How can any thinking person object to valid voter identification at the poling site?
3
It's called obeying the law. Stuffing the ballot box with illegal votes may not be new for Democrats - but that doesn't make it right.
If you don't want to live in a country where laws are enforced then perhaps you should try one the places ou rrc illegal immigrants come from.
9
This is a non-issue. How can anyone function without ID in this country. The whole thing is ridiculous. You need ID to buy alcohol, to buy cigarettes (if you look too young), open a bank account, to drive, etc.--but not to vote?? This is insane. I had to show ID to get an MRI. I would like to know how many people are in the situation where they can't provide ID. Must be a very small number and they can be given voting ID very easily by their state. Voting needs to be regulated--it should NOT be on the honor system!!
9
@aldebaran - It's surprising that you are unaware of the multitude of challenges and reasons why minorities often do not have photo identification (and maybe your list of things that id is needed for can help you realize the struggles these people face on a daily basis) Try to educate yourself sometime, but I will give you some broad strokes to help: reasons why minorities often have no photo id: they are more likely to be poor and live in urban areas where they can't afford to drive and take public transportation (students are less likely to have a driver's license for the same reasons and also can rely on student ids for some stuff); minorities are more likely to have suspended licenses usually due to an inability to pay fines; they face additional challenges in getting passports and other valid ids often because tracking down birth certificates and S.S. cards take time and money and they are less likely to have these documents; minorities are more likely to move from state to state more often making meeting the varying requirements for documentation more problematic; Hispanics can use different naming customs which causes problems - Get it?
6
Voter suppression is a particularly scurrilous and seriously disgusting activity because it aims to weaken true democracy at the level of its most basic manifestation, the vote of the citizen. I consider it a very serious transgression, that should be severely punished if proven. It really is nothing less than a form of mini-treason, targeting citizens and democracy rather than the state itself (that would be treason). Any enabler of voter suppression is committing a crime against democracy, period.
25
Voter fraud rarely happens at the polling place, it happens when registering to vote.
Proof of citizenship is rarely required, because requiring it deemed “voter suppression.”
Forget illegal aliens, the big fraud is legal aliens registering to vote and then voting, by the millions.
8
Trump and Sessions are racists. This was expected.
4
Pretty soon the non-white voting public will be the majority. That scares many people.
2
Where is the credible, verifiable, generalizable data showing that these changes are necessary?
Where, Republicans?
8
too many people are saying there is no fraud in voting while people can wander in to vote without ID. There is no way to stop felons from voting, to stop people from voting more than once, to stop non-citizens from voting, to stop all sorts of gaming the system unless people have to prove they are who they are and they have the legal right to vote. It is not a hardship to ask for that. It is common sense.
11
@Tom in Illinois Hey guess what Tom, not all states have the same voter laws. Felons, if they have served their time, can vote in Ohio. They are still citizens, you know.
5
OK so let’s get this absolutely straight; not being able to prove who you are when you vote should mean you do not get to vote. Saying you shouldn’t need an ID to vote is just political grandstanding by the left who would stand to benefit by such a policy. Can’t believe this is even a discussion.
10
This is the behavior of people in power who want to make sure the people have less of a voice and less of a choice.
In short, this is what dictators do. The current administration is pushing to limit our rights so they can take more and more power into their own hands. Then when it's too late for us to vote them out, they make themselves dictators for life...
Look at Trump's idealized leaders: all the dictators. If we don't vote out all Republicans this year, we will see more and more abuses of power....
5
It appears that you are trying to do what you accuse the Republicans of doing, trying to take over. There is a religion that calls for the destruction of people that don't agree with them. Sounds very close to what they believe, doesn't it?
3
Why is it that a headline says "sweeping" changes as if they have been instituted.
The story buried in the article appears to be to set the pendulum back from administration of the 44th.
And as it seems to have now become a routine - we are still several lawsuits away from these "sweeping changes".
Our courts have now become the place where policies are made - not what the so called 3rd branch is supposed to do.
So, let's be clear - the pendulum swings back - as someone famously said " elections have consequences."
It's emphatically not a sweeping change.
6
It has been wisely observed that "Reality has a liberal bias." It's also true that voter suppression favors Republicans, because poor and minority folk have harder times keeping up with the requirements. Yes, voter rolls could be more precisely accurate, and they should, but the purges undertaken by Republicans are not designed to accomplish that. And by the way, substantiated instances of voter fraud are insignificantly small in number.
6
I always wonder if Americans understand that partisan redistricting, aka 'gerrymandering', is CHEATING, pure and simple. It's taking a given population and dividing up the districts (ie drawing the maps) in such a way as to allow a minority of voters to become a near-permanent legislative majority running the state...and sending representatives to Washington. Democracy is no longer democracy when the MINORITY runs the show. The US is now into its 4th (!) term of minority rule in the federal government. Republicans basically control all branches of federal government even though, in every election since 2010, they received the MINORITY of votes nationally. Before 2000, that had only happened ONCE in American history. Even before Trump, we have, collectively, all become victim of a kind of 'silent coup', where voters count a lot less than the politician's map-making skills. Voters then just ratify what's already been decided by one party only. If you're unlucky to belong to the other party, the partisan map just means your vote doesn't mean anything in that district. It's like playing poker with marked cards...and YOU'RE the mark!
Follow the #NDRC, they want to make the partisan gerrymander illegal for ALL political parties. Nothing less than our democracy depends on it.
3
It sure is nice to live in California where anyone who goes to the DMV is automatically registered to vote (upon proof of citizenship) and you can choose to do it entirely by mail in the comfort of your home with your feet propped up. NO place to go, no lines to wait in. It makes the rest of the country seem so backwards. Everyone should do it the same way.
5
Gery, that's just another reason that half the country seems to hate us out here on the West Coast. But that's cool, I'll just ride my motorcycle to work every day, watch my property values soar, and have fun at my Defense Industry job. I guess I would be jealous too.
3
Got to make sure that homeless people can vote - I mean, someone without a mailing address certainly needs to be heard from by politicians.
3
You mean someone who's biggest worry is where to get $20 for some meth or a case of beer. And if you hit up everybody that walks by you when you're sitting on the curb with your sign (Won't work for food), someone will give you a cigarette every now and then, so a smaller tobacco subsidy would do.
4
@BorisRoberts,
You are stereotyping homeless people. I saw a homeless guy holding a sign "Spare change for food". I gave him $10 and I watched him walk into a supermarket, buy food from the food court, walk outside and sat down on the curb and ate it. No meth or beer in sight. Lucky for him that I saw his sign and not you.
1
Who else but those threatened by loss of power would come up with these draconian and unconstitutional measures.
Amendment 14, No. 2 specificies that if States purge voters from their roles, with the exception of felons, they must reduce their number of representatives to correspond with the lowered number of voters.
Are States doing this? Congressional Republicans aren't up on the Constitution, and they would be unethical enough to remain overrepresented in states with purged voter roles.
4
Republicans don't want us to vote. They want to kill our right to vote and let corrupt senators pick the president. This should give every American the incentive to get out and vote this November and send a message to congress that this abuse of power will not stand.
6
@kay
If by "us" you mean illegals then you are correct.
2
"In Ohio, the Obama Justice Department argued that a state policy of scrubbing infrequent voters from its rolls if they failed to reply to a single mailed warning violated federal law. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit agreed, striking down the Ohio law.
But when the case reached the Supreme Court last year, Mr. Trump’s Justice Department reversed course, saying Ohio’s aggressive purges of nonvoters met federal standards even if voters who mistook the notices for junk mail — as many did — were disenfranchised as a result. The Supreme Court agreed in June, overturning the Sixth Circuit ruling."
"Whatever the Justice Department does next, conservatives said they were heartened by the new direction it has taken under Mr. Sessions.
“We’re happy with what we’ve seen done,” said Mr. Churchwell of the Public Interest Legal Foundation."
The cons don't want us to have a vote. November cannot come quick enough. I have never wanted to vote more than I do now.
3
There is fraud in elections, not by the voters but by the election officials, who manipulate the machines that count the votes. This is far more dangerous and unchecked.
3
Trump is just the kind of cheater to close the deal for the GOP on the complete theft of the voting system so essential to a democracy. On the subversion of the people's right to vote, the entire GOP is lock step in favor of him. Make no mistake.
5
The NY Times needs to re-run its story about tests that Black people were submitted to before they could vote in the past. I knew about the history but it wasn't until I saw the actual questions, answers, and process that I truly understood how bad they were. Test answers were esoteric, arbitrary, and required within a time limit that even I with two grad degrees and decades of test-taking under my belt would fail. Not to mention the economic, mental, and physical punishments and even death Black people (and women) suffered in order to vote. People need to understand why this issue is so important.
I cannot find the NY Time story but here is a similar one:
https://metro.co.uk/2017/09/20/could-you-pass-this-test-given-to-black-p...
As for voter ID, I agree with other readers that if it is required, the process to obtain them needs to be made easier and free. Here in CA, any interaction with the DMV is a drag requiring hours on the phone trying to contact someone, hours in line, and/or multiple visits even when one has made an e-appointment online. And this is despite our family members having positions where we are allowed some flex time for personal errands. Applying for voter ID should be as easy as a library card: you go online or in-person and then bring your other identification materials. The library is opened evenings and weekends, process is free, and there is often no line.
2
While the TV media are raving madly about a Blue Wave in November, the Republicans and the Trump administration are working their tails off to prevent as many voters as possible from getting to vote. Democrats have their heads up a dark tunnel if they think that a simple 50% majority will turn either the House or the Senate. You'll need to turn out 60% of eligible Democratic voters or more and you'll have to get some moderate Republicans as well. The democracy is being eaten alive by corporate money and conservative philosophy and being deconstructed from the inside. Meanwhile, most people are just oblivious of it or actually think its great..
7
I see no problems with anything Trump is doing. If fact I believe we should carry it a step further. You shouldn’t be allowed to vote in the USA unless you can prove that you’ve paid into social security and Medicare. Or even one step further, you can prove you own property or a business. Why is it these people think they can vote in a bunch of free stuff? It is no wonder the country is a mess and devolving into chaos. We’ve let way too many of these illegals into the heartland. So sad.
5
@Sven Gall
'Free stuff'? Where's that 'free stuff, Sven? Social security isn't 'free'. Medicare isn't 'free'. Free stuff usually means anyone can get it, no questions asked. Have YOU ever experienced a government program where you get 'stuff' with no questions asked? It doesn't exist.
And how many is 'too many', Sven? What you've heard is very likely false because you don't believe in qualified numbers (where there's an explanation about how a number has been arrived at). That means you're less likely to be interested in the real number than you are in the number that confirms what you already believe.
Be more precise with your language, Sven. Because what you're saying and how you say it doesn't make much sense.
5
@Citixen
"How many is too many". One illegal is too many. In any case that is why the question is important in the census - to determine the number.
1
It's because the Republicans can't seem to win a presidential election fairly. They always have to play dirty. Remember Florida and "chad" issue with Bush? Missing votes in warehouses? Funny how it all seems to start in Florida. With Trump it began with a "donation" to Judge Bondi. Most people would call it a bribe...and bribery is the same way the Russians get things done.
6
just returning the originalist constitutional interpretation -- only white Protestant males that own property should vote.
republicants can't win without cheating. Black money, gerrymandering, and voter suppression... might as well be the mafia enforcing their illegal profits.
4
Voter suppression is a non issue. Those without ID don't vote anyway. Anyway, The Democrats dropped the ball. Trump WAS NOT electable .
2
Black American voting rights in the 20th Century were paid for by the blood, sweat and tears of martyrs ending with Jackson, Liuzzo and Reeb and many others on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in 1965 Alabama. And black American voting rights were significantly eviscerated by an activist hostIle SCOTUS conservative Republican majority in Shelby County v, Holder. Despite the 15th Amendment voting rights are a substantially a matter of states rights.
2
This, in conjunction with over a decade of Republican gerrymandering, may significantly affect the minorities and poor of this country.
This can only help Trump and his prejudiced, white, privileged agenda.
IF OUR MINORITIES AND POOR ARE TO BE PROPERLY REPRESENTED,and their needs are to be at least considered, THEY MUST VOTE! A vote for the Trumplicans is a vote to erase our Democracy and MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN.
VOTE AGAINST TRUMP - but VOTE!
6
The light bulb just went-off and I have a brilliant idea. Because a gun license counts as valid ID to vote but a student ID doesn't, just give every American citizen age 18 and older a government-issued AR-16 and the gun license to go with it. Voila...problem solved! Don't forget the free 1,000 rounds of ammo.
2
I think that's taking voter suppression to an extreme.
You'd think a former Marine would at least know their rifles. An AR16 is nonsense, doesn't exist.
3
It sounds like Trump and Republicans are eagerly taking advice from Trump's close friend and ally, Vladimir Putin. In Putin's Russia, the sole purpose of elections is to validate and legitimize the rule of Putin and his United Russia Party.
With or without direct assistance from Putin's hackers and propagandists, Republicans seem intent on transforming the American electoral system along Russian lines. They aren't yet at the point of jailing Democrats who have enough support to be a threat to Republican rule. But between gerrymandering and the barely-veiled disenfranchisement of minorities and others likely to "vote wrong" under the rubric of "voter fraud," Republicans seem to be proudly working to implement Russian-style election "reforms."
Republicans have good reasons for seeking to rig elections. As they once again demonstrated last year with their sole legislative achievement, the Greedy Oligarchs' Party cares only about its wealthy donors. They have nothing to offer 99.9% of voters beyond lies, hatred, fear, division, and impoverishment.
To conceal the real agenda of redistributing the nation's wealth to GOP constituents, Fox News and talk radio have long fed an alternative "trickle-down" reality to the millions of people Republicans need to vote consistently and enthusiastically against their own interests. But Republicans apparently now need Putin's proven measures to protect their rule from voters who are beginning to recognize how they've been conned.
4
This is a case of someone who undervalues our most cherished democratic rights in favor of power. Freedom of speech is valued only when the speech favors the administration. Voting rights are important only for those who are likely to vote for the administration. Anyone who believes that this president and his administration are serious about representing everyone is delusional.
3
I'm old enough to remember people dying for this right - in Mississippi and elsewhere. I can also remember when local governments would create phony requirements to eliminate potential voters (in Mississippi and elsewhere). And now it's all happening again.
This is our most fundamental right. The right to vote should be given the widest possible latitude with as few obstacles to it as possible, while the burden of proving actual, deliberate voter fraud must be on the govt and be as stringent and exacting as we can make it. And denying someone the vote - which is just a more brazen form of voter fraud - should carry the gravest penalties.
2
The best way to think about it is that there is a minimally functional justice department that is essentially in a crisis mode. To the rank and file attorneys and their managers - a debt of immense gratitude is owed. Some of them are watching their life's work or at least years of effort undone in a matter of months. Thank you for serving your country under these horrible conditions. But to see the US wage a legal war against the poor, disenfranchised, weak and vulnerable through Sessions and his unqualified cronies is to see justice delayed until this nightmare regime is deposed.
1
If I'm reading this correctly, this is nothing more than another fact free attack on Trump.
First, re North Dakota, a judge actually loosened the requirements for native Americans voting. The law may have been deemed to impact the voting rights of Native Americans but where is the evidence of intent?
Second -- what's wrong with culling the voting records of people who have moved?
Third -- the Texas law as adjusted seems pretty fair to me. You have to bring one of several forms of government issued ID. Failing that, if you didn't have one of seven forms of guv ID, you could show mail with your name on it and sign an affidavit stating why you couldn't obtain an ID. How hard is that?
Fourth -- citing Repubs in Wisconsin re an election in 2011 and other isolated cases is not evidence of suppression. I'm sure you can find Dems saying -- let's get the immigrant vote out. Or ask the Black Panthers to guard key polling places.
Fifth -- citing multiple NYT articles to support points made -- or using a source like Snopes -- does not prove your thesis.
Sixth -- people can say voter fraud is minimal -- but that's hard to prove. We know LBJ got elected to the Senate in 1948 because of voter fraud.
I have yet to hear a single valid reason why asking voters for some form of photo ID is a bad idea. Even if voter fraud is truly a rare event -- so is Russia hacking or voting apparatus. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't protect our system from both.
8
Voter suppression is a first cousin of apartheid. Just as it was justified to oppose apartheid by force in SA, (I was an intelligence officer for the ANC), it is equally justified to oppose its cousin here the same way. I say openly, any official who acts to promote apartheid's cousin is fair game, and I believe Canada would provide asylum to insurgents forced to flee. If voter suppression succeeds, America is on the way to becoming an apartheid state. To stop that, use of force, even lethal force is justified.
2
The voter id laws disadvantage non-drivers, who are mostly members of minority groups or the elderly. I think that so many of the individuals who respond to these stories don't know any adults who don't have a driver's license. There are millions of Americans who lack IDs that their states say are required for voting. And for some it is very difficult to get an ID because of the difficulties in getting a birth certificate from another state. Really, we want elderly citizens who are dubious of their driving skills to give stop driving, so we should make it easy for them to get non-driver ids. Also, the ID laws can be enforced in a way that discriminates against women; I've read of cases where women have not been allowed to vote because their married name doesn't match the name on their birth certificate.
5
@Ellen Saideman CT has a state ID for non drivers. Everyone should have some form of ID. It's essential to be part of mainstream society now. Try doing any banking without an ID. And how do the poor and elderly get access to necessary state services without some form of ID?
We need to bring all our citizens into society so they can fully participate and that means having a state ID like it or not.
4
@CNNNNC I work with a lot of disabled elderly people so it is easy for me to see why obtaining current ID is difficult for them. Even if they were able to get an ID in the past, that card might have expired and they might be so sick, unable to drive, unable to use public transport, etc. that it is hard for them to renew their ID. In the large healthcare system I work in, we have social workers and nurses who make housecalls and help them with applying for programs, getting IDs, etc. along with their medical issues. Another example is our local library system, which mandates that people renew their cards every few years. The library has a book van that visits the homebound or those in nursing homes. If a food truck can get tacos to distantly-located office park employees, why not a "voting" truck? That's the type of service we need for voters, old or not, disabled or not.
2
Slowly but surely, Trump is undoing every single one of Obama’s accomplishments. If he’s not removed soon, by 2020 he’ll reach just about the end of that list.
If this is not a wake up call to the nation, I don’t know what is.
3
Many Republican politicians are trying to finagle our elections in order to eliminate or disqualify folks who don't view the GOP favorably. Examples of the skulduggery they use are contained clearly in this article. What should we do to stop them?
From the warped perspective of many Republican leaders, ordinary citizens don't have the intelligence to vote in important elections, so many must be excluded from doing so. How do we, once and for all, prevent this possibility?
Take a look at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services 100 essential questions which prospective citizens must be able to answer in order to become American citizens. Look specifically at question 49 in that manual. It reads: "Name one responsibility that is only for US citizens?" There are two correct answers. The first is: "Serve on a jury." But most of us may be required to do so only once or twice in a lifetime, and seldom, or ever, does it change the course of our country.
The second responsibility could certainly change the course of our country, especially with Mr. Trump, because the second responsibility (which statics show many of us NEVER consider to be a RESPONSIBILITY) is to vote in a federal election.
We often have 50 percent or less of the electorate voting in federal elections. This is a disgrace in a country such as ours. No wonder we get a man as incompetent as Donald Trump. Our government must require voting in all such elections to be a requirement, not a choice.
2
Voter ID laws are one of the cleverest strategies to game the votes that has ever been instituted. The whole logic of having a photo ID just seems so logical that the fact that it tries to fix a non-existent problem is not very often acknowledged. We know why it's being done, but the counter argument does have a logic.
Culling the voting rolls is a little more indirect, but with the same goal: Suppressing the vote of poor people. And we know who is most concerned about that. This is, of course, anti-democracy and is against the underlying principles of our Founding Fathers, but our current generation of politicians are too self-centered and callous to bother with principles. We can thank Mitch McConnell for much of this, plus his added support of Citizen's United - our Founding Father's HATED the idea of industrialists influencing elections - and his engineering of filling the Supreme Court with right wing justices, as the cost of bastardizing the Senate. I think this is the last gasp of the old white guys. May they rest in peace so we can move on.
4
Guess what "Joe the Plumber" and Jon Husted (Ohio's Republican Secretary of State) have in common? Both had their names spelled wrong by the BMV, and wouldn't have been able to vote had the GOP's voter purge not been defeated at the Supreme Court.
2
There is absolutely nothing wrong with requiring voters be able to identify themselves as legitimate, registered voters. But the devil is in the details. The requirements should be the same in every state and in every neighborhood and everyone should have the same access to proper identification.
