‘Jim Crawford’ Republicans

How can someone not have a state issued ID, at least?
They can get on a bus to go vote, but not get on one to go get an ID?
How do these people cash their welfare checks?

Bravo, Lee Holmes! One does remember, in Chicago, vote often and vote twice! Even if your dead. The only reason Kennedy won the election.

Holy Crap! Please, people, don't vote for such a wicked party. I can't stand it...

Then too,Alter,as is his wont,refers to empirical studies by those who embrace the Democrat ideal of the vote and thus supress information or allow a partisan slant[much like the global warming debate between pros and antis],to overtake what is supposed to be a factual condition.
Does voting fraud exist or does it not? Does the state have the right to take remedial steps to combat it?
A clear majority of the US Supreme Court argues that it does. Alter paints this in racial terms,masking the fact that he and his liberal brethren advocate open defiance of the Constitution of this nation as interpreted by those emcompassing the liberal[Stevens],the moderate[Kennedy] and the conservative[Roberts,Alito,Thomas,Scalia],wings of this nations highest court.
Key in this discussion is the differance between ''random'' or ''irregular'' voting fraud,and ''systematic''. In using his sources to claim that voting fraud is not ''systematic''[except as it applies to Republicans],Alter makes the sweeping conviction that there is none at all.
Not so fast,says a new study by the non-partisan BROOKINGS Institute,which observes forms and patterns of voting fraud which appear in enough areas [or ''pockets''] of the nation in key electoral states that could have the effect of swinging entire states towards a candidates tally.
In this,the Democrats are the undisputed kings of the voting fraud jungle. Not merely in the Civil Rights years,extending back to the Pendergast[which brought forth Truman],and Tammany machines,but into even the new century,where minority voting rights organizers,universally Democrat,have been nailed with one arrest and trial for fraud and voting illegality after another. Kingmakers play a role. The Daley machine of Chicago,an early proponant of ''the dead vote''. Democrat Loretta Sanchez' use of the illegal alien vote to get her to Congress. The now-famous photograph of a smiling LBJ and his close friend John Connally in the '48 congressional race against Texas'Coke Stevenson,with the missing ''Vote Box No.10'' perched in Connallys hands on the hood of a Dodge sedan,the absence of which,handed the election to Johnson. Friscos colourful Democrat mayor Willie Brown,who ensured that ''No''votes on a proposed San Francisco 49ers stadium,were dumped in the bay where they were fished out by anglers who caught more than fish that day. The Democrats ACORN,which gave us ''Homer Simpson'',''Dick Tracy'',and ''Minnie Mouse'' as legit voters. The city of Seattle,which encountered ''the biggest voting fraud case in the states history'',all involving Democrats. [Seattle Times July 27,2007]


''Election Fraud: Detecting and Deterring Electoral Manipulation'' Alvarez [CALTECH],Hall [U of Utah] and Hyde[Yale],Brookings Institute,2008.

So to get this free id card you already need some other form of id, right? I know when I wanted a passport I had to get a certified copy of my birth certificate, which cost money for both the certificate and the shipping; it also took about a month to get it from the state of New York. If it takes a month and having to visit two different agencies just to prove who you are. I can appreciate how much the right wing loves bureaucracy, but couldn't you guys make it easier?

I'm surprised that the article didn't get into how difficult it is to get ID. It's far more than just getting the ride to the DVM. Thanks to 9/11 and the Real ID Act, I see clients every week who cannot get ID, mostly because they lack the necessary documents. For a person who doesn't already have their birth certificate and social security card, it can take 6 months to a year (sometimes more) to gather the documents to prove their identity, and that is with the help of a professional who knows how to navigate the system. For most "id-less" people, the daunting task of resolving it themselves is more than they can handle. Sadly, if a person doesn't have a photo ID, it is very, very difficult to get copies of the documents to get a photo ID. This leaves our clients in a Kafkaesque nightmare where they can't get an ID because they don't have a birth certificate, and they can't get a copy of their birth certificate because they don't have ID. And, there is a race component to this that actually IS part of Jim Crow. For elderly African-Americans born in the south, many never had birth certificates issued because hospitals didn't treat African-Americans, thereby causing many to be born at home.

Let's face the facts--this is a long time strategy of the Republicans that was already working its way into the strategy in the 80s during the Atwater era. And you are right that it was one of the egregious practices that was adopted whole hog by the Republicans when they took over the white Democratic party in the south. I supervised a portfolio of large apartment communities in Florida in the late 80s. The progressive owners directed that all their communities participate in voter's registration drives and volunteer clubhouses to use as polling places anywhere there was a need. One of the on-site managers that I supervised refused to distribute the voting material to her mostly minority residents and, in fact, hid the displays that were provided for the office in the closet. Each time I directed that she display the material, she would comply until I left then she would hide it again. She finally told me that her son worked for the Republican party in the Alabama. She said that they had discussed that they didn't want to help register anyone who would vote for Democrats. In this case, party came even before job.

