Nov 2023 Mod notice:
There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.
If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations
and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines
before posting here.
Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.
If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules
when posting here.
In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.
Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
First up you need to prove that all those people are voting. Yeah there's a lot of people incorrectly registered but there are very few cases of voter fraud. Not nearly enough to tip any election.
Either way I don't care. I still can't get past a major GOP member from my state saying "This law will allow Governor Romney to win PA!"
The rest I'm not going to comment on but just because many Democrats, blacks, and other groups support this law does not mean it's not a bad law.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:39:21 AM by Kostya
Tomu: You could send a picture and a registration form to some center that turns it into an ID and mails it back to you.
edit:@Video: One thing I thought of. They say 24 million people are improperly registered to vote. Okay, fair enough. Now how many of those people voted in the last election? You apparently know who these people are since you have accurate stats so you should have an idea of how many were actually voting last time.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:45:33 AM by Kostya
@Tomu
Not necessarily.
Many States (including Texas and Alaska) will accept voter I Ds without photos.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:46:34 AM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016The latter half of the video did raise an important point though: It claimed that while there are virtually no cases of detected in-person fraud, there are also virtually no cases of people who would have otherwise voted being unable to do so due to ID laws, citing studies supposedly carried out in Georgia and Indiana following the implementation of ID laws in those states.
Can anyone find a link to those studies?
@Kostya: Voter rolls are fairly open information. Whether any individual voted in any particular election is much more likely to be protected for privacy reasons.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:48:25 AM by EdwardsGrizzly
<><Let's really look at these situations that supposedly require ID:
- Board a plane: Not going to be something that the working poor are going to be doing. Flying is expensive.
- Cash a Check: I've never needed a photo ID to do this. I've never been asked to show one while doing so. So I don't know where this one comes from.
- Enter a Federal Building: Not something most people ever have occasion to do. Most people go their whole lives without entering a federal building.
Also, keep in mind that social security cards can be used for a lot of things but do not count for purposes of voter ID laws.
I can prove that the claim is B.S. Indiana alone discards a couple thousand provisional votes that don't get counted because people can't provide ID.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:48:34 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. DickSo here's my understanding.
- There are few cases of voter fraud.
- There are few cases of voter disfranchisement due to Voter I Ds
Is this accurate?
Regardless I still think laws regarding voting shouldn't be made this close to an election. Its bound to cause people to panic.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:51:11 AM by DeviantBraeburn
Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016Indiana and Georgia discard 1,200 votes.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:51:54 AM by shimaspawn
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick@Tomu: Supposedly, one of the studies found that only 23 people out of a sample of 36,000 reported being unable to vote due to voter ID requirements. I'm trying to find the actual studies so I can see exactly where the sample was drawn from (in particular, exactly what voter ID laws were in effect at the time) and how the questions were asked.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:52:43 AM by EdwardsGrizzly
<><Deviant, we (Germany) do not sent Voter ID to the voters. We sent a "Wahlschein" to each Voter. Its basically your "ticket" to vote (and on the back is the mail-in application for mail-in-votes). If you loose it you can probably (in theory, never lost mine so far) replace it at the town/city hall of your voting precinct (providing ID, naturally). However you can take your Wahlschein and simply vote in the city hall whenever you have time as a "mail-in-vote".
For the actual voting you need it and your "Personalausweis" (or probably Passport or Drivers license, never tried it with those, though). Which is an ID virtually everyone has in Germany. Its basically the nationwide ID Card everyone has you all wrote about a few posts back.
Its basically only a "There is a Vote for X on the Yth. Please Vote at Z in your Neighboorhood" for you and "yes, this person is a voter" for the vote office workers.
So, we HAVE Voter ID laws...but in Germany everyone has an ID for that anyway. Voter ID without a nationwide issued ID which almost everyone has sounds like a really bad idea from over here.
edited 28th Oct '12 11:53:58 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"

I find Elizabeth Warren adorable and want to give her a big hug.
That is probably demeaning.