Karnac the Magnificent, trying to determine the intent of the voter
Posted on 07/18/2006 2:30:04 PM PDT by oxcart
LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Democratic Party, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and the Democratic caucuses in the state House and Senate filed a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday in a case that could decide whether Michigan can require voters to show photo identification at the polls.
The Michigan Supreme Court in April voted 5-2 to issue an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of a 1997 state law requiring voters to show photo identification to get a ballot. A court spokeswoman said the ruling will be binding, although it could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Former Attorney General Frank Kelley, a Democrat, issued an opinion nine years ago that the law violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to vote.
Opponents of the law say the requirement would keep poor people, non-drivers and others away from the polls. They cite figures showing that about 370,000 of the state's registered voters do not have a driver's license or state ID card.
But supporters say the law is needed to prevent election fraud. The U.S. Justice Department, for example, has been investigating allegations that Detroit votes were cast last year in the names of dead people.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis supports the requirement, noting that Indiana recently began requiring photo ID. Although Democrats in that state are challenging the law and say they received hundreds of complaints about the new requirement, Anuzis said that can largely be chalked up to the learning curve.
"From the things that I read, apparently things went very well. There weren't any hitches," he said.
Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission, Kelley and several county clerks also are filing briefs with the court opposing the photo ID requirement.
They say the move to require photo ID is aimed at keeping poor and minority voters, who tend to support Democratic candidates, from being able to vote, and they say worries about fraud are overblown.
"Voter impersonation at the polls - which is the only form of electoral fraud addressed by the photo identification requirement - is a nonexistent problem," the Michigan Democratic Party wrote in its brief.
Party Chairman Mark Brewer said in a news release that "this Republican law will have the same practical result as a poll tax; it will lead to the suppression of the vote of the poor, racial and ethnic minorities, and elderly and disabled voters."
"In an election year the people of Michigan need to be especially vigilant in ensuring all election-oriented efforts are not a partisan power grab," he added.
But Anuzis rejected those arguments, noting that the House already has passed a bill offering anyone who couldn't afford to pay $10 fee to obtain a state ID card the chance to get one for free. The bill now is before the Senate Committee on Government Operations.
"If you want to vote, you can get an ID card. It doesn't keep anyone away from the polls," he said.
The high court has asked Republican Attorney General Mike Cox to submit separate briefs, one arguing that the law is constitutional and the other arguing it is unconstitutional. The court also invited the state Bureau of Elections, Michigan Democratic Party and Michigan Republican Party to file arguments. It has yet to hear oral arguments in the case.
Supreme Court spokeswoman Marcia McBrien has said the court will decide whether the state law is constitutional on its face. She added that parties could challenge the state law in federal court.
A major Dem constituency. It's how those Kennedys keep getting elected.
Discrimination against dead people! Dead people and illegal immigrants and convicted felons should be able to vote. Democrats should be able to vote as many times as they want!!! /sarc
For people who supposedly don't have any ID I'll bet they have no problem cashing their welfare checks.
How can any adult get along without ID? If you're over 18 and you don't bother to get ID than you're just a total loser, and you really have no business voting.
Democrats are such damn liars, it makes me sick.
So, they don't need an ID to vote, only one to register.
When a Mexican goes to vote, their picture is attached to the voter registration records.
Told you I was confused! I really didn't know it meant "picture id". Thanks for the info.
No, an appelate judge overruled the idiot judge in the first decision in her ruling that a legislative rule applied to amendments.
Due to timing though, we are using the old rules that allow 17 different types of ID many of which are non photo.
Hello, fellow Georgian here:
We have to show an ID, but it doesn't necessarily have to be a PICTURE ID, under the current law. The following site outlines the kinds of acceptable ID:
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/elections/elections/voter_information/#Georgia%20Voter%20Identification%20Card
which are:
Karnac the Magnificent, trying to determine the intent of the voter
>No, an appelate judge overruled the idiot judge in the first decision in her ruling that a legislative rule applied to amendments. <
This is actually a 2 front war in Ga.The appeals court judge is a state judge.The Demms also backed it up with their in the pocket Federal Judge in Rome.He is the brother of former speaker Murphy who ruled the Ga. House for 40 years.A friend of mine said the first time he ever shook hands with him his eyes were black as coals and for the only time in his life he had the impression he was meeting a man with a dead soul.
Yes. Voting fraud in Detroit has been a joke for many years. Not that the media or prosecutors would ever notice. It's about time.
(15) A bank statement, or a legible copy thereof, showing the name and address of the elector;
In PA newly registered voters need to show ID (I did this year because I'd moved). While showing a utility bill shows you live there, how does that prevent non-citizen's from voting? They get utility bills too, don't they?
That's what I don't understand. You need a picture ID of some sort just to FUNCTION -- like cashing checks, just as you said. So what's the problem???
Yes, non-citizens get utility bills, too, but they have to also show up on the list of registered voters. Of course, they can claim to be registered if they don't show up on the list, and they would be given provisional ballots.
But in any case, if people throw their utility bills in the garbage, I could get my hands on someone else's utility bill just by doing some dumpster diving or rooting through someone's garbage can, if I were so inclined.
The problem is that the dems will find it too hard to fake elections if too much ID is required. Personally I think that a finger print match is the way to go.
The 14th Amendment gurantees the right to vote? This is news to me. This Dummycrap has no clue to anything US Constitution.
Fingerprint match, iris scan.
Even photo IDs can be fake.
But it is much better than just letting some unknown person walk up and vote. It's not easy to fake hundreds of thousands of votes when each voter has a unique ID. There is no perfect system other than possible a full DNA test for every voter that is matched to the previous vote and cross referenced against every other registered voter to ensure there are no duplicates registered.
The real problem is they're lying through their teeth.
They don't want any impedance to their rampant voter fraud that prevails in all inner city precincts. And the MSM never even breathes a word about what's become an epidemic of corruption of our election process. If "news shows" like 60 minutes were on the level they would do shocking exposes about voting fraud. But since those fraudulent votes are almost 100% democrat, they won't touch it, in fact, they're totally in favor of the fraud as long as it's Republicans being cheated.
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