yes

I consider myself an independent voter. I'm fed up with both major parties. Hard for me to name a politician that I even respect - much less one that I love.

Having said this, I'll relate an instance that I once saw.

Years ago, I was scheduled for an out of town biz trip on a presidential election day. I went through the procedure to get an early absentee ballot. There was no provision to mail in the vote. I had to go to a polling place and pull levers in the booth.

While there, I could not help but notice a group of activists bringing van loads of people in to vote. Voter ID? A piece of mail - preferably a utility bill was all that was required. Many of these voters could've passed for alley winos. Just an observation on my part (fire away).

It is quite possible that all of this was on the up and up. But it started the wheels rolling in my brain: if I knew exactly who was in the hospital, retirement homes or bedridden - I could snatch a telephone bill from their mailbox and steal their vote!

It leads to a discussion about voter theft and fraud - which always leads to a bunch of defenders decrying that if such theft DID exist, it would be on such a small scale that no difference in the outcome could be achieved. And they're probably correct.

My own opinion is that my vote is one of the most powerful tools that I own (I can tell myself this!). If buying an airline ticket or cashing a check requires showing a picture ID - why shouldn't voting? So, personally I have no qualms with requiring an ID to vote. I know - I'm an @$$hole.

I'm fine with some form of verification, but there should be a broad range of acceptable forms. A utility bill should still be acceptable as proof of residency and no one is stealing electric bills or bank statements - I get mine in my email. If you vote by mail, you don't need to show an ID. More people are doing that these days anyways, it keeps lines to a minimum at the polls.

Voting should be easy and accessible, ID laws should not be narrow. In 2016 my wife was actually turned away at the polls here in FL, she still had a NY state DL even though she had her FL voter registration on hand. She had a second form that was listed as acceptable (just in case) but the poll clerk denied it on some arbitrary technicality. A NY license is good enough to get on a plane, but not vote. We had to go home and get her passport and a piece of mail. How many people just don't bother to go back? That's the issue, not proving you are you, but that it shouldn't be more difficult than getting on a plane.

[Edited on 6/24/2020 by porkchopbob]

A utility bill?

Picture i.d., yes.

I could not help but notice a group of activists bringing van loads of people in to vote. Voter ID? A piece of mail - preferably a utility bill was all that was required. Many of these voters could've passed for alley winos.

They most likely were alley winos. Homeless advocacy organizations help folks with registering and transport to the polls. Alley winos have as much a right to vote as craft beer afficionados in nice condos.

A quick glance at this homeless assistance site offers a better explanation than vanloads of dirty infiltrators:

https://nationalhomeless.org/campaigns/voting/

As most always, you are 100% correct. Everybody deserves a voice and a ride to the polls - even alley winos with sketchy identification who never bother to update their voter credentials. You are absolutely correct.

[Edited on 6/24/2020 by BrerRabbit]

I'm sure there are many articles to be found to explain why a picture ID is easy to get if you live in a suburban area like I do. It is much different for elderly, poor, and minorities in many states. Alabama is a prime example - closing DMV offices in minority areas and making it almost impossible to get to the closest office 60 miles away during limited hours. Also, the requirements for these id's require things like birth certificates, which for many poor and elderly may be hard to find or get, and costs money.

In Illinois, some areas have early voting for about 3 weeks before an election. As a retiree, I take full advantage of this. You must show an ID for early voting. You must also sign the book at the polling place, and they check your signature against the one they have on file. My township has an early voting site, very convenient. If you wait until election day to vote, you vote at your precinct, and no ID is required, but you do have to provide a signature that is checked.

If it were easy and fair for everybody to get an ID, I'd be all for it. Unfortunately, that is still not the case everywhere in the country, and other types of voter suppression (see Wisconsin and Kentucky, for example) seem to always happen in the poor and minority areas.

. . . alley winos with sketchy identification who never bother to update their voter credentials.