16
Thomas Jefferson, American Founding Father, third president of the United States, who possessed perhaps one of the greatest minds ever, wisely quoted "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." To become a legal naturalized citizen, there is a basic literacy test of American history applicants must satisfy. In a rational society, such a basic understanding would naturally be required to vote. Becoming an American citizen, allowed to vote, is a privilege, not a right. This is blindingly obvious to any sentient adult. However, there currently exists no such basic requirement. Why is this? Help us understand how illiterate, uninformed people are allowed to decide America's (future)?
6
I heard on the radio recently that as many as 16 million people have been thrown off voting rolls in the last 4 years! If this is anywhere near true, it is an enormous problem!!
To the NYT and other media all over the country: please give us some accurate state-by-state data if possible, along with how to register or to confirm we are still registered, to avoid election day disasters. And if this data exposes and embarrasses some of the states, good!
1
Problem is Democrats rely on many voters that pay little attention to domestic and foreign news.
These same voters were and are scared into voting for one party for the last 50 years and nothing ever gets better for them in return.
Rich Democrats need poor Democrats on election day ( only )
Then they go off to their rich lives read and watch Liberal new and feel better about themselves.
If one of their rich children get involved with a poor person, especially one of color, the relationship gets squashed.... But nobody is supposed to know about it.
Disgusting.
6
It's not who votes, it's who COUNTS the votes that matters.
2
There are not checks and balances when all three branches of the government are controlled by the same party, with the main goal of staying in power as long as possible and serving interests of wealthy interest groups, Republican or Democrat. It's a fake democracy.
1
Many people here note that asking for IDs to vote is perfectly reasonable. It is, BUT that notion is built on an underlying assumption that voters have fixed addresses and so it's no big deal. There are many, many people who are fully entitled to vote but who may be harder to pin down in their locations. Students are an obvious example. All of this apparent diligence about protecting the sanctity of the vote is just an excuse to deny some people their fundamental right, and you can tell because of who gets denied and the often picayune grounds. Even the Trumoids, eager as they were to frame somebody, somewhere for voter fraud had to give up because the instances are so few.
6
All this means nothing if an 11 year old can hack into a voting site and manipulate the election results.
Florida, this weekend, at Defcon gathering.
2
It’s simple. If you can’t win legally, purge voters that might vote for the other side. It’s no different than lynching and it’s no surprise that it’s the same perpetrators.
6
Does the NY Times ever say anything about voter suppression by Democrats? Paul Feiner, Town Supervisor of Greenburgh, 25 miles north of NYC, sent private investigators into homes of people who signed a petition for an election that he did not support. Taxpayer money used to intimidate people.
7
New York has some of the worst voting rights protections in the country. Rhode Island is problematic too. With that said, activists are working extremely hard to change that and implement comprehensive voting rights reform. It’s finally starting to gain traction among New York power players.
2
@Juanita K.
One town, one official, no voters turned away. Entire states, partisan legislative bodies, actual votes denied on technicalities. Apples and oranges.
Sounds to me like people living in a glass house throwing stones at the rest of the country.
Now living in NC it is unreal to me how the people of NY and NJ believe everyone in the rest of the country is trying to suppress voter turn out; while they believe their own NY laws are so open, progressive and encouraging.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/nyregion/new-york-today-why-we-dont-v...
"The (NY voter) turnout is exceptionally low because — I hate to use the word — our stupid policy,” Mr. Muzzio said.
New York is one of the few states that doesn’t allow early voting (37 others do). The state also doesn’t have same-day registration. The absentee voting system here is outdated and it doesn’t accept online requests. And the cutoff to change party affiliation to vote in tomorrow’s (June) primaries was in October.
Then of course is the people of NY that the people chose to elect.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/23/nyregion/23moreland-commi...
3
What proof can you provide that voter suppression of the black/brown vote is not occurring? This senior black male could do prove you incorrect. But, you are a white voter in NC, yes? Got it!
1
Please don't conflate "U.S." with "the current administration."
4
This is what the party of Lincoln has become. Disgraceful!
4
“I would just say that every election needs to be managed closely, and we need to ensure that there is integrity in it. And I do believe we regularly have fraudulent activities occur during election cycles.”
How dare Sessions even utter the word "integrity." Neither he nor the whole trump administration are completely lacking even a semblance of integrity.
As for fraudulent activities, sessions is using that knowing full well that there is no fraudulent activities.
5
The free state-issued voter IDs required in some states are the easiest form of IDs to obtain. Unlike driver’s licenses, you don’t have to produce proof of citizenship and residency, pay a fee and pass a drivers tests. You don’t have produce proof of identity, pay a deposit and make monthly payments as you do to get a utility bill with your name on it. You don’t to have a high school diploma and pay thousands in tuition as you do get a student ID. All you have to do is provide proof that you are a U.S. citizen.
Americans who can’t produce proof of citizenship have a significant problem. Without out proof of citizenship, they cannot enroll in Special Security apply for Medicaid or Medicare benefits, or qualify for state and federal welfare programs. Rather than fight Voter IDs, advocates should help Americans who don’t have state-issued voter IDs get state issued IDs. The demand is miniscule. Texas issues only about 300 free voter IDs per a year—less that two per country. You read about Americans who have no birth certificates, but no one goes through life without identification just because they have no birth certificates. They get court-issued delayed birth certificates or certificates of non-availability that serve as proof of citizenship. Americans who have no driver licenses because they don’t drive get state-issued photo IDs.
7
Trump acts as an imperial Caesar. In 2017 he was merely in office a few hours when his government's lawyers signaled his administration wasn't interested in enforcing civil rights compliance.
Not long after it commissioned a repressive voting commission intent on acquiring highly personal information on voters. Which homeland security staffers said would bring cybersecurity threats and problems.
By September the administration supported states that passed newly restrictive voting rules, even those in conflict with existing federal laws.
Since day one this presidency has been all about ill gotten gains. It's fully disgraceful.
2
When the state of Alabama instituted "voter ID requirements", they then proceeded afterwards to shut down 8 out of 10 DMV offices around the state where one could receive a state issued ID. Those closed 8 DMV offices served citizen populations where African Americans made up more than 75% of the population. Hardly a coincidence, but a deliberate act of disenfranchisement against black citizens by the state.
Let's just cut to the chase here. These voter id requirements implemented by GOP controlled legislatures across the country is not about voter fraud, but about disenfranchising and diluting the power of the black citizen vote.
15
Taking pride in devious methods of keeping certain segments of the electorate from voting pretty much tells you everything you need to know about today's Republicans.
12
I am confused by all this. In my state you have to fill out an application form to register to vote. If your information is correct & you meet all the requirements of residency then you are sent a letter. It tells you you may vote by presenting a photo id at the polling place. Photo ID is not limited to drivers license. It has a picture of you & your name on it. My doctor's office throws a fit when I refuse to let them scan in a drivers' license but give them a photo id. If a state issued ID is required they should provide it free of charge for the purpose of identification. Your first photo id should be free. After that require a payment to replace. To renew a drivers' license I have had for over 40 years I now have to have a birth certificate or passport plus a piece of mail showing my current address. I could go get food stamps with less information (don't have to prove residence, that's an invasion of privacy). Register to vote then see what id you have to have & go get that if you don't have one. States should issue photo voters cards when you register (like Sam's Club photo id).
5
I find it very troubling all these ongoing efforts at voter suppression across the U.S. We Americans talk a good game to ourselves and to the rest of the world about being 'the ideal democracy', 'the shining city on the hill', as well as 'the last, best hope of Earth.'
The glaring truth is that the U.S. today has become a gross hypocrite by condoning these efforts at voter suppression. The reason the GOP promotes these efforts is that it has no real interest in expanding beyond its narrow base of largely white, conservative, and staunchly right-wing voters. Rather than recognizing the reality that the U.S. is becoming an ever more diverse society with a shrinking white majority population, the GOP, in effect, pays lip service to the Constitution while actively limiting the franchise for those Americans (overwhelmingly non-white) its leadership regards with disdain. Simply put, the GOP sees no benefit for itself in promoting and representing the interests of ALL AMERICANS.
Jimmy Carter was right when he spoke of the U.S. as “an oligarchy with unlimited political bribery.” We preach democracy but no longer live up to being a true democracy.
We owe it to ourselves and future generations to fight and defeat these voter suppression initiatives wherever they take root. For they are noxious weeds that, if unchecked, will subvert what democracy we still have and make this a country where only the powerful and privileged benefit - while the rest toil and suffer.
3
And the Obama Administration lost all those cases. The Real ID Law passed after 9/11 kicks into full gear by 2020. Many States now have two different drivers licenses.
4
The right to vote (under the rubric of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness) is the understanding of citizens' rights to participate- unfettered in a representative Democracy:
It is not a stretch of the imagination to consider the 14th Amendment giving the right to Freedom of Speech extended to the right to vote (in as much as "Citizens United" bestowed upon corporations the right of speech through filthy lucre).
That Republicans continue to dilute, hinder, encumber; obstruct the fundamental method of *certain* [primarily blacks] citizen's participation in their government, is a long tradition of Racial hegemony and unadulterated racism.
Until this nation acknowledges the dilution of the 15th Amendment (States Rights) upon enfranchisement, we will never have a fully participatory form of Democracy.
A wonderful article exploring the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments can be found at: http://www.blackhistory.com/content/60916/13th-14th-and-15th-amendments.
2
Many of the comments on this article show what a terrible job the media has done informing the public on this issue, and what a great job they have done disseminating the republican talking points, with no filter, to the masses. Without a free national ID card there can be no such thing as voter ID.
1
When San Diego has 160% registered voter turnout maybe its time to take a closer look at election security so as not to disenfranchise the legal voters. And I dont see how $20 id is this huge attack on minorities. If they cant get it together to get an id then voting wasn't really important to them anyway. Oh and im not white. Im indian born and raised on a federal reservation 60+ miles from nearest dmv and even I managed to get an id as unbelievable as it sounds.
7
@Nodixe Source for the 160% registered voters please...
1
@Nodixe $20 is not easy for someone poor to scrape together. When I was a toddler, we were so poor that my brother, mom, and I walked a mile in the snow back home because we didn't have the few cents for busfare.
But it's more than money. It's also about time and hoops to jump through. I'm fine with voter ID if the people demanding it made it as easy to obtain as a library card: free, opened on weekends/ evenings, partially done online, variety of documentation accepted, and with a van coming out to your house if you can't make it there physically. However, you will never see the proponents of voter ID making it this easy. If they cared so much about voter ID and fraud, rather than suppressing people's votes, they would institute such outreach. BTW, I worked for a healthcare group where they did housecalls and had vans going out to companies so employees could get their care on-site rather than having to drive to the clinic. That's what real access looks like.
And consider yourself blessed that you were able to make it to the DMV. I work with disabled folks that have a hard time making it the few blocks to shop for groceries.
1
Get rid of gerrymandering and make rational voting communities. That's number one. Number two, mail every citizen in the US a valid ID.
The suppression of voting rights is about racism and denying American citizens their right to vote.
2
Voters are being removed if their information does not match completely. I know how to spell my name, but I have many experiences with businesses, organizations and people who spell it wrong.
People are potentially bring removed because someone else made a mistake.
8
@Keith
Women are especially vulnerable to this type of disenfranchisement because a change in marital status means a name change. Most women will use several variations during their lives.
2
Vote for representatives who will assure that our voting practices are made fair and assure that our voices can be heard. That ANY political party works to game the system is not a Democracy. This must end. Our most powerful tool as citizens is our vote. Vote for those who respect our system.
1
This is not surprising. Republican policies are unpopular with a large majority of the public therefore they do better if fewer people are unable or unwilling to vote.
2
What is the problem here? I do not understand why a citizen would not be willing to identify himself/herself before exercising their right to vote.
Can you imagine taking a commercial air flight or executing a financial transaction without identifying yourself?
Gov't issued id's are available without charge in my state (probably in most states).
How does asking for a person to identify themselves prevent anyone from voting .... other than perhaps in those states that issue voting cards to both non-citizens and citizens?
6
As someone who has moved around a lot (5 states), it's bizarre how voting laws and procedures vary. Do we really need 50 varieties? Especially for federal elections, like for the presidency, the rules should be the same in all 50 states. As things now stand, the attempt to supress the votes of black and brown people in specific jurisdictions is obvious.
7
This is basically the GOP giving up on getting people to vote for them, instead trying to keep people from voting at all. It won't work in the long term.
People will jump through whatever hoops are require to vote, and then remember who tried to stop them.
2
Yes, there is a different tack,which means that this is a policy issue, not a legal issue, which should be addressed by the policy-making branch (the legislature) and not courts nor unelected bureaucrats using lawyerly muscle to coerce the states.
Voter identification has to be linked to citizenship. If you are a US citizen and you can't figure out how to vote maybe you should't be voting. I know this is not a popular opinion, but it is time for everyone who is a citizen to take it seriously.
6
The GOP's fate has been sealed for some years. Demographics will drive them out of business unless they either change what they're selling or keep their competitor's customers away from their competitor's door. It's perfectly clear now what path they've chosen. They've decided they're going to continue selling the same old product and prevent as many customers of color as possible from buying Democrat. And they'll do this the old fashioned way-- through voter disenfranchisement-- as well as by teaming with their newfound friends, the Russians. Really, any form of cheating will do.
The Republican party is now the anti-democratic party and the party that invites foreign intervention in US politics. (As if just being the party of trump wasn't bad enough.)
GOP, You've come a long way, baby.
1
The Republicans know that making it harder to vote will disenfranchise particularly low income and minority voters that more often vote Democrat! Clinton got 3 million more votes than DumpTrump! As convenient as mail-in ballots are, they do not get to those that struggle financially and often have to move from place to place. Republican states, Utah, have decreased the amount of actual polling places which require that people stand in long lines for long periods of time just to cast their votes. Often, those same people have to abandon their attempts because they have to get to work! Election day needs to be expanded not limited. Either make Tuesday a national holiday or allow in person voting on the weekend and through Tuesday! More polling places! Shorter lines!
5
Republicans have become the party of fear, hatred, victimhood, corruption, and willful ignorance to continue embracing all of the above. Since, thank goodness, the majority of the country, even the majority of voters, do not share the new Republican values, the GOP realized it had to game the system (cheat) to stay in power.
And they've been brilliant at it. They gerrymandered congressional districts to control the House, help elect GOP governors, and then appoint partisan judges. They are now simply wrapping up loose ends by consolidating their ownership of the judiciary with the supreme court and enacting voter suppression to retain power in case the gerrymandered districts need an extra boost.
In the process the party of Lincoln has become the party of fear, hatred, victimhood, corruption, and willful ignorance to continue embracing all of the above.
2
The issue is that no intelligent person trusts the trump administration. If you look at Republican redistricting efforts which are verifiably racist, such as the formation Ohio 12th district that is not only racist, but *undocumented* by the Republican committee that formed it, you see subterfuge.
The lack of documentation of Republican electoral activities creates the Republican swamp. It purposely obscures their nefarious efforts. The voter fraud is on the side of Republicans who defraud people from their right to vote.
So, not trusting Republicans, we need to see the composition of these inactive voter lists. If it is principally minority, then the Republican legislators and judiciary are discriminatory by design.
It's impossible to imagine that Republicans would purge voting lists that were majority Republican, and they wouldn't spend the effort to achieve an equitable purge.
5
On what planet is requiring ID to vote, voter suppression? And if requiring ID is suppression, send me YOUR credit cards. I've been a victim of shopping suppression and need to make amends.
9
It's only voter suppression if the only places to get an ID in many hundreds of counties are a long way away and you can't get there by public transportation. No worries Mate if you live in Europe, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand. That's just in the U.S. Cheers!
5
On what planet does this article say that's the issue? It says that making ID hard to get, purging viter rolls for iffy reasons, amd gerrymanderings are the issue.
Perhaps if you read it first?
7
@tensace
On what planet is North Carolina located? Check it out. They've been quite ingenious in suppressing the vote by requiring ID. You'd be surprised.
(and no one ever asks me for my ID when shopping, you must look suspicious).
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/art...
5
Section 2 of the 14th Amendment: "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state."
Therefore, states that eliminate citizens from voter roles get their House delegation reduced in size proportionate to their denial of voting rights. Let us enforce this part of the Constitution and listen to the screams from the Red States.
11
The U.S. does not "embrace limits", Mr. Wines.
The Robber Barons who are trying to destroy OUR governments are using every trick in the book to try to keep WE THE PEOPLE who believe in true democracy in OUR United States from having their vote count.
They will lose. WE THE PEOPLE will see to it.
The first step is to remove distracting from politicians. All politicians. Independent bodies must be developed, with new members every year, to adhere to honest census data. That does not include the 2020 census if The Con Don is successful in asking "citizenship" questions.
3
I cannot understand the resistance to identifying yourself when exercising the basic right to vote. Every American ought to be able to identify herself/himself.
Can you imagine trying to board a transportation (air, train) or conducting any type of financial transaction without identifying yourself?
Government-issued identification is available without charge in my state - I assume the same is true in most. What is the problem here?
13
@jrgfla
For nearly two and a half centuries, Americans identified themselves at the polls with their signatures. They still do in most states. By your standard, the U.S. has never in its history had a valid election.
Suppressing legitimate votes damages free and fair elections as much as allowing illegitimate ones.
And there are many poor and old people who do not fly, drive or have a bank account. Those ID's are not free if they require transportation, time off work, and fees to obtain necessary documents. It just cost me $50 and six weeks to obtain a certified birth certificate from the state where I was born. If I lived in that state, I could be turned away at the polls because my registration used a middle name but my VALID ID showed only an initial.
Being poor should not be a reason to lose the most fundamental civil right we have.
4
@jrgfla the resistance is to HOW one is required to identify themselves. Why is a gun license okay and student not okay? Many people don't have licenses and state IDs, then find the state ID almost impossible to get because of the cost, location and other requirements - the requirements are meant to disenfranchise certain people.
1
Just another excuse to blame the loss on the Republicans. Lots of excuses, but no real solutions.
Republicans are trying to limit the franchise to favor their candidates. That's reprehensible. But there's another insidious threat to our democracy of equal or greater importance. Misinformed and uninformed voters are just as dangerous.
60,000 Ohio voters helped give Bush junior his second term in the 2004 election. Many of his supporters believed Iraqis hijacked airliners on 9/11. They also believed Democrats were coming for their bibles and their gun. Those were the messages flooding their airwaves (courtesy of Karl Rove and right wing media).
The Russians, probably with help from Roger Stone and associates, weaponized misinformation in the 2016 election. (Although, to be fair, almost every campaign tries to slant pitches in their favor.) Add in endless or misguided congressional investigations plus boundless free advertising for Trump, and you have a toxic stew currently feeding the body politic.
Unfortunately, it's up to voters to stay well informed and engaged. That's been the weakness of representative democracy. But currently we're seeing record levels of engagement. Let's hope there's enough of a franchise left for voters to get things back on track.
5
Republicans have shown far more enthusiasm for finding ways to make voting harder to do than they have shown for addressing Russian attacks on our electoral system. Amazing
5
I suspect that the NYT would call any form of poll list purging "aggressive".
It's also unclear to me that the Justice Dept. has a requirement to bring suits over any voting regulation liberals feel is wrong. Don't they have the ACLU or state parties to bring suit? Just because Obama did something doesn't make it incumbent on Trump/Sessions to do the same.
It's naive to claim that Trump's voter fraud panel's disbanding means there is no voter fraud to be found. The fact is that the states with the most illegals refused to take part. The incidence of fraud is likely low, but one would think liberals would like to see better proof than academic studies, which for conservatives might be seen as biased. It's not so long ago that voter fraud was rampant in Chicago and elsewhere, and human nature hasn't changed much in the interim.
8
The "better proof than academic studies," bit is fall-down funny.
1
@kwb
Please tell us what could possibly prove to you that voter fraud is rare, if you dismiss rigorous statistical studies. and cite "human nature" and one city decades ago as evidence.
As to human nature, why do you imagine non-citizens would risk exposure, felony charges and deportation to cast one vote out of many millions? Would you? They're undocumented, not stupid.
1
The Republican party is by, for, and of the rich. Everyone else is just there to be oppressed and exploited.
2
One of the hopeful signs here is that the Right's so incapable of reading that they're yelling about the Left's fantasized shrieking about presenting an ID card, which is not remotely the issue.
The issue's what KIND of ID--famously in Texas, you can use a gun permit but not a college ID--how hard the ID is to get for the poor and the rural, how eager Republicans are to throw voters off the rolls or prevent them from voting, and so on.
