I don't agree with the democrats on this one

[Chadman]

I am having a really hard time with the democrats coming out so strongly against the voting identification legislation now up for a vote in Congress. All that I've heard against this is that they claim this is essentially a "poll tax" and is a deterrent to voting, especially considering how many people already do not vote.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining requirements that you are a registered voter and have an ID card with you at the time you vote. You need an ID card to cash a check, purchase liquor, get on an airplane, etc. I just don't see this as a "black and white" issue, I see it as an American issue. I actually heard one legislator claim that it is placing an undue hardship on poor people to have to pay for an ID card...and that they should be provided for those who cannot afford one. Now THIS is going too dang far...an ID card and a proper voting registry should be mandatory for something as important to our country as the voting process, and I would think people should have to maintain proper ID themselves, especially those obtaining other forms of benefits from the state or federal government let along being allowed to vote for the people in charge of maintaining our system of government.

Can't go along with my brothers and sisters on this one.

 

[The Sponge]

I am having a really hard time with the democrats coming out so strongly against the voting identification legislation now up for a vote in Congress. All that I've heard against this is that they claim this is essentially a "poll tax" and is a deterrent to voting, especially considering how many people already do not vote.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with maintaining requirements that you are a registered voter and have an ID card with you at the time you vote. You need an ID card to cash a check, purchase liquor, get on an airplane, etc. I just don't see this as a "black and white" issue, I see it as an American issue. I actually heard one legislator claim that it is placing an undue hardship on poor people to have to pay for an ID card...and that they should be provided for those who cannot afford one. Now THIS is going too dang far...an ID card and a proper voting registry should be mandatory for something as important to our country as the voting process, and I would think people should have to maintain proper ID themselves, especially those obtaining other forms of benefits from the state or federal government let along being allowed to vote for the people in charge of maintaining our system of government.

Can't go along with my brothers and sisters on this one.

Their against it because it goes after one of there voting bases. The lazy people base. This is why the other side is pushing it. These asshole who are pushing it, ask them with this bill lets also change election day to Saturday. I bet you any amount you want that the people pushing this would never do it. Because this will hurt their base. Just politics nothing more.

 

[gardenweasel]

funny..the blind woman who was the surrogate for this suit ...that got the ball rolling......couldn`t get to the dmv or wherever to get her i.d....

but,she found a way to get to a slip and fall lawyer....

hmmmm?

you`d have to be cognitively verklempt to not realize the huge doorway this opens to massive voter fraud......

good man, chad:clap:

 

[DOGS THAT BARK]

Is an admirable observation Chad

Let me add one more to list of Dems cry for disenfranchised voters--can't say I blamed them because probably would have turned both last 2 elections and all in the future given they could get them to polls and retain 90%


----The spiel

Even putting race aside, the sheer scale of casualties to felon disenfranchisement suggests a democratic crisis. Some 4.7 million adult Americans?one in 43?have been politically erased by laws in 48 states that automatically strip the right to vote from people convicted of a felony. (Procedures for regaining the right exist, but the steps vary by state and are often little-known or extremely difficult to accomplish.) Equivalent to the population of Alabama, this group is the largest deliberately disenfranchised class in the nation.

About 3 million of them are not even behind bars, but mingle with society on parole or probation?safe to live next door but not to vote. Yet in some states the voting ban sticks not just beyond the cell, but for life, no matter how mild or long ago a person's crime.

Many social scientists doubt the value of felon disenfranchisement to begin with, arguing that it serves none of the legitimate purposes of criminal law?not incapacitation or deterrence, and certainly not rehabilitation. But, civil rights advocates insist, even if disenfranchisement made sense in theory, its proven effect of amputating the minority vote makes it an unacceptable racial constraint in practice.

And the especially heavy impact of felon disenfranchisement on racial minorities is undeniable. Blacks make up 40 percent of the nation's disenfranchised, even though they are only 12 percent of the general population. At least 1.4 million black men?13 percent of all black men?cannot vote because of state felon disenfranchisement laws. These laws do not, of course, target particular races by name, but they nevertheless have a provably drastic effect on black and Latino voter eligibility.

The racial impact is extreme in some states, by latest estimates, with Alabama and Florida barring nearly a third of all black men from the polls for their entire lives. A quarter or more of all black men face lifetime voting bans in Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

It is no wonder that racial minorities are most severely affected, since they represent an astonishing majority of those Americans sentenced to jail or prison. More than two-thirds?68 percent?of the nation's incarcerated are people of color. Black men in the U.S. face a 30 percent likelihood of being locked up at some point in their lives and Hispanic men 17 percent, while white men's chances are around 4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Some analysts attribute the race imbalances in felony convictions largely to politics. Drug enforcement?a major source of convictions?descended on minority communities beginning in the 1980s, when the infamous crack-versus-powder cocaine sentencing difference was born. The stiffer penalties for drugs associated with low-income, minority areas, along with police strategies prioritizing urban street sweeps over suburban investigations, have sent floods of blacks and Latinos to prison.

