Photo ID required to vote?

As you may have heard lately, there's currently a push for some legislation that requires every state to check for Photo IDs when someone goes to vote in the US.

Now, let's not get this wrong, I support the idea because that would mean that it will be less likely that we will not have people vote more then once. Of course, this already goes on where I live, and I think it's a fairly simple rule. Show ID, go vote. However, opponents of the legislation argues that it will prevent the minority from voting, because they're less likely to own any form of ID.

But, what about the illegal immigrants? They could vote if Photo IDs were not required, as there would be no way to know if they were legal US citizens able to vote.

Let's set that aside and hear what you guys have to say about this. Do you think that Photo IDs should be required when voting? And what do you think about this legislation? Should it be a law for every state to require Photo IDs for citizens to vote, or not?

Also, I guess this can also apply for other countries. Do you support the idea that citizens require a form of Photo ID when voting?

I vote absentee, so so long as that doesn't prevent me from doing so, I'm all for it.

But, in order to vote, you have to have a voters regerstaion card. So there is no way an illegal immagrant could cast a vote in their name, beause they would be registarted to vote. and when you go to the polling place, the look on a list to see if your name is on it. if its not on it. you cant vote.

Hell yes. This would go a long way to prevent illegal aliens and, in all honesty, the extremely poor from voting.

Sorry. Call me a bastard. But if you got more money from the government than you pait to it in taxes, you should not be allowed to have a say in the decision-making process.

Of course, Democrats are against this, because illegal aliens and welfare recipients are one of their almost secured voting bases. That, and the Social Security numbers of dead people.

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Originally Posted by Agent Proto

Let's set that aside and hear what you guys have to say about this. Do you think that Proto IDs should be required when voting? And what do you think about this legislation? Should it be a law for every state to require Photo IDs for citizens to vote, or not?

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Hehe, I think you'd be the only one with Proto ID =P

I think it is a good idea, myself. I don't know much about American politics or voting, but if Photo IDs are a way of making sure that only legal US citizens vote, then I think it's a good idea.

About preventing the minorities from voting, why not make a free specific voting card avaliable, if there already isn't one. Just fill in a form, shove a few dollars in, wait a few weeks while it processes and get your card back in the post?

I'm not entirely sure if it should be law, though I'm leaning towards 'yes'. But, like AkiraMakie said, I thought you needed some form of identification in order to vote anyway (vote registration card, like they said).

"Proto ID," hahaha.

I don't really care either way, as long as it doesn't affect my absentee voting. They should just put the tracking chips in our arms and get on with it.

ID? What the smurf is the point? Aren't states and the fed trying to make it so illegals can get IDs for some reason? I will tell you how to prevent this. Crack down on illegals...DUH!

I think it's a good idea. And I really don't see how it will prevent legal citizens from voting. A photo ID costs 6 bucks in MO. I don't think it will be too expensive for people to get an ID. The main point is to prevent fraud, which is a good thing.

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Originally Posted by Sasquatch

Hell yes. This would go a long way to prevent illegal aliens and, in all honesty, the extremely poor from voting.

Sorry. Call me a bastard. But if you got more money from the government than you pait to it in taxes, you should not be allowed to have a say in the decision-making process.

Of course, Democrats are against this, because illegal aliens and welfare recipients are one of their almost secured voting bases. That, and the Social Security numbers of dead people.

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But in order to vote, you have to be registared to vote. Cause when you go to the polls, they check to see if your name is on the sheet to vote in your area. if your name isnt on the sheet, you cannot vote. And they already make you show your ID when you go to the polls. I dont get it.


and Sasquatch, i cant really even believe you said this one. That is just so right wing. illegal aliens cant vote anyway. And you finger point at democrats. Lets not forget the 2000 elections. aren't they still finding ballots in florida from that year(sarcasm)? You cant finger point because both parties are probably responsible for some dirty tricks.

And, be happy in knowing, the very poor dont usually vote anyway.


But this aint the 1800's. some of those tricks you all talk about, like casting more than one vote in your name, isnt possible today.

I think its a gret idea, I mean, who can't afford the $10 to go to the DMV and get a photo ID? You have to do that nowadays just to get on a plane. :mad:

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Originally Posted by ShlupQuack

They should just put the tracking chips in our arms and get on with it.

