CNN Portrays Disabled Woman as Victim of Court’s Voter ID Decision

NewsBusters.org ^ | 4/29/2008 | Matthew Balan

[Pyro7480]

During a segment on Monday’s "The Situation Room," host Wolf Blitzer and CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena framed the Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s "strict" voter ID law according to the liberal view (a law so "strict" that it calls for the voter show photo ID before voting). Arena’s report offered three critics of the decision to only one supporter, who happened to be Indiana’s Secretary of State. One of the three critics was a quadriplegic who apparently "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was" before getting an ID in Indiana. After Arena’s report, Blitzer tried to spin this as a decision by Republican-appointed justices, despite the fact it was John Paul Stevens, one of the Court’s most liberal members, who wrote the opinion....

Arena then played three sound bites in a row of critics of the voter ID law.... In the last sound bite, Karen Vaughn, who Arena introduced as "a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport," and who "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was," accused the supporters of the law of not caring about people like her.

In the only sound bite from a supporter of the law, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita explained that "[i]t's so easy for someone to claim that I'm -- that they're somebody else and steal an election that way." Arena then immediately countered this claim, citing two infamous liberal groups. "But there's little hard evidence to back that up. The ACLU and People for the American Way say there's evidence instead to suggest that disadvantaged voters will have a hard time....

[Pyro7480]

Typical CNN

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Arena then played three sound bites in a row of critics of the voter ID law.... In the last sound bite, Karen Vaughn, who Arena introduced as "a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport," and who "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was," accused the supporters of the law of not caring about people like her.

So she has to give back a little of what she wants to use the government to extort from the taxpayers of Indiana? I've no problem with that.

[Crim]

Why dont they show their stripes and appeal to the world court....

*snicker*

[DonaldC]

This story has the scent of B.S. My wife is also disabled and all we had to do for her was go down to DMV, explain her situation, provide S.S. number and they produced a photo id, just like a drivers license but without that priv. being on it. Total cost was under $20.

If people find it so hard to do this, they are not responsible enough to vote...imho.

[A CA Guy]

I think anyone disabled or not in every state should at least go get a state ID.
All they would have to do is bring a bill from their residence and give their social security number and that is that.
OK, the states may require a major investment of $10 for an ID good for 8 years (what a tragedy).

These people have to have ID to be on the social programs anyway.
They need ID if they decide they want to find out what it is like to work for a living.

There is nothing wrong with IDs for people voting, it prevents fraud and that is all. If someone doesn’t bother to get ID there is something mentally wrong with them anyway, or they are illegal.

They also every 6 years need to purge the rolls of dead people, false registered voters and so forth.

Every state should require a form of government ID to vote.

[poobear]

Does this woman receive any disablity check or benefits? Does she have a bank account?....

Didn’t cost me $100.00 to get an ID of any kind.

[psjones]

Given that she’s disabled, I’ll assume she gets some sort of disability check, wouldn’t she need an id to cash checks, wouldn’t she have needed to have identification to sign up for disability?

[SatinDoll]

My mother, a non-driver, and my 14-year old nephew both had photo identification issued to them by the State of Washington. I believe the cost was $15-$20, something like that and not expensive at all. If a person can make it to a poll to vote, that person can go to a state’s licensing office.

[VeniVidiVici]

I’d like to know why it cost her $100. Unless she bought a fake from from Jose down at the corner.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

“Karen Vaughn, who Arena introduced as “a quadriplegic who doesn’t have a driver’s license or a passport,” and who “had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was,”

Silly Karen! Don’t you know that your donations to candidates and the DNC are discoverable?

It won’t ake long to find if that the $100 you spent on an ID is equal to or considerably less than what you have donated to the Democratcheks.

[jack_napier]

I’ve known multiple people who could not qualify for a driver’s license who had a state issued ID. It’s not hard to get. And you need an ID for *so much* these days, to not have one is almost inconceivable as being someone who functions in the modern world. Getting on a flight, renting a video, etc.

[SevenofNine]

Pyro when i was 16 year old I think I got my first picture ID I think only cost my mom in state of CA

15.00 bucks reason is I was minor

[clamper1797]

If people find it so hard to do this, they are not responsible enough to vote...imho.

EXACTLY ....

[Moose4]

In the three states I’ve lived in in my life (VA, NC, SC) you can get a legal state photo ID card that is not a driver’s license, at the DMV, for the same or less cost. The only possible way this could have cost this woman $100+ is if she had to pay some sort of exorbitant fee to, say, scrounge up a birth certificate as documentation. To which I say, those are the breaks, ma’am, you live under the same laws as any of the rest of us do.

Photo identification to vote is NOT an onerous requirement, and should be mandatory in all 50 states and DC.