The homeless advocacy groups who transport folks to the polls help them get current with registration. They don't just cruise the bridges and look behind dumpsters, pile em into vans, hand them all stolen utility bills and say go for it and a twenty $ blll bonus if you vote Democrat.

$20 bills to vote Democrat? Who said anything like that?

How about we simply do automatic voter registration when you turn 18 via the social security system and the voter provides or verifies the number when at the polling site or when voting with an absentee ballot?

Your SS number is after all a form of ID...One the gov’t and your township and/or polling site already has.....

This automatic registration should NOT include party affiliation initially but may be changed later by the voter....It's one way to simplify voting and weaken the power of political parties.

I'm sure this was an acceptable tactic to round up voters no matter who they cast their ballot for.

You'd never know it (I certainly wouldn't), but I guess I've led a sheltered life. Utility bills for identification ... I'm sorry, but this is where it starts to sound sketchy. FYI - you can get a photo ID - basically a DL with a "non-driver" stamp on it - at "satellite courthouses" located out in the boonies in most every state. Takes about the same effort to get to one of these places as it does to get to a polling place. My mom had one of these - as does my 82 year-old aunt right now.

Lastly, I didn't mean to come off sounding insensitive to those without transportation. It's what I get for going essay on a yes/no question.

Wait a few, it'll get there...

Is the WP down to how many now? We are getting to be like the Supreme Court of HTW now.

with or without Boynton Bro's alter-egos? 😉

Utility bills for identification ... I'm sorry, but this is where it starts to sound sketchy.

Agreed. Can I show my utility bill to a Police officer when I am pulled over for a traffic violation?

How about when I am cashing my paycheck?

Can I get a drug prescription refilled with this?

Shall I go on?

Is the WP down to how many now? We are getting to be like the Supreme Court of HTW now.

with or without Boynton Bro's alter-egos? 😉

Counting those? We'd be like the Senate.

sounds like a no brainer

but some states find a way to make it hard for minorities and elderly to vote
before my mom died, she probably did not have a valid drivers license, so, depending on how easy or difficult it was to get some sort of non driving photo ID she may not have been able to vote

Vote by mail should be allowed - what is the ID form for that?

voter suppresion in the US is a real thing.

not a simple question.

sounds like a no brainer

but some states find a way to make it hard for minorities and elderly to vote
before my mom died, she probably did not have a valid drivers license, so, depending on how easy or difficult it was to get some sort of non driving photo ID she may not have been able to vote

Vote by mail should be allowed - what is the ID form for that?

voter suppresion in the US is a real thing.

not a simple question.

Fair enough. But the question remains.."If you can get to the Polling Booth, can you not find a way to get to the DMV & The Post Office"?

sounds like a no brainer

but some states find a way to make it hard for minorities and elderly to vote
before my mom died, she probably did not have a valid drivers license, so, depending on how easy or difficult it was to get some sort of non driving photo ID she may not have been able to vote

Vote by mail should be allowed - what is the ID form for that?

voter suppresion in the US is a real thing.

not a simple question.

.

Fair enough. But the question remains.."If you can get to the Polling Booth, can you not find a way to get to the DMV & The Post Office"?

The US Mail Service still will pick up, as well as deliver to the same home mailbox, this solves the problem for countless thousands of house bound old folks to still participate?...........joe

republicans and especially trump dont want it to be easy for black, Brown, Poor or Elderly to vote, because they [republicans] would be out of a job.

Is this the only group that can not provide I.D.?

How do they drive?.....Open Bank accounts?....Get their prescriptions filled?

republicans and especially trump dont want it to be easy for black, Brown, Poor or Elderly to vote, because they [republicans] would be out of a job.

Is this the only group that can not provide I.D.?

How do they drive?.....Open Bank accounts?....Get their prescriptions filled?

Why cant mail in voting be expanded??, why are people having their voting rights trampled in Georgia?.

