Posted on 10/19/2006 9:35:15 AM PDT by Reindeercards
The idea of universal suffrage has long been controversial. Indeed, it took this country nearly two centuries to extend the franchise to all citizens; women didn't get the right to vote until 1920. Voters have the power to shift the political consensus in their favor, so it's a radical proposition to believe that every citizen -- regardless of race, creed or color, income, education or ZIP code -- should be able to cast a ballot. It is a testament to the vitality of this nation's democratic ideals that the franchise is now universally applied.
Recently, however, a new wave of rebellion against that egalitarian ideal has cropped up; a new generation of politicians, mostly Republicans, is determined to snatch the franchise away from some Americans. Just a month ago, the GOP-dominated House passed a bill that would require government-issued photo IDs to vote in federal elections. And several Republican-led state legislatures have either passed stringent voter ID rules or imposed onerous regulations for voter registration.
Republican leaders have strained mightily to convince the courts that they are just protecting the franchise from voter fraud. Consider the widespread threat of illegal immigrants sneaking into the polls to vote, just as they sneaked into our country to work. Or those Dumpster-diving impostors who steal someone's light bill out of the trash and then use it as ID to cast a fraudulent ballot. Come on. I've heard 7-year-olds spin more convincing yarns.
According to USA Today, a preliminary report commissioned by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission has found little evidence of the sort of fraud that the burdensome new regulations purport to prevent. The bipartisan report found that "there is little polling-place fraud, or at least much less than is claimed, including voter impersonation, 'dead' voters, noncitizen voting and felon voters,"
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Written by the wackjob extremist flaming lefty-in-overdrive Cynthia Tucker.
That's all you need to know about this article.
The two biggest areas of voter fraud are: absentee ballots, whereby up to 30-percent of votes cast in some heavily Dem districts were absentee. (Am right now looking for the in-depth investigation done two years ago which exposed this dirty little secret.
The other fraud area is in big cities where the GOP has no or very few representatives, (mostly in heavily Union controlled districts) which are essential to poll watch, and/or to check voter lists.
The Phila Inquirer (a lib paper, no less) ran an article in 2000 which chronicled how some voting Philadelphia voting booth precincts were set up (legally) in back rooms of bars, or in several cases, in homes (they claimed lack of space. I'm not kidding)
I know you can claim that this is all antedoctal evidence, but I know what I read. I just have to find the year and date, and the exact specifics.
Many people simply change one letter in their name, and thus avoid detection.
In southwest border states, it was illegal in years past even to check to see if the voter in question was a legal citizen. (has that horrendous law been changed yet?)
That's how B1 Bob Dornan lost in ... 1998 or 2000, I forget.
Certainly not.
Did ya notice how the Dems were able to get 5 percent more votes than pre-election polls indicated for AlGore in 2000 (before the Florida fiasco), which then gave Carl Rove and the boys a big incentive to have all voter registrations purged all over the country.
Mysteriously, GWB won in 2004 by ... what was it, five million votes.
Yes, GWB got 5 million MORE votes than he did in 2000, but I am convinced the Dems in the big cities were scared to push their normal fraudulent boost-the-vote tactics because they knew the GOP and to some extent the conservative media was watching.
meant to say DURING the Florida fiasco.
Sure they do, or don't you remember Bob "B1 Bomber Bob" Dornan?
If they came to St Louis for research, they obviously never left the Hotel....
I been thinking about this and it doesn't make sense that its a burden.
When your child is born, they do the paperwork for a Social Security card at the hospital.
Voting is the only government service where I am not required to show an ID. Can anyone else think of a government service where I am not required to have some type of ID.
Heres the catch 22 if they find a plantiff who doesn't have an ID. How would this person get into the courtroom? Aren't IDs checked for people entering courthouses?
>>Thoughts?
Cythia Tucker is an idiot, and has been for a long time. That's what I think.
You ought to have to show at least as much ID to vote, as you do to fly. Period.
Which is more important to our country?
Anonymous ballot? What's that? Do you mean "absentee?"
Do you think the Dems are trying to cheat already, or is this a good case for changing the ballots?
Voter fraud has been described as disenfranchisement. The rationale is that a false vote negates a real vote. This resonates with me. No matter how much research I do, no matter how good my judgment, I only have one vote. It should not be negated by someone who votes twice. Can it be that liberal Democrats such as Cynthia Tucker favor taking away my franchise? You bet.
One of the dumbest articles I have ever read. Democrats have raised voter fraud to historic heights.
I mean the secret ballot, where ballots cannot be matched up with the original voters' names under which they were cast. Granted, it keeps intimidation from happening, but there's no way reliably to verify if one's vote has been counted after it gets mixed in with all the others.
Yes, photo ID is checked for persons entering federal courthouses, and this issue has been raised, IIRC in the oral argument at the 7th Circuit. The State of INdiana cited an opinion from the 2nd Circuit (again IIRC) sitting in New York denying a 6th amendment access-to-the-courts challenge to the courthouse ID requirement.
Couln't the Republitards win on this isue alone???
Why are they (we) not making this THE issue now, when they (we) REEEEEEEEEALLY need some juice?
Simple enough TV ad- "I believe in proving who you are when you cast your vote, my opponent doesn't."
Who would Joe six-pack vote for?
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