}:-)4

[KarlInOhio]

From the Indiana BMV page ( http://www.in.gov/bmv/3378.htm):

Identification Card - 6 Year 13.00
Identification Card For Voting Purposes - 6 Year FREE

So, how does FREE go up to more than $100?

[Hacklehead]

Too bad. Just because a law isn’t perfect doesnt mean that the entire country should have to suffer the effects of RAT voter fraud.

[elpadre]

exactly - she can’t cash checks, board an aircraft, and perform many other everyday legal activities without a photo ID..

[muawiyah]

$100? That was to prove who she was to Indiana. Now, let’s say she wants to go to the post office next year ~ she’ll need the same sort of ID to get in (federal building trick).

[Froufrou]

http://cases.justia.com/us-court-of-appeals/F3/83/907/

This woman has apparently got a long history of suing the State of Indiana. She sued for Medicaid in 1996.

[Red_Devil 232]

Why is it that some people like this Karen Vaughn go through their lives without documation of who they are? She is a quadriplegic and I bet she has been receiving some form of State or Federal aid for years but during all this time she has not had to legally identify who she is? BULL!

[count-your-change]

Birth certificate she should already have, cost $0, or copy $10, maybe $15. Credit cards, rent receipts, tax returns, government payment receipts, etc., cost, 0.
ID from auto license branch, $15 tops.
Doesn't add up to a hundred dollars.

[chimera]

Why can't so-called "journalists" like Blitzer (who probably make in the range of seven figures per year) do even simple research like you did and come up with questions to their so-called "source" as to why they had to pay $100 for an ID? Answer is simple: they don't want to. It doesn't "fit" their storyline.

I don't know why today's so-called "journalists" can't even be the least bit honest with us and say that they aren't journalists anymore, they're DNC advocates and operatives. This whole CNN piece, probably worth millions in air time and production costs, is nothing more than a DNC advertisement. They should have to declare it as such in their financial filings.

[KarlInOhio]

Indiana identity paperwork: http://www.in.gov/bmv/3470.htm

Well, the ID requirement isn't that difficult. The easiest way is to have a birth certificate, an SS card and just about any other piece of paper with her name and address on it (bank account, report card, insurance card, medicare/medicaid card, etc.) Still not buying the $100 unless she paid a lawyer to get the paperwork together.

[muawiyah]

Try this: "Karen VAUGHN, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v.Cheryl SULLIVAN, et al., Defendants-Appellees.No. 95-3719. United States Court of Appeals,Seventh Circuit.Argued April 19, 1996."

If she EVER showed up in a federal court she'd have to have had a photo ID ~ even way back when.

This woman is a professional Democrat party litigant.

And of course CNN checked out her bona fides didn't they ~ made sure she was HARD CORE DEM first.

Odds are good she showed up in the courthouse with her Indiana voter ID handy anyway ~ it's free for the handicapped.

[timydnuc]

Tough stuff! Stare decisus

[VR-21]

CNN promotes political interests that have much to gain by corrupting our elections process...period. The only reason to oppose Voter ID is to facilitate voter fraud. Any argument to the contrary is crap.

[Arrowhead1952]

From the Indiana BMV page ( http://www.in.gov/bmv/3378.htm):

Identification Card - 6 Year 13.00
Identification Card For Voting Purposes - 6 Year FREE

So, how does FREE go up to more than $100?

Facts. Facts. Facts. Silly you. Don't you know the sheeple will believe what the DBM says, no matter what the FACTS really are? Facts confuse the sheeple.

[philled]

"had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was" before getting an ID in Indiana.

Wow, imagine what she had to pay to prove who she was in order to get registered to vote in Indiana! /sarc

How about when you register to vote they make your voter registration card a photo ID?

[tennteacher]

The disabled woman is probably drawing disability benefits. How did she prove who she was when she applied for them?

We also have responsibilities in addition to rights. Proof of ID is not an insurmountable impediment to voting rights. When the ACLU says that requiring ID will make it hard for low-income voters, they seem to mean is there should be no corresponding responsibility tied to the right to vote. Call me cruel, but it seems to me that voter ID is a small price to guarantee a fair election and prevent voter fraud.

[TNCMAXQ]

Has CNN EVER done a story in states where we have had the ID rule for many years? I don’t think I have ever heard a single complaint about it. Though come to think of it, why should they complain when Dems dominate here?? Actually I think it’s been on the books even when the parties were a little more evenly divided, and I can’t recall there ever being a big backlash against it.

[brytlea]

Thank you for that info. I was finding it difficult to imagine that it would cost 100$ to get a photo ID. Maybe she wanted a glamour shot?!
susie

[untrained skeptic]

Notice how it says that she had to pay over $100 to get documentation she needed to get the ID, not for the ID itself. However, I highly doubt that the requirements for getting an ID in Indiana are that strict, and most people should have the documentation they need on hand.