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They will, its in Revelations ;)

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Originally Posted by AkiraMakie

But in order to vote, you have to be registared to vote. Cause when you go to the polls, they check to see if your name is on the sheet to vote in your area. if your name isnt on the sheet, you cannot vote. And they already make you show your ID when you go to the polls. I dont get it.

and Sasquatch, i cant really even believe you said this one. That is just so right wing. illegal aliens cant vote anyway. And you finger point at democrats. Lets not forget the 2000 elections. aren't they still finding ballots in florida from that year(sarcasm)? You cant finger point because both parties are probably responsible for some dirty tricks.

And, be happy in knowing, the very poor dont usually vote anyway.

But this aint the 1800's. some of those tricks you all talk about, like casting more than one vote in your name, isnt possible today.

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Some people in Congress (I won't mention which party, because I'm sure most of us already know, except you) are trying to (or they might have already) make it so that a person doesn't have to go to a specific precinct to vote. Meaning, I don't have to go two miles to my local library, I could drive twenty miles in prettymuch any direction and vote there. This also causes problems in that people can vote in more than one place, and it probably won't be caught until well after the election is otherwise decided.

Illegal aliens can't legally vote. That doesn't mean they can't vote.

Yes, let's not forget about the 2000 elections. No more votes have been "found" in Florida, they just weren't there to begin with. And you must have forgotten the thousands of absentee ballots that weren't allowed--absentee ballots, mostly from military, who mostly vote Republican. Gore lost, fair and square, get over it. He tried to cheat his way into getting Florida, and still couldn't do it.

History has shown that the majority of the "tricks" actually ARE done by Democratic voters much moreso than they're done by Republican voters. In Chicago, thousands of votes every election are looked into and discovered that their current residence is a cemetary plot. In Louisiana, the same thing happens, constantly. I'm not talking about casting more than one vote in your name (which, actually, is possible), I'm talking about casting votes for those who can't cast votes for themselves.

I wouldn't say that "most" of the very poor don't vote, any more than "most" of America doesn't vote. But those welfare recipients that do vote, usually vote more liberal. And liberal politicians know this, and they do everything they can to get them to come to the polls--things like driving homeless people to voting stations, and giving them cigarettes and food to vote. If this was done by a nonpartisan organization, I'd have no problem with it, but it's wrong for a political party--either party--to sponsor such programs.

Democrates do that stuff and republicans do everything the other way around. Prevent people from voting, discourage them, throw votes out and blah blah blah. Both sides suck and both sides do illegal stuff. Neither one is more guilty than the other.

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Originally Posted by edczxcvbnm

Democrates do that stuff and republicans do everything the other way around. Prevent people from voting, discourage them, throw votes out and blah blah blah. Both sides suck and both sides do illegal stuff. Neither one is more guilty than the other.

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Well said.

I don't know how to feel about the idea. I wouldn't really care either way.

All laws which try to put rerstrictions on voting are created with the specific purpose (if not overtly stated) of preventing certain groups of people from voting, generally the poor and minority groups. You should not be required to show a photo ID. Photo IDs are not required for anyone in general, so why should they be required for voting?

Requiring a specific polling place is fine if you can easily get there. Just because it may be a couple miles from your home doesn't mean it is convenient. What if you work halfway across town? Theoretically you are allowed to miss work to vote, but if you work three jobs to make ends meet are you going to take that chance, possibly losing wages or a job? What, are you going to sue over it?

You can say "well only people who take the responsibility to vote deserve to have a voice" but we'll see how you like it when we have a government completely run by and catering to the elites. We're already heading down that path and it's not pretty. The reason the US never had a strong socialist movement was because FDR bought out the middle classes by trying to help them out a bit. You can say "every man for himself" but you better be prepared to reap what you sow. Ultimately how you choose to treat others will dictate the quality of your own life.

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Originally Posted by Sasquatch

Yes, let's not forget about the 2000 elections. No more votes have been "found" in Florida, they just weren't there to begin with. And you must have forgotten the thousands of absentee ballots that weren't allowed--absentee ballots, mostly from military, who mostly vote Republican. Gore lost, fair and square, get over it. He tried to cheat his way into getting Florida, and still couldn't do it.

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Ah, so all the pamphlets and stuff in the black community telling people to come out to vote the day after the election was the Democrats trying to keep their minority opponents from-...wait a second.

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History has shown that the majority of the "tricks" actually ARE done by Democratic voters much moreso than they're done by Republican voters.

