Whoop's! I meant to say voter indiscretion. Same thing happens when the unworthy non-believer pull's the wrong lever.

This voter fraud would not be a problem if we would just vote the way the GOP wants us to vote. Problem solved.

Any one have a cup of tea to spare?

Acknowledged.

Now, we're back to square one, right?

Yeah, I hear you on the voting machine fraud! So reminicent of that tacky business down in Florida several years ago, isn't it! What was it, hanging chads? I agree--folks need to watch for that.

Lovely video, SS396, about MAIL-IN ballot voter fraud. Are folks supposed to mail in their picture ID, too? Did you even look at the video once you found it?

If you can connect the need for a picture ID to a mail in ballot, I'm listening.

Now, as to mail in ballot fraud--I have no doubt that it is absolutely happening. But that is easily fixed.

1. State jail time and hefty fines for any politician paying folks to help folks vote by mail in ballot.

2. State jail time and even bigger fines for anyone being paid to help folks vote by mail in ballot.

3. Elections office staff handle the assistance end of the mail in ballot. Staff delivers the ballot and stands by while person votes and then takes ballot back to office. The folks in the video targeted housing projects, so the elections office staff works out in the field ever so often.

I write checks and have not had to show an ID in ages.

I purchased a car and did not have to show any ID.

I purchased car insurance without showing an ID.

I have cashed a check at a bank (WF) that I do not bank at and didn't show an ID (but I did have to go inside).

Where are you guys doing business? Maybe it's your credit rating that is requiring the ID. I don't know.

Having an ID IS not a big deal, but why has a voter ID just now become a problem for the republicans?

You guys can't even answer the questions! You just vomit crap you think you heard somewhere. Has it ever occured to any of you Einsteins that some REAL, hard FACTS just might make us non-believers change our minds? Citing what happened in South Texas in the 60's makes you all look rather foolish! Is that the best you can do? Takes you FIFTY years to snap to? Seriously?

SHOW ME THE FACTS! or hush already!

If you knew what you were actually talking about...The GOP presidential candidate will get all of Texas's 34 electoral votes but this is about unnecessarily disenfranchising minorities, students, and the elderly voters... The DOJ stepped in because Texas has a reputation for doing just that ..Every state has to abide by the Voting Rights Act .

Texas has time to slowly phase this in and make it easier for people to vote.

All presidential candidates go to all 50 states,some eat cheese grits, to collect campaign contributions...nothing usual.

I really don't have a problem with ID's as long as everyone has the same requirements. What I would like to see is if you are stopped and do not have a valid DL or current insurance your car is impounded until you can show proof. There really is no reason to drive without them.

SSS396,

I agree, we need pictured, ID cards for everyone...for everything, but it is the timing that is questionable. SS could take care of it with the retirees if they include a picture on the SS card, with fingerprints. This should have been done anyway, years ago.
It is no coincidence that it is red states that are pushing the hardest and it's not about anything except voting.
Do we hear about SS fraud, Medicare fraud, Medicaid fraud, food stamp fraud, insurance fraud? No, just voter fraud, in red states.

No one wants to answer my questions?

Legion357

ID's are not bad at all but do we have to implement this law right now? How about a tamper proof National ID Card?

born

Texas has about 600,000 registered voters that do not have a driver's license or a personal ID issued by DPS...A disproportionate share are Hispanic voters 46.5 %.

As you mentioned Texas has a lot of rural communities and almost a third of the counties do not have DPS offices and the Texas legislators killed the idea of DPS offices staying open to 7:00PM to accommodate the ones who could not make it during working hours.

I still don't know why students IDs are not acceptable...never mind, yes I do.

Texas has a reputation for doing things like this,that's why they are on the list.... The data I submitted is incomplete because Texas has not supplied an explanation as to why they supplied two sets of numbers of registered Hispanic voters to the DOJ, without bothering to reconcile the two sets.

People need to read...There is a lot more to this than preconceived talking points.

