their EBT cards to buy food.
Yeah, they don’t all do that, but if they’re that poor, they probably get the card for nothing making this a moot point anyway.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am
While I agree that ID for voting should be an absolute necessity, I’m kind of balking at the ID system as it evolves into Real ID. All I can think in my head is “Show me your papers.” I already see signs everywhere saying “If you see something, say something.” So I guess we’re supposed to turn in our neighbors, just like in Fascist Germany and Italy. Add the Real ID, and we’ve taken one more step in the direction of fascism, which totally freaks me out. I do not have a state ID at this time, simply because I am totally opposed to real ID. It makes life very, very hard. If I get proofed for cigarettes (which happens), I have no way to show my real age. I’m about to get ID, because I need it to vote. I didn’t need ID to vote in the primary, which is pretty ridiculous. I just showed my voter registration card. It’s a tough issue for me. I hate Real ID, but I refuse to not be a participant in the voting process. I used to have a cartoon that showed a voting booth and it said “Abandon all bitchin’, ye who do not enter here.” I agree with that 100%. *sigh* I wish it wasn’t this way. I’ll be happy once the US gets past this whole fascist stage and moves back into the democratic republic it was designed to be.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:59 am
I don’t think it’s fascism, though. We have a legitimate problem with voting up and down the line. We have machines that are made by unaccountable private companies whose methods of adding 1 1 are so secret, no one is allowed to know them.
We have party gyrations that gerrymander districts and so on to get favorable turnouts in primaries and elections.
We have dead people going to the polls in some cases in large enough numbers to sway county by county results…
At some point, something has to change, so if it starts with state ID, then so be it.
I don’t necessarily see this as a step toward a national ID, though, since the states are in charge of running their own elections and will always accept their own form of ID.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Yeah, but unfortunately, if you get a state ID, you’re entered in the Federal Real ID database. It’s step one towards a national ID system. Bleh. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Thinking of moving to one of the states that are refusing to comply with Real ID. Unfortunately, then you can’t take international flights. No Real ID, no international flights and no entry into federal buildings.
April 29th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
“I already see signs everywhere saying “If you see something, say something.” So I guess we’re supposed to turn in our neighbors, just like in Fascist Germany and Italy.”
Um, generally that’s considered just being a good citizen. If you see something wrong, say something. That attitude saves lives in a lot of situations. You’ve made this into a fight against the government. That just sounds like rebelling just to be a rebel. I don’t think the implication is “let us know if someone is muslim”. Are you that afraid of our government that you would let crime go on and not say anything? Is it truly us against the government?
If you want to vote, you should have some sort of ID. There should be some sort of way to check people out. You going to move to canada next? Oh wait, they require ID also.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
The lesson being, Vinny will find your throwaway posts. Beware.
My problem with the cost of an ID is not that it is prohibitive, it’s that I’m under the impression that any cost associated voting is illegal. If you have to pay $10 to get an ID and you need an ID to vote then you need to pay $10 to vote. What I actually find more prohibitive is the time associated with getting an ID in whatever hell of a DMV you have to go to.
“The idea that a government-issued photo ID is a luxury is laughable. You can’t do anything in this country without a government ID”
What government ID do you need to exercise a constitutional right though? Sure, you need one to buy alcohol or drive but those aren’t guaranteed in the constitution. I honestly don’t know. I would guess maybe owning a gun. My problem along these lines is I’d rather not have the government requiring ID for as many things as possible. A country where an ID is required by the government is just not the type of country I want.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Your desire not to have an ID is trumped by the real world concern of dead people hitting the polls and election fraud.