Scrappy, no one's talking about minorities being "incapable."
What the Brennan Center report points out, though, is that many people--not just minorities--face serious barriers trying to gather the identification required by Voter ID laws, including the expense of getting their birth certificates and marriage licenses. Many rural seniors, for example, were born at home and don't even have a birth certificate--never had one. Other barriers include lack of transportation to an office where they can get those documents--or a Voter ID card if they have all their required documents. Many of those office have extremely limited hours. It also may mean taking time off work, which may not be granted without risking a job. In addition, for people who have changed his or her name (this mainly affects women) they will have to get a certified copy of their marriage certificate or other documents to prove the change, which means more cost. And if a person was born out of the state or country, it's even more complex, time consuming and costly.
The scant evidence of voter fraud (the most often-used justification for the laws), most of which occurs with absentee ballots, doesn't justify either the cost to citizens or the cost to taxpayers to facilitate these laws. That cost has yet to be fully understood. All in all, it's a "solution" to a "problem" that has yet to be demonstrated to exist.
Voting in America is a right, not a privilege. Voter ID laws will make it more difficult and complex for many American citizens to exercise that right for no demonstrable reason. The Americans who will most likely be disenfranchised by these laws are the poor, the elderly and the disabled, many of whom are also minorities. It has nothing to do with "capabilities."
RonniMott says...
Scrappy, no one's talking about minorities being "incapable."
What the Brennan Center report points out, though, is that many people--not just minorities--face serious barriers trying to gather the identification required by Voter ID laws, including the expense of getting their birth certificates and marriage licenses. Many rural seniors, for example, were born at home and don't even have a birth certificate--never had one. Other barriers include lack of transportation to an office where they can get those documents--or a Voter ID card if they have all their required documents. Many of those office have extremely limited hours. It also may mean taking time off work, which may not be granted without risking a job. In addition, for people who have changed his or her name (this mainly affects women) they will have to get a certified copy of their marriage certificate or other documents to prove the change, which means more cost. And if a person was born out of the state or country, it's even more complex, time consuming and costly.
The scant evidence of voter fraud (the most often-used justification for the laws), most of which occurs with absentee ballots, doesn't justify either the cost to citizens or the cost to taxpayers to facilitate these laws. That cost has yet to be fully understood. All in all, it's a "solution" to a "problem" that has yet to be demonstrated to exist.
Voting in America is a right, not a privilege. Voter ID laws will make it more difficult and complex for many American citizens to exercise that right for no demonstrable reason. The Americans who will most likely be disenfranchised by these laws are the poor, the elderly and the disabled, many of whom are also minorities. It has nothing to do with "capabilities."
On 'Quagmire' of Voter ID
Posted 28 July 2012, 5:52 p.m. Suggest removal