Posted on 04/10/2014 5:01:47 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
After years of lefty rhetoric about how even the smallest ID requirement at the polls is some sort of pogrom against minority voters and the poor, I … did not see this coming.
But maybe I should have. Per some polls, support for voter ID reaches 80+ percent. Maybe Bill’s already thinking about purple states in 2016.
With 34 states now requiring some form of identification at the polls, former president Bill Clinton and civil rights leader Andrew Young on Wednesday endorsed the idea of adding photos to Social Security cards as a way to prevent voter suppression…
Clinton and Young, a former mayor of Atlanta, expressed concern that the voter ID laws could discourage poor and minority voters from showing up at the polls, which would circumvent the intent of the Voting Rights Act.
“I’m not against photo identification, but only as long as the cards are free and easily accessible. Providing eligible voters the ability to obtain a photo on a Social Security card eliminates any genuine concern,” Young said. He called on Obama to issue an executive order making such photos available.
Clinton did not go so far as to urge executive action. However, he said, putting photos on Social Security cards would represent “a way forward that eliminates error,” without having to “paralyze and divide a country with significant challenges.”
Help me figure this out. Traditionally, the argument against voter ID is that it puts the poor at a disadvantage by making them spend money they don’t have. Even if the ID itself is free, as it is in some states, it costs money to collect the supporting documents for it, like an official birth certificate. Except that … you also need supporting documents proving your age, citizenship, and identity to obtain a Social Security card. To prove the first two, they ask for a birth certificate. To prove identity, “Social Security will ask to see a U.S. driver’s license, state-issued nondriver identification card or U.S. passport,” although certain other forms of ID might be accepted if those are absent. And SSA emphasizes that all documents must be original or certified copies; photocopies won’t cut it. All of which is to say, how is a Social Security card less burdensome for a voter to obtain than a state-issued ID would be? If anything, it’s more of a pain for the feds since it would require issuing two separate SSA cards — one, presumably without a photo, when you’re a child and can’t vote, and then another with a photo when you turn 18 and can.
The point here, I guess, is to leverage the ubiquity of Social Security. If everyone, including the poor, is already bearing the cost of registering for a number and getting a card, you might as well add a photo and take care of their voter ID too. If it’s unfair to make them bear a burden at the polls, though, why ask them to bear one to produce documents for SSA? Why shouldn’t photocopies of a birth certificate suffice as proof of identity? This has always been the main objection to voter ID — it seems capricious to demand proof of ID for so many things in life, including participation in a protest of voter ID laws, and then wave people through on election day without one. If obtaining photo ID would make the poor’s lives easier in various ways, not just in voting, then naturally you’d want to maximize the incentive for them to do so. That’s a virtue of Clinton’s proposal. Unlike lots of lefties, he sees value in encouraging people have at least one basic form of photo ID.
Exit question: Will righties balk at this because Social Security is federally administered, though? I saw some grumbles in Headlines about this being a de facto national ID card, in which case, no thanks.
But that does seem stupid. Since it’s something everyone has, I think he has a pretty decent idea there.
Even a passport # or DL # is dangerous if it's on the web.
I suppose the idea is that - EVERYONE is suppose to have a SS Card... whereas some other form of photo ID is “limited to the privileged few”...LOL????
Not any more... they haven't for several years now.
My question - when was the law changed to allow the SS Card to be used for ID? Not that it matters - the card was created.... drumroll... as a form of ID related to Social Security... Sigh
Oh, I bet Bill Clinton would LOVE to see a national ID card like that. Any such ID could be “disabled” if the person in question made the wrong person mad in government.
I agree!! I have been telling people that for years.... “There is no such thing as “Federal Elections”, only State Elections to FILL Constituanily proscribed positions
%#@#$% idiot!
Because they don’t use Social Security cards as personal IDs.
And here comes the money grab. You would be required to have a new picture taken every 2-3 years. Of course you would have to pay a "fee" Plus...a whole new department would have to be created to oversee the "law breakers" and of course to manage all of the functions of the department. Thousands would be employed, they would form a union, have a SWAT team, armed agents, you get the picture.
So you see, it's ALWAYS about creating more government and taking MORE of our hard earned money just to keep us in our place!
Free country my ass!
Dude....like...Dude.
I am a citizen of Nebraska. As such, I am also happen to be a citizen of the US. The latter is entirely dependent upon the former. I do not owe the central Govt my identity for ANY purpose. The State of Nebraska is my agent for dealing with the central Govt.
Rethink your position on this, posthaste.
It is a burden enough for someone to have to get all the documentation together and jump thru the hoops to get their picture on a SS card, but this would be a MUCH bigger burden the more SS cards one has. Why, even for our illustrious leader, it would be a tremendous hardship. After all, doesn’t he have a good handful of social security numbers, each with a card needing now a picture?
Really not feasible .... the Chicago cemetery voting block would have no way to obtain a current photo.
“Bill Clinton on voter ID: Why not solve problem by putting a photo on every Social Security card?”
Here’s a better idea, BJ. How about making sure someone is a U.S. citizen before issuing them a SS card?
Think you can get that past the DNC?
I'll balk at it because my SS card is a little piece of thin cheep card stock issued in 1963 sitting in the bottom of a steel box that says in big bold letters NOT TO BE USED FOR IDENTIFICATION!
Perhaps Bill Clinton can compare the costs of the hundreds of million people like me having to go to the SS office to get a new SS photo ID (to be used for identification) vs those few thousand unlike me who do not have another form of valid photo ID.
Typical Clinton move. Cause confusion to hide the real issue.
My son who is mentally challenged (34 years old) has lost his SS card many times. Do you know that you can only get a replacement 10 times over your lifetime?
He lives one state from me and his Aunt and he went to SS office this week to get a replacement SS card since he lost his.... The Gov worker was a jerk. Knows my son is mentally challenged, his Aunt had his birth certificate, banking statement with his name, address, etc, several other things with his name and birthday on it.
However, SS worker said my son has to have his name,his SS#, and his date of birth on the same paper in order for them to verify who he is. He then said, I have this printout that shows he has been getting SSDI for years and we have all his information right here in the computer. His Aunt asked, can you print that out and we can take down to DMV so he can get his State License ID because the DMV said they could take that to issue an ID card. Nope the SS worker replied. Why? Because we started printing out and giving it to folks and they weren’t taking it to the DMV and getting their ID so now we can’t print this out any more.
So my son who is a good person, Loves the Lord, reads his bible, works at the street missions to feed the poor (as best as he can to feel needed and helpful)..can’t get a State ID...and can’t get a SS card until he comes up with something with his Name, birth-date, and his SS number on it.
It was an eye opener for me on how hard it is to get a replacement SS card and a State ID for lot of folks.
At this point, might have to try to get an old school record perhaps. Just no clue on how to get all the data on one form...
That would quickly become an indentity thief’s paradise.
We already have a de facto national ID card, aka a driver license. I've never understood the objections to a national ID card. Everybody whips out the "papers, please" trope, but how is that any different from our resident JBTs asking for "license and registration" at the slightest provocation?
S.S. cards are issued to babies, you can't claim a baby with I.R.S. without a S.S. number. Will they put new born's pics on cards?
Clinton is stupid.
Because most folks don’t carry their SS#s around with them, and the cards state plainly that they are NOT to be used for ID. We couldn’t use them at the Credit Union, where I was a Teller for a year.
The article indicates that there will be no photos prior to 18 since people can’t vote until they reach 18. Regardless, it is a stupid idea.
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