With blacks being incarcerated at a rate seven times higher than whites, felon disenfranchisement laws threaten a hemorrhaging of minority political power into the future.

 

[Chadman]

Their against it because it goes after one of there voting bases. The lazy people base. This is why the other side is pushing it. These asshole who are pushing it, ask them with this bill lets also change election day to Saturday. I bet you any amount you want that the people pushing this would never do it. Because this will hurt their base. Just politics nothing more.

I think I understand why they are against it, partially, but that doesn't make it wrong for other reasons. I don't think the people pushing it are assholes - as you put it - because they are doing what seems to be the sensible thing here. I don't see why anyone would be against doing everything we can to make sure people are legal and registered to vote, for whatever reason. If liberals have to worry about this kind of thing, then the message and what we stand for isn't enough, then that's not good. If we are putting our eggs in the basket of those too lazy to get an ID or are not legal to begin with...then that's really bad. I consider myself more liberal than not, and I don't think it's too much to ask a person to get an ID card, or to be legal to vote to begin with. In fact, I would prefer it be that way.

I think it's incumbent upon democrats to ensure that everyone can accomplish this - if in fact these people are to vote for democrats and we will lose elections because of it.

And, frankly, if people are too lazy or cannot work the cost of an ID card into their lives, then, I don't really think they have earned the right to help make decisions about this country. Harsh? I don't think so. If you want help from the government, at least do your part - and it's a darn little part at that - to be able to make your voice heard. I'm sure there will be a minute percentage of people that will be disenfranchised for really tough reasons, but I doubt they would be voting anyway.

Just doesn't add up to me. And doing this would help prevent illegals from voting - they shouldn't be anyway - and assist with preventing fraudulent voting.

As liberals, we would then have the right to really go after the voting machine "discrepancies" and problems that are widespread in this country, and in some areas specifically. If the Republicans are truly concerned about voter fraud, then they should welcome closer examination of these issues, right?

 

[The Sponge]

look chad republicans dont want us to vote on saturdays cause most middle class people might go. You know how many times when i worked construction i had to dig deep to get off the couch after a terrible bull work day just to vote on a tuesday? But i got to see my bosses taking their two hour lunches and going to vote? They never would want us to vote on Saturday. This is why the dems are fighting this. Most dems actually work for a living. I see my two twisted republican buddies talking about fraud lo****en l. Maybe they ought to check out the two last elections. The last one i told my brother three months before the election if we dont win ohio we lose. Low and behold it was ohio that was all the problems. You know how i know this because that prick from diebold promised Ohio would go for Bush. These are power hungry people and we are on the side with half balls and the other half weak pushovers. I llike the way you post like your trying to explain things. I use to do that because the republicans suck me into doing it. You ever hear them complain about name calling? They don't want you to do that but two weeks before an election they let it all rip Now i just let it fly cause they don't understand anything but what fox or Rove tells them. If the republicans could only run the country as well as they do campaigns we would be eight trillion in the surplus with every other nation just begging to be here.

 

[djv]

Not sure what happen to every ones right to vote with out so many restrictions. I wonder why turnout stays so low. So this will help. What happen to name and address as it has been for over200 years. There was a time a mans trusted X was accepted. So now folks like my 87 year old mother has to go pay 5 bucks for a I D card to vote. Something she done free all her life. I see the BULL CHIT side of this real easy. Wish I could vote every one that voted yes in congress out the door. So they call this one issue reform. B S at it's best.

 

[dr. freeze]

anyone against showing an ID to vote is an absolute moron

is it against my "right to eat" if i have to show an ID to get groceries with a credit card???

good grief

 

[Chadman]

Trust me, Sponge, the Republicans don't suck me into doing anything. As for your voting on Saturday thing...what does that have to do with anything? Has this ever been proposed? These days the polls are open for about 12 hours, and it doesn't seem like a stretch to be able to make that happen. One day every two or four years? Come on. Do you really think that more democrats work for a living than republicans? What do you base that on? I'll bet the statistics wouldn't support that theory. Sounds like you are saying that unless you work construction or some kind of blue collar job, you don't "work for a living." I'm guessing there are a hell of a lot of millionaires that are pretty damn busy the majority of the work day, and they would welcome the chance to do it on a Saturday. Many travel for their jobs, how about Doctors working a 12 or 24 hour shift, etc? And why can't you - if you are so tired - do an absentee ballot? Probably could pull that one off pretty easily. Those are just excuses and using a paintbrush over the issue, in my opinion.