Oh, well. It's always been true that the Right wants to suppress the vote; it really is that simple. And it's not just the vote of Them: it's white folks too, if they look like they'll get in the way.
Better brush up on the readin' skills, kids: things keep on this way, we'll end up with a literacy requirement.
7
An ID is NOT hard to get, how bad do you want your vote to count anyway? If you really want to participate in this country and how it's run, an ID is NOT a problem. You state that there was NO VOTER FRAUD. California has a box to check to register to vote. Governor Jerry Brown has allowed illegal aliens to get driver's licenses now. Just check the box and you're good to go. It is happening, we just have no idea how prevalent it is. I suspect it's quite a bit higher than NONE. Even 1 is too many
3
Suppression of legal American voter rights by republicans is unAmerican.
Just like the Electoral College, or Russian GRU assistance last week in Ohio or the upcoming midterm elections.
4
This is exactly the kind of nefarious, democracy-busting action that gets overlooked while Trump and his co-conspirators snarl about Russian 'collusion' and Omarosa makes the rounds with tapes in tow to hawk her book. Their M.O. is to push the crime and corruption stories to the front burner while they quietly dismantle democratic institutions like voting rights and health care. This is deplorable — and one more reason why this crime-riddled administration needs to be jettisoned as soon as possible.
7
After seeing the lengths this president and the G.O.P. went through to secure the control all three branches of government, this revelation should surprise no one -- but it's still shocking to see this unabashedly overt grab for power is allowed to go on unchallenged.
Their attack on the American electorate by establishing voter ID laws and expunging registration records is more than just another attempt to erase another Obama-era legislation; by specifically target certain communities it is an outright assault on our Democracy itself.
We are in danger of losing the very rights this nation was founded on.
America. Wake-up!
3
The republicans win by cheating. They aren't the real majority in this country. They gerrymander and suppress the vote of the real majority. ...it certainly doesn't help that the real majority doesn't VOTE in the same numbers as the republican minority.
4
Wanna know why the GOP is doing this? Take a look at any Trump rally, take a look at most GOP campaign rallies, election night gatherings, etc across the country, and see what you see..a gathering that looks like 1958, not 2018, a bunch of white, older people with a smattering of non white people. In a country that is rapidly becoming a plurality, the GOP has managed to stay looking like it did 60 years ago. As a result, the only way they can stay in power is multiply the power of white votes, by using the electoral college (which is anti democratic, given states are given 2 votes by fiat, whether they have 500k or 50m voters), or by election maps designed to give white voters a majority no matter how silly the district is, and of course suppressing votes by others,by requiring something of them not asked for whites.
5
There is an old saying, "If you can't lick 'em, join 'em."
Then lets establish a national voter set of rules that requires everyone to have voter ID and to show the ID - everyone!
#1. Make getting voter ID, free of any expense to citizens.
#2. Federally define a set of documents to select from that satisfy 'eligibility' for registration, naturalization papers, etc..
#3. Establish registration offices that are open during non-work hours, and install branches in existing government services offices, such as DMV, EDD, etc. or even grocery stores.
#4. Make getting voter ID updates easy and timely, like the passport process: mail in the old ID and within two weeks/months, receive new ID with new expiration dates.
#5. Do not enable any state to create more stringent rules.
#6. Require states to use death rolls to remove voters.
#7. Require citizens to file changes of address for voter ID.
#8. If you really want to get people to vote, then charge them a fine for not voting.
Instead of spending money on fighting voter ID, make it so and redirect those monies into getting people registered.
The GOP is packing the judicial system with conservative judicial lifetime appointments, packing SCOTUS and changing how ALJs are appointed: there's no immediate way around voter ID laws covering the nation.
11
In 2012 one precinct in Philadelphia recorded more votes for Obama than the total number of voters registered there. But why be picky? We’re talking about the entire “community” and they deserve to be heard even if they can’t be bothered to register or to have some form of ID. But I think Philadelphia has made the process much easier. Why go through the bother of having to bring them in by the bus load and then give them a free meal when you can more efficiently just stuff the ballot box? It makes things so much easier.
10
@Ed
Initial voting tallies may contain errors, which are corrected before final totals. It just happened in the Republican Kansas primary. However, the claim you are making has been repeatedly debunked.
https://www.politifact.com/pennsylvania/statements/2016/aug/12/viral-ima...
1
Lovely. Let us do deliver a final insult to native Americans with this "state rights" excuse.
2
The 'U.S.' is not 'embracing' limits on voting rights as the heading suggests. It is the Jim Crow Republican and Trump politicians who are disenfranchising voters in an attempt to cling to power with the white supremacy vote.
2
No one should be surprised that Jeff Sessions (a son of the confederacy) would steer the Justice department to defer to the states. He has always been a supporter of a weak federal government.
4
In Oregon, we have had a vote by mail system and it works! No waiting in line, no need to miss work, and very hard to hack. This should be the model for all states. Unfortunately Republican redrawing of districts to disenfranchise voters needs our courts to ensure everyone’s vote counts. Government suport of this tactic is shameful!
6
This entire issue has nothing to do with republicans and democrats. It is the complete lack of logical sense on both sides. We are the ones who have to stop the government as a whole from doing the unfair things that they do. District boundaries are ridiculous, the electoral college is ridiculous, and voting rights should be universal across the board. No state should have the power to invent their own rules. Every single person should have the legal right to vote. Districts should be whatever cities/counties as a whole and not a zigzag of a mess to purposely exclude certain individuals from an area (and don’t tell me you’re not doing that because it’s blatantly obvious), and the only total that counts in a presidential election is the popular vote. The president is the leader of the entire country so the only result of an election that should count is that of the people of the country as a whole. We all just sit back and go about our little lives like we live in our own little universe and the vast majority of the people just don’t care about anything until it starts affecting their own lives, and then they complain. We need to stand up and take our country back from these rich and corrupt politicians and corporations that are running the world and getting wealthier and more powerful at our expense. I can completely agree that you should be registered to vote and have a ID to prove you are who you say you are. But whatever the requirements, make them fair and country wide.
7
Interesting, how Republicans want the thwart, obstruct and gerrymander at will! Because they know that without cheating they cannot win! Don't know about you, but I'm disgusted with the GOP's lack of integrity, lack of care for our constitutional rights! Republicans are all about protecting the 2nd Amendment.....but democracy? No!
Before the Russians helped Donald in the 2016 election, the Republicans were already cheating in order to win their elections! Unfortunately, We, the People are losing ground with the ultra-right-leaning SCOTUS!
Our vote is precios and has been hard fought for. Without our vote, we no longer have a democracy. PLEASE do not take your vote for granted, it has tremendous power to either hurt our nation or change its current trajectory to a more just, green, equitable future!
With all the fires burning in the West, each day I am aware that the current administration and their Republican puppets in congress won't do a thing to help our environment!
VOTE, for democracy, your freedoms, our Earth, our children's and grandchildren's futures!
4
The "U.S" does not "embrace limits." The nefarious, corrupt Republican party, and our Cheater-in-Chief, embraces limits, because they know that the fewer people who vote, the likelier it is that they will win elections. NO VOTER ID! Voter "fraud" is virtually non-existent, and has been proven so, despite tRump's belief that he would have won the popular vote, had it not been for 5000 illegal voters, IN CALIFORNIA! That would have been intelligently "strategic," wouldn't it?
7
I have just gotten involved with a great non partisan organization called Youcanvote.org. Check them out wherever you are and volunteer!
1
I truly believe we are screwed. We talk and talk about the T Administration but we seem to be defenseless. Congress is protecting themselves, their jobs and money, and certainly not the voters. Until we get an intelligent president (vs what we have) that is voted in by popular and electoral votes, we won't see protection and/or equitable changes to the voting system. Electoral college has to go. We need Gerrymandering stopped. We either admit we are a racist, corrupted, country, or we give all people equal voting rights. Each State provides equal rights to all voters - rules that work for all levels of society. We see more protection to gun restrictions then we see to the protection of all human rights. Our values are so skewed in this country I don't see how we can save ourselves. Sorry if this is too negative - but day after day, week after week, since this Administration came into play - all we hear about is the continued eradication of things that actually protect the people and values of this country and/or the destruction of the environment. People are numb to it and I know that is part of the T plan. Dull our senses, provide sensationalized news so that is all people focus on, and keep the destruction going....
2
Duh. Only white males have the inalienable right to Vote. Females, only if they vote they way their husband demands. Thanks, GOP. November.
5
According to the USPS "Informed Delivery" service, I should have received a new voter registration card a few months ago... and a package sent by a friend was returned as undeliverable at that address. I haven't moved in this millennium.
I will have to go through the effort of getting a new card requested or risk my voter registration.
3
The Crown tried to restrict electoral districts in 1767 with acquiescence of Tories. Thomas Jefferson wrote the proper evidence of citizenship meant "either the having resided a certain time, or having a family, or having property, any or all of them." American Whigs scrubbed the property and family requirements from suffrage as vestiges of feudal control that Republicans seem to admire. Hayes ensured a century of voter suppression with the Compromise of 1877.
Moderate Republicans like Eisenhower, with his full-throated support for French colonial control in IndoChina, are not immune as are conservative Democrats. Ike agreed the French puppet government should not participate in Vietnamese elections after the French defeat because he and they knew the Vietnamese would overwhelmingly support the patriots who fought for independence. Nixon helped create the Iranian and Guatemalan coups in 1953 and 1954 that overthrew democratically elected governments. He continued voter suppression in Chile by helping destabilize the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973. Allende believed their national resources were a public not private treasure as did OPEC during the 1973 oil embargo.
We need leaders like FDR who hated colonial and corporate control at home or abroad. Filipinos considered him a saint for ensuring their independence after the war. No one should be surprised conservatives continue their time honored goal of voter suppression. It's what they do.
6
How about Republicans adjust their agenda until it can win majority support through free and fair elections. That would be far better for the country than disenfranchising the voters they don't agree with.
Otherwise, they should get it over with and just declare the Trump Imperium. The Romans managed to have several good centuries after their Republic failed. Ultimately it didn't end well, but they had a good run until the Germanic barbarians arrived.
2
More important than supporting candidates with money and volunteers the DNC and local Democratic Party groups absolutely must start working with actual voters to help them get IDs, challenge problems with their registrations, work diligently to get out the vote, etc. If Democrats come out to vote they will vote for the candidate on the ticket. But if they can't or won't come out supporting the candidate means nothing. Really, wake up campaign strategists!!!
4
We know that Trump administration only believe in “democracy” that benefits them. They are afraid of real democracy. Don’t let this bigotry defines us Americans.
1
“It’s hard to justify some of these measures as anything but an attempt to entrench Republicans in office.”
They’re already entrenched. That’s the problem.
4
Double Whammy: The Trump administration is making it harder for many to vote at all, while the Russia's intervention in our elections is making it harder for many to vote sensibly.
2
The modern GOP's plan for governing is to have poorly thought out, damaging policies for which most people won't vote. Not a problem, just make it so less people get to vote.
The GOP's America: land of the free, home of the brave - as long as you are white, male, & wealthy - but NOT a woman, brown, black, latino, asian, gay, or middle middle class and lower.
4
All the legal wrangling aside, it all comes down to one thing—jobs. Trump promises you one. The Democrats promise you public assistance. I think the Dems can make a legal issue of every little thing, but they still can’t win at the polls.
6
Trump promises low wage jobs with no benefits. Democrats promise a robust safety net.
3
@Ed
Apparently you have forgotten that it was the Obama administration that pulled this country out of the recession by creating more jobs.
Whereas Trump is just the one who likes to take responsibility for it.
4
@Ed Democrats promise public assistance??? 1) You might want to look at which states are the "moocher" states and which are the providers to those states; 2) Do you really believe that conservatives and Republicans take no public assistance??? Really? They just like to make it harder for themselves.
1
I tend to agree that the real intent behind these voter monitoring laws is to game the votes. Having said that, there is absolutely nothing illegitimate in insisting on proper ID to vote and in insisting that voter records accurately follow registration laws. If doing so ends up producing more votes for Republicans than for Democrats, the answer is not to jettison the process, but to educate Democratic voters about how they need to follow the law and process in the same manner that conservatives apparently follow that process.
It seems absolutely ludicrous and hypocritical to have criminal laws that require drivers to keep ID on them when they drive, but not to require voters to do the same when voting--seemingly a far more important civic duty than driving to the local 7-11.
The truth is that the Democrats are gaming the voting system just as much as are the Republicans. They know that lax voting laws produce better results for their side than strict laws. And it's laughable that after two years of Democrats telling us that the 2016 election was illegitimate because Russians provocateurs apparently posted a few hundred thousand dollars of fake ads on Facebook, they oppose strict enforcement of voting laws.
42
@Chuck French: you write, "They know that lax voting laws produce better results for their side than strict laws."
I think that it is *you* who know that. You'll need to offer up validation for your comment. You're not trump who can get away with lying. You are posting here, under watchful eyes.
4
@Chuck French - Mr. French, the problem is not that people have to identify who they are - that's reasonable - but that the types of ID chosen can be difficult and/or expensive to obtain.
4
@Chuck French
It is illegitimate in insisting on proper ID to vote and in insisting that voter records 'accurately follow registration laws' when thousands of legitimate voters are disenfranchised. The voter registration card and signature without ID had served for years as sufficient proof of the right to vote. The voter fraud with impersonation was minuscule. What is the 'accurately follow registration laws' ? Purging voter roles is another Republican plan to disenfranchise minority voters.
3
Both parties (I would imagine) spend millions of dollars and use sophisticated computer technology to game the system in order to gain an upper hand in elections. Just wouldn't it be amazing if our elected officials spent an equal or greater amount time and resources to figure out how to allow as many people as possible to vote and to have everyone's vote count equally? But we don't live in that kind of "democracy" do we?
Wrong, only one party labors to obstruct the vote: Republicans. Our vote stands for freedom and democracy, the GOP seems to want to destroy any freedom they don't agree with or helps them!
2
Always astonishing how those who argue that gun rights are unlimited and cannot be controlled at all are so content to see voting rights curtailed, controlled. Gun activists fight even the requirement to be registered, yet love to play games with voting registrations and ID requirements.
8
Shouldn't all Americans, including Republicans, the party of Lincoln, be voting rights advocates?
The Republican Party's agenda is clearly to prevent many people from voting, thereby excluding them from participating in our representative democracy.
One might think that they don't want America to *be* a representative democracy.
2
It's a known fact that election results are determined by the thousands that don't vote. If someone thinks that one illegal vote will make a difference, while they risk jail time if caught, then we are missing something. It's all about suppressing the vote, not preventing voter fraud.
4
Voting is the basis of American democracy.
Republicans want to restrict suffrage to many in order to catch a few bad apples.
Democrats want to expand suffrage. The choices could not be more stark.
4
Republicans know their policies are so unpopular with the general public they must do anything by any means to win elections, whether it be by voter suppression or gerrymandering.
3
If 10 million people hadn't wasted their votes in 2016 we wouldn't have to talk about the margins of incremental voters getting out. If just half of those 7 million of those people had just realized that a vote for the farthest left was a vote for the farthest right, and will be into the foreseeable future, they could turn the tide right now. Their desire for "purity" or their anger at not being able to vote for Bernie has created a cataclysm. They may not have liked their choices at the time, but showing up to vote is only the first step. Voting actively is the important one.
1
Blame the candidate, not the voter. Because until Democrats take progressive issues seriously they will continue to lose. Democrats would rather lose to the right than win with the left. Medicare for all! Now!
2
It is absolutely exasperating that provisions are not made for a national voter identification card so that the bickering from the left and right can be about other unnecessary and futile issues designed to waste important legislative hours in the pursuit of folly.
We need a voter I.D. so that everyone can be equal and stop blaming black folks for every stupid issue.
A national voter ID card would rid us of the nit picking, voter suppression and just plain rancor but Democrats and Republicans refuse to solve the problem, as usual.
1
Why so complicated? We are living in the modern world, right!? Just electronically finger print and face print every single citizen that turns 18 so all can finally vote directly from their double-wide trailer with option for a/c. No one could vote twice or in the wrong state and we finally would see high voter turnout. Problem solved! (Make the voting software open source for transparency).
5
Watch out - ironclad, definitive, identification for use in proving citizenship and identity is opposed by many.
Apparently this was something attempted to discriminate against certain groups and viewed, therefore, as a bad thing no matter what.
1
I would suspect that many that don't have ID, are not wanting to be found or identified for one reason or another.
1
@BorisRoberts Well not having ID is not acceptable. If one can't afford it, it should be provided. Remember, you really do not need a separate voter ID Card, you just (should) need a personal ID like the U.S. Passport Card. This concept that one should need a special voter ID is silly. At 18 you should just be automatically registered for all voting activities based on your main place of residency. The U.S. makes it complicated for one reason and one reason only: Stopping People from Voting..
This is proof that Republicans are not stuck in the past and incapable of change. A century and half a go, Lincoln, a true believer in democracy, led the way to extend the franchise to African-Americans. Today, the Republicans, led by proto-totalitarians are working to limit the right to vote!
2
Of course, Democrats want ever illegal vote cast they can get. This is not new for the DNC who has been practicing voter fraud since the LBJ Senatorial election where cemetery residents won him the election. Then , there was the Kennedy election where massive voter fraud in Chicago elected him. Now they are trying to get every illegal to vote hoping nobody notices.
5
to vote in the United States you must be a citizen , you must be eighteen years of age or older , you must register to vote , you must present identification at your polling station , if you don’t meet the first two criteria you are ineligible , if you can’t be bothered to register or present your identification you are incompetent.
3
One out of four Trumpists believe freeing the slaves was a mistake (Pew Research). If giving the chance, that 25% would grow to a majority in favor of reinstating slavery - it is much, much worse than anyone imagines. The average Trumpist isn't just a racist ignoramus, he is something far more egregious than that.
2
What is the Administration thinking? Creating barriers to illegal's voting? If our "progressives" believe in open boarders then they will have to accept voter id laws.
4
@jaco
Please quote one Democrat who wants "open borders." Then provide the evidence of voter fraud that Trump's commission couldn't find. Or are those scary, mean old liberals with virtually no power thwarting the administration?
5
Fact: there is NO illegal voting. Good grief, stop with the lies! One woman was arrested back in 2016 for voting without being registered....she was a Trumpista!
2
@Max Deitenbeck
Calling for the abolition of ICE is equivalent to advocating for open borders. I don't have the resources necessary to uncover the illegal voting that we know is occurring. There are very powerful democrats in the western states who will go to great lengths to obscure and hide the numbers. In Nevada and California illegals can obtain drivers licences, and at the same time can register to vote thanks to motor voter laws.
1
Dictatorship coming; and coming fast. Trump/GOP working hard to take away our rights. Turning America into a Dictatorship; Trump/GOP in charge. Vote out GOP or kiss Democracy goodbye. Ray Sipe
1
Bush lost in 2000 but was installed by racist voter suppression using "Caging Lists" designed by Republican Kris Kobach. The Supreme Court had to stop the recount before Gore reclaimed his lead. In 2016 racist voter suppression called "Interstate Crosscheck" designed again by Kris Kobach, Threw one million minority and poor voters off the rolls. Trump did not win. He was installed by a dictatorship of Republican, racist, white nationalist criminals! They are doing it again and Kobach is Trump's right hand man. And the politicized Supreme Court is ramming this unconstitutional, fascist voter suppression down America's throat. Fear not! The North shall rise again.
6
Everybody should be automatically registered to vote at birth and deregistered at death.
3
Republicans hate honest voting.
Because Americans lean left on every major issue.
Here ya go:
www.pollingreport.com
Every issue from limiting money in our politics to health care to abortion to concern about climate change to taxing the wealthy more to helping the most needy to spending on infrastructure.
On every major issue, the majority of us disagree with the Republican position and tilt toward agreement with the Democrats position.
Again, hit that link above and see for yourself.
Being so unpopular, Republican work like termites eating our democracy to make it harder to vote - to create bogus rules to make it harder to register, harder to stay registered if, God forbid(!), you happen to sit out one election because of lousy candidates!
They concoct computer programs that are used to "Cross Check" (that's the name of one program) sir names of people they say are not eligible - by phony standards - and then if you have the same sir name in another state you might be denied the right to vote as well!
The targets are usually Black or Hispanic sir names. Because these groups vote Democratic,
Republicans are obsolete.
Their president is insane.
They stay in power by gerrymandering districts and limiting Democratic votes. They thwart the majority view with dirty tricks because they are desperate - they'll even accept Russian help!
