Court should strike down voter ID laws

And it wasn't necessary to keep box cutters off airline flights until 19 terrorists decided to use airplanes as weapons to kill almost 3000 people. When are we going to realize some inconvenient things must be tolerated to protect our way of life? Is a photo ID such a big deal? I have used one to vote the last 20 years.

I honestly (and naively, perhaps) don't understand how showing an ID to vote has a disparate impact on anyone. If someone has to think about getting to the polling places, then they can merge that thought with bringing an ID! Maybe someone can explain this to me, please–I really just don't get it.

Do you not believe that the right to vote, since the results influence the everyday lives of the citizens of our cities/states/nation, is - besides being one of our most fundamental rights - is also one of those types of rights which brings with it at least a modicum of "responsibility?"

And, can you not agree that it is a very small price to pay (especially considering what SOME have sacrificed to allow us this right) to ask those citizens to go to the time and trouble to obtain and carry with them some sort of identification showing the poll workers that they/we are, indeed, legitimate holders of that right? That at the very least the name on the form of identification that we show is the same as the name on the voter registration rolls?

Can you really say with conviction that this is just too much to ask of our citizens, the same citizens that enjoy the rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" BECAUSE of the much, much greater sacrifices that every single member of our military services (past, present, and future; alive and deceased, as well as all of their family members) has given?

Is there ANYTHING that we, as U.S. citizens, should have to do to claim some responsibility for the rights that we hold dear? Is the right to vote that "cheap?" So cheap, and held in such low regard, that we believe that getting and showing a piece of paper is too much trouble? Too intrusive? Too "onerous" of a task?

And by the way, even though I vehemently disagree with you (and the Court) that "the requirement will have a disparate impact on eligible voters of color, and those who are poor, poorly educated, elderly or disabled,” even if it did, what is it about possibly being poor, poorly educated, elderly, disabled, or a person of "color" that would prohibit those so identified from obtaining and/or displaying some form of identification? When learned people, like yourself, make these sorts of arguments, it sounds to me as though you are saying something akin to "they're not [rich, smart, young, healthy, or the right color] enough to know how to get an identification card and/or to think about bringing it with them to their polling place." To MY ears, that sounds like it comes from a paradigm where one believes that people who fall into any/some/all of these "categories" are LESSER THAN [others].

And that, Jami Floyd, doesn't sound like the "you" that I've watched and listened to on Court TV/In Session for quite a while now, but it does sound like the you who seems to be more and more irrational all the time. Just because you have a humanistic point of view doesn't mean you have to "leave your common sense at the doorstep."

Are you open-minded enough to re-think this? Do you really want people who may even possibly NOT be citizens to have the very precious right to vote on issues and political positions that are so very crucial to our personal and national issues?

Respectfully submitted,

Mary

So, I must assume that it's ok with you illegal aliens can determine who our president is?

Surely we don't want criminals to be disenfranchised.

First, we live in a republic, not a democracy. Second, voting is a privilege, not a right. It should be treated accordingly. Showing identification to exercise one of our most important duties as citizens should be required. I don't hear anyone complaining about showing identification when they cash a check.

So, I must assume that it's ok with you that illegal aliens can determine who our president is?

Surely we don't want criminals to be disenfranchised.

And surely we don't want id to get on airplanes, don't want to disenfranchise all those coach class folks.

Well Jamie, I normally agree with you, but don't you even entertain the thought that perhaps there has never been a single case reported BECAUSE identification is required?
Perhaps many of us think it is a good thing that in order to vote in someone to govern ALL of us that you can't just go be-bopping up to the polls 15 or 16 times and cast your vote.

Lucki

I have voted near closing time and have seen people checking over my shoulder at names and addresses that have not voted and used that name and address. Even after checking signatures and they find that the vote was illegal, they can't pull the ballot from the box and they sure can't locate the voter to prosecute. How do you avoid this type of ballot box stuffing? Once you turn 18, I don't know how you could survive without a picture ID. Enroll in school, cash a check, taking your ID to vote shouldn't be an issue. If you drove, you had to have a driver's license. Whether you ID yourself or not, your vote is still secret. Why not ID yourself? Are those of color, poor, poorly educated or disabled not allowed to have a photo ID. How do these people cash a check, rent a room, open a bank account? My mother was a naturalized citizen. Everytime we moved, she had to drag out her naturalization papers to register to vote. She didn't complain. I am just so confused about this issue. Can someone, anyone explain?