I do not know. Why does the left always bring up "black, Brown, Poor & eldery" as the only groups who struggle with the formalities tied to casting a ballot?

[Edited on 6/25/2020 by BIGV]

republicans and especially trump dont want it to be easy for black, Brown, Poor or Elderly to vote, because they [republicans] would be out of a job.

Is this the only group that can not provide I.D.?

How do they drive?.....Open Bank accounts?....Get their prescriptions filled?

Why cant mail in voting be expanded??, why are people having their voting rights trampled in Georgia?.

I do not know. Why does the left always bring up "black, Brown, Poor & eldery" as the only groups who struggle with the formalities ties to casting a ballot?

Maybe because rich, young people don't have a problem getting a drivers license or passport.

republicans and especially trump dont want it to be easy for black, Brown, Poor or Elderly to vote, because they [republicans] would be out of a job.

Is this the only group that can not provide I.D.?

How do they drive?.....Open Bank accounts?....Get their prescriptions filled?

Why cant mail in voting be expanded??, why are people having their voting rights trampled in Georgia?.

I do not know. Why does the left always bring up "black, Brown, Poor & eldery" as the only groups who struggle with the formalities ties to casting a ballot?

Maybe because rich, young people don't have a problem getting a drivers license or passport.

In California it costs all of $37 to acquire a DL, does that kind of expenditure qualify you as "rich"?

In California it costs all of $37 to acquire a DL, does that kind of expenditure qualify you as "rich"?

It shouldn't cost anything to vote. $37/person can be a luxury when you're feeding and clothing kids on a budget. If an ID is required at poling stations, any ID and proof of residency should suffice. Otherwise we are solving a problem that barely exists (voter fraud) while creating a larger one (turning voters away).

Driving might seem universal to you in your world, but in many parts of the country it isn't. My grandmother didn't learn to drive until she was in her late 50s, after my grandfather passed. Many elderly refrain from driving at a certain point in life. Meanwhile, I know plenty of people in large metro areas with public transportation who never learned to drive.

It shouldn't cost anything to vote.

It does not. The same I.D. that costs $37 serves a multitude of purposes including the ability to open a bank account which over a very short time pays for itself and saves all of the money a cash checking convenience store probably charges.

Acquiring a valid I.D. does not require a college degree and if you can not figure out how to make that a priority in life, well that is on you.

It shouldn't cost anything to vote.

It does not. The same I.D. that costs $37

So it should cost $37 is what you're saying. Plus traffic school costs. If you don't drive, which I mentioned still occurs, there are other identification options.

If you do not have a California driver license or identification card number, but you enter your other information, the website will create a pre-filled voter registration application for you to print, sign, and mail. All of your information will be sent directly to your county elections office so that when your signed application arrives in the mail, the county elections staff will simply add your signature to your voter registration record.

But in fact, it costs nothing to vote in CA, no ID is typically required, including a DL because you are not proving that you are legally allowed to drive (which is the purpose of a DL) you are proving that you are a resident of that voting district.

This voting hoohaw is nothing but an effort to sabotage the voting process and create more chaos around the 2020 election.

Trump has already admiited the more people that vote that it'll not be good for the GOP.

So using that reasoning - make it as difficult as possible to vote - mandate id's, dissuade vote by mail (even though the royal family and much of the Trump Circle does this regularly), and gerrymandering. Sounds like a good formula .

in the financial industry at least, major banks do indeed consider an electric bill as a legitimate proof of residence.

Boynton Brother returns yet again!

in the financial industry at least, major banks do indeed consider an electric bill as a legitimate proof of residence.

Boynton Brother returns yet again!

Geez, the guy's a one man pandemic.

are you two sensitive about discussing the financial industry or something?

Sensitive? That is a riot.

Boynton Brother is back for a 4th time!

are you two sensitive about discussing the financial industry or something?

C'mon man, you know better than that...

Sure as long as the ID is free.