The article of course doesn't say what documentation she paid over $100 for, or who it came from.

The documentation requirements to get an Indians driver's license or ID card aren't that stringent.

http://www.in.gov/bmv/3470.htm

If she doesn't have a copy of her birth certificate or social security card, that's not the state's fault, nor should attaining those cost $100. If she paid that much for them, it was for expedited service, or because she paid someone to get the documents for her.

You can argue that she had to pay someone else to gather the documents, but she should have already had the documents. Losing the documents doesn't make it someone else's fault.

[BerryDingle]

[count-your-change]

April 30, 2008(12;00 a.m., mb time): The ACLU announced that it is helping voters obtain what they term “The ACLU Last Will and Testament”. This Will is designed to allow a voter to designate who will get his or her vote for the ten years following his or her death.
ACLU spokesman Glib Spinner said, “If a voter can leave money to the party, why not their votes?”.
Barry Fast, an Indiana native said, “A death certificate should be enough voter I.D. anywhere”.

[gunservative]

If she’s a quadriplegic, couldn’t she just vote absentee?

These Democrats will never let up to continue their voter fraud.

[goodnesswins]

She must be a DEM....they always find a way for it to cost MORE!!!

[chris_bdba]

HMMMM??? Wonder how she cashes her disabilty checks without a photo ID? From what I understand here in Ohio that the photo ID welfare provides that they have to show to use their food stamp cards can also be used for voting and those are provided for free.

[Tex Pete]

This woman serves on several Indiana state commissions/committes/adivsory boards. If she had no ID, that is her own fault.

[bpjam]

except that Indiana has now offered to provide it FOR FREE in order to enact a law like this. There is NOBODY in Indiana who has to pay for an ID.

And considering that this woman will, with metaphysical certitude, vote demoncrat - the demoncrat party ought to be hitting all the nursing homes, alzheimer clinics, hospices and anywhere else the mentally disabled are located and get them an ID so they can vote for Obama.

[gdc314]

She even has a company...all without an id...read an article about her here:

http://www.ircil.org/news.html

Karen Vaughn’s Disability is No Barrier

[Alouette]

I’d like to know why it cost her $100.

5 minutes of the attorney's time who is handling her lawsuits against the state.

[gdc314]

from the article: Karen has had her own business since 1993. It’s called Vaughn & Associates Consulting Services. Her company’s services are offered to families, consumers and professionals using a trans-disciplinary approach. No ID? How do you establish business accounts, banking, serve on boards (from the link) without an ID? CNN is shameless to say the least...

[mvpel]

This story has the scent of B.S. My wife is also disabled and all we had to do for her was go down to DMV, explain her situation, provide S.S. number and they produced a photo id, just like a drivers license but without that priv. being on it. Total cost was under $20.

Indiana was an early adopter of RealID provisions, and began imposing it upon their citizens even without a federal mandate, so that was my first guess.

However, according to the Indiana BMV, one only needs a primary document, maybe a secondary document, proof of SSN, and proof of residence.

A "primary" document is a birth certificate or a passport. Proof of residence can be established with a bill or benefit statement from the past 60 days, or simply an affidavit.

Replacements for lost Social Security cards are free of charge, up to a certain lifetime limit.

So the only potential pitfall would be obtaining a certified copy of her birth certificate. There's companies out there which do all the legwork for you, and that can cost up to $100, but any reasonably intelligent person who knows where and when they were born should be able to handle requesting a replacement certificate on their own by simply filling out some paperwork.

There can be a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation, since obtaining a birth certificate by mail requires valid state-issued identification or a passport in some states under some circumstances.

But Wisconsin, for example, doesn't even require ID for a mail application, just a sworn signature, and requires only two identifying documents such as a credit card, insurance card, utility bill, lease, or traffic ticket when picking it up in person.

Or in Texas, "If you do not have a photo ID, you can instead send a copy of the photo ID of an immediate family member, or you can send copies of two documents showing your name, such as a utility bill and your Social Security card. One of the documents must have your signature."

The cost is rarely over $30.

So she's either lying, or she made some mistakes in handling how she obtained the documentation she needed.

[metmom]

If she’s not so disabled that she can get out and vote, she’s not too disabled to get photo ID.

[boop]

"Didn’t cost me $100.00 to get an ID of any kind."

Passports cost that, but nobody is requiring a passport to vote.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

[ApplegateRanch]

Total cost was under $20.

It is unfair to compare the cost to you & your wife, to the cost for a Lib.

$.50 for cell phone call to handicapped transport company.

$25 for transport company to pick her up & take her to DMV.

$20 to DMV for ID.

$.50 for second call to come back for her, because she failed to order a round trip.

$25 for return transport.

$30 returned check fee.

Total $101 “to get ID”.

Approximately $80: that is the difference between the responsible, and the whingey whiners.