BTW, two forms of written is OK for flying.
Check with any airline.
I did.
Tell me why not same proof of ID for voting?
4
Not the US; the GOP. GOP and Trump will do anything to win. Lie; cheat and steal. Gerrymandering. Russian aide. GOP went to Russia on July 4th. Vote out GOP for an honest America. Ray Sipe
3
Thank you, Ray. Very true. Have a good day.
1
Just this past week I received a letter in the mail from the TX Sec of State saying that there were questions about my address, along with a form to return if the information that they'd received was incorrect. I've not moved and have voted in all previous elections. The letter could easily be mistaken for junk mail. I did return it, but it makes me think that many others will overlook this. Also, it makes me wonder if registered Democrats are being targeted.
10
@Clayton Strickland: I hope you returned it with confirmation it was received...
1
I see nothing wrong with American citizens having a national identity card. They have them in Europe.
We have tried to use SS cards and drivers licenses as identity card, but they were too easily counterfeited.
It is time for the US citizens to have real national identity card too. The only ones resisting it, are those on the left that believe in Open Borders and that anyone who sneaks into the country should have access to all benefit program.
In order to keep priviliges of citizenship restricted to citizens. We need to follow the EUropean model and have a national ID card for citizens only. Ans because we don't have a national ID card, a lot of crimes gets by using phony cards - especially crimes by illegal aliens and members of criminal cartels.
1
Just curious, what is the constitutional authority for a national ID? Specifically, where does that topic of government personal identification, get covered in the Constitution, what clause or article? If it is mentioned, and you can find the Constitutional provision that covers it, and the Supreme Court agrees, then by all means let's do it. If not mentioned or specifically covered, then according to the Constitution, the issue falls back to the States. As it is now.
I adore seeing right-wingers demand this, given that they're the ones who've primarily fought any national ID card tooth and nail. Something to do with Big Brother and the UN world government, I believe.
Oh, well. See also the opposition of the Kochs et al to e-verify.
5
Oh, and since "Europe," is a large collection of countries, one wonders why the repetition of "in Europe," and "European." Though come to think of it, Europe's a large collection of ethnicities and languages, too, which probably supplies the answer: racial fantasy.
In any case, no, "in Europe," immigrants do not waltz about without ID.
2
Our Republican governor, Charlie Baker, just expanded voting rights in the Commonwealth: https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/08/09/charlie-baker-signs-automat...
4
The “collusion” refrain frequently employed by the president now has another dimension, that of colluding to suppress the vote. The real “enemies of the state” are Republicans who support such vile actions. They not only seek to disenfranchise portions of our society but poison the very roots of the democracy they claim to love. Further evidence that “MAGA” is only code for bigotry and white supremacy is hardly necessary.
5
US governance is a sham, run by elected profiteers who do what they and their donors want done. Restricting voting rights is another piece of the plan to go back to the 1950s, pre-civil right, pre-women’s rights, everything nice and manageable by a white, male leadership.
7
Having recently spoken to a relatively wide range of young and middle-aged adults I am appalled at the lack of knowledge and involvement of and in our political process. Over half could not even name the Vice President (no loss there anyway).
These are the people that submit to the propaganda of the Trumlicans - the lies and pandering that sway their critical votes toward shiny objects. Whether or not they have an ID is irrelevant - they are ignorant and mere tools in this tribal assault upon our Democracy.
Something substantive must be done to encourage their involvement in politics that will determine their future. Little value is discussed in the bars and gyms that they so often frequent and their decisions are made out of ignorance from having what little information they know provided by the likes of Twitter, FaceBook and FOX. WHERE ARE THE GROWNUPS HERE?
It is incumbent upon all of us old enough to remember the horrors of Hitler, McCarthy, Korea, Viet Nam and Iraq/Afghanistan, the abuses of Enron, Exxon, and Madoff, the Domestic Terrorism that was NOT caused by "illegal immigrants" and the horrible abuses of the Trump gang to educate and involve these neglectful youth for all of our sakes.
6
@RealTRUTH I think you hit on one key factor here: GROWN UPS. There is an infantilization of Americans that has taken place since the 1960s. Immersion in make-believe, escapism, moral relativity. There seems to have been a cultural nervous breakdown over the realization, via Vietnam, that we are country that engages in lying, assassinations, unlawful interventions, and via the Civil Rights movements, that the people we enslaved for 300 years are actually people. Yikes, head for the drugs, Burning Man and "reality" T.V.!
1
Let's be honest, this is now the Republican playbook---their numbers are shrinking and their policies are toxic---so, what to do? CHEAT.
8
What a stark parallel to the Trump version of the right of Americans to vote and that of all the dictatorships, many of the African nations and Russia. I must also include some of the South and Central American nations.
Constitutional Democracy is being subverted, modified, ignored and in some cases actually being wiped out .
In the words of POGO, OH WOE IS US!!!
1
Shouldn't be a big surprise, given the GOP's methods of winning, that is based entirely on gaming the voting process and ensuring white majorities where they need them. The GOP has mastered tricks, like purging voters who in fact have voted and then claiming "oh, must of been a mistake" when it is challenged, or where they send a notice to someone at an address they have lived at for years and mysterious, the user never gets it. The whole voter id thing is predicated on claims of 'voter fraud', yet the GOP commission Trump put together found a literal handful of documented cases (something like 64), many of them white gop voters.....this is how apartheid works, where a group works to maintain political power with diminishing numbers. Given that young people, non whites, and women are turning away from the GOP in droves, this is the only way they have to give more weight to their base, the white, older voters who are rapidly dying off or becoming a minority.
1
"...redraw political boundaries that have unfairly diluted minority voting power..."
The Voting Rights Act has been perverted to allow, even mandate, drawing district boundaries on the basis of the race/ethnicity of the residents so as to guarantee electing members of the group. That is how we got Luis Gutierrez' Chicago district, drawn to include only Hispanics, to guarantee perpetually electing a Hispanic representative.
https://gutierrez.house.gov/about/our-district
Two barely connected gerrymanders!!
Drawing boundaries without regard to race/ethnicity is what "progressives" consider "diluting minority voting power".
This country elects representatives on the basis of one American, one voter -- NOT one African American voter, not one Hispanic American voter.
There should be no "minority voting power". We are one country and should not be hard wiring racial/ethnic differences into our governance. Do we want to be one country or an loose amalgamation of different people's?
1
Beyond pointing out that the last thing republicans did was draw districts without regard to race and ethnicity--their general move seems to be to pack minority voters into as few districts as possible--I recognize an uber alles demand when I see it, and I know exactly who you wish to have ubering.
@Robert
You clearly assume minorities have a right to elect a member of their own group. This concept is nowhere to be found in the Constitution. One citizen, one vote. The idea that ethnic/racial groups are entitled to representation on the basis of their ethnicity/race leads to Balkanization and is antithetical to the idea that we are a country of Americans -- with no hyphens.
Oh for God's sake. I have to show ID everywhere else I go. Surely, as important as voting is, I should have to show it there. I don't notice that "minorities" can't get drivers' licenses, SNAP cards, or library cards.
So how is asking for ID to vote "voter suppression?" Just another example of "oh, poor me, I'm such a victim."
6
@Kathleen880
1. Many states have seemingly random standards as to what constitutes an acceptable ID. In some states, a gun license or fishing license counts, but a State issued college ID does not. Using your example, there are many jurisdictions where SNAP cards, library cards, etc. would not count as acceptable ID. This inherently places an arbitrary distinction among voters that is not at all routed in the stated aim of proving that this voter is who they say they are.
2. Yes, you have to show ID for many of the activities of daily life. I show ID to get on an airplane, to buy alcohol and to write a check. However, these are all privileges. The right to vote is different as it is a fundamental right of being a citizen of the United States. This right should be tempered sparingly and for good cause. We limit the right to vote to citizens aged 18 year old and above. However, If people have to pay for an acceptable ID, then that is, in effect, putting a cost on the right to participate in our government. It is the same reason that poll taxes were struck down long ago. Requiring someone to pay a fee to get an ID means that those without means to do so have lost their fundamental right to vote based on socio-economic status. This is not "Oh poor me, I'm a victim", it is Injustice.
111
@Denise The one part of your statement that I agree with is the last one. If a state is going to require the use of state issued ID in order to vote, a situation I have no problem with on the face, then they should be required to issue citizens one for free.
@Denise
Tell me about a jurisdiction that requires payment for a government issued id card. Every jurisdiction that I have heard about issues ids free.
The people who support this are asking for a dictatorship, not a democracy. Take back our country from those looking to kill democracy. We had a civil war once, we can do it again
1
What is wrong with Voter ID or just checking any gov. photo ID before issuing ballot ?
We need to show photo ID at banks, SS office, RMV, courts, air travel etc. Why so much reluctance in showing your photo ID at the voting booth ?
6
@WiseGuy
You don't have to show ID in court.
1
I'm thankful for election day registration in my state. I moved within the last year, my registration didn't transfer, and I couldn't verify online that I am still registered to vote tomorrow. I'm unconcerned, as I can register at my polling place tomorrow and still vote without an issue.
More states should have election day registration.
3
What is a “voting rights advocate?” Is that like a gun rights advocate?
You can either vote, or you can’t. It’s the most powerful right we have in our Republic. You should have to prove who you are to exercise that right. In fact, It should require the same level of scrutiny as purchasing a firearm. If we don’t verify who is exercising this right, one should question the scruples and motive of anyone who argues differently.
1
This admin. constantly looks to manipulate voting rights. Clearly, Trump administration knows that a minority will not vote for him. This admin. looks to discourage voting from a group of people that's going to not vote for them. This bully tactic will have its own consequences. It appears time is running out on Trump. I highly recommend Elizabeth Warren for presidency. But let's see what happens.
1
Requiring an ID to vote presents no problem to me - I am very much in favor of a universal ID for everyone. The problem lies in the nefarious use of that information: be it to discriminate against certain groups/individuals or give preference to others.
Under this fakeAdministration we can assume that any and all data garnered is being used to further very nasty objectives that favor the perpetuation of this criminal element - both Executive AND Legislative. The Republicans have become a tribe of thugs, a band of criminals under Trump. We must protect ourselves from their cult-like actions at the ballot boxes at all cost. They are probably scheming with Russian hackers as we speak - no joke.
2
The Trump presidency has provided one important service to the greater public. The stunning level of corruption, racism and intellectual dishonesty pervading today’s GOP has now been laid bare for all to clearly see. Even the party’s harshest critics had not previously realized how completely republican leaders have devolved into a state of pure tribalism, driven solely by self-preservation. They have demonstrated a unabashed willingness to disrupt democracy itself in order to maintain the illusion of political dominance. Let us hope a significant enough majority of Americans have now become disgusted enough to quickly and decisively act against it.
2
The only way Trump and the party of Trump will win in November is by cheating. This is why he has done so little to confront Russian election interference.
4
This is beyond disgraceful. It's 2018, not 1776 or 1850. Time to GET WITH IT. Be part of the solution, not the problem. Voter fraud? What's that? Do you really believe this is happening?
Such a strange photograph of Sessions in front of the flag. I'm sure it's meant to make him look patriotic; it seems more like he's keeping us away from it.
1
There are even some 'original constitutionalists' who would prefer we return to allowing only property owners the right to vote. It is true our nation's history is steeped in voter suppression but I truly believe that progressives are leading the way to a more open and caring society. The nastier Republicans become the better Democrats look.
2
It is not hard at all to get an ID. For less than an hour of one's time and $8.50, you can get an ID in Ohio that is good for 4 years. Furthermore, there are 7.9 million licensed drivers in Ohio and 8.5 million people who are eligible to vote. That means that 95% of all eligible voters in the state already have an ID.
1
And this is a surprise?
Republicans can win with 40% of the voters if the other 60% are denied, discouraged or delayed.
That's what politics is about: power.
Small numbers acting cohesively can subjugate much larger numbers who are disorganized, divided or simply incoherent.
That is what armies of conquest and occupation have done through the centuries.
That's what the Republican party has perfected.
1
We now know that Russian hackers have accessed the voting records of at least 20 states and possibly all of them (unknown for now). It is unclear what they have done, or will do, with their access, but we should be very careful in dealing with this knowledge and activity. So, what if they change a few digits in a voter record...a middle initial or house number? Will this result in a voter being removed from the roll? Looks very possible in some states.
The news of this activity has gotten pushed from the headlines by more "newsworthy" stories...tweets, etc. We need the media to be more active in reporting this information and, as citizens, we need to make ourselves more cognizant of this danger.
1
Voter ID is just common sense and probably the best, and easiest, way to ensure election integrity.
3
Crosscheck was just a more ambitious version of the sort of vote scrubbing that Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush did prior to the 2000 election.
If it can be proven that the matching criteria used were loose and the false positives were high, then the Secretaries of State involved should go to jail or be executed. If taking a person's life merits the death penalty, then perhaps taking the vote from thousands of the most powerless people in American society should be considered equally heinous.
What was”democratic” about the process by which Hillary was nominated? I think the same stack-the-deck disdain for true democracy underlies the Democrats’ professed concern for the rights of the disenfranchised. Removing reasonable restrictions on voter eligibility is just another way of stacking the deck in their favor.
Continuing attempts at voter suppression, a popular American pastime since the beginning of the republic, are and have always been the only threat to the republic. Russian intervention is and remains a canard.
We are always our own worse enemies, pace Pogo, pace Rod Serling (The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street.)
A few short election cycles ago, Democrats and the left were smugly talking about their unstoppable ascension due to "demographics being destiny."
But in 2 out of the last 5 presidential elections, the president has been elected with a minority of votes due to the Electoral College (aided by the Supreme Court in W's case).
Assuming that the Democrats and the left can even consolidate their vote and get back into power at this point, the greatest immediate challenge they face is preventing the institutionalization numerical minority rule through continued concentration of voters in red states (which give them unequal power via the EC), gerrymandering and other voter suppression tactics, and Republican judges shielding such tactics against legal challenges.
I guess it is about time in our history to change from a democracy to a monarchy and have an emperor. And, it didn't take us as long as the Romans did.
1
Whenever health insurance is discussed, people bring up the supposed paradise of the Nordic countries but interestingly, nobody does the same in the case of voting rights. Let me explain how they vote in Europe. In every country (except the UK) people are issued an ID with an individual number which follows them throughout their life. This ID is mandatory for any transaction (including voting) and may be used for tracking the individual and ascertaining their identity. In most countries, the ID also states their citizenship status. Voting in the US is a giant mess, and the idea that you need to drive in order to have an ID (which is fact does not stipulate whether you are a citizen or not) is discriminatory and ridiculous. How about the federal government issuing an individual ID with a unique number to every citizen at birth? Not sure how libertarians and liberals will like it but this is the only thing that makes sense.
2
Don't be surprised if Republicans retain Congress in the November elections by a slim margin. Recent runoffs in certain states were decided by slim margins. Don't be surprised if Trump wins a second term by a slim margin.
Let's not forget that Trump won the 2016 election by a SLIM margin. See the pattern here?
When the Republicans and Russians collude to affect the outcome of an election, it is not going to be by an unrealistic landslide that will draw attention.
Nobody questioned the slim margin that Trump won by in 2016 which is the exact intended outcome.
1
Do the people being purged from the rolls have to pay taxes? I'll be willing to bet my refrigerator that many of the people being purged from the voter rolls are citizen enough to be required to pay taxes. These people should put the same burden of proof on the government: Prove that I am who you say I am. This would be a dilemma for the Republicans; if enough people did this, then the revenue loss would be so great the wealthy might have to pick up the slack.
Republicans need to come to the realization that a political party that resorts to voter suppression in order to maintain its standing, is ultimately doomed to the dustbin of history. Their futile efforts will only slow the tide of demographic change. It can't happen soon enough as far as I'm concerned.
1
Democrats win by bringing people into democracy.
Republicans win by driving people from democracy.
Tell your friends who don't think their votes count. Do the math.
4
What a refreshing change for the better!
Barack Obama came from the city dedicated to fraudulent voting and did everything he could to allow illegally cast votes. Had the question of dogs being able to vote, he might well have struggled with saying no.
Now we have a President who actually wants the law carried out. If we have to have more laws to make sure ONLY American citizens vote, this will be the time to do so.
Perhaps a law is needed that says that once a certain number of illegally cast votes are found in a state, that state drops out of the Electoral College computation that year.
2
I am always amazed at the aficion of the Right for yelling at stuff that didn't happen.
@L'osservatore: That's the wildest nonsense I've read in a while. If the president wants the law carried out, why did he defraud students and stiff contractors? I'd also like to see his tax returns. And I'd sure like to see the law carried out on him with his breaking of the emoluments clause, money laundering and other infractions!
1
Do we need any more proof the Republicans have weaponized the judiciary?
When the Dems take over in 2020, they must pack the courts with judges who actually think the Constitution protects the rights of all Americans, not just the Republican donor class.
The Dems should also use Art. I, § 4, Clause 1 of the Constitution to trump all state voter suppression laws. It reads--
"The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing [sic] Senators."
That clearly allows Congress to override all state voter suppression laws. Congress could flip Florida by making criminal convictions or incarceration irrelevant. Strive as they might, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court will have a difficult time stopping Congress.
But on the other hand, who would have thought "A wee-regulated militia..." was mere fluff, to be ignored. That is why packing the Court is crucial, to keep the dead hand of the Confederacy from reaching from the grave to strange the voting rights of the descendants of the freed slave.
The GOP not only wants to suppress the votes of anyone non white, but they also don't mind cheating too. If they could change the electronic voting rosters by figuring out who is a registered Dem Vs. GOP they would eliminate the dems names altogether in battleground areas.
Some folks don't drive and are poor so they don't always have photo ID and they have to be bused in to vote from rural areas. They are also less likely to try to vote since Tuesday is a work day for them so they just skip it.
We should have mandatory voting in this country and it should be two days, Sunday and Monday or Sunday and Tuesday. Give everyone an opportunity, but the GOP won't since it serves them to gerrymander and cheat.
2
Why are Democrats, liberals and progressives so adamantly opposed to presenting a photo ID in order to be able to vote? Voting is perhaps the most important right of American citizens. Isn't it only logical that we would want that right protected and reserved to actual citizens?
4
@paul: There is no evidence whatsoever that non-citizens vote in American elections - they risk getting deported if caught, so why take the risk? The non-citizens that did vote can be counted on the fingers of one hand...
I got a cold. Had to show photo ID to the pharmacist to purchase decongestants. He checked his database to ensure I had not purchased any in other states recently. Federal law passed with many Democrats support.
Ensuring people only vote where they actually live is important as local elections (mayor, town council etc.) are often decided by a few votes. If you no longer can get mail at a particular address, you do not live there. So, fill out the change of address form and vote in the correct district or state.
3
A true democracy should, at every point, facilitate (not hinder) the ability for its citizens to vote.
4
It’s unconscionable that the party in power, or the executive, can have such power over voting rights. Gerrymandering and redistricting are still very much alive and well.
So the party in power holds the reigns. There should be a better, more “democratic” way to do this. I wonder what the Constitution has to say about it? Probably nothing when it comes to photo IDs, as such a thing didn’t exist when the Constitution was written. I wonder what the “originalist” justices have to make of that?
1
republicans cannot win a fair fight and will do anything to upset any perceived or fabricated balance that is not skewed in their favor.
1
Although I don’t have a problem showing ID to vote, we should make sure to educate the public ahead of time on how to obtain an ID, maybe free of charge for those unable to pay. Nothing however is full proof, as anyone under 21 with a fake ID will tell you. Also, maybe remove from rolls anyone who hasn’t voted in any type of election in 10 years.
It would be a difficult but doable task: could the Times, or perhaps a consortium of respected news outlets, prepare to compare histotic voter turnout by precinct or county against actual turnout in the upcoming mid-term? There shouldn’t be any substantial statistical turnout variance (especially by precinct) from the recent past, but if there were, would that not suggest the effects of voter suppression?
A good place to start would be any state with a Republican controlled legislature. Ohio, or Alabama, or Texas, or Georgia come immediately to mind . . .
The Times could do much for democracy with more editing work:
The paragraph below (simply one tiny example) would convey more, to more people, if it stated simply:
"In the Texas and Ohio cases, legal briefs were signed by Trump's political appointees, instead of the usual career civil-rights-division lawyers in the trenches."
Few voters don't have a free hour to untangle what you're saying. And if I've got the meaning wrong at all, that isn't my fault.