Phasing in a requirement for identification over time wouldn't be a bad thing, but this frantic push for ID when Republican registration is going down and many are being voted out of office while screaming voter fraud and firing honest States Attorneys is as dishonest and rotten as the fake outrage ads Karl Rove has become famous for.

When we accept it and the media ignores it to cover the trivia from opposing mud slinging ads what can we expect.?

Is the USofA a *democracy* or not? If yes, then we should be doing all we can to make it EASIER for citizens to vote! For instance, make Voting Day a National Holiday! Allowing online voting! Letting citizens RANK candidates, not just say "this one, please."

The GOP have been working hard to keep the black Americans voice out. Nobody talks about that issue. Look at Bush/Gore. Blacks were barred by the GOP and nobody said anything. Just look at some of the comments that some of these people write being very politically correct when they want to spread their hate. Now here we go again. As long as Whites and blacks hate each other, their will be no fair treatment. We are not the majority and the people in Ohio made sure they reminded people of that. To come out and say and I quote ":we can't let this black man win, their is more of us and less of themk," end quote.

It makes me laugh that so much effort is given to rid us of voter fraud, and laugh even harder that people think this will stop someone from this type of action. In North Carolina, and i'm assuming most states, a person can take a social security card and a birth certificate of any recently deceased in another county/parish and have a shinny new id to vote with(think of granny passing away and her sister or daughter doing this). The answer is a national voter database, you get your voter ID number that is tied to your social security number and current address, feed that into a voting machine(ideally anywhere in the country as the database is updated once you've registered to vote after a move, and your vote is allotted to your district) and vote on a nationally uniform ballot for national elections and uniform state and county ballots for those elections. If every one has to register to vote, and the only prof of ID necessary is your social security card then no one can call discrimination. It would take a few hundred million dollars (pocket change for our government) to write the software, and delever the machines. Easy, clean, effective and thats why it will never happen.

Sirs,
To the misled commentors on this piece, the article clearly states that this new law will mainly affect African-Americans because the number of persons living in Indiana without a proper photo id are disproportionately African-American. Hence, one may assume that this law is targeted at the aforementioned based on the assumption (whether true or untrue) that the majority of African Americans in Indiana are Democratic and will vote in that direction. Nowhere in the article does he say that persons of other ethnicities will not be affected. That being said, if one is truly interested in voting, then the minor inconvenience of getting proper id should not hinder zeal for the voting process. So if this new law really does affect African Americans from exercising their voting rights then shame on them for not getting their acts together.

Boy you have fallen to the level of Us Mag.. Misleading title to say the least!! Are you saying all white people have driver lis.? If it came to picking up a welefare check I bet they'd find a ride to the DMV. That goes for whites and blacks. Give me a break! I believe it is too easy to vote now. If you pay at least one dollar in taxes each year then you should be able to vote. If not then most do not care how high taxes are cause they aren't paying any anyway. I really kidding but their is some truth to that logic!

Altar, save it for you buddy Olbermann, and talk about it when you countdown the nightly dnc barak obama talking points . . . wow, talk about lying and misrepresenting things. Everyone, black, white, or otherwise, should have to provide an ID to vote!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

"The motive here is political, not racial."

Don't kid yourselves, foks. It's racial.

Save your propoganda for Olbermann and his countdown of the dnc talking points Alter . . . your presence on Olbermann is enough to reveal your true motivation, and, when you spew trash like this, suggesting in essence that the Supreme Court is racist, or somehow politically manipulative, you lose all credibility. I guess when Senator Obama loses in November you and KO will both need straighjackets . . . . . .

it just makes common sense to require someone to have a valid ID to vote. The article is so misleading but not suprising from left-leaning Newsweek.

too bad more states don't require and valid ID to vote. It just make sense. Only someone who wants illegal aliens to be able to vote would not be for this. Is just common sense. The article is so misleading but not suprising coming from left-leaning Newsweek.

In the last seven years the Department of Justice has spent millions of dollars and thousands of man hours trying to find voter fraud and has pretty much come up empty. One of the the attorneys fired as part of the politicization of Justice was fired partly because he didn't find any significant level of voter fraud (he said at the time because it doesn't exist). I understand just because it has the effect of disenfranchising predominantly Democratic voters doesn't mean that's why the Republicans are doing it, but that is why it is being done and it say otherwise is nonsense.

Another policy that Republicans have take out of decades of traditional Democratic methods in the South.