I stand corrected too. It must have been $6 instead of $16, but still even that can be a hardship for those who do not have the expired DL for formal ID. Having to get a certified copy of BC is not cheap, nor is it easy in many, many cases.
My mom was born at home and her parents didn't think it necessary to report her birth right away. When she applied for SS, my dad had to go to court to get one made up and there had to be witesses to say when and where she was born It wasn't easy.
People of today do not realize how it was back then and the lax laws that were in place.

IDs, can't be all bad can they?
When the requirement of a passport to travel outside of the US went into effect I went to the city secretary s office for something or other. They had one of the windows open for Birth Certificates that had about 10 people in line. Seems a lot of people got a copy of their BC then...so they could get a passport.

digalitldper,

It wasn't free when my mom went to get her state ID card. It cost her $16 and if she hadn't have had her expired driver's license for ID, it would have been very hard to come up with the identification.
Not only that, I had to take her, sit almost an hour waiting in line, and then take her back home. Some seniors do not have that kind of help. Sitting that long was not easy for her as she has had back surgery in the past and finds it hard to sit for long periods of time. We almost had to get up and leave because she was having a very hard time.
Some of these people who move a lot, or might be legal immigrants without an easy way to get their hands on the documents, do have a hard time locating what they need.

I think you do not realize just how many do not have drivers licenses, or an easy way to get the state ID cards. That's not even counting students that may be from another state.

The GOP did their homework and know the demographics. It is an attempt to slow down the voters that voted for President Obama in huge numbers in the last election.
I see no fault with voter ID, IF, people were given more time to do this. Photo ID's could be gotten from places other than the local DMV. How about setting up a way to get photo ID's through SS, Medicare, Medicaid, and other public venues.
Frankly, I think photo ID's should be a part of insurance cards because I can almost bet kids are passed around to those who have family insurance, and passed off as someone's kid on the policy, when they are not.

Did anyone here about the elderly gentleman that was a veteran, that wasn't allowed to vote because his ID wasn't the right kind? I odn't know what state this was in, but I heard it on the news. Things like that are what is sickening about these new "laws"

Smoke and mirrors!

Can you tell me why the republicans are pushing this? What are y'all afraid of? You essentially got your way with redistricting.

I can not honestly recall the last time I had to show a picture ID anywhere. Well, I take that back--I have to show my membership card at Costco.

I sure appreciate all the work you put into that last comment, SS396, but I was specific about the parameters. It had to be in the last 10 years. It has to be about illegal aliens. It had to be a documented incident.

That's all.

21st century material.
The Myth of Voter fraud
It has been a record year for new legislation designed to make it harder for Democrats to vote — 19 laws and two executive actions in 14 states dominated by Republicans, according to a new study by the Brennan Center for Justice. As a result, more than five million eligible voters will have a harder time participating in the 2012 election.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/opi...

EA
You hit the nail on the head...It's a "be very afraid" tactic that normally works on the uninformed..

Well EA, it gets tiresome having a one way conversation where I have to produce all the facts and my opponent just uses, analogies that don't make any sense, hearsay, hyperbole, lies, or folksy statements. I can go to any of the elementary school or beer joints for those discussions.

1...Produce the documented facts that people come out of the shadows to vote for particular party. Fact is the DNC has given up on Texas for awhile..Money is being used in the swing states.
2...State the reasons why it has to be done by November of this year.
3.. Give the reasons why student IDS and other forms a picture IDs are not valid.
4. What is the ratio of voter fraud to total votes cast in Texas?
5. Why is Texas under Sec 5 of the voting rights act?

Those who have been keeping up with the presidential campaign should know that the republicans are not the ones that should be talking about voter irregularities or fraud.

Let's flip it; many people say that we should not be afraid of allowing law enforcement to inspect our vehicles doing a routine traffic stop..... If there are no voting irregularities or fraud, and the latest tactic by the GOP to suppress voters is on the up and up; why should they be afraid of a Federal investigation?