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The Texas ID and Ohio voter-roll cases stand out for a little-noted reason: The career lawyers in the department’s civil rights division who perform the bulk of legal work on voting cases do not appear in their normal roles in the government’s latest briefs. Instead, Trump administration political appointees were the ones who took responsibility for the new positions.
The USA is no longer a democracy. It has never been direct, but now it is neither representative nor constitutional. How terribly sad for all of us who believe in this form of government.
3
The same argument that is used to say requiring an ID to vote suppresses minority voting can be used to buy a gun. In this argument one shouldn’t have to show an ID to buy a gun. And the right to bare arms is in the constitution. The right to vote isn’t. So tell me why if one doesn’t need an ID to vote do they need one to buy a gun?
Voting Rights Scammers Used to Have an Ally in the Government. That’s Changing For The Better.
Make sure you are still registered to vote. In California you can verify your status at https://voterstatus.sos.ca.gov/. For no apparent reason I've been dropped from the rolls. I can only imagine my shock and anger had I been denied the right to vote come this November. BTW, I haven't changed my address in over 30 years, and I vote in every election. A few years ago, I was asked by mail to verify my signature, otherwise nothing is different. Give everyone a national ID card. No fees, no extra hoops to jump through in some states, no shenanigans. Just do it.
2
If the republicans can't win an election by fair means, any means will do. Voter suppression laws are a foul means they've been implementing in any state that has enough bigots in the legislature to enact voter ID and 'inactive voter' laws.
Unfortunately, when the Democrats were in power, they did too little to make voting easier. A national election day should be a holiday. Vote by mail should be extended across the country. And get rid of voting machines. It's pretty tough to hack millions of paper ballots.
Even more important, citizenship education must be taught in every school in the nation so that all citizens from an early age realize their responsibility and rights in our democracy.
144
@Steve W
The problem is that the Democrats have only had control of the White House and Congress for two years in this century, and they did not take advantage of it. Add to that the fact that small rural and southern states have disproportionate power in Congress, and it is clear that this will be a steep, uphill battle...
1
@Steve W
It seems that any effort to adhere to the laws as they are written are classified as "voter suppression", "racist", "bigoted" by the Left. Don't like the law, then change it through the proper channels rather than have a POTUS direct states to "ignore" the law as written.
Why not spend your time, effort and money to get people legally registered to vote, it's pretty easy, and eliminates a point of contention in the country. State issued photo ID's cost less than $25 or even free. and rather than spend millions on legal battles, put the money into uber/lyft to get unregistered voters ID's and registered.
We don't need yet another holiday, but every USA citizen should vote, and there are plenty of options available for everyone to vote.
@Steve W
Gerrymandering, stripping voter registration files, requiring, voter suppression ID's, false statistics about voter "violations", Russian interference and propaganda, hacking into electronic voting systems to change results...
So many GOP ways to rig an election...
and they use them all.
1
The voting process in this country is an embarrassment and an injustice. I walk two minutes from my car into a school and wait no more than 5 minutes to vote. I get home and watch the news to see people waiting outside in lines city blocks long and into the very late hours of the night to vote.
We need a better system for verifying voters, improving access, and providing an equitable voting experience for all. This finger pointing and excuse making has to end.
111
@Charles
early voting is a better way, send in an application and then vote by mail. Then we have a paper trail.
3
@Charles
Even before we started voting by mail, the voting was always extremely convenient, quick, and pleasant in Utah. Even when my spouse and I were forced to go at peak times, it never took more than 15 minutes or so (if we went at less busy times, we virtually strolled right up to the booth upon entering the polling place).
Utah, of course, reliably votes Republican. No one has ever been motivated to gum up the works here.
2
I don't get it. You would think that it is just common sense to make sure that every vote, was cast by someone legal to vote. An ID card. You need one to cash a check. Open a utilities account. Get a phone. Pretty much anything. I would assume that if the $10, $15, $20 is too much money for some people to spend to participate in this democracy (or whatever you want to call it, Democratic republic), that would also mean that they have no phone, television or internet either. Which would make one assume they don't have any clue of the issues, the people running, or the country in general. Why not make ID free? Pay people $5 to vote. Or $10, $20, look how much people spend to campaign, they're just buying votes. Whoever gets to these guys first with the cash, gets the vote, since they don't know who they are voting for any way. And this isn't about minorities, there are people of all races hiding out in "Them Thar Hills" off the grid. Go get them.
21
@BorisRoberts
My mother was disabled from Parkinson's. I took her to the MVA for a non-license photo ID. She sat while I stood in line and did the paperwork, and then I helped her pose for her photo. All told, this process from when I picked her up until I took her home used the whole morning. She was exhausted. I needed to take a day off from work to do this. Not everyone can take a morning to help a disabled parent.
While free ID is a good idea, remember that voting is a fundamental right that should not be encumbered. You are making quantum leaps in your characterization of some voters. ID acquisition is not always as easy as you might think.
4
@BorisRoberts
Poll taxes are unconstitutional, and forcing pepole to pay for an ID to vote is essentally that.
3
@BorisRoberts
You imply that being impoverished "... would make one assume they don't have any clue of the issues, the people running, or the country in general."
A person who can't afford phone or lights still knows what justice is.
2
Why is it assumed that all things computer are good and valuable. We are people who live in a world where we do things humans do. Voting is such a personal thing. Why do we think putting our preferences in the hands of machines will survive in tact? We seem to learn nothing from our experiences with hacking, information theft and the vagaries of what unseen people and politicians do with what we give them on computers. It is a step forward to return to paper ballots and actually meeting and asking questions of candidates.
5
Any administration that creates laws and regulations making it harder to vote is an admission that they know they do not represent the majority of the people.
40
@W.A. Spitzer
Any administration that removes barriers that prevent non-citizens from voting does not represent legal citizens.
1
@jaco
Please provide examples.
@W.A. Spitzer
Just enforcing the laws as written. Don't like the law, then get it changed rather that make false statements.
1
It's true that most elections include voter fraud. But it's not a matter of people unqualified to vote casting ballots. It's a matter of people voting where they are registered, versus where they actually live. This location fraud is the result of very complex registration management issues posed by our very transient population, the complexity of updating all location-based records whenever we move, and the challenges that election officials have keeping up with often conflicting place of residence records. This has minimal impact on statewide elections, but significant impact on local races in transient, typically urban communities. Moreover, it's unlikely to be fixed so long as our location proof documents are hard for many without safe deposit boxes or good personal filing systems to manage, update and preserve.
2
@Paul Gallagher: Actually the amount of voter fraud, that is someone actually intending to vote illegally is miniscule. The number of non-citizens who attempt or do vote is als miniscule. None of these illegal votes have, in modern times, determined the outcome of an election. The truth is that the Republicans, who for decades have been hard at work reducing the ability of non-Republicans to vote, are trying to shut out people who traditionally do not vote Republican.
Trump lost the popular vote so he and his henchmen are trying to reduce the non-Trump supporter votes.
No one could look at our voting turnout and pronounce a successful democratic process. I agree with these guys: let's make voting ID an absolute part of citizenship...it's just that I insist that we assure that every citizen gets their ID, and is completely facilitated and encouraged to register their choice in every public voting matter. That would be democracy.
15
@Melquiades I agree. And now it is up to our government to get the Russians to stop interfering which till now they have not done.
I walked across the Pettus Bridge this year, a life long bucket list.
The original marchers only wanted the clear right to vote. 15th and 19th Amendments May have helped the right to vote, but it wasn’t until 1965 that LBJ signed the Voting Act that really broke the ice.
Decades past between the amendments and the act. Discrimination, bias, prejudice, oppression prevented righteous, non discrimatory voting. But what did it take to get the Voting Act?
It took deaths from people getting beaten, hunted down, grit to “negotiate, demonstrate, report” in the words of MLK. It took bravery and courage that people put their lives on the line - to have the right to vote, simply right to vote.
And what happens today? Hiding behind oppressive voting laws - all these years later. Crooked legislators who make discriminatory policies and biased gerrymander laws. Crooked judges who allow those discriminatory policies. Sissy people who know the injustice but do nothing about it.
And thus, voting rights have gone by the wayside.
Suffragette anniversaries are this month. I will be speaking to voting discrimination and the brave people that did something to help so many others have their American right - the right to cast their ballot, that voice that once again has been snatched away.
Think about it. What are you doing to bring equality and justice to voting? Don’t take it for granted. Do something.
31
Part of the problem that you identify is that people can now easily live inside the bubble of their own home - where their access to the outside world goes through a modem.
In the eras you identify, people HAD to get out to make their voices heard. And as you aptly point out, many died to establish a right to vote for women, minorities, and other disenfranchised people in society.
We have an election coming up in a few months, a big election. Join a local effort to get out the vote for a candidate, and where you encounter difficulty just getting someone registered, do something about it.
I don’t know what that “something” is and it’s likely to vary locally. The Dems seemed to have figured out that to be successful in November they can’t just bash Trump from the bubble of their homes. They have to get in front of people, identify what these voters want, and then do everything they can do make that happen.
So it’s not just about getting out the vote. It’s establishing the right to vote in the first place. Sad that it’s come to this, but there is “something” concerned citizens can do about it.
1
@Hey Joe
Thank you for your thoughtful response.
MIMA
Voting by mail would help a lot. Colorado does it now.
7
@gratis I guess you are unaware to blind to all the fraud and crimes that goes on with the mail.
Colorado system can easily be used for criminal purposes and lax enforcement of our immigrations laws.
@gratis As does Oregon.
1
So the biggest impediment to voting is the day in which we vote. Why not vote on a weekend or multiple days?
15
Just a friendly reminder that dead people were voting under the Obama Administration’s stewardship. Striking the balance is the key. The NYT isn’t particularly good at balanced reporting. Makes sense.
10
@Louis please cite your sources because everything I’ve read on the topic limits this sort of activity to under, say, ten people nationwide. If that number of occurrences constitutes a true crisis, you’d think the GOP would also be focusing on school shootings, because we’ve had way more instances of that.
2
@Louis If you think that's the major factor in voting fraud, Fox News isn't particularly good at balanced reporting, le alone honest.
1
Oddly, Trump’s exciting campaign run brought out millions of new voters and folks who hadn’t voted in years. I’m certain The Times was thrilled at that fact.
11
Trump received less votes than Romney. Where is the evidence for your assertion rather than wanting it to be true?
1
@Chuck Burton
Wrong.
Trump received over 2 million more votes than Romney and he got them in the states he needed them to win electoral college.
Voter fraud = people of color voting. Who'd've thought they'd pursue a "radical agenda?" This is precisely why his cult is inextricable and unswayed by treason, corruption, kleptocracy. This is why I can only shake my head and laugh when I see that one stray person of color among his adoring cult, "one of the good ones" no doubt.
6
That's pretty funny. Nearly all the Hispanics I know; the ones that emigrated here legally years ago, voted Republican. They're business owners, taxpayers, legal American citizens. Who seem to resent the people streaming across the border, demanding that we let them stay. You speak as if, "people of color" all stand united against "The White Man". Here in central CA, black people represent 1.2% of the population (in Santa Maria. CA). Hispanics about 73%, and at least in this city of 106,000 legal residents and approx 30,000 illegal residents, there is a great deal of animosity between them. They are not united in any way. So, this "People of Color", against "The White Man", is just fabrication. To what ends, I don't know, but someone seems to see and advantage to this angle.
1
Republicans know that they must suppress the vote if they are to have any chance of remaining in office. Add the suppression to the gerrymandering that they've already done and we have voter fraud in plain sight. This suppression goes along with the racism and bigotry blatantly displayed daily by this party and this administration. Trump wants only his white base to have easy access to the ballot box. It will be very difficult indeed to have a blue wave in November if the water that makes up that wave is quickly drying up. For me, this voter suppression in plain sight is just another example of 60 percent of Americans watching while their country, freedom, and rights disappear.
15
The Party of Trump should be ecstatic that they "won" the election with a minority of votes. Goodness gracious, when you look at the pictures of the Alt Right Protesters compared to the vast number of Counter Protesters, there's absolutely no comparison. I believe the Counter Protesters represent a bulk, and a large bulk at that, of the American public. It kind of makes you wonder if the 2016 voting results weren't somehow tampered with....don't you think?
15
@Diane Kropelnitski
It is disappointing that anyone thinks that Counter Protesters like the violent, masked Antifa group represents more than a sliver of American public, much less than the bulk of the population.
1
This is all on Republicans, they own 100% of the voting rights venue.....staying in office, not governing means everything
12
One party wants more citizens to vote and the other does all it can to restrict access to the polls. Fact is, Americans are never more than a couple of elections away from completely changing every state and federal government representative if we choose to do so. The American concept is that the populace does in fact know better, and will elect a government that is of the people, by the people and for the people.
Of course that is democracy, and democracy is not a favorite conservative concept, no matter all their flag pins and talk about freedom But that's just too bad; They are on the wrong side of history and are rightfully assuming their extinction.
November 2018 is just one more step and that is why the GOP will spend a $billion more to try to stem the tide.
17
we need robotic type poll workers, because man (oh yeah man would manage them too) is so corrupt.
Under Trump a fake democracy- so sad. Americans die in Iraq and Afghanistan as democracy weakens in America.
11
The Republican party is just like any other authoritarian party. They can't win the hearts and minds of the voters so they will rig the ballot boxes and suppress the votes.
The Republicans refused to fund security for our voting system. A group of them went to Russia on July 4th, maybe to plan out strategy for the 2018 elections?
Is the entire Republican party compromised by Russia?
49
I think the Republican plutocracy is really pushing too hard these days. Their policies are destructive and they do not represent most Americans. Even those who identify as Republicans generally prefer the Democratic platform when presented agnostically.
At some point the destruction they've imposed on the country's social fabric in the pursuit of wealth concentration will become unbearable, and they will either be swept away at the polls, or if they have succeeded in breaking democracy, there will be violence.
If the Republican apparatus is rendered irrelevant by pushing too hard for oligarchy, that leaves a huge power vacuum on the sensible right. Assuming our system of government survives, it'll be interesting to see what can fill it.
13
@Dan
Actually, Americans are solidly on the side pf laws in place being carried out. The people who picked and chose which laws ''deserved'' to be enforced are no longer in the White House, thank God.
Justice and civil rights seem like they should go hand in hand. Yet we have high ranking members of our Justice Department who disapprove of civil rights advocacy groups. We have to get out and vote blue or all our civil rights will be taken away!
14
I do not think it unreasonable to require some sort of ID to vote, but a representative government should assume the responsibility of making it easy for citizens to obtain such ID. Election days should be a celebrated national holiday with severe penalties for an employer who makes it difficult for an employee to have time to vote. There should be incentives for voting, say a small tax credit. Even if that was $5, such a token would make a statement. Whenever I read an article about blatant Republican voter suppression, extreme partisan gerrymandering, or the undemocratic Electoral College, I always think to myself: “How many American soldiers have died protecting our right to vote?”
18
@Edward C Weber An ID in Ohio can be obtained in less than an hour for $8.50 and it last 4 years. Only 5% of eligible voters in Ohio do not have a driver's license.
I don't mind showing my ID, which do routinely, of course being a middle aged white male I don't appreciate the reasons why this would be offensive.
It does strike me that the white-right-Republicans are pulling out all stops to try to maintain their power base.
Need to vote democratic (if the option is qualified and present) at all levels to counter the damage being done.
24
@Awake: Here in California, one does not need an ID to vote. Studies has shown that California voting fraud is practically non-existent.
We need to show an ID for just about everything of importance. Showing an ID to vote will pretty much prove that it was American citizens who voted. Obtaining an ID is a free right for any citizen. Bring it to the polls like you bring it everywhere else.
15
@Denny......Unlike driving a car or flying on an airplane, voting is a right not a privilege. It follows that any state that requires a voter ID must also provide the required voter ID at no cost, obligation, or inconvenience to the person that requests it. Anything less amounts to a deliberate attempt by the state to deprive citizens of their constitutional rights.
5
@Denny The only ID exclusive to U.S. citizens is a U.S. Passport, which is held by only about 40% of people. And a passport costs either $65 first time for the card or $145 first time for the book.
@Denny
Gee, we need it to shop for groceries according to our great stable genius. The fact that you don't need it to shop for groceries must be in the category of alternative "facts".
ID's are not free if you have travel great distances to get them or lack the documentation to get ID. Photo ID's only stop one form of vote fraud, impersonation fraud, which is no existent.
In other words, the rights of non-existent voters must be protected at all costs.
7
Perhaps because the Obama administration believed in justice, equal rights for all, the Constitution and the dignity of every human being. Things that Trump and his minions abhor.
17
This will be a first for me. I have always listened to each candidate and made a choice regardless of party affiliation based on character (if I could find it), beliefs, and policy. This time around I will do what I have always denigrated in others... I will vote only for Democrats. Not because that party has a lock on good ideas or good management, very far from it... only because Republicans must be severely punished for the horrendous evil they have brought upon this once-good country.
34
We already have a problem with SS #s being to readily used for ID susceptible to online theft and fraud -- bio marker IDs provided by the gov't FOR FREE - required for travel, voting etc. should solve a multitude of problems. But ID laws won't solve the problem of states making it harder to vote by making registration and voting difficult. The Australians have it right. Make voting compulsory, make it easy (mail in ballots and multi-day voting periods) make it safe (paper trails for all votes).
112
Washington treats our election infrastructure the same way that it treats our physical infrastructure. Keep pushing it to the back burner and hope nothing too dire happens. Its pathetic leadership but leadership we should all recognized by now. Meanwhile, cynical state officials use the "threat" to push legitimate voters off the rolls. Like Georgia, like Kansas, like Texas. Its un-American at its core.
I hope that people come out in droves this fall and exercise their most basic right regardless of the obstacles Republicans put in the way.
99
@catalina
Me too!!!
I have been serving as an election clerk in Houston for several local and national elections. Every time we just check voter's driver's license ID against a book provided to us or scan the driver's license ID on an Apple's Ipad. I have not encountered a single case that voters using other stuff than a driver's license ID. I have no idea how the election board built that eligible voter book and also establish database for verification. To me, I think there could be many fraudulent cases using driver's ID. It is hard to believe we are a top notch technical advanced country, but with so many problems in voting.
3
@Usok: If "there could be many fraudulent cases using driver's ID" the Republicans would have found at least a few of them. They haven't. But they're constantly investigating, hoping to keep as few Americans as possible from voting. Why? Because the majority of Americans disagree with your party on the issues. And in the last several Presidential elections, Democratic candidates won the popular vote.
4
We have had voter ID issues in the past. When John Kennedy ran for President, Duval county in TX raised the dead to vote for him. A similar instance happened in Chicago, where Mr. Daly was Mayor. Nixon never challenged the fraud and may have loss the election due to it. With today's privacy laws we have to show ID to obtain medical, gov't issued driver's license, etc.
2
@Rod
Can't be too careful. "They" -- after all -- are all out to get you. As if that isn't bad enough, "they" will sneak into your house and steal your stuff while you yourself are out voting.
When the Democrats return to power, I think they ought to require every prospective voter to take the basic citizenship test in order to be able to vote.
I know this would discriminate against Republicans, but only because they would be required to actually possess some knowledge about the country in which they live and which they supposedly want to "Make Great Again".
What's going on now is suppression of likely Democratic voters. It's been a staple of Republican election strategy since the 1970s, when the GOP direct-mail guru Paul Weyrich, spoke about it publicly.
Democracy? The Republicans don't want no stinking democracy!
6
Why not find how to weight each person’s vote. The more your net worth the higher the weighting. Number of employees on your payroll, the higher the weighting. We need a modern day substitution for when it was land and slave ownership that counted. Note that it is not about how much taxes one pays, so don’t even go there. Voting rights needs an original interpretation and the GOP will get us there. Have faith. Under the eye.
Voting is political, but the right to vote should not be. Sadly, in the current maladministration, everything is about winning, nothing is about the values on which the nation was built. So it is not at all surprising to see that the "Justice" Department has now become an enemy of the people who want to vote.
4
My middle class white parents were legally blind, and didn't have a driver's license. I can understand how poor people who are taking long bus rides to get to low paying jobs don't have IDs.
There are state governments closing motor vehicle offices in counties with a high African American population, to make it harder to get ID.
We should have a system where people get ID from high school and are registered to vote at that time.
24
It is vital to the United States only people who are legally eligible to vote are able to vote. It's completely not right that American citizens get ineligible votes in the count. ID at the polls is imperative, It you take your citizenship seriously you make sure you do what it takes to vote.
3
I believe that licenses to drive that are issued to non-n citizens are marked not to be used for voting purposes.