And DJV, I don't think it's too much to ask of your 85 year old grandmother to have to have a $5 ID card in the big picture. Sorry. I just don't think people can rail on the republicans and cry about fixing elections by computer/Diebold, and then complain and object about this proposal. I don't see what you are saying about "so many restrictions." Proving you are who you say you are is a restriction? It's a protection, if you ask me. I've seen people in my district - small town, no crime, no real big business, no perception of illegalities - come up to vote and their name is already checked off as having voted. We don't have to show an ID, so how many votes get screwed up all over the country, with no real wrongdoing intent, just no verification and double check? Let alone fraud and corruption. Small price to pay to help protect us all, seems to me.

 

[The Sponge]

Trust me, Sponge, the Republicans don't suck me into doing anything. As for your voting on Saturday thing...what does that have to do with anything? Has this ever been proposed? These days the polls are open for about 12 hours, and it doesn't seem like a stretch to be able to make that happen. One day every two or four years? Come on. Do you really think that more democrats work for a living than republicans? What do you base that on? I'll bet the statistics wouldn't support that theory. Sounds like you are saying that unless you work construction or some kind of blue collar job, you don't "work for a living." I'm guessing there are a hell of a lot of millionaires that are pretty damn busy the majority of the work day, and they would welcome the chance to do it on a Saturday. Many travel for their jobs, how about Doctors working a 12 or 24 hour shift, etc? And why can't you - if you are so tired - do an absentee ballot? Probably could pull that one off pretty easily. Those are just excuses and using a paintbrush over the issue, in my opinion.

And DJV, I don't think it's too much to ask of your 85 year old grandmother to have to have a $5 ID card in the big picture. Sorry. I just don't think people can rail on the republicans and cry about fixing elections by computer/Diebold, and then complain and object about this proposal. I don't see what you are saying about "so many restrictions." Proving you are who you say you are is a restriction? It's a protection, if you ask me. I've seen people in my district - small town, no crime, no real big business, no perception of illegalities - come up to vote and their name is already checked off as having voted. We don't have to show an ID, so how many votes get screwed up all over the country, with no real wrongdoing intent, just no verification and double check? Let alone fraud and corruption. Small price to pay to help protect us all, seems to me.

Saturday are u serious on what that has to do with anything? It would be a day off were we could relax and get up at anytime during the day to just go and vote. Back then i got up at five drove 1.5 hours and two on the way home. Now you want me to go vote? Stand in line and be pestered by people who usually nobody can stand? What was wrong with the system we had? Don't you get it? they are trying to cut this base out. Do u have a nice chushy white collar job where you can vote anytime during the day?. Most republicans on this day can leave their jobs anytime they want to go and vote. I have a nice chusy job now but i didnt then. MY god man they rip off two elections and now you want to play by their rules? This is the problem with my party im aligned with. guys who can't fathom these guys are sneaks. How about this chad ask them to send out the application for free and raise our taxes a penny to pay for it ..
You know what this came up around my area about six months ago on a right wingers radio show. The kind where a guy like me has to go thru five people just to talk to the host. Well i called this prick and i gingerly said what i said here and this prick cut me off as quick as he could. there was another guy on the show supporting my side. He was laughing his ass off and asked the host why cut me off and what was wrong with my idea. The guys couldnt even talk. the only thing wrong with the system we have now is that a blue collar town somehow may stand for twelve hours while a white collar town goes right in and right out. It is always one major state that this happens. It was a disgrace what happen in flor in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Maybe you should open your mind a bit and think that these guys will do anything, anything to be in power. Until you have the ability tio do this your post just go right over these guys head. Im not even sure they read them unless you word them like you worded the topic the way you did today.

 

[djv]

It's easy to call it B S. I wonder how we made it last 200 years. I guess all those election were wrong. Folks get paranoid to easy. Soon you will vote from home by computer.Then what.

 

[Spytheweb]

I'am a dem and i'am for IDs 4 voting

I'am a dem and i'am for IDs 4 voting

I'am also for building a wall to keep illegals out. Also changing the law that if you are born in the US, that's does not make you a automatic citizen, unless your mother or father is a US citizen. Also you must have proof that you are a US citizen to vote. How about a voter ID card with picture and thumb print on it.