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Oh, please support this one. I'd love to hear your evidence for this little fact.

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I wouldn't say that "most" of the very poor don't vote, any more than "most" of America doesn't vote. But those welfare recipients that do vote, usually vote more liberal.

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Probably because the Democrats are the only ones who actually show compassion for them. Big Business tends to vote conservative.

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And liberal politicians know this, and they do everything they can to get them to come to the polls--things like driving homeless people to voting stations, and giving them cigarettes and food to vote. If this was done by a nonpartisan organization, I'd have no problem with it, but it's wrong for a political party--either party--to sponsor such programs.

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Oh give me a break. Do you witness this, or what? It doesn't matter - just because a couple of people get it into their heads to do something, doesn't make that political party responsible. It's what that political party does in the government.

Down with the Electoral College!


Seriously, though, this is a complex issue, and should be considered as such. Ultimately, though, my post would essentially be restating the points eestlinc has already made. Such a law would prove to affect minorites and the poor much more than other demographics, and one can't help but speculate that, on some level, the would-be law is intended to accomplish this.

Ultimately, this law would compromise a number of ideals that I hold. Voting is not an activity that should be restricted to any elite, and doing so is at once unethical and terrifying. Voter fraud is a terrible thing, but it's unrealistic to think that this action would fully eliminate it.

In the end, we're faced with a far greater question than whether or not this would add to the precision of the vote. If we choose to follow such actions that restrict the rights and liberties of others, we compromise the very foundations of democracy that voting is meant to help express. I fully support measures to create a less fraudulent, more efficient voting system, but cannot support an attempt that diminishes something far more important.

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Sorry. Call me a bastard. But if you got more money from the government than you pait to it in taxes, you should not be allowed to have a say in the decision-making process.

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Alright, fine. You're a bastard. Now go look up the word "democracy".

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b30c0535a05.htm

"MYTH: Illegal aliens don't affect politics because they can't vote.

TRUTH: Just by being counted in the census, illegals give political power to special groups. Many illegals fraudulently vote anyway and there is strong evidence that some key elections have been upset by illegal voters. Politicians represent the "people" even if those people are illegal aliens. Since the number of representatives in congress is fixed, any increase in population in California, for example, due to illegal immigration will require more representation for that group while taking away representation from people in other states. Most politicians that represent areas of large illegal population, vote in the interest of illegal aliens since they are the ones they represent. On the state level, it is clear that politicians like Governor Davis, California Speaker of the House Antonio Villaraigosa, California Senator Hilda Solis, California Assemblyman Gilbert A. Cedillo, etc., all want laws changed in the interest of illegal aliens."

The Free Republic is a strongly right-wing website so they tend to present information that supports their own positions. Not that this is wrong, but it is good to know the nature of the source.

This is where I got the actual news source: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...identification

Actually, America is much more of a Republic than it is a Democracy. And what's so bad about not wanting to let people like that vote? It's the same thing with illegal aliens--

There were pamphlets handed out everywhere, not just to minorities. And if somebody doesn't know which day to vote on, that's good, becaues they're too damn stupid to vote anyway. It's like not knowing which hole to punch out when there's an arrow pointing directly to it.

You call it "showing compassion"? Ah. Mostly I hear tactics like that referred to as "vote-buying". I figured showing compassion would be helping them get jobs for themselves, letting them keep the money they work for...but hey, different strokes for different folks, right?

I do agree with you though, that just because certain politicians support it, or certain supporters carry it out, doesn't mean that the entire Democratic or Republican parties are involved, or even know about it.

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"MYTH: Illegal aliens don't affect politics because they can't vote.
TRUTH: Just by being counted in the census, illegals give political power to special groups. Many illegals fraudulently vote anyway and there is strong evidence that some key elections have been upset by illegal voters. Politicians represent the "people" even if those people are illegal aliens. Since the number of representatives in congress is fixed, any increase in population in California, for example, due to illegal immigration will require more representation for that group while taking away representation from people in other states. Most politicians that represent areas of large illegal population, vote in the interest of illegal aliens since they are the ones they represent. On the state level, it is clear that politicians like Governor Davis, California Speaker of the House Antonio Villaraigosa, California Senator Hilda Solis, California Assemblyman Gilbert A. Cedillo, etc., all want laws changed in the interest of illegal aliens."

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True. One thing people don't seem to notice is the word illeagal. :rolleyes2