What kills me is this lady's "inside the box" thinking. Indiana has the strictest laws regarding voter ID, and Indiana doesn't have a problem with voter fraud. Hmmmm, let's think about this. To this lady, the above fact means, "See...do away with the law!" Doesn't she even consider the possibility that it is BECAUSE of the ID law that there is no problem with voter fraud?

You can't get on an airplane without ID. You can't cash a check without ID. You can't buy a freakin' beer without ID. But voting– choosing who is going to run the country– that requires less security from fraud that all those other things?? Less security than picking up Kiss tickets from the "will call" window??

Gimme a break! You can find the ONLY motivation behind this nonsense in the penultimate paragraph– the hope that maybe, just maybe, a few more Democrats will win close elections if voter ID is done away with.

Well sorry, Jami. That's just lame!

Just that you exist doesn't entitle you to vote. You must have standing as a citizen and requiring proof of citizenship is not onerous. After all, we're still reeling from the voting patterns of dead people in Chicago in 1960.

Your argument doesn't make sense. You state "The problem isn’t a problem... In Indiana, the state with perhaps the most restrictive voter ID law in the country, there has never been a single reported case of fraudulent in-person voting."

Of course not – the law is working! If you want to prove your point, use an example of the least restrictive laws and no voter fraud, like Chicago...oh wait, um....bad example.

In this day and age, how can you not have at least one piece of photo ID? Every state has either drivers license or state ID. There is no reason to not have one.

I know plenty of poor, elderly, disabled, uneducated and African American people who have a driver license or photo ID. What in the world is the big deal? I think we all should have an ID to vote!

You certainly have to have an ID to do most everything else! I don't see what the big deal is, either!

I have been voting since 1978. with all the checks they do at the polling place
you have to be pretty good at rattling off false information, the common man isn't going to do it. Voter fraud to be effective has to be organized.

ID'ing voters is not a bad idea but it being rushed into place with rules that are willy nilly at best.

The voter ID card should be free and seperate from your other identification, to be used for the purpose of voting. Other voting laws such as change of district and such can stay completely under the current rules.

the new cards can be phased in with a take it to the people campaign where we go out and make the process easily available.

it takes time, effort, and money that some people just do not have to get to the places where they can get an id. face it, most of the people that go to the license branch are there because THEY HAVE A CAR.

this is an obvious attempt to disenfranchise voters.

love jamie floyd. watch her often.

And having a valid photo I.D. just makes it that much harder to rig elections.

ID requirements is not a problem. How about Caucus's that no one knows about. I have voted in many elections mail in vote. This year I got a mail in vote and in it a form to register Republican or Democrat and a ballot. This is in Washingto State. So I mailed it in and my wife also. Then the night before my son says you have to attend a caucus for your vote to count. What is going on. Did you see the total for votes in WA State. This is ridiculous to say the least. No one in the mail in vote registration says this, not on TV that your vote don't count. Then we get to caucus place and it is definitely OBaman country, all kinds of hands out,etc. I asked for a Hillary handout, I was told to bring them in and they would display them. I am just a voter not a committee person. I wonder if the Clinton people nationally know how this was run. I am sure that looking at the mix of people there, that more than most were for Clinton. I didn't want to listen to rhetoric, so we voted and left. I also noted on the voter registration it had two boxes. One you filled in with your choice and below it, a box that says changed mind. I put an x in it and remarked to the register person, that this isn't right because that can be changed by someone. The person said we wouldn't do that and my son replied, I hope this isn't Floriday.
This is outright stupid to mail out vote by mail and then not count them. I wonder what would be the count of those votes then.

While I don't have a problem with the strict voting laws, I just want to clarify a point in the blog that seems to be causing a bit of confusion. Indiana's good track record of preventing voter fraud was obtained BEFORE the state passed their new law. What Jami probably meant was that there wasn't a problem before the new law, so why even pass it!?!

Jami, I love you and your spark, but on this one I can't see how you feel just letting people with no ID just walk up and vote. And don't think that is a lot to ask. All need some form of ID to cash checks and to complete other transactions.

I still believe you are a great person, but wrong on this one.

This is a country that was founded on law . The only problem is our so called leaders do not inforce or live by them Their only job is to protect this country and this is the only thing they do not do; keeping illegal people out of the voting booth is a big part of this , They do not even keep them out of this country We americans show our I D every day , Its not so hard if you have one I think everyone including washington brass and so called vips should have to show theirs before they vote , IT SHOULD BE THE LAW