The people are not stupid or naive, quit skirting the issue, because I've seen where legislators in Ohio actually agree that voter fraud is not rampant and agree if they wanted to use driver's license as ID, then they should pay for those who cannot afford it and accept other forms of ID.

There is a cure; we can refuse to discuss a topic with those that cannot prove their point. You see they have an agenda and most people have already seen through that. It’s very easy to see that they don’t know anything about the subject they are discussing.
.

I see where you are going SS39, weak analogy and all.

If there were enought incidents of voter fraud by illegal aliens to warrant this sort of action--be it 1 or 1 million--there would be some sort of evidence to back it up. Instead, everyone is just regurgitating what they hear on FOX. Show me some real facts. Frankly, at this point, I don't even care if they are Chinese, Canadians, British or Mexican. Just find me a real example.

And for what it's worth, not a soul has tried to say that we're talking about all voter fraud, not just illegal alien voter fraud. That tells me a whole lot!

Okay, Mike--are you saying the 26 cases that were investigated involved legal residents of the State of Texas? So I still have to wait for a documented case of an illegal alien committing voter fraud?

Over on Facebook, I am having this discussion with some folks who have used scary talking points to make their case. One of the things they have not been able to tell me is, who benefits from illegals voting? If you say it is the illegal (voting for all the 'benefits' they get) then why is the majority of our elected officials republican? One has come close, but not quite.

About 2 years ago,I remember our Republican Attorney General,Greg Abbott screaming "voter fraud", he got the taxpayers to pony up a little over a million dollars to investigate 26 cases of of what he called voter fraud..It seems only Democrats and minorities were charged. Of those I believe about 2/3 were technical violations BUT the voters were eligible..A drivers license as proof of ID would not had helped.
As I stated in a blog several months ago this is a concerted GOP effort to suppress the votes of minorities,students and the elderly.

Again, we can solve all this with a tamper proof National ID card but libertarians would go wild.It's one of those "I've got mine."

If the republicans of Texas want driver's license or its equivalent as a requirement to vote; why not faze it in for the 2016 election? In the meantime we can set aside some money to pay for those who cannot afford the $15.00 to pay for their copy of a birth certificate. We can also start accepting other forms of picture IDs of people who have been vetted. I see no reason why we can't accept student IDs.... We should be wanting more people to vote not less.

Let me simplify it... Every city and has a certain number of registered voters and some will sign up prior to voting. It's simple math. ... Why would people living the shadows want to expose themselves to vote? Texas has already gerrymandered their districts to favor the GOP and now they want to disenfranchise the minority,student and elderly vote..What are they really scared of?

I guess I'll want for the link proving voter fraud is on the rise..Wait,I don't have to because the justice department will do their job.

Camille Doty or heatherscarlet--

Can either of you provide some actual figures on the incidence of voter fraud in Texas? I'm not talking about the 60's. We've discussed that to death. Let's narrow it down to the last 10 years. Statewide. And yes, we've discussed the Gonzales incident where two legal residents running for city council mucked stuff up.

Yep--I'm looking for just ONE documented case of where an illegal, unregistered, undocumented, deportable person that is not otherwise a resident of this state, voted. In any election. Anywhere in Texas. In the last 10 years.

I'll wait.

This makes me so angry this is a great way to eliminate voter fraud! Hello go get a picture ID if you are here legally and if your not then BUTT out of OUR elections. And boo waaa if you "can't" get your picture ID because your too irresponsible to get your documentation together OMG people grow up and put your big kid panties on!!

The ruling will change nothing. Had the DOJ gone along with this scheme, the impact would have been thousands of otherwise qualified voters being unable to vote.

What folks in Texas are going to have to be careful of is those folks who will be standing outside of polling places telling folks they must have a photo ID to vote. They have been doing this in the states that have had their primaries. Talk about voter fraud! Not everyone is 100% up on the news and on changes (or non-changes) in the voting rules.

The DOJ made the right decision.