The ACLU has a nice blog post about the history of vote fraud in this country. It's short and to the point. It reminds me of something I had forgotten: there are no almost no documented cases of someone trying to impersonate someone else in order to be able to vote. Which is another useful reminder that photo ID laws are a solution in search of a problem.
Still, I can see the logic behind photo ID laws, and I can see some value in them, if only to increase most voters' comfort level with the integrity of elections. So I am still interested in the idea of liberals endorsing photo ID laws with the proper safeguards to insure that everyone who deserves a photo ID can get one very easily.
Showing posts with label voter ID laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter ID laws. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A handy guide to GOP voter suppression efforts
Talking Points Memo has put together a somewhat basic guide to GOP efforts to suppress votes around the country. I say "somewhat basic" because I'm sure there is a lot more out there. Still, it's very useful and, unfortunately, very necessary.
Post election, I would love to see a couple of things done by some enterprising blogger/reporter.
First, a visual guide to how voter suppression works. Maybe some dramatization, maybe a graphic, maybe a guide. Something eye-catching.
Second, a history of the more egregious vote fraud efforts in the history of the US. We've all heard the joke about voting early and voting often in Chicago. Mo Udall used to say that when he died, he wanted to be buried in Chicago, so he could be politically active when he was dead.
It's great that we have lots of new media spreading the word about vote fraud, but this is the first election when I have heard this much about it BEFORE the election. I'd love to know more about the history, so we can start making concerted efforts to get the right laws passed to prevent this kind of thing in the future.
I also feel compelled to take a stand that may be controversial for a good liberal. The GOP has been using "Voter ID" laws as a way of suppressing the vote. It's a simple idea: require all voters to show a photo ID, in the name of preventing fraud, before they vote. The problem is that there are a fair number of people, many of them minorities, who don't have a photo ID. They may not have a driver's license, they probably don't have a passport, etc.
When I vote in California, I am asked for my driver's license, which I always have with me. It does make sense that people have to prove who they are to be able to vote. I also have to sign something.
I think liberals should be in favor of Voter ID laws with some key caveats. First, establish a significant lead time between the passage of the law and its implementation, so that there is enough time for people who do not have photo ID's to get them. Second, allocate money for an outreach program so that those people who do NOT have photo ID's can get one very easily. After all, if Republicans are in favor of photo ID's being required for voting, presumably they will be in favor of making it easy for people to get those photo ID's.
Post election, I would love to see a couple of things done by some enterprising blogger/reporter.
First, a visual guide to how voter suppression works. Maybe some dramatization, maybe a graphic, maybe a guide. Something eye-catching.
Second, a history of the more egregious vote fraud efforts in the history of the US. We've all heard the joke about voting early and voting often in Chicago. Mo Udall used to say that when he died, he wanted to be buried in Chicago, so he could be politically active when he was dead.
It's great that we have lots of new media spreading the word about vote fraud, but this is the first election when I have heard this much about it BEFORE the election. I'd love to know more about the history, so we can start making concerted efforts to get the right laws passed to prevent this kind of thing in the future.
I also feel compelled to take a stand that may be controversial for a good liberal. The GOP has been using "Voter ID" laws as a way of suppressing the vote. It's a simple idea: require all voters to show a photo ID, in the name of preventing fraud, before they vote. The problem is that there are a fair number of people, many of them minorities, who don't have a photo ID. They may not have a driver's license, they probably don't have a passport, etc.
When I vote in California, I am asked for my driver's license, which I always have with me. It does make sense that people have to prove who they are to be able to vote. I also have to sign something.
I think liberals should be in favor of Voter ID laws with some key caveats. First, establish a significant lead time between the passage of the law and its implementation, so that there is enough time for people who do not have photo ID's to get them. Second, allocate money for an outreach program so that those people who do NOT have photo ID's can get one very easily. After all, if Republicans are in favor of photo ID's being required for voting, presumably they will be in favor of making it easy for people to get those photo ID's.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
One problem with these new voter ID laws
Several states are trying to pass new voter ID laws, which, according to the Supreme Court, do not inhibit voters from actually voting. The argument in favor of these laws is that illegal aliens try to vote, and that's wrong. But there's a problem with this argument, as the NY Times points out:
There's another issue: what benefit would an illegal alien derive from trying to vote? Citizens vote because it's out civic responsibility, we want our candidate to win, and we take pride in being able to vote as American citizens. But there's no direct tangible benefit. So why would who gets no benefit take the risk of being deported? That seems like a fairly cut-and-dried cost-benefit analysis to me.
But I think the Republicans may also be making a strategic mistake in this election. Most of the voters who have problems with photo ID or citizenship papers are, I'm guessing, elderly. I'm not worried about anyone under 30 not having a photo ID, unless they have an unusual circumstance - they just got married and changed their name, they lost their ID, etc.
And who benefits from an imbalance between young and elderly voters? Barack Obama. He has consistently won huge majorities of the under-30 crowd. McCain, on the other hand, would be 72 at the inauguration, and has strong appeal to older people who think, for example, that Obama does not have enough experience, among other things.
So Republicans, by pushing these voter ID/citizenship laws, may actually be doing themselves more harm than good in the 2008 election. Like I always say, irony is 9/10 of the law.
Illegal immigrants do their best to remain in the shadows, to avoid attracting government attention and risking deportation. It is hard to imagine that many would walk into a polling place, in the presence of challengers and police, and try to cast a ballot.
There's another issue: what benefit would an illegal alien derive from trying to vote? Citizens vote because it's out civic responsibility, we want our candidate to win, and we take pride in being able to vote as American citizens. But there's no direct tangible benefit. So why would who gets no benefit take the risk of being deported? That seems like a fairly cut-and-dried cost-benefit analysis to me.
But I think the Republicans may also be making a strategic mistake in this election. Most of the voters who have problems with photo ID or citizenship papers are, I'm guessing, elderly. I'm not worried about anyone under 30 not having a photo ID, unless they have an unusual circumstance - they just got married and changed their name, they lost their ID, etc.
And who benefits from an imbalance between young and elderly voters? Barack Obama. He has consistently won huge majorities of the under-30 crowd. McCain, on the other hand, would be 72 at the inauguration, and has strong appeal to older people who think, for example, that Obama does not have enough experience, among other things.
So Republicans, by pushing these voter ID/citizenship laws, may actually be doing themselves more harm than good in the 2008 election. Like I always say, irony is 9/10 of the law.
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