Folks, here’s the deal, there are some real bad actors out there trying to implement laws to stop eligible people from voting. What I learned in high school civics class is that an attack on voting rights is virtually the same as an attack on the country.
Many outlets have been acknowledging that Voter ID laws are a waste. Doonesbury began a comic series about it last week, and articles, like that in the Washington Post, have explained that Pennsylvania “knows that voter fraud is a nonexistent problem, but will nonetheless defend a law that could potentially disenfranchise a huge number of the state’s voters.”
Pennsylvania House Majority Leader Mike Turzai even admitted that Voter ID laws are a tactic, when he said, “…Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done,” at the Republican State Committee meeting.
All of these voter suppression laws are really targeting minorities, students, the elderly, as well as voters with disabilities. We need to prevent bad legislation from preventing people to vote in the 2012 U.S. election.
There’s no real need for Voter ID Laws. It’s just those bad actors trying to stop people they don’t want voting from doing so. They really are solving a nonexistent problem with more government and more expense. Voter ID laws could cost taxpayers $65.8 million in 4 states: PA, IN, NC, MI. All of these states had huge budget shortfalls in 2011.
Protecting the Vote explains that between 2000 and 2007, there have been 352 deaths caused by lightning, 32,299 reports of UFO sightings, and only 9 instances of possible voter impersonation. As Rock the Vote says, “You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than seeing voter fraud.”
Real efforts will come when one can talk Google, Facebook, and others to get involved with Voter Protection and Voter Registration.
To get more involved, check out our Voter Protection resource list, and remember that National Voter Registration day is September 25th.
Craig Connects 
Excuse me – you have to present ID to board a plane, etc. Why shouldn’t people have to present an ID to vote? Legitimate voters don’t have a problem with this. It’s only those who are here illegally or those that want to vote more than once .. . .that have a problem with the voter ID law. I don’t think students, disabled people, or elderly have a problem with presenting an ID. Minorities who are here in this country legally support voter ID, as a whole.
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I don’t see that the requirements of the Pennsylvania law is either repressive or discriminatory. I can’t count the number of times and places where I had to show a credit card or driver’s license. In my State, Arizona, when I vote, I have to show my voter registration card. Wouldn’t a voter registration card be a government-issued ID? If they are a legitimately registered voter, wouldn’t they have one? What is so expensive about gathering the paperwork? Doesn’t everyone have a birth certificate? If not, anyone can–and SHOULD–have a certified copy from the hospital or county office, and they’re inexpensive. Proof of residency is usually simple. The law may in fact be unnecessary by virtue of being superfluous, but it is hardly repressive. To vote at all, you have to be registered, and to be registered, you have to prove all the same things–so what’s the problem? Anyone so irresponsible in their civic duty as to not have any proof of who they are or where they live and still expect to vote is a joke. P.S.: Good for the Democrats in getting people registered.
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I have not checked all the laws for every state but as far back as I can remember we showed our I.D. when we went to vote. The I.D.could have been a drivers license or state issued I.D. It may be that the requirements are already there and were going to spend millions re-inventing the wheel.
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Can I ask. how wanting someone to show an ID will disenfranchise anyone who is a legal voter from voting. as it stands right now in my state. all I have to do is tell the people at the polls my name and they mark me off and allow me to vote. by having to show who I am it tells them I am who I say I am and will stop anyone from trying to say they are me and vote in my place. this sort of thing has happened in the past. it will only get worse. why not stop it before it gets out of hand. You need an ID at the DMV, to cash a check, to apply for a job. If you are who you say you are why would it bother you to show an ID to vote. I think that particular law would be a good thing. unlike the Obama health care thing which will in the end bankrupt America.
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You probably have a better chance of being struck by lightening than finding someone in 2012 America with no form of I.D.
I don’t buy it.
Be glad you live in a country where you get to vote. Take a little responsibility, get your i.d., then vote for whoever you want.
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What we really need are laws to MAKE people (legal U.S. citizens) vote instead of limiting people from voting. If everyone HAD to vote we would have a true “majority rules” situation. Instead we have a small percent voting that end up putting idiotic people in office and those not voting complain about who get elected. At least if everyone voted there’d be a truer measure of what people want instead of what a small percent want.
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