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StumbleSUN EDITORIAL:
Voters left in the lurch
Supreme Court’s decision clears the path for prohibitive state voting laws
Saturday, May 3, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an Indiana law that requires voters to present government-issued photo identification at the polls before casting their ballots.
In ruling 6-3 in favor of the Indiana measure Monday, the Supreme Court has paved the way for other states to pass similar legislation.
Supporters of the measure have said it is necessary to prevent voter fraud. Civil rights groups, Democrats and others who opposed the law say that it disenfranchises millions of Americans who do not have the type of identification the law requires, including older voters and people with low incomes who may not be able to obtain a passport or a driver’s license.
In the court’s opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that “the application of the statute to the vast majority of Indiana voters is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process.”
Justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen G. Breyer dissented. Souter wrote that the law “threatens to impose nontrivial burdens on the voting right of tens of thousands of (Indiana’s) citizens and a significant percentage of those individuals are likely to be disenfranchised from voting.”
Souter also wrote that “without a shred of evidence that in-person voter impersonation is a problem in the state, much less a crisis, Indiana has adopted some of the most restrictive photo identification requirements in the country.”
It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court will allow such a poorly conceived notion to be written into voting laws. If ever there was a case of a law in search of a problem, this is it. We hope that other states don’t follow Indiana’s backward example.
Voting is a fundamental right in the United States, and one for which proof of residency is presented at the time people register. Adding layers of identification requirements at the polls serves only to make the process more complicated and less accessible.
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Of course the Sun would be in favor of letting illegals vote. SOOOO typical
Yeah, let's allow a person to travel around and vote many times.
Illegal votes are the lifeblood of the Democrat party as they pander to the illegal aliens and felons and other groups of non-citizens and others who rape our soverignty and laugh - further - at the laws we have.
Destroy our election laws, join the (Democrat) party..........
"Poorly conceived notion" of proving one is a legal voter? That they are on the lists of voters in their districts. Typical of the desire of the corrosive liberal to further undermine our nation's election laws.
Good work, Sun??
Helen,
WOuld you please point out ot me just where this editorial calls for allowing illegal immigrants to vote? I must have missed it.
Has anybody around here been paying attention? It's the Republicans, not the Democrats, who have been trampling on your right to vote.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/072607...
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/art...
This is not, nor has it ever been, about fighting what is virtually non-existent voter fraud. This is about suppressing Democratic votes.
That being said, however, I think we could require ID at the polls as long as we make sure that everyone who wants to vote is provided with ID at no charge if they don't already have one. We can't put an undue burden on people; voting is a right and it is not the responsibility of the voter to purchase government-sanctioned ID in order to exercise a right. Besides, requiring someone to pay the government in order to vote is a de facto poll tax, something which is clearly unconstitutional.
I'm originally from Indiana - and agree with the Sun that Nevada should do something much smarter than just follow Indiana's example!
There's a better, in-between, solution. Just letting anyone walk in and vote is simply stupid and asking for all kinds of problems. I'm a Democrat and a Precinct Captain and it really bothered me that ANYONE could just walk in and vote without producing any I.D. of of any kind?
But, requiring STRICT rules on I.D. is not the answer either. There should be some reasonable requirement and there should be some responsibility on the citizens part to get an I.D., I mean, really, how hard would it be for a person to step up to the table and show a Nevada I.D. card (that they can get for free if they are too poor to pay the small fee)?
In Nevada anyone can get a Nevada I.D. card even if they don't drive - and that's not asking too much in my mind. Even the poorest of the poor make sure and get their Social Security Card and Number!
The reality is both parties talk-the-talk about how important voter registration and GOTV (Getting Out The Vote), but I strongly suspect (from decades of experience) the powers that be don't want masses of people voting - it takes too long to get the count tally done - and both sides (when their candidate loses) want to be able to continue to whine, snivvel, complain and file law suits - which really undermines the public trust in our political process! Every vote should count and be counted - starting with our Military members serving all over the globe!
We need to clean it all up - and having paper ballots (or, at least, a paper trail for audits) and basic I.D. is exactly what we need!
Committing voter fraud, disenfranchizing voters with scams, and even attempting to steal an election should also be Class A felonies and enforced - it's domestic treason!
Preventing voter fraud is SO much more essential than almost any other of our rights as Americans.
Free-for-all anything-goes voting issues is simply bad governance. Call it Balkanization-lite.....
Indiana is correct, period.
ANYONE at all can get - as we all have time to arrange this - can get the proper papers to be able to vote.
It, this is our basic responsibility as citizens to protect this.
It's time to merge the DMV and the elections departments. Other states allow same day voting via state issued ID and driver's licences. The license/ID can indicate if the cardholder is a citizen or not. This idea of widespread voter fraud is just not accurate. I think what is "widespread" is the systematic disenfranchisement of eligble voters here in Nevada.
I like this suggestion, and for all those who choose to register let's put the words "REGISTERED CITIZEN" on their D.L. or I.D. and those that choose not to register to vote let's print the words "COMMON OCCUPANT" on theirs - isn't it time to sort these two groups out?
People should have the right to not participate in our democracy - but being lazy and irresponsible should have a price - call it a leisure, lazy, "lax tax"?
Then let's start making the names of registered citizens who fail to actually vote public TOO! I am all for protecting the privacy of one's vote, but believe we have a right to know if our neighbors are truly "active citizens" or just "common occupants" failing to do their public duty!
After all, one's voter registration status, party affiliation and voting record are already public records (only the privacy of how they voted is, and should remain, protected) - I just think we need to be more open, honest, transparent and public about it!
"Registered Citizens" that actually vote get rewarded with continued social status - "Registered Citizens" that fail to follow-through and vote get reclassified as "Common Occupants" and their taxes are doubled - now, there is a real incentive to stop being lazy!
And let's triple the insurance premiums on the people we catch driving without insurance while were at it shall we?
Let's go one step further on "sfiver's" suggestion and add a Police Sub-Station to every DMV! That way everyone will have to go through a felony back-ground check before they can register to vote and enjoy the privelage of having a Nevada Driver's License or I.D. card!
I wonder how many felons, especially sexual predators, would stop coming to Nevada if they knew that they had to shake hands with the local sheriff before they could settle down here in Nevada?
Oh, and I'd have a special line for the felons - so, everyone would understand why they don't have to stand in the Voter Registration line like the rest of us law abiding citizens - and I make sure the words "CONVICTED FELON OCCUPANT" were boldly printed on the front of their Nevada Drivers License (or I.D. card) and on the back the list crimes they had been convicted on, with where and how long they served in prison! Of course, "CONVICTED FELON DRIVER" would be fully appropriate for their license plates TOO!
Maybe we should require similar signage to be placed prominently in front of their homes or in the windows of apartments they rent, you know, as a public safety campaign?
Call me old fashioned, but, I believe in the power of public pride - and shame!
And so what happens if the police pull you over and you don't have your I.D. on you? Simple, your vehicle gets towed immediately and you get to go to jail, directly to jail, where you get to call your Mommy or Daddy, or Lawyer - it's past time we started cracking down on criminals HARD!
Bet that would help deter felony criminals - and lower crime!
"sfiver":
People "disenfranchise" themselves. This word is a common lie told by liberals to the stupid, and also as some propaganda for the masses, that simply isn't the case here or elsewhere in the United States.
Voting is a responsibility for which folks have to help themselves.
There is no disfranchisement in this state or any other = with all the assistances people can get by asking a friend or picking up the phone.
Your fallacious word is rejected. There is simply too much help for voters for that to be the case.