1
Of course! Suppressing minority voting, gerrymandering Congressional districts, and manipulating the polling process have been standard GOP strategies for generations. This is hardly news.
2
Voter suppression is in the DNA of the Republican Party.
It has been and will remain there until the next meteor hits and rearrages things much like what ended the dinosaurs' reign. So don't hold your breath, but do get out and vote these unjust types out of existence.
And when it comes to voting, have a strategy in place to empower you, help you believe what you are doing is the good and right thing, no matter how the opposition wants and tries to negate your voice. It's what we can and must do this time and the next, and the next, and every forever you have left in your life.
3
A country that disenfranchises disfavored groups is on its way over a cliff. Republicans stopped pretending to value democracy a long time ago. It's all about the power and the money.
4
I'm an American voter and this is a clear abuse of power. Even though I don't live there I have always voted--never missed a chance to vote because people in my country died for the right to VOTE!
In Austria we had huge photographs on the street of our past history. In both Nazi Germany /Austria, to keep Hitler in power, people had to vote on paper directly before authority "Nazis" and check their ballot with them looking on. In this climate of deadly fear just who do you think had the moral courage NOT to check the Nazi party?
No, its not quite the same, but when people lose their personal freedom, when we can no longer recognize our country and what it once stood for, then we are on the same road--once more.
November will be the most important election EVER! 40% of Americans had something more important to do on that day and didn't cast their vote. This is why we are here now. Every single American needs to scream their voices in November and take our country back. VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lives depend on it. It happened before and it could happen again!
I would like to add that when I was confronted with the horror of these photographs I burst into tears and couldn't stop crying. I tried to imagine the fear, if that was me shaking before those evil men and casting my vote, or someone I loved dearly. The war is long over but every single day we are confronted with our history and the horrors of it.
Least we forget!
37
For the disenfranchisement of African Americans to continue to endure and their rights as citizens continue to be violated with the kind of impunity their oppressors (like Sessions) have enjoyed for hundreds of years, that disenfranchisement must reinforced and attended to rigorously and by every means possible. Voter suppression, incarceration of thirty percent of the male population that's over eighteen and under forty, packing SCOTUS - it's all of a piece. Sickening.
5
White supremacy at the voting booth may indeed work. Who will stop gerrymandering, voter suppression techniques, and tampering with voting machines, when the GOP controls all branches of government and we have a president who can act as a cult leader?
12
As I read many comments on this forum I notice that many have bought into the right-wing story about the rampant fraud and the need to demand papers to exercise one of our fundamental rights-to vote.
In the recent years before Obama was elected there was scant screeching about voter fraud. But the a black man, a Democrat, was elected. Oh, the horror, the exploding heads on Fox and Friends was historic and the battle cry began. Fraud was the claim.
Then our latest "president", not content with winning, screeches louder about those millions of fraudulent votes that cost him the popular vote. And the minions heard the dog whistles and succumbed to the gas lighting.
There is little, very little, proof to the allegations of voter fraud.
In the many years I have voted, and I am on the fringe of 70, I have never been challenged, never been asked "papers please" to vote-either in person or by mail. So, why does the Trump administration, and his very own segregationist, Sessions, seek to reinstate Jim Crow laws? To insure only pure white Republicans are elected?
With tha racial gerrymandering that has occurred why the concern? The minority vote is already suppressed if not nullified.
32
Well, at least the GOP has stopped even pretending to be "real Americans", the real "Patriots", "America First!" and defenders of the US Constitution. Goes right along with what we also now know was bunk when they were shrieking about the importance of Chrstian, moral, and family values and that character counts. How many times to human beings need to be warned about false prophets before they learn to recognize them?
11
Thinking of the GOP, I am reminded of that wonderful quote by Gorgeous George, the wrestler: "Win if you can. Lose if you must... But always cheat."
4
Be proactive about planning to vote, especially if you have recently moved, even if it is within the same municipality.
At www.voterparticipation.org, the site lists the deadlines and requirements of each state to register to vote.
An association of state officials maintains this site:
www.nass/can-i-vote, which enables you to see if you are registered to vote in your state, what polling place is correct and what deadlines and regulations are in your state. Many states allow online voter registration, but others only make the forms available to print and then mail or hand deliver. Please make a note of these, and when you are having a political discussion, bring up voter registration to family and friends
6
If voting is such a sacred act (it is), there should be no issues about protecting its integrity.
All rights have implied obligations. For example, you have a right to life and an obligation to not deprive others of their right to live.
Your implied voting obligations include being truthful. You need to be registered in the district where you vote. When you move you re-register. If you don’t vote you need to re-register. You need to be the person you claim to be. You use the same ID you use to collect your welfare check or to use your Obamacare to prove you are who you say you are.
Government is responsible too. They need to reconcile all that data they collect on us - death certificates with voter ranks, W2s, DMV, etc.
Civil rights groups have an obligation. Use the same busses you take black and Hispanic, rural and poor people to vote for your progressive candidates, to get them an ID.
As for “there’s no such thing as voter fraud,” here’s an article from the NYT. It profiles a woman with multiple voter fraud convictions. It cites other cases of intentional fraud, and quotes lawyers who make a living prosecuting and defending these non-existent cases, all in one small city in TX.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/us/illegal-voting-gets-texas-woman-8-...
6
This headline is grossly inaccurate. It it not the U.S. that is embracing voting restrictions; it is Trump and his corrupt administration. A minority of voters elected him, and and even fewer now approve of his policies.
13
The Voter ID laws are the 21st century version of Jim Crow literacy tests and poll taxes. They are blatantly racist pushed by an overtly racist President and an equally bigoted "son of the [segregated] South" in Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions. At first it was the Democrat's tool to control the "solid South" and now under the myth of voter fraud it's become the Republicans weapon to keep control of states where the demographics no longer favor them. It's an affront to a nation that claims to be a democracy that it still embraces working to curtail the vote rather than enhance it. Disenfranchisement of the right to vote strikes at the very heart of our democracy and must be resisted and ultimately banned.
20
This all makes me recall George Wallace's segregation forever speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C-kBVggFrs.
Is it being played on a loop at Justice?
8
Starting in November G.O.P.O.U.T.!!
2
It is no surprise President Comrade Trump and his corrupt party of know nothings are doing their best to destroy democracy by rigging elections.
They have a lot in common with their Russian comrades but honestly, they've been cheating, gerrymandering and suppressing voters for decades.
Thanks to our illustrious SCOTUS, voter suppression has been made totally legal.
They cannot win elections any other way other than by cheating and lying.
9
Trump and Republican obstruction of justice goes all the way to the ballot box to assure another Republican win. This is over throwing our democracy to embrace fascism; the marriage of government and corporate, with enforced compliance guaranteed by religious interference of constitutional rightx.
2
Does the color of a person's skin determine their political ideology? Why does the GOP assume that African Americans or Latino citizens will vote Democratic? And why does the GOP assume that African Americans and Latinos are the greatest percentage of fraudsters when going to the polls? Or is it that the GOP assumes that their political agenda is not popular with a majority of the citizens voting and therefore they choose to suppress the votes against them?
The circular "reasoning" of the GOP clearly starts and ends with their racist agenda. The GOP is the party of white nationalism. Their policies do not support a fair and inclusive society and therefore turn people to vote against the GOP and thusly the GOP feels vindicated to suppress the people of color vote.
One wonders if the GOP voter suppression culled thousands of white votes to be expunged, would there be a huge cry of outrage by the whites?
In America, our beautiful right to vote is taken for granted by too many and thus falls prey to manipulation. Our duty as citizens to not only vote but protect the entire process is not being done. It is our responsibility to keep the flame burning for the integrity of this most democratic right.
24
@Elizabeth
Their policies do not support a fair and inclusive society and therefore turn people to vote against the GOP..sorry Liz that policy is an effective one .....to the GOP
I think you’re making assumptions.
Seems to some extent there is logic in requiring an ID or some proof that the individual who shows up is the person with the right to vote in that precinct. And yes, the GOP as a minority party has much to gain by limiting voting, But looking at most election cycles, especially where Democrats lose it also seems quite clear that if you want to win you need to have your base actually vote. The number who chose not to vote in 2016 is huge and that's what needs just as much attention.
I like Australia's system where everyone is automatically registered and everyone has to vote. If that were the case here the look of our government would be drastically different.
14
Not quite correct. In Australia you are still required to register to vote once turned 18. But you are correct that it is compulsory to vote with a tiny monetary fine for not voting without a good reason.
Compulsory voting can be a burden if it’s only a choice between poor candidates or policies.
But if you don’t vote then you can’t complain.
I suppose if my political party stood for nothing other then cutting taxes for the very, very rich, and aligning itself with the forces of despotism, environmental poisoning and global catastrophe, I’d try to keep people from voting too. I guess, I’d also try to gerrymander the heck out of every voting district possible, and pack the Supreme Court with ideologues who would legalize unlimited, foreign, dark money to fund my campaigns. But of course, I’m only supposing.
27
Why the change in policy? Are the fears of fraudulent voters legitimate? Or is this policy an attempt to insure minority rule?
There may well be a need to review voter lists so as to insure the removal of those deceased or have changed residence. Very few votes occur due to false ID. The increased restrictions on voter registration directly impacts minority voters. The purpose is clear—to insure the present political party maintains control.
We are brainwashed from school that our system is the best democracy around. The will of the people is heard.
How do citizens react when they see voting restrictions directed at them, when polling stations are few and difficult to reach, when state and federal voting districts are gerrymandered, when the vote of the majority is defeated?
Our Constitution envisioned the three branches of government as being active participants in insuring checks and balances. But that is no longer the case. The legislative branch has all but relinquished oversight of the executive. Only when opposition parties divide the two branches do we have any semblance of concern. The judiciary was to be independent and to check that the powerful adhered to the law. Today, appointments to the judiciary are based upon their adherence to a political philosophy of the dominant party. The court’s decisions weaken personal and civil rights while empowering the few to influence election outcomes.
We are a democracy—like that of ancient Greece.
4
@doughboy I can see you know very little history. Ancient Greece was not a democracy. Voting was limited to the elite and to men only. The leaders were NOT elected but chosen by an assembly. It has always been parts of fiction that Greece was a democracy since the words Democracy comes from the Greek word DEMOS means the people.
There really is no argument against having voter ID. You might want to discuss how voter ID can be put into the hands of those who are unlikely to have access in conventional ways, but that shouldn't be too hard... the DMV are very helpful, and to be honest, I don't mind my government spending a few bucks to ensure everyone has access to ID
Don't get me wrong, I think the carrying of ID should be a personal decision, and the registering for ID should be a similar option, but if you want to vote in this country- You will present valid ID at the point of voting
It all sounds reasonable to me
Any argument against is just political nonsense
10
@Rob Campbell It's not the single issue of a photo ID. it is that they continue to build other barriers into it for the purpose of suppressing votes. Shorter voting hours, less available voting spaces (and more crowded) in specific neighborhoods, purging of registered voters using the exact standard, etc . . . . They are using every possible means to suppress votes against their own party. That's not democratic.
12
@Rob Campbell: You and I are lucky - we live where we have have easy access to the DMV. One of my children did not drive right away, so we easily obtained a non-driver's ID. Please read the link here from the ACLU. It explains why Americans who are poor, rural, elderly, racial and ethnic minorities, and disabled are disproportionately targeted by these laws, especially in those states with strict ID laws. https://www.aclu.org/other/oppose-voter-id-legislation-fact-sheet
Could or Should we expect anything else from the Trump Administration? Voting is one civil right of how “The People” can actually determine their future. Without that, we’re no longer a democratic or civil society.
What the Trump administration has been fighting all along regarding voting is so simple. It’s “White Supremacy” plane and simple. So sad!
9
@Eric Cosh
As plane as the knows on your face.
Republican policies are deeply unpopular among the majority of Americans. Accordingly, Republican tactics have been to disenfranchise voters, gerrymander, or even accept the interference of a foreign adversary. In short- lie, cheat, and steal in any possible way to rig a Republican "victory".
What does it say about the ideology of a political party that does everything it can to limit the amount of voters? When it comes down to a choice between Republican ideology and democracy, Republicans will jettison democracy.
8
I am obviously against gerrymandering. But I also think it is laughable to say that requesting ID's from a voter is somehow suppressing minority voting. If you are an adult, you should have an ID of some sort. It's not that hard. You have a social security card, a birth certificate? You can get an ID. It's the minimum of what you should do to be a semi functioning adult.
9
A Social Security card is not ID. A birth certificate is not photo ID.
2
@SRA: I understand that you think it isn't hard. But please consider if you are a single parent with small children and a fulltime job, when do you have time to go stand in a long line at the DMV to get a photo ID. Or you are an elderly person who no longer drives, are you going to spend 6 hrs. riding buses and standing in a long line?.
It seems easy to those of us who have a car, have some extra time and money, have the physical stamina for lines at the DMV.
1
Voting is a right and ought to treated as such. I find it strange and somewhat hypocritical in states where the exercise of your second amendment rights is made as easy as possible the right to vote and have a voice in the make up of your government, is made more and more difficult. In person voter fraud is a non-problem Republicans are all too eager to solve, if people lose their right to cast a ballot in the process, no big deal. Republicans cannot win on their issues so they cheat.
21
In Australia, where I lived for seven years, voter registration was automatic. People who failed to go to the polls and cast a ballot were fined, As I recall it was $A25. People who wanted to protest the choices offered on the ballot could return it blank or spoil it by, for instance, voting for two candidates where only one was allowed. The comparison with this country , which some tout as the most democratic in the world, is stark.
20
Yes, the comparison is stark. No one in the U.S. is registered to vote without their knowledge or consent. And no one in the U.S. is forced to vote against their will.
I am onboard with required ID if the ID laws were phased in over a period of years, say five, or whatever seems fair. That would need to be accompanied by a genuine push by State and Federal officials to make an ID easily available to obtain. Too many Republicans in Statehouses have pushed through ID laws to take place for elections that are right around the corner, which is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters.
10
The right to vote is an essential part of democracy. Denying anyone the right to vote is a sabotaging of democracy and needs to be resisted strongly.
19
I have been a registered Democrat since the sixties, first knocking on doors for LBJ, helping minorities register and driving them to the polls. I have voted in NC, MA, NY, FL and CA. When I moved from NC to FL in 2004, the FL DMV quietly removed my party affiliation from my driver's license. Since FL was barred from the primaries in 2008, I didn't realize this omission until I went to vote in the 2016 primary and wasn't allowed to vote for Bernie.
Realize that in Red states even white people with "proper" ID are targeted for disenfranchisement. Through my angry tears I saw Clinton fans as well as Republicans high-fiving at purging another citizen's vote. I consoled myself by thinking of the 64 new Bernie voters I had signed up. Be ever vigilant of protecting your voting rights whoever you are, VOTE in November and help as many people vote as you can. We're in grave danger of losing our Democracy.
Why is it that the Republicans must stack the to win? Are they incapable of winning a fair election? Free and fair elections are good Foreign Policy, but bad Domestic Policy! SO SAD!
4
Anything to win. Cheat, steal, lie, gerrymander...get help from foreign adversaries. And it is all working like a charm. We have a party fully in power that does not represent the interest of the majority.
3
It's now up to voting rights groups, churches, and other civic organizations to counter Republican attempts to strip minorities, college students, the poor, and other "undesirable" constituencies of their voting rights by providing broadly accessible infrastructure to register and verify registration, transportation to the DMV to obtain the required voter ID and to the polls to vote. These groups also need to provide a bevy of lawyers to protect endangered voters in "right to work" states from losing their jobs for taking the required time to register, obtain State mandated ID cards and ultimately to vote. Even if there were no State constructed impediments to voting, these efforts are needed to counter the centuries old cultures of disenfranchisement and institutional structures that work to diminish minority access to the polls.
7
Apparently some of the Supreme Court Justices have forgotten that Citizens have the right to vote. And that includes them. In their many decisions concerning Voter Rights they have sadly try to take those rights away from us, starting with minorities. Those who are white and right soon will be the only ones to have the right to vote.
Sounds as if we are going back to the beginning of our founding as a country, when only the Land Owners, who happened to be white, could vote.
Nice work Republicans, Sessions and The Supreme Court five.
14
Red state legislators are enacting voter suppression laws and purging voter rolls with a vengeance with little regard for civil rights while claiming to chase phantom voter fraud where none exists. They will do anything to retain power.
6
"Voting rights advocates", such as myself, applaud the government's efforts to ensure that only legal votes are counted.
Allowing illegal voters, negates the rights of legal voters.
Voter IDs should be required in all elections.
The argument that an ID is difficult for some individuals to obtain is insulting to those individuals.
Anyone interested in voting can obtain an ID with minimal effort and vote.
Those who are disinterested should not be voting.
7
Except few to no illegal votes happen, so...
It's a ridiculous LIE to say ANYONE wants illegal votes to count. Just like the ridiculous LIE that Democrats want open borders.
Don't believe every LIE you're told.
2
@jck
I infer you've never been old, disabled, poor, or otherwise encumbered. It would take longer than this comment to explain the realities to you. Congratulations for apparently having a simple life and limited imagination as well as a wounded capacity for empathy.
The issue -- in actual measured fact -- is maybe a dozen votes out of a total of 150,000,000. Have a mathematician explain to you how irrelevant this number is. Only fringe nut cases (Kobach), criminals (Kobach), self-promoting sleazy politicians (Kobach), and Republicans looking for any excuse to suppress voting (Kobach) make an issue of it.
You can't fix stupid.
It seems that the bottom line for today's Republican party is if you can't win fair and square CHEAT. The problem we are facing is that the media is letting them get away with it.
1
There are many people that do not have ID ‘s like driving licenses ; older folks who stop driving, those who are disabled, those living in cities and especially those who cannot afford the luxury of a paying for a car, gas, and especially insurance . That cost could easily add up to at a minimum $400 or $500 a month . That’s $6000 a year .
We are all working hard enough to survive in this world . Considering that the facts do not support any voter fraud whatsoever it looks like a pseudo solution in search of a non problem that is only hurting certain factions of the voters.
You know what they say; if it ain’t broke , don’t fix it.
15
@Kjoyce
State issued photo I.D.'s are issued by many states.
Maryland charges $24 for an id good for 8 years.
1
The State of Illinois DMV issues state IDs to non-drivers, including people with disabilities. Pretty sure other states offer this service.
". . . said Logan Churchwell, a spokesman for the conservative Public Interest Legal Foundation, which advocates tighter restrictions on voter registration. 'If a state sees the need for a prophylactic capability to prevent fraud, then it can.'”
Voting now in overwhelming numbers is the last best prophylactic measure to prevent permanent disenfranchisement, Demcrats (especially members of minority populations). Don't give Logan Churchwell and his ilk the satisfaction of getting there way.
(As an aside, I wonder whether Churchwell would still agree if we changed the above statement to "If a woman sees the need for prophylactic capability to prevent unwanted pregnancy, then she can"?)
2
The right to vote is the most central right to a democracy.
Republicans like Kris Kobach have long claimed but never found any significant voter fraud, and even had to close Trump's voter fraud commission without proving any voter fraud.
So, what the Trump Administration if doing in cahoots with certain states is simply suppressing the vote of people unlikely to vote Republican, which is undemocratic and unAmerican.
3
The hypocrisy of most of the commenters here is incredible.
One can't even visit the doctor any more without showing an ID. Or buy a cell phone. Or rent a hotel room.
Yet there is resistance to preventing votes from people who have no right to vote.
It is incredible to me that anyone who believes in American style democracy would even consider removing a systemic process that allows voting by all who are legally entitled to do so but prevents voting by those who are not.
Shame on all of you.
6
I just rented a hotel room. Two in fact. No one asked for ID.
5
But of course they do. Otherwise, the entire voting age public would be able to vote. That is what Trump's top 1% want.
2
Any news that does not support the administration is Fake News. We're beginning to hear that the publishers of fake news are enemies of the people, and opposition parties may be treasonous.
Next, elections that do not support the administration will be voting fraud.
6
Everyone should show ID to vote. You say they cannot get ID, I say if you have to show ID to see a doctor then you have ID show it at the voting booth. If you do not have ID then provide some form of ID that shows you are a citizen have the government review the ID, then have a picture ID made and give it to the person. Problem solved.
2
Never in my life have I had to show photo ID to see a doctor.
8
@Libby,
Do you show your insurance cards when you go to the doctor?
Do you show your ID to have test done?
A Party that wants reduced checks on gun purchases and increased checks on voting has no business being in power. They perceive a greater threat from representative democracy than from a bullet.
