# I Pit the ID-demanding GOP vote-suppressors (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943 "2012-06-12T19:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 165
**Author:** ![Terr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3281 "2013-03-02T21:42:18Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > The criticism offered in the article that you apparently cannot grasp is not so much a contradiction as a criticism. Mr. MacDonald is suggesting that the numbers Mr Roberts is basing his opinion on are not _reliable_, not that they are false. US Census data is not reliable. Gotcha. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3282 "2013-03-02T22:08:07Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If this were another issue, Scalia himself would say that as long as the text of the bill is not ambiguous, Congressional intent is expressed only through the bill’s plain language. Sure, but, not to be flippant, but you’ve read Scalia’s opinions before, right? He’s not always consistent about that, especially lately. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3283 "2013-03-02T23:16:50Z")
What are they about with all of this, anyway? Seems hard to credit that all this fury and bluster is just about the indignity being suffered by these repentant states. The dark suspicion that gnaws is that they hope to weaken federal oversight of state voting laws and, given the sorts of political shenanigans we’ve seen of late, this troubles me. OK, so lets say they just throw out that one pesky section, so that certain parts of the country are not required to submit proof in advance that their election laws are not discriminatory. Does that mean everybody is held to the same standards, or that no such standards can be applied? Does it mean that there is no authority to appeal to for such discriminatory laws? Must anyone injured by such begin the long slow trudge up the ladder to the Supremes? Would the laws remain in effect until that process is complete? I would like to think that the Supreme Court would never consent to being a party to such depravity. I’d like to think that, but not quite sure I can. My other question is whether or not “Fat Tony” Scalia is uglier than a road-kill horned toad, but we can set that aside for now. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2013, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3284 "2013-03-03T01:49:27Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > OK, so lets say they just throw out that one pesky section, so that certain parts of the country are not required to submit proof in advance that their election laws are not discriminatory. Does that mean everybody is held to the same standards, or that no such standards can be applied? Does it mean that there is no authority to appeal to for such discriminatory laws? Must anyone injured by such begin the long slow trudge up the ladder to the Supremes? Would the laws remain in effect until that process is complete? > . Even if they get rid of that section, there’s still going to be the rest of the act, and voting discrimination still won’t be allowed. It’s just that certain sections of the country won’t have to get preapproval to change their voting laws. If they get rid of it, it’ll probably be the way it is now in the rest of the country. If Rutland, Vermont, for instance, tomorrow passes the “Black people have to show ID but white people don’t if they want to vote” law, that’ll still get challenged in court and overturned even though Rutland, Vermont isn’t a covered area. I doubt the court will throw out the entire Voting Rights Act. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3285 "2013-03-04T14:32:21Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > US Census data is not reliable. Gotcha. I hate it when people pull that shit. No, he didn’t say that the US Census, as a whole, was unreliable. He said those specific numbers have too great a margin of error to reliably reach the conclusion suggested. It always pisses me off when some proud progressive here plays a game like that and no one calls him on it. So… let me call you on it, in hopes that (a) you’ll stop, and (b) others will be inspired to police their ranks. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3286 "2013-03-04T14:33:56Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > My other question is whether or not “Fat Tony” Scalia is uglier than a road-kill horned toad, but we can set that aside for now. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a steaming hottie. Because how the justices look is very relevant. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3287 "2013-03-04T23:08:45Z")
_What’s the ugliest Part of your body? What’s the ugliest Part of your body? Some say your nose Some say your toes But I think it’s your mind…_ Upon research, I discover to my surprise that Frank Zappa did not direct these lyrics specifically at Justice Scalia. Still, close enough for rock 'n roll. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3288 "2013-03-05T01:44:24Z")
Another example of GOP vote fraud. > **[If Politicians Wanted To End Voter Fraud, They'd Clean House](https://crooksandliars.com/nonny-mouse/if-politicians-really-wanted-stamp-out)** > > State Representative Debbie Riddle (R – 150) loves the word ‘integrity.’ She was also a big supporter of recent Bill HB 16, which would have required Texas voters to present proof of identification. “Y’see, that’s very important > [@](#): > > State Representative Debbie Riddle (R – 150) loves the word ‘integrity.’ She was also a big supporter of recent Bill HB 16, which would have required Texas voters to present proof of identification. “Y’see, that’s very important because the very freedom of our nation is based on the integrity of our ballot box,” she said. “And if things are so lax that fraudulent voting can occur, then that means your vote can be stolen. And when that’s done, your voice is silenced.” > > But Rep. Riddle herself has indulged in voter fraud on multiple occasions, voting for her absent colleagues in the House, thus silencing their voice, and by extension, the voices of anyone who’s ever voted for them. The practice is against the rules of the House. In fairness, the article goes on to say representatives from both parties vote for other members. But the point made stands - the woman who speaks about integrity, routinely violates the voting rules of her own legislative body. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3289 "2013-03-05T13:58:35Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > _What’s the ugliest > Part of your body? > What’s the ugliest > Part of your body? > Some say your nose > Some say your toes > But I think it’s your mind…_ > > Upon research, I discover to my surprise that Frank Zappa did not direct these lyrics specifically at Justice Scalia. Still, close enough for rock 'n roll. So… you meant to say “Fat Tony’s” MIND is uglier than a horned toad whatever? Just a typo? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3290 "2013-03-05T15:55:10Z")
Have you any more sanctimonious piety you want to ladle out here? Perhaps a bit more rolling about on the floor pissing and moaning about “liberal hypocrisy”? I did not make him an ugly little man with an ugly little mind, he did. I didn’t make you a caricature of yourself, you did. Perhaps you can explain away his most recent comments about “racial entitlements”? Given your gifts for semantic distortion and your towering genius for rationalization, you can make them into shining examples of justice and equality under the law. You do more to advance my preferred causes by your adamant refusal to engage them fairly and openly than I ever could. Speaking on behalf of lefty type progressives everywhere, we thank you. Keep the good work, if you didn’t exist, we would have to invent you, and we aren’t that smart. You ought to sue Steven Colbert for stealing your _shtick_…Oh, wait. You do know he’s kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3291 "2013-03-14T02:11:55Z")
Iowa Republicans Aim To Eliminate Youth Vote By Refusing To Teach Them How [http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/10/iowa-republicans-aim-to-eliminate-youth-vote-by-refusing-to-team-them-how/](http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/03/10/iowa-republicans-aim-to-eliminate-youth-vote-by-refusing-to-team-them-how/) GOP Legislators. Overstated title, IMO. Perhaps limit might have been a better than eliminate. They want to eliminate this teaching requirement: > [@](#): > > ”Instruction in voting statutes and procedures, voter registration requirements, the use of paper ballots and voting systems in the election process, and the method of acquiring and casting an absentee ballot … The one-half unit of United States government shall include the voting procedure as described in this lettered paragraph and Section 280.9a.” ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3292 "2013-04-04T02:47:02Z")
They’ve thought up a new way to suppress the student vote. The North Carolina GOP ===\> laser focused on winning elections. (Makes them too busy to work on adding jobs or cleaning the water and air.) > **[Senate bill seeks to curb college