Conservatives believe that lefties don't want voter ID laws because lefties like to cheat; "vote early, vote often" isn't a saying that comes out of a conservative city. Church groups aren't as likely to help people violate election laws as labor unions are. Just sayin'.
But lefties often cry that there's never been any evidence of voter fraud; that's patently false, but even if it weren't, how would such evidence be gathered on a large scale? It would require ID in order to prove! It's like the millions of children who mysteriously disappeared on year when you had to start listing social security numbers of dependents on your federal income tax returns in order to claim a deduction for them...
So they won't allow us to gather the evidence of their wrongdoing, but sometimes it comes to us anyway:
But New York City’s watchdog Department of Investigations has just provided the latest evidence of how easy it is to commit voter fraud that is almost undetectable. DOI undercover agents showed up at 63 polling places last fall and pretended to be voters who should have been turned away by election officials; the agents assumed the names of individuals who had died or moved out of town, or who were sitting in jail. In 61 instances, or 97 percent of the time, the testers were allowed to vote. Those who did vote cast only a write-in vote for a “John Test” so as to not affect the outcome of any contest. DOI published its findings two weeks ago in a searing 70-page report accusing the city’s Board of Elections of incompetence, waste, nepotism, and lax procedures.When word of this got out, guess who and what "the establishment" complained about!
Go read the whole thing.
4 comments:
First, if you doubt the existence of voter fraud, I highly recommend the book "Steal This Vote" by Andrew Gumbel, a well researched, fair-minded examination of how both major parties have manipulated elections... The opening paragraph features a quote from Jimmy Carter, of all people, who oversees elections in other countries, but said he wouldn't do the same in the US because they are too corrupt ...
One of the things that irritates me the most about this issue is that their needs to be a demonstration of voter fraud occurring to justify the ID requirement. Why? The principle is one man, one vote. Requiring ID ensures that principle and it doesn't matter whether or not there is a known problem. I doubt that there is a statistically significant problem with voter fraud, but I also know that the only things that would prevent me from voting multiple times in CA would be an inability to read upside down (the voter rolls) and a sense of morality. all you have to do is find a name of a person who hasn't voted yet, and say you're him. That, to me, seems wrong.
As to voter suppression? What? Who, exactly, are we suppressing? The liberal theory is that the poor and the minorities ... both of whom tend to be Democrats ... won't be able to get IDs. Well, that's a good point I guess... until you realize that these are also the same groups that are most likely to apply for food stamps and unemployment insurance ... both of which require ID. And Obamacare? Requires ID. And cigarettes and alcohol, also disproportionately used in these groups ... require ID. How can we racists possibly deny these people their cigarettes?
Anyone who favors democracy should have no problem with an ID requirement, although Darren, I agree they should be provided free of charge to anyone who needs one and can't afford the ridiculous fee of 25 bucks, or whatever ...to make sure everything is above board. If you disagree... give me an argument about why you DON'T want the requirement that makes sense... because there really isn't one. I'm waiting.
^ The only argument I can come up with is that it won't entirely solve the problem unless we can guarantee the integrity of the systems that issue and confirm IDs. There may still be instances of ID theft or people selling false IDs and instances of people failing (either negligently or deliberately) to verify IDs at polling places. Also, there is the matter of those states which have gone to mail-in ballots and votes by incapacitated people (who may still be manipulated). How to guarantee that their votes are legit?
That being said, I favor voter ID. I just don't know to what extent it will clean up voting.
Additionally, I'd like to see us start dipping our index finger in blue ink, like they famously did in Iraq's first democratic election. It would prevent anyone from traveling to multiple polling locations and voting more than once.
neko ... but ...what about the poor an minorities who always dip their fingers in blue ink? ;)
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