26
Knowing that it can't win fair and square, the GOP has always tilted the playing field. It is now so lopsided we can't really call our country a democracy any more. Time for the Dems to take it back, throw the Republican bums out, abolish unfair voter ID, gerrymandering, the Electoral College and Citizens United, enact term limits, make voting mandatory as in Australia, enact Medicare for all, a $15 an hour minimum wage, increase teacher pay and reduce college tuition. Lastly, tax the rich the way they used to be taxed so our government can repair crumbling infrastructure, fund schools and take care of the poor. Only then can we go back to being a shining city on the hill and a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.
23
@Christy
There is nothing unfair about voter ID if it is applied correctly. Mandatory voting only way you can win an election better take a good look at your platform.
Yes, yes, and a $15/hr minimum wage is already out of date. Official poverty levels are ludicrous. Let's try a $25/hr minimum & demand that all those big corporations that benefitted from Trump's outrageous tax cuts to the detriment of the middle class & to small businesses raise wages & expand benefits like decent health insurance, maternity/paternity, family & sick leave for all employees. Such improvements contribute to maintaining American greatness.
@GregP
Mandatory voting does not affect who one votes for.
There is nothing wrong with having a managed voting process, where votes are verified with checks and balances, and where there is an official registration and voter Ids expected.
There are indeed instances of voter fraud. The Chicago machine did not get its bad reputation for nothing.
In Calif, non-citizens are now given the right to vote in local school board elections, and are issued voting ID for this purpose. This is just a first step, everyone knows that this is a shot across the bow, the larger and longer-term goal being to grant voting rights to non-citizens in state and federal elections. People recognize a ruse when they see one. The right to vote applies to US citizen and not residents.
According to Yale, there are up to 25 M illegals living in the US. Many of these illegal residents have driver's licenses. And many live in sanctuary cities or at least 1 state, CA. If a local government declares itself a sanctuary, it is a slippery slope and not at all far-fetched that it will not enforce election laws either. Our election process should have integrity and should ensure that only citizens vote, and not illegal residents.
The Democrats doth protest too much.
3
Republicans can't win without Fox, the NRA, abortion, Gerrymandering, and voter suppression.
And that's because their tax plans are terrible for the 99%. The leave huge deficits and debt for us in order to give more billions to their billionaire donors.
And they keep cutting social programs and education.
Republicans are bought and paid for at the expense of all of us and our children.
9
@Independent
And -- of course -- the inimitable Citizen's United.
I hate to say it, but this is the sort of activity that makes me roll my eyes when people's response to the Trump era is to talk about the importance of voting, and about how it is the solution. In a gerrymandered district, or one where voting machines can clearly be manipulated and authorities refuse to do anything about it, or one where voter ID laws send half of those who show up at the polls scrambling for forms of ID in their glove compartments or back home in order to be permitted to cast a ballot, or where polling places mysteriously change on voting day, voting may or may not be a solution. King did not just recommend voting. King engaged in civil disobedience to force the issue. I don't know whether his tactics are the solution now, but I doubt that voting, without more, is.
68
@Joe Let me get this straight, you are worried about election interference but oppose the idea of someone having to show their ID in order to vote?
@Kohl, it is plain from valid evidence frequently cited that voting fraud by voters is a problem so insignificant as to merit little attention, while election fraud by the authorities who are supposed to represent the public has been, and by all appearances remains, a major problem. The fact is that having been to AZ, WI, and GA, I know that on the ground these are purple states. As a poll observer in AZ, I personally saw the extraordinary measures that voters had to go through to prove their identity with not one, but two forms of ID from a list, AND a polling station switch, AND arrow signs rotated outside the polling station to point the wrong way at a Dem precinct, AND a police car showing up right at the entrance for no apparent reason, then taking off as soon as I took notes, AND Latinos being turned away on any pretext. I don't trust the election system in Georgia. I believe the elections in that state are rigged for the GOP and stolen on an as-needed basis. In short, yes, I am worried about official government election interference, and am not concerned about voter IDs at the ballot box.
1
@Joe I too doubt that voting *without more* is the solution, but voting very definitely is a major part of it. Among other things, it's the key to changing the difficulties you enumerate. VOTE!
1
We have now retired but for about a decade ran the polling station at a nearby school. Of the 8 or 9 paid staff ($125 for a 12 hour day often longer - 6a.m. to 9p.m.) one person was African American. This happened to reflect the racial composition of the town. More diversity would have been welcome, including recruiting younger people. Although ID was not required most people offered to show it, with the added practical benefit of seeing the spelling of their names. We were fortunate being able to have this number of staff. It kept lines very short. I think gerrymandering is a greater threat to voter freedom than showing ID.
11
@Boomer,
Agree with your argument; I too work at the polls for voter registration and many people have non English names that most people could never spell, repeat nor understand the name even when it is spoken; many of these people are from India and they will just automatically show an ID because they realize that it is difficult for many people to handle their name.
Everyone should show an ID to verify who you are; no one should have to guess that you are who you say you are in an open society with stolen identities abounding.
Gee, I wonder why the Obama Administration fought to not have requirements for voter identification and the Trump Administration wants voter identification? My guess is that it had to do with voting in places like Philadelphia where Obama got more votes than their were voters registered. We need to verify ourselves in most facets of life, whether its a drivers license or a birth certificate. Why wouldn't we be required to have to prove our validity as a voter? Maybe this is but another reason why Democrats want open borders, so they can bring in more voters!
8
@BobsOpinion Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. The Philadelphia, Cleveland, Chicago stories have no basis in fact outside Infowars. It is true that in some precincts Obama won 99-100% of the vote, but if Trump won 99% of the vote in a rural Alabama precinct, would you say that was fraud?
2
The United States under the Trump GOP is the only major democracy in the world that seeks to make voting more difficult, and allowed the decisive loser of the national popular vote in 2016 to “win” the presidency using the lawful, but archaic, electoral college.
Minority rule is not only tolerated, but encouraged. The Trump DOJ is openly aiding Republican run states to enact subtle, but effective, roadblocks on voting like voter ID, purging of voter rolls, and restrictive signature rules. The rationale used is to stop in-person voting fraud, which is practically nonexistent.
The only solution is overwhelming victory for Democrats in the states, and prompt passing of rules encouraging voting so that the GOP’s efforts can be reversed. Our very democracy depends upon it.
9
The Democrat-controlled Massachusetts Legislature unanimously passed a bill, signed by the Republican Governor, which automatically registerers a person to vote once they use any service provided by the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. The hard part is done. Now, it's up to people to get to the polls. A democracy should avail itself of all methods to get people to vote.
7
A voter ID should be no big deal period. Try to get your x rays out of a hospital or do any other procedure in the U.S. one must identify themselves and this should and must be the procedure for voting. What are the democratic socialists so afraid of?
7
@Jan Jan, I can, and do, vote by mail. No identification papers needed. None. If I desire, I can vote in person, again, no one says "papers please".
What are the Republicans afraid of?
1
Jeff Sessions is a southerner, and to everyone who has observed him, he is attempting to bring back "Jim Crow" laws. Furthermore he is being facilitated by that autocrat-to-be Trump. The American people don't know how close they are to loosing their freedoms. The supreme court is becoming a rubber stamp for anything that Trump desires. There are any number of past bad decisions - Dred Scott, Fleming v Nestor, Citizens United, Corporations are Persons etc - and with the new member you can expect several more wrong headed decisions pleasing to Trump and his cohorts.
3
I've seen over and over since Dick Nixon. When Republicans fear they can't win, they cheat. Over and over and over again. And since the end justifies the means for them any form of cheating is justified. If the numbers don't add up for you then change the rules.
It is seldom the kind of overt cheating that gets Republicans like Steve Curtis or Brandon Hall convicted of fraud but more the "I'll make it legal" by means of drumming up fear and passing laws that they make sound reasonable using right wing branding machine that has successfully claimed black is white and white is black.
3
The job of the government in a democracy is to make it as easily as possible for citizens to vote. It is not to erect artificial barriers under the pretense of solving a non-existent problem. Any politician or any judge that supports these efforts at voter suppression ought to be profoundly ashamed of themselves.
8
Yes and in overwhelmingly Democratic controlled New York State there is NO early voting permitted.
1
See this for what it is: a sign of weakness. The demographics do not favor Republicans. The majority does not favor their policies and absent dirty tricks, Republicans are going to be voted out or not elected to begin with.
1
Voter suppression is voter fraud.
3
checks and balances, and where there is an official registration and voter Ids expected.
There are indeed instances of voter fraud. The Chicago machine did not get its bad reputation for nothing.
In Calif, non-citizens are now given the right to vote in local school board elections, and are issued voting ID for this purpose. This is just a first step, everyone knows that this is a shot across the bow, the larger and longer-term goal being to grant voting rights to non-citizens in state and federal elections. People recognize a ruse when they see one. The right to vote applies to US citizen and not residents.
According to Yale, there are up to 25 M illegals living in the US. Many of these illegal residents have driver's licenses. And many live in sanctuary cities or at least 1 state, CA. If a local government declares itself a sanctuary, it is a slippery slope and not at all far-fetched that it will not enforce election laws either. Our election process should have integrity and should ensure that only citizens vote, and not illegal residents.
The Democrats doth protest too much.
4
@Philly And the Republican doth believe in conspiracy theories and Fox "News" too much.
1
In the same way that those who advocate for open borders so that anyone but anyone can just come into the country, there are those same people who push for absolutely no scrutiny of who is voting in our elections. It's the same crowd, and they want the same destructive result. And here in the New York Times, it's the same lies and distortions, the same one-sided perspective, presented as if it were actual news.
6
Never has a political party (GOP) taken such a hostile position toward democracy. They want liberty and justice for all white men of wealth and will justify all means in its pursuit. They have shamed this nation and the very idea of freedom for all.
1
It is compulsory to register and vote here for all three levels of government.
We get postal reminders and a letter with ID on it. We either take this to a polling booth or we can apply for a postal vote if overseas, disabled, aged or infirm.
For those who go to the booths there are the traditional sausage sizzles. It makes for a community day as the local candidates tour the polling stations to shake hands.
All votes are paper based and are counted under scrutiny. No system is perfect. We have an odd system where the votes of smaller parties get transferred under agreed preferences if their candidate is not successful.
Governments can be made up of coalitons and sometimes we don't get results for weeks if it is too close to call. The country often ticks along nicely with a caretaker government in place. It is much akin to the nightwatchman in cricket.
In all this, our democratic rights would see an administration like yours gone in a week.
Real democracy, you should try it sometime.
16
@Amybee I'm often telling people about Australia's democracy, which I wish we had here. Instead of preventing citizens from voting, Australia actually fines them for not voting.
But Republicans don't believe in democracy, and sadly they are in control here. As you can see from this comment by Roger Freeman--a key educational adviser to Nixon then working for the reelection of California Governor Ronald Reagan - they feel the same way about education:
"We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat. That's dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow to go through higher education."
Yes, and Republicans knows that if we're not selective about who gets to vote, they will be swept into the dustbin of history (a consummation devoutly to be wished and a fate so richly deserved).
2
Sausage sizzles? How clever of you to note that votes could be bought so easily from those poor devils who will sell their souls for a hot link or two served up by some white liberal who doesn’t actually live in the “community” but goes slumming there on Election Day.
@Amybee I lived on the NSW Central Coast for two years. You are on the money!
There is a simple solution to this but neither Republicans nor Democrats want a solution. Require every American to get a state or territorial ID/drivers license. Have that ID/drivers license automatically register every American citizen over the age of 18 to vote. The information on these IDs should be forwarded to the IRS and State Income Tax offices. Anyone with a state ID should be expected to file tax returns. We need to investigate people who claim no income. We need to fully implement Real ID to stop people from having licenses in two states. We need to require people to vote in person. We need to confirm that people who are voting with absentee ballots are of sound mind and actually filing the ballot. Fraud is rampant in the United States. There are tens of thousands of Social Security recipients who have died yet are still receiving checks and voting. There are tens of thousands of citizens with diagnoses dementia who are still voting. No one is responsible for stopping it. The ACLU will say this is an intrusion into our privacy. WE HAVE NO PRIVACY, GET OVER IT.
5
@Mike There were between 2000 and 2016 only 31 documented proven cases of impersonation voter fraud out of over 1 billion ballots case in that time frame. Fraud is not rampant and doesn't even rise to the level of a nuisance.
there is no test of sound mind on any voter roll if there were we would have no Republicans voting
@Glenn G I didn't say voter fraud, I simply said fraud. And fraud is out of control. I would suspect that over 25% of the owners of cars being driven in NYC are committing auto insurance fraud either by not listing all drivers or registering at an address where the car is not housed. Just like voter fraud, no prosecutions ever happen. It doesn't mean no crimes are being committed but only that law enforcement choose not to prosecute. We need to treat petty fraud like a serious crime. Millions of petty frauds add up to trillions of dollars.
Fixing elections is the Republican way. Putin has added the technical means for them.
13
This fight over the right of individual states to set their own qualifications for voting has its origins in the founding of our nation and the reasons why we are called the United States (plural) and not the United State. The smaller, agriculturally based states (slave states) that originally adopted the Constitution never would have done so if the bigger industrialized Northern states could always outvote them not only on slavery but on all the other issues that weigh in on states’ rights vs. the power of the federal state. For commercial reasons and to secure its supply of cotton for their mills, the Northern states wanted a “union” more than the Southern states did so, to satisfy them, we have an electoral college system and not a straight vote that would always be carried by the more populous Northern states. For the same reason we have two senators from each state no matter how large or small. It’s a case of putting principle aside whether for or against states rights for the sake of forming that “more perfect” but not totally perfect union that delivered advantages to both sides.
Today we are still divided into two camps along the same lines, so we have the strict constructionists of the Constitution vs. those who would reinterpret it based on their own sense of what to do. The tension between the two sides will never stop, but there is good that always comes from it in the end. It is our enduring national debate. It is what makes our country great.
Voting should be limited to those who pay income taxes, and no one who receives government subsidies, including non-military government employees, should be allowed to vote.
2
@Jon W.: Something similar was considered by the Founding Fathers. It is deliberately not part of the Original Intent of the Constitution.
2
@Jon W. your method would include the military as we receive housing and other allowances. Your method would also include those less fortunate who receive food stamps and welfare. Medicaid recipients would be excluded as well. Your approach is exactly the type this article (and I) condemn. Why, just because you are poor, should you not be allowed to participate in Democracy?
4
@Jon W. Trump thinks just like that. And we know how much taxes he pays.
3
A minority of citizens establishing absolute rule over a majority is undemocratic and unsustainable.
23
I know the federal government doesn't like to impose rules on the state's voting procedures but perhaps they should pass a law that any state practicing unreasonable culling of their voting roles with the requirement that they provide for same day voter registration for individuals who were removed for an arbitrarily derived reason. Make the person prove who they are and where they reside before they can cast a ballot, but let them vote.
5
Trump bring his own brand of sleaze to the administration. His team of the 'best' follows him and the GOP to the point where there is no doubt that our democracy is under siege.
Voter suppression though has been a GOP SOP for decades. The Robert's court appears to approve: Remember that civil rights are no longer a problem per SCOTUS. On that front, Kemp in GA has mastered the art of disenfranchising voters to keep GA red. Gov Scott in FL has made that his goal as well for both his terms.
Blue is our future if we want to avoid authoritarianism. Red means certain fascism.
11
Voting should be as easy as possible. These voting laws are specifically meant to help those in power stay in power. It's an old Jim Crow trick from the deep south. They used to require literacy tests and such in an effort to keep minorities from voting. This is the modern version of the same old skullduggery. It's especially effective at keeping a minority in power. Along with gerrymandering, these are the tools of repressive politics and they should be abolished once and for all.
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@Mike L
I agree that voting should be easy, but times have changed. When people drive, fly, apply for loans or jobs (even low paying ones), they fill out forms with personal information, and usually need to produce ID.
Voting is important, and should not be held to a lesser standard than those other areas.
BTW, all states should have early voting (not limited to one day). Florida, where I vote, does. Whereas "enlightened" New York State (where I used to vote), limits voting to one day.
1
@Mike L
I couldn't agree more. I remember when it was easy to vote; however, I am a white male, and grew up in the south. That said, I got out of here and moved to NY City when I was 32. Unfortunately, due to life's circumstances beyond my control (as most are), I was forced to move back 2 years ago.
@michael costa
A lot of people are too poor to drive, fly, or apply for loans (had they sufficient funds, they would have the appropriate ID to do all of those things), she they likewise be prevented from voting by their poverty.
Besides gerrymandering and purging voter rolls, the GOP has also taken strong measures to consolidate/centralize polling places in certain Democratic strongholds -- so people have to travel farther and stand in longer lines (often stretching into the outdoor heat) to exercise their franchise.
They know that as a minority party, winning elections depends on making voting somewhere between inconvenient and impossible. And so far, it's yielded their desired results. So every voter needs to show up at every polling place, snacks and hydration in hand, ready to do whatever it takes to cast his/her ballot and, if denied that right, demand a provisional ballot. If the public rolls over on this one, game over.
15
"Instead, according to critics of the administration and even some Republicans, the principal aim of laws adding requirements like photo IDs is to discourage certain voters and empower the G.O.P."
Of course. What else did we expect. The party of white resentment wants to make damned sure they get rid of as many African American and Hispanic voters as they can.
Voter purges, and gerrymandering, are nothing less than a power play designed to punish people of color in defiance of the Constitution and cement white power.
Between voter suppression and changing rules for naturalized citizenship, the Trump Administration, fed by GOP money, is bringing apartheid policies to a country founded on the principle of universal citizen freedoms.
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On voter rights, there is a lot of research and most of the facts or not in dispute. Most experts -- including Nate Silver -- give you the bottom line backed up by dry statistics. The Times is heavy on polemics and tends to be misleading.
Gerrymandering has a huge negative effect. A large state that casts 50% of its vote for Democrats can end up with a Congressional delegation of 2/3 Republican as a result of an aggressive gerrymander. But restrictions on the right to vote have an effect of about 0.7% in typical elections.
Obviously' those fighting for justice should manage their resources wisely and expend most of their manpower on what matters most -- ie, gerrymandering. The business of justice is a business and it's important to focus on what matters most. In this regard, polemicists cause more harm than they are worth.
2
@michjas: So restricting the right to vote on 0.7% of the voters, over 1 million, is OK because the percentage is so small...
1
Voting should not be seamless and without any obstacles. If someone needs to put forth a modicum of effort to vote for Democrats to keep their TANF, WIC, SNAP and Section 8 funds flowing, that's just too darn bad.
9
Voting is a right that should not be denied or infringed upon.
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@Gusting Actually, voting isn't a right. There's a right to not be discriminated against based on race, sex, age or failure to pay a poll tax, but there's no general right to vote in the Constitution. In any case, there's another part of the Constitution that explicitly says "shall not be infringed," yet liberals don't seem to have any issue infringing on that. Why is that?
@Jon W. Maybe we could add an intelligence test, if Trumpers can't pass it, that's too darn bad!
2
Democrats, especially in urban districts, are the beneficiary of sloppy voting rules so they have no interest in ensuring election integrity.
And, as usual, they excuse their enabling of potential voting fraud as an expansion of voting rights for minorities.
5
@EGD: Did you read the article? Even the Kobach committee did not find any evidence of voter fraud, and it wasn't for lack of trying...
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@EGD: Many studies over many years show that election integrity is historical fact. Voting fraud over decades is like a couple hundred votes out of millions.
Conservatives are making stuff up to hurt people and manipulating rules because they cannot win fairly.
4
It never ceases to amaze me the lengths people go to obtain the latest technologies or to get their hands on that perfect gift; camping outside Best Buy for two nights or arriving at Walmart at 2AM on black Friday. But the most sacred right anyone has in America has to be meticulously tended to by government functionaries and other advocacy groups because some folk just aint got it in them to protect there own rights to enfranchisement. Perhaps we should change voting schedules to coincide with the day after thanksgiving or whenever a new I-phone is released. That way no one will be inconvenienced in any manner they are not already perfectly familiar with and capable of overcoming.
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@Tim When the government is actively working agaianst a person, even doing one's due diligence is often not enough. The government should make it simple to register, simple to maintain, and simple to vote. For as you say, it is our most sacred right.
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@Tim Best post of the day.
We used to believe the quaint notion that:
''Tis better to set a guilty man free, than to sentence an innocent man to a single day in jail'.
That's what made us 'great'. A desire for freedom and justice so strong, that we were willing to let a few bad apples pass through, in order to safeguard the rights of law-abiding citizens.
