Actually, I have to add my confusion to that already stated. Why is showing a photo to prove that you are who say you are voter oppression?

You need a photo id to get a job, to fly, to drive… what exactly is wrong with showing ID to prove who you are before being handed a ballot? Otherwise, anyone could go in and claim they were me and steal my vote!

I’d have no problem at all with walking in and showing my Driver’s License, or State ID card to prove my identity before being handed my ballot. I have a voter registration card (no photo), but I’ve NEVER been asked to show it.

Why is this an issue?

Because you don’t have to show a photo ID to get a job, first of all, you can show plenty of other stuff, like a social security card or a birth certificate. And it’s a burden on the poor unless it’s absolutely free, and they will come to you to give you the card. Simple as that.

Fern @ 84

Brisingamen @ 74

The rules are set by the States because the State (or County) pays for the voting machines. Each State has a Board of Elections, and the members of that board are State employees, whose salaries come from State funds.

The polls are staffed by volunteers, but each State trains those volunteers, and the trainers are State employees.

At no point in these procedings does the Federal Government pay any of the costs associated with general elections or primaries.

Hmm. This does strike me as truly weird. I am used to a system where election rules and standards for federal elections are set, administered, funded and enforced on a national level. Makes for some consistency, ensures that all practices are constitutional, etc. And makes situations like this electoral college scam being set up in California completely impossible.

This is the states’ rights principle in the United States. You really have two standards, standards for federal elections and standards for local elections. Check out blackboxvoting.org if you want to become aquainted with the ins and outs of the mechanics of voting and fake (physically present) voter fraud versus real (retail)election fraud.

Is that cynicism? Not really. So far, every time we demand the Democrats stand up for what’s right, they cave and move on, tails between their legs. I hate to say it, but what on Earth makes you think this time will be any different?

IF I were going to continue this conversation, which I WON”T because I’d NEVER want to crash into your little yes-man party here that only welcomes opinions with which they agree – Kind of like the BUSH ADMINISTRATION in that – but IF I were going to continue, I’d note that a State ID card in Illinois costs $20 and is good for FIVE years – which is an annual cost of $4

Anyone who cannot afford $4 per year – less than the cost of a pack of cigarettes – really needs to be sorting out their priorities… IF I were going to comment on it – which I dare not, as being a TROLL would be a terrible thing in this little Rove-fest of total agreement.

Ann in AZ @ 115

Everyone in the state is entitled to apply for an ID card (which they use for check cashing, etc.) The problems don’t really come in unless you’re asked for two forms of voter ID, which generally doesn’t happen.

OK — but is that ID card free? Is it easy to obtain, or would someone have to make a special trip to acquire it?

If you have to pay for it, that discriminates against those who don’t have the money to get one, and that creates a barrier to voting which flies in the face of the Voting Rights amendment.

Jumping right in – That is part of the problem–generally one does have to pay for it–that makes it equivalent to a polltax. Voting is a RIGHT, not a privilege like driving or cashing checks.
Second – many, many elderly and poor folks from rural backgrounds cannot get a license or i.d. because they cannot get a birth certificate. They were delivered by midwives and the birth never registered – you’d be surprised how many of those still exist.
Even if you can get a birth certificate, those aren’t free, and many states are raising the price of a certified copy as state budgets tighten.
ANYTHING that costs money is a barrier to voting. And it was already found unconstitutional in the poll tax cases 50 years ago or more.
BTW – that poster lib…l.. is a well-known troll at liberal sites. ignore him/her.

I’m not an average New Mexican in many ways, we brought our own jobs here and have a fairly small circle of local friends, most of whom are also creative types who are artists or writers or musicians.

Among our crowd, the political spread ranges from moderate centrists to lefties like myself, with many gradations between.

That being said, my personal experience and that of a lot of the local blogs seem to think that Bill has no chance to really expect anything higher than maybe a VP nomination – and even that is in doubt due to the debacle of the Wen Ho Lee case when he was Energy Sec.. There’s tape out there of him being dressed down by Senators, including Byrd saying ‘I would never vote to confirm you again’ after the problems at the Energy Dept., and I have no doubt it would be used in the typical ominous music with black and white photos and chopped quotes ads the Republicans are masters of if Richardson made it to the national ballot.

Except for his ‘no residual troops in Iraq’ stance, there’s a couple of other candidates I prefer to Richardson. He’s very much a centrist DLC type.

He’s done a lot of good here in the state, since he had a working majority at the Roundhouse. Most of my friends wish he would drop his Presidential campaign and announce he’s running for Pete Domenici’s seat next year. There’s a local progressive – Wiviott who’s already running – but if Bill announced, Wiviott would be crushed in the primary.

Everyone in the state is entitled to apply for an ID card (which they use for check cashing, etc.) The problems don’t really come in unless you’re asked for two forms of voter ID, which generally doesn’t happen.

OK — but is that ID card free? Is it easy to obtain, or would someone have to make a special trip to acquire it?

If you have to pay for it, that discriminates against those who don’t have the money to get one, and that creates a barrier to voting which flies in the face of the Voting Rights amendment.

which kinda lends support to the theory that republicans are actively working to suppress the vote, eh?

LS @ 137

Liberty Lee, there are many reasons American citizens end up needing assistance to survive. How on earth do you make a connection that needing assistance is “stealing” and that their voting rights should be taken away? That is simply astounding. We need some compassion here coupled with upholding the rights of an American citizen to vote. I’m busy shoveling my jaw off the ground in an attempt to digest such a thought. Have a heart.

I’m sure I’m far into EPU territory at this point, but this whole “give a robber a gun/Communist dictatorship” spiel strikes me as the sort of comic delusion that only occurs at the intersection of bad acid and Ayn Rand. Besides, it all boils down to the same thing: “Liberty” Lee thinks poor people shouldn’t vote. He just keeps trying to dress it up as something else and fails miserably every time.

EDP gets epu’d…lol :)
You are, of course, correct in your analysis.