Everyone should have to use a photo ID. Everyone should have to carry a photo ID in general too.

2/8/2011 9:43:49 AM

Quote :

"Everyone should have to carry a photo ID in general too."

Indeed, you should have government-issued/approved licensing to walk around!!!1

I mean if you can get the police checking citizen's for ID for looking not white in Arizona, might as well extend it to everyone!!!

[/hyperbole]

Seriously though, I'm surprised there isn't more libertarian backlash against the government getting more heavily involved with deciding who is approved to vote on who should be in government.

And from fiscal conservatives since this is going to cost millions to implement during a budget crisis.

And from students, who are likely not to have a drivers license with a current address or a current power bill if they live on campus.

And from pragmatists, 18 cases of fraud last year (granted its only caught fraud), versus a million eligible voters in North Carolina who do not have photo ID currently, and the likelihood that the practical effect will be more legitimate voters will be discouraged from voting than there will be fraud stopped, which ultimately makes it less the results less democratic.

2/8/2011 3:19:50 PM

From what I was hearing in the legislative building today, it looks like they're going after pre-registration too where nearly of age high school kids pre-register to vote so that it'll be all set when they come of age. Anything to put up barriers to voting I guess.

2/16/2011 4:07:06 PM

Quote :

"There are a large number of acceptable IDs. Acceptable forms of identification include: •A North Carolina driver’s license with current address •A utility bill with name and current address ?A telephone or mobile phone bill ?An electric or gas bill ?A cable television bill ?A water or sewage bill •A document with name and current address from a local, state, or U.S. government agency, such as: ?A passport ?A government-issued photo ID ?U.S. military ID ?A license to hunt, fish, own a gun, etc. ?A property or other tax bill ?Automotive or vehicle registration ?Certified documentation of naturalization ?A public housing or Social Service Agency document ?A check, invoice, or letter from a government agency ?A birth certificate •A student photo ID along with a document from the school showing the student’s name and current address •A paycheck or paycheck stub from an employer or a W-2 statement •A bank statement or bank-issued credit card statement "

If the way Rep Tim Moore (R) was describing the current plans were accurate, then the list as amended is more likely. Only 2 other states in the nation have laws this restrictive (Georgia & one other that I don't recall off hand). So the question is again, how many people living on NCSU's campus have a current driver license or other photo ID with current address, since Student IDs even though government issued don't count? Heck, how many even have cars & any reason to really maintain a drivers license? How many keep it updated every time they switch dorms or apartments?

This measure is bad for college students.

2/16/2011 11:39:32 PM

Interesting take on it:

"Monday, February 21, 2011
The GOP’s Contemplated Voter I.D. Law Would Violate the NC Constitution"
http://blog.wataugawatch.net/2011/02/gops-contemplated-voter-id-law-would.html

2/21/2011 9:17:30 PM

Just saw this chart that lays out the costs associated with this new government program if pursued:

http://www.carolinapublicpress.org/255/nc-voter-id-law-could-cost-state-at-least-18-million

Quote :

"As Facing South reported earlier, these estimates still probably don’t reflect the true costs of carrying out a voter ID program. As we found in analyzing the fiscal notes from half a dozen states, most failed to include at least one basic expense needed to implement a voter ID law, such as voter education, administrative expenses and hiring and training additional poll workers. In other cases, lawmakers acknowledged the added costs, but merely stated they would be “absorbed” by existing agencies — an unlikely scenario today, given the move to slash budgets at every level of state government. It’s equally clear you can’t cut costs on voter ID programs — not without inviting more problems, and possibly more costs in the long run. States that don’t pay to issue free IDs to those who need them are inviting lawsuits that claim the bill is a poll tax. Failing to spend money up-front for voter outreach and education will only cause a state to pay more later in issuing more provisional ballots to confused voters, and hiring more poll workers to handle those ballots and longer lines on Election Day."

3/12/2011 10:18:32 PM

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

3/13/2011 7:15:24 AM

"I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Weyrich

Paul M. Weyrich (October 7, 1942 – December 18, 2008 was an American conservative political activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation,[5] a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank.

3/13/2011 1:14:25 PM

http://www.democracy-nc.org/news/blog/2011/03/14/monday-march-14-2011/

Quote :

"Leaders of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina are similarly opposed to proposals that would make voters present a government-issued photo ID each time they vote."

Glad to see the Libertarians in on this, and in on the ballot access stuff. Keeping elections more democratic and participative, both on the candidate side and the voter side, giving us more choices to vote for and more voters, seems like something both liberals and libertarians who are opposed to less government restrictions can agree on.

[Edited on March 15, 2011 at 1:05 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2011 1:04:07 PM

Hey Supplanter, I just want to know one thing... Are you getting paid to post endless numbers of democrat talking points for the past two years? You have a very disciplined message and never stray from the party line so I just hoping that the democrat party was compensating you somehow for your efforts.

3/15/2011 2:12:27 PM

Actually recently I've been on the Libertarians payroll in opposing DOMA, opposing a DOMA type constitutional amendment to our state constitution, opposing government imposed restrictions to voting, and opposing the restrictions for ballot access for 3rd parties. And yes, they pay quite handsomely.

3/15/2011 5:00:49 PM

Ugh. They had a public hearing scheduled for this, but then they issued the bill the night before so public input didn't really have a chance to shape it. And from the time they issued it until when they closed the online public comment was only a couple hours during the middle of the night so while technically they allowed for public input, they did it in a messed up way so that few people were able to comment and those comments that did happen won't have any impact. Disgusting.

[Edited on March 15, 2011 at 11:23 PM. Reason : .]

3/15/2011 11:22:54 PM

I thought one interesting point I heard yesterday at the Public Hearing was the ways in which this bill fails to achieve what it intends to do:

http://www.democracy-nc.org/news/library/HR351Statement.html

Quote :

"To begin with, for people concerned about voter fraud, this bill does nothing to address the most frequent ways fraud happens. First, it doesn’t add any new safeguards on absentee voting; in fact, this bill makes it easier to get an absentee ballot. But here’s the truth: the rate of somebody impersonating someone else is ten times higher for people voting with absentee ballots than those who vote in person. Ten times! Second, the bill will not prevent a person who has moved out of the county or out of the state from coming back and voting in their old precinct because under this bill they can just show their old NC driver’s license as their ID. That’s what the bill allows. Third, it won’t stop non-citizens or people still serving a felony sentence from voting. They have photo IDs, so requiring them to show an ID won’t stop them from voting. So people who believe fraud is widespread can have no confidence that this bill will really reduce fraud. It only makes voting more difficult for people who don’t have a government-issued photo ID. That’s all it does – target people without a government photo ID."

3/16/2011 5:16:40 PM

And now the other shoe is dropping:

http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2011/Bills/Senate/PDF/S657v0.pdf

Quote :

"BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO MAKE VARIOUS CHANGES TO THE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION LAWS."

I saw this bill described as:

Quote :

"A new bill in the NC Senate would eliminate Same-Day Registration and youth pre-registration, slice a week off Early Voting, end Sunday voting, and require other changes that will make it much harder for millions of NC citizens to vote. "

5/10/2011 1:25:52 PM

astroturf

5/10/2011 6:23:52 PM

Don't know the point of cutting same day registration, but I'm all for cutting a week off of early voting.

5/10/2011 6:40:49 PM