But now? We jail everyone, for everything - and so what of a thousands + people are found to have been innocent.
We have allowed poor, ignorant people to be deceived that there is some kind of voter fraud in this country, when there is statistically speaking, zero.
They make you pay taxes - even if you are uneducated and uninformed. They make you sign up for selective service, even if you are uneducated and uninformed.
So, we need to make - or at least(!) permit - everyone to vote, regardless of whether the broader population is considered to be 'uneducated' or 'uninformed'.
There is no voter fraud. Our government should err on the side of facilitating voting, not impeding it.
And those that support these policies of voter restrictions are themselves racists, and they know it, just like we all do. Specifically, GOP racists who couldn't win a minority vote if it came with ice cream, and so have decided to simply make voting difficult such groups. Obviously.
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Funny, somehow to our Supreme Court, money = speech, and junk mail = a valid legal notice that can end the right to vote.
So money is more important that people, and a government's desire the cheaply clean up its voter records is more important than a real person whose single piece of mail may have been missed as the addressee picked up junk mail.
The census bureau uses enumerators to determine addresses and then goes house to house. Why can't they do this re voters?
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Given the harsh penalties and the minuscule probability of one vote affecting a result, I would be surprised if anyone knowingly votes illegally.
3
Another consequence of the Bernie Bros. electing Donald Trump out of spite for Hillary. No group has done more damage to liberal causes in this country than liberals.
6
Gee, I wonder why the Trump administration would want to limit voting rights? Let's take a good look at the kinds of people who will find it harder to vote. Could they be black? Hispanic? More often voting for Democrats? More racism from Trump and the Republicans. Then, take a look at the voting districts that were largely drawn by Republican-controlled state legislatures. It is an ugly abuse of power.
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@Livin the Dream: Yes, but as you say, the people of the States voted for this. Like the Southerners kept voting to keep slavery.
Those without government issued photo ID can not get on a plan, enter a federal building, drive a car, purchase beer or wine, etc. I think this issue is silly.
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Thanks for assuming everyone is just like you. Maybe when you right to vote gets "pruned" accidently, you might reconsider you position.
2
To some, voting is hard fought. Too bad that many chose to stay home back in 2016 thinking it wouldn't matter. And the chain of repercussions has just begun to rattle down the shaky lane of history
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No surprise that trump and sessions are fighting voting rights and access to the ballot box. But fortunately there are private citizens and organizations that will take up the battle. We just have to hope the Supreme Court doesn't get in the way.
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Part of the problem is that racism is so pervasive as an invisible hand in American society that too many white Americans don't see any of this as a threat to democracy- mainly white Americans in the GOP.
We all should remember (although it is not taught well in our schools) that blacks and poor whites were often entirely excluded from voting in many of what are now red states in the south and only federal intervention stopped this.
White southern society was entirely comfortable with this arrangement and the result of the federal intervention represented the next chapter of our on-going cultural civil war that dominates and damages our politics today.
The people who are trying to exclude minorities from voting don't even see their racism- these enemies of democracy, including the right wing plutocrats who work under the radar at this, believe they are saving their country from people who would destroy it.
However, it is the American people as a whole who are ultimately responsible for defending democracy, and most are too naive to even see a threat in laws designed to reduce the votes of particular groups- otherwise this wouldn't be happening. The outrage would make it politically untenable.
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@alan haigh, Agree. What I hear from the administration mirrors more and more what I was taught as a little white child in the 1950s in Selma, Alabama. I really do not want to regress to those days!
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@alan haigh I totally disagree with you! The white Republicans trying to limit non-white voting knows perfectly well it is racism that is the basis for all this. White Republicans, in particular Southern lower class ones, are afraid of losing their dominant place in society and are doing everything they can, legal or illegal, to prevent it. There is no voter fraud whatsoever! It is all an attempt to perpetuate their, white, power
2
@alan haigh
"Invisible hand"? What America have you been living in for the past century or so?
1
Step 1: Attach flag pin to lapel to prove patriotism.
Step 2: Ignore foreign intervention in our elections but disenfranchise by gerrymander and fake investigations into voter fraud.
Step 3: Profit.
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@T. Rivers
Millions of voter fraud cases??? Still waiting for the evidence.
Geesch, we can't even get half of our legal citizenry to take the time to vote!
It's so completely ludicrous to suggest that illegal immigrants, who live their whole life in the shadows hiding from law enforcement, are going to risk federal prison so they can cast one little vote, which they know full well wouldn't matter anyway.
In Britain I as householder get a letter periodically with a form and prepaid return envelope. I am required to enter on that form the details of ALL persons in the house who are eligible to vote. Failure to make a return results in a visit from an official of the local council requiring the data.
The list of electors is collated and published and can be viewed by all. They can then challenge the accuracy of any entry. This electoral register is used to validate those who try to vote.
As voting is by paper forms with the counting viewed by the candidates or their representatives an accurate result is assured.
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Thank you for sharing a different perspective. If the same were done in the US, liberals would undoubtedly scream racism and voting purges.
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@irdac Ontario, Canada here: a year ago moved from a rural area to a city old age home with 400 residents. Wondered RE voting. For 50 years had voted in a tiny parish hall in a field some years corn, some years alfalfa, some years grain. Soon, an election, and turned out (by mail) I had been seamlessly traced by way of change-of-address and the polling place was in the basement. I marveled, and was told: "Oh, they don't want to lose 400 voters!" Yes: paper ballot.
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@irdac In Australia we are required to be on the electoral roll with our address registered - this determines the electorate we are obliged to vote in. When we vote our names are crossed off the roll in the local electorate at the time of voting. Voting is compulsory, and if we don't vote we are subject to a nominal fine of $50 or so.
2
How can the government bar people from voting but still demand they pay taxes? Whatever happened to"no taxation without representation?"
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Non-citizens immigrants pay taxes. Even so, this movement stressing Voter ID with the intention of depriving voting privileges to people deemed undesirable is contemptible.
6
Before there was the Constitution there was a revolution against the British with "No taxation without representation" as one battle cry. Voting registration should be automatic for all citizens who pay taxes. No citizen who is paying taxes should be deprived his right to vote or he shouldn't be allowed the privilege of paying taxes and his tax obligation should be waived.
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@Mary M
Voting is a right reserved exclusively to citizens of the United States.
1
Yesterday's Unite the Right rally shows why Republicans are against voting rights and for gerrymandering.
The GOP is now a very vocal minority, and they see Americans of all colors rising up. If minority voters lean Democratic?
Well.
Trump, Sessions and Miller can't have that.
Nor will Ryan & McConnell. Who cares about the rights of a couple million American voters? They are almost all minorities anyway.
Remember, these people lock children up in cages and forcibly medicate uncooperative ones. Congress looks the other way.
Nothing is too low for them.
Vote Democratic on November 6th.
Every seat, every office.
Changing Congress is our best hope.
Vote.
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Prior to the 1832 Reform Act in’Great Britain’ this restriction on voting was found in Rotten Boroughs were a very small number of white landed gentry held sway over who was allowed to vote. So much for the land of the free!!!
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The right to vote comes with obligations. Failure to make an effort to prove you are eligible should eliminate you. Interesting that people in the latter category are coveted and promoted by Democrats.
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Effort is not a requirement for voting. Citizenship is, and ID laws challenge the usual obvious.
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@Rowdy
The right to vote shouldn't have obstacles in place like they used in the past, such as poll taxes and literacy tests only given to blacks.
This is not being applied across the board, but a tool to prevent democrats from voting. None of this is done in republican areas.
People were registered in GA, yet they are not eligible to vote because it was a mass voter registration. Kicking people off because of a simple typo. Those are tactics to prevent people from voting.
Maybe liberal states should do the same to the republicans living in their states and see how fast the republicans howl unfair.
4
@Rowdy you prove you are eligible when you register. Under what basis is a single letter sent without demanding proof of delivery adequate legal notice?
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>
This is what happens in a two party system when you don't vote OR you cast your vote to someone that has no chance to win (e.g., Stein and Sanders supporters). The "I'll show you" vote. History shows more often than not rightwing authoritarians slide through the cracks and gain power.
What Sanders supporters that didn't vote for HRC can't overcome in their feeble attempts to cover their folly is the simple fact that they tossed their vote away.
Until the Constitution is changed, allowing runoffs, thereby assuring greater than 50% to win, the U.S. will always have a two party system, and those that don't vote knowing this will pay the price of stupidity.
Unless you want politicians to win with less then 50% and could gain power with as little as 10%; this is the 'what we need are more party(s)' fallacy.
When what we need is less folly and more critical thinking.
13
Citizens want their Social Security, their Medicare...they want safe roads and clean water...they want to be warned of new diseases and protected from foreign powers. However, the only way to do these and anything else is to know how to govern...and the Republican Party has no ideas, and doesn't appear to know what governing is. Maybe that's why they're always for smaller government; if you don't know how to govern, the only way to save face is to simply eliminate that which you have not the ability to do...and the only way to do that - because a vast majority of voters do want the services good government provides them - is to prevent voting. The "if I can't beat them with reasoned logic and good ideas, I'll just shut down the game" approach...and it is killing our country.
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I was a lifelong, card-carrying moderate Republican all my adult life, until the California GOP lost its way, choosing to label moderates RINOs and make us unwelcome in our own Party about a decade ago. Tent now too small to win a statewide office.
It is sad to see what was my party losing its way even more by systematically cheating to win elections.
29
@Steve Chalmers
And yet when Jerry Brown is the voice of fiscal sanity in our oh-so-progressive state, you know the California Democrat Party has gone off the deep end.
Just wait until Gavin Newsom takes over after November and the laundry list of ‘progressive’ legislation Brown has sat on gets enacted.
1
@EGD You live in one of the most beautiful states with a GDP that exceeds the vast majority of countries in the world. Appreciate what you have; work to improve it, certainly, but don’t denigrate it. As Americans, we all need to stop treating our country like it is a broken down used car instead of the marvel that it is.
@EGD: Are you saying that California was much better off financially when the GOP had control? The economic data does not seem to support this.
Unfortunately, each American citizen does not independently, unilaterally make sure that they are correctly registered to vote. Voting rights groups can only do so much. If Americans don't each and every one guard their own rights, no group can do it for them.
9
This is THE MOST IMPORTANT story that hardly anyone is talking about or doing anything to combat. The ACLU should be temporarily dropping all other cases and issues (i.e. transgender rights, even reuniting the refugee children with their parents). This is how the Republicans and their big-money backers plan to grab and retain power in a "permanent majority." And it's working! If they steal another election due to voter suppression, it be game over for America.
32
The Republicans have not been able to win elections honestly for decades. They are a true minority party that depends on various well-planned and heavily financed strategies such as computer driven RedMap gerrymandering managed by Karl Rove to stay in power.
No thinking person can accept Trump's narrow margin of 70,000 votes spread over three key states as real in the face of systematic GOP voter suppression and Russian interference. Hillary won the popular vote by 3 million. Trump's occupation of the Oval Office is far more questionable even than GW Bush's election by the Supreme Court in 2000.
As a result of the Republican corruption of the electoral process The US has shifted from a right-of-center nation, to the extreme right. We are now a one-party state on the verge of a dictatorship.
Republican voter suppression depends on poor voter turnout Democracy is dying and can only be recovered by a massive voter revolt at the polls. Republican
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As might be expected from both the Republicans and Trump, preventing voting fraud is just their mendacious way of assuring voting fraud. We had this kind of morally bankrupt false salesmanship under Bush as well with the Every Child Left Behind Act and the No Tree Left Behind Act. At least the Republicans are consistent in their efforts to fool the American public, and they continue to enjoy great success as professional charlatans.
6
Another Republican move to limit democracy in America.
18
@BB Fernandez or, another Republican move to correct the sins of the Obama Administration with regard to voters rights. How could Obama win in places like Philadelphia with more votes than there were registered voters? The fact is that there has ben an increase in voter fraud and that belongs to the left. You need proof for everything, why are you afraid to prove your eligibility to vote? What are you trying to hide?
1
@BobsOpinion Your "facts" have been thoroughly debunked.
No surprise here. Republicans realized long ago that the only way they could hold on to power was by strangling democracy by stacking the courts and limiting voter participation in the ballot. The next step is to scrap the constitution entirely. The effort is well under way.
24
This is what happens when you allow two private political corporations to make the rules for the elections. By Einstein's alleged definition of insanity, an overwhelming majority of Americans are insane. Election after election Americans are given 2 bad name brand choices. Election after election people vote for the lesser of two evils and/or for the Party. Then they whine when they realize they have a horrible, evil government.
TH's US is not a Democracy and never will be as long as the DNC and RNC get to decide who votes, how they vote, and how the votes get counted. The Electoral College needs to be abolished if a true democracy is to exist in the US.
Shortly before my grandfather died, he said the US election process was just like the one in the USSR. The Party approves the incumbent or their 1st choice and the opponents. No matter who wins, the Party gets their person in office. I am so glad he did not have to see the insanity and evil put upon the World by the US government since 2000.
4
Despite all the good things you just said, remember this: The RNC did NOT wish for Trump to be elected their candidate for the Presidency. Republican primary voters made that happen. Trump achieved that by having been a fixture on Fox News since 2011, when he decided to run and therefor had 4 years of preptime to figure out what the primary voters were driven by.
3
As if this is a fall from grace. Both parties do everything they can to stuff the ballot box in their favor. We can at least identify the name of the game instead of righteously pretending only the other party does it.
10
@Ed Only one party is constantly trying to delegitimize voters. We don't need these false equivalences.
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@Ed: Just like both parties were guilty of violence in Charlottesville.
20
Then let me tell you about Democrats busing people to the polls and giving them a free meal for their vote. Evidently you’ve never heard of “community organizing.” I don’t think actual citizenship is necessary to participate.
7
how typical of this administration: limiting the voting rights of americans, while encouraging election interference by russia.
147
While one can go way back in US history to find forms of laws and rules to prevent various groups from voting. this article reminded me of Paul Weyrich's 1980 presentation to the Religious Roundtable:
"So many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome: good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."
Mr. Weyrich was a conservative/Republican political activist. So, nothing much has changed. Barring strict voter support laws, the only remedy is to have very large voter turnouts in each state (over 75% turnouts) that effectively cancel suppression efforts.
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@Donna Nieckula: There are democratic countries in the world with 80%-ish participation. The US could look at what these countries have done. Or not.
Since you can’t get an X-ray without proper ID due to HIPAA laws, the belief that minority and low income people won’t have access to proper ID is the big American lie.
The simple reason why the Democrat party is against voter ID laws is because they benefit off of voter fraud. Pure and simple.
16
@Jonny
When Georgia began requiring voter ID, they couldn't find a single case of voter fraud, so your claim has no validity.
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@Jonny There is no entity by the name "Democrat" party.
7
@JonnyYeah, prove all the fraud the GOP and Trump says is going on at the ballot box. Another road block to discourage voters by a corrupt administration
7
Most of these studies showing no fraud are methodologically biased. A key problem is that on site voter interviews are not going to turn up any fraud. It's like going up to 1,000 people leaving a mall and asking if anyone was shoplifting. No one admits to it. The studies also cannot tell if someone is using a stolen or fraudulent ID, but we know millions of these are sold. There are millions registered in two places, and no system to reconcile or even record if two votes were cast by one person, a person who might never be notified they allegedly voted at their old address. How many graveyard residents voted last election? Again we have no systematic way to know. We have a long way to go to ensure the integrity of the actual electoral process and should not be made complacent by inherently flawed studies telling us otherwise.
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@Caleb Mars: NO studies showed fraud, including the methodologically sound ones. Please provide me with a list of the most recent methodologically biased studies.
2
Now that the path to victory relies on voter suppression, the Republicans have every incentive to dismantle our democracy.
Nice knowing you democracy. See you later.
43
This is the only way the GOP wins. They have to stack the deck by stopping the opposition from voting. We must get people registered properly and voting regularly. If one only votes in the presidential years there is a risk of losing voting status in many states (GA, OH, IN for instance). Vote! Elections matter for the 99%.
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@PatBeautiful, and well said, thank you.
2
@Pat - the simplest, most efficient, fairest and ultimately cheapest way to get people to vote is to pay them to vote. A high turn-out confers legitimacy, enhances consensus and strengthens acceptance of laws and policies, ultimately generating trillions of dollars in national wealth.
It's become obvious that years ago the GOP realized they were not a majority and could not win the elections required to control government unless they controlled the votes. They took over state legislatures and gerrymandered districts so that they could not lose. Now their push is remove the actual voters. Our elections have indeed become rigged but the person saying that it was rigged is the person that has and continues to do everything in his power to undermine democracy.
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@Mr Peabody BTW this is why the questions on the census matter so much. We redistrict after every census. It is how the Republicans were able to gerrymander in 2011 -- people did not come out to vote in 2010!!!!!
@Mr Peabody so how is it Obama served 2 terms? And what were the results of the investigation into Wayne county 2016 results called for by Warren?
If I fail to vote in several elections then I will have to re-register, if I move I will have to update my address, not just as a voter but as a driver and vehicle owner. These are in fact responsibilities. And those voters removed from the rolls for not voting for several cycles or for not updating their address are not victim's of racism or bias. They are irresponsible adults.
18
@R.B. Thank you for discussing this issue with logic and reason instead of emotionally charged screaming. Dead people shouldn't be on voting lists, nor should people who aren't eligible to vote. Without rules you have chaos.
11
@RB
Voting rights aren't based on a Republican defined view of what constitutes "responsibility". Talk about irony.
The fact is the net result of these new rules is to impact exactly those groups that don't vote for Republicans (students, lower income etc.,). That is exactly why Republicans enacted this rule. Nothing more.
20
@Randy
So another liberal with a dislike for "responsibility" such simple things as using your left turn signal, or being respectful and polite to the officer who pulls you over when you don't obey the law. You really should embrace the concept. It is the easiest way to achieve "white privilege" during a routine traffic stop that results in a small fine, unless you where really irresponsible and did not update your address change with the state. that will be a larger fine.
When I disagree with the officer, I do the responsible thing, I tell it to the Judge, and I have walked out twice with no fine. But that had to be white privilege., correct?
When you're the party with the un-American and un-constitutional attitudes, policies and agenda, the path to electoral victory lies through suppression and elimination of the opposition by fraud and deceit.
It's not just governments on foreign soil that are improperly trying to influence America's midterm elections.
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These are measures taken by those who are afraid that they will lose. And they are measures frequently taken by those who do not want to share power with the people.
Oh, United States of America, where art thou going?
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@Sten Moeller, yes, but "whither"?
1
Russian-Republicans can’t stand democracy, representatives government and the will of the people.
They don’t even know what country they’re from.
Real Americans must fight back against these hijackers and register and vote in record numbers to throw all Russian-Republicans out of office.
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@Socrates
The US has never had a real democracy and at this rate never will until the DNC and RNC are disbanded and prohibited from creating election rules and operating US elections. The Electoral College and delegates need to go as well.
The US election process and democracy is like the ancient Roman circuses just minus the bread.
4
As easy as hacking voting machines is this will be old new before long.
Democrats had better befriend China to hack for their side.
8
"officials in Georgia are scrubbing voters from registration rolls if their details do not exactly match other records"
It is hardly understandable that a modern and democratic state has no clear record of who is a citizen and who is entitled to vote, or social help, or whatever.
How can a just society caring for its weaker members work without accurate records of citizenship? It obviously cannot what triggers the question whether the USA is a country promoting a just society caring for its weaker members.
35
Guess you gotta clear the rolls of all those fraudulent voters who gave Hillary Clinton an almost 3 million vote edge in the popular vote. Right?
As for Jeff Sessions, if the Democrats took the House and impeached Trump, Sessions would probably get the blame for that too.
Seeing as how Sessions has he's been downright negligent in his responsibility to stop the Mueller investigation, he had better do something to keep his boss happy.
2
@JHM
The House can impeach a president but as we have seen with Clinton, it does not remove you from office. That requires the Senate. The likelihood that the Dems will take the Senate is slim as it is likely that they will lose a seat in Michigan.
1
Another variation of the same complaint. one side claims that people who should not vote are being allowed to do so. Or that people who should be allowed to vote are being prevented from doing so.
If either party had a policy that would resonate beyond their true believers would this be an issue?
2
@R.B. So you see no issue with citizens being barred from voting?
1
No surprise. When your policies and theories can't win on the battlefields of logic and ideas, cheating is all you have left.
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We need PSA's to be made and shown on a regular basis to drive home the importance of being INFORMED, to REGISTER and to know you have a right to VOTE. Preparation way in advance of an election is vital.
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