Posted on 11/09/2016 5:56:07 AM PST by cll
With permission, I am sharing an email below that I received from an American friend who recently moved to Puerto Rico and participated in his first election there today:
Relating to the discussion about voter ID laws on a recent CD post featuring a video by filmmaker Ami Horowitz that investigated the commonly held belief by liberals in America that voter ID laws are racist and discriminate against the poor and uneducated, let me describe my first experience voting in a Puerto Rican election today.
First, you have to obtain a voter ID card before you are allowed to vote in Puerto Rico. The voter ID is a laminated photo ID with holograms and a bar code. It is a completely separate ID from your driver’s license. To get a voter ID, you go to a voter registration office with your birth certificate and another photo ID or your passport, as well as proof of being a Puerto Rican resident (e.g. a lease, property deed, or maybe a utility bill). The voter registration office is staffed by three people, one from each of the three major political parties so that all can watch one another.
Once you have your voter ID card, you can legally vote at your designated voting place. Before voting, they inspect your voter ID card, check the holograms under a black-light to verify it’s legal, and they scan the bar code. Then they scan your hands with a black-light to make sure you haven’t already voted (see below), and then you go in to the voting area to get your ballot. Before you get a ballot though, they first find your name on a list of registered voters. On the list, your name has your picture next to it, and they match this photo with the photo on your voter ID card. Then they then dip your finger in black-light visible dye (hence the earlier black-light scan) and only then do they hand you your voting ballot. The voting process in Puerto Rico is much more stringent than anything even proposed in the US, and is also effective at pretty much eliminating voter fraud.
So, if there were any real truth to the narrative that “voter ID laws harm vulnerable groups like the poor, the uneducated, and minorities” you’d think you would see it here in Puerto Rico with all these time-consuming procedures to first obtain a voter ID and then be thoroughly checked each time before voting. The median household income of $18,626 in Puerto Rico was about 67% below the US median household income of nearly $56,000 in 2015 (Census data here, see chart above). The high school graduation rate in Puerto Rico is 60% (compared to 83.2% in the US) and only about 18.3% of residents have a post-secondary college degree (compared to 42% in the US). And yet Puerto Rico has the highest voter turnout in the Americas. From 1972 through 1984, island turnout exceeded 80% of the voting-age population, and at one point more than 95% were registered. Between 1972 and 2000, Puerto Rico averaged 79% turnout in its national elections; only eleven US states had voter turnouts higher than 60% during that time, while 14 were below 50%. In 2012, voter turnout in the US was only 53.6%.
I have yet to meet anyone in Puerto Rico who thinks that the voter registration rules here are a bad idea or an undue burden. In contrast, there seems be to universal agreement among Puerto Ricans that the process is well worth the extra trouble and time to ensure fair elections.
One can only conclude that: a) those opposing voter ID laws are subtly racist/classist/elitist toward those they (incorrectly) view to be inferior and without the means and wherewithal to get a voter ID (see Ami Horowitz’s video), or b) the issue is just a smokescreen and those who oppose stricter voter ID laws really ultimately want to facilitate voter fraud and voting by non-citizens because they believe it benefits them politically in terms of obtaining and retaining power.
There is NO QUESTION our voting system (all inclusive) needs to be addressed and changed. There are many changes needed and Puerto Rico’s system has merit, the problem being getting our politicians to address the problem and finally FIX IT!
a fifty state election law re-vamping needs to be top priority for FR and all conservatives.
Identification
citizenship with proof required for registration
no same day registration
no motor voter registration
except for absentee ballots all voting takes place on one day, in many more locations, so everyone gets the opportunity, with oversight.
On Guam when you vote you show your voter registration and a picture ID The election judge crosses out out your name on the list of registered voters and announces, in a loud voice: Mr So&so is voting. If you. like me, an unusual last name he/she verbally spells out the name. If nobody challenges your ID you can vote.
I pray that voter fraud will someday be a thing of the past. This would have been a much bigger runaway, if there wasn’t voter fraud. The most influential country in the world and we have banana republic level fraud.
No voting by criminals
No voting by people who are are so mentally unable that they have payees.
No voting by a third party on BEHALF of someone (a favorite social worker ploy)
What are everyone’s thoughts on Freepers creating a punch list for President Trump to address? One such issue would be Voter ID, Voting Machines, Cleaning up Voter Rolls.
We all could work on the list and prioritize it before sending to President Trump.
I think a list we all worked on would have more impact then just one from me.
This needs to be our mission before 2020.
Voter ID laws, no e voting machines, and dip your finger in ink.
You poor man, you don’t realize how much racist/sexist/homophobic oppression you are suffering.
Your lack of awareness is proof of the oppression by these obvious colonialist attempts to suppress the vote you just cast. /s
I agree partially...no voting by serving criminals (either in the slammer or on probation). Once off probation, and having gone before a judge, a FORMER criminal may have his voting rights restored. And "gun rights" should be treated the same way. No "lifelong ban" for having committed a felony.
Speaking of Puerto Rico, I would like to see Trump work to vitalise Puerto Rico into an economic powerhouse. It is ideally located at a navigational crossroads to be such.
Puerto Rico???
For cryin’ out loud INDIA has a strict voter ID law. All 600,000,000 voters in India have voter ID. No ID, no voting.
If India - which has 300,000,000 to 600,000,000 people who STILL defecate outdoors can have a voter ID law, why can’t the states of the United States????
Yes and thanks for that. But most of our problems are self-inflicted. Thankfully we elected a not-so-liberal government yesterday (the choice here is usually between socialists and statists you can do business with if connected).
I have found it interesting how the democrat party can gin up a massive transportation operation on the day of a national election to help people get to the polls, sometimes multiple poles, but somehow can’t manage to drive the same people to get a voter ID card.
I have found it interesting how the democrat party can gin up a massive transportation operation on the day of a national election to help people get to the polls, sometimes multiple poles, but somehow can’t manage to drive the same people to get a voter ID card.
I will buy that,
However the defining a felony down that has occurred in this country has to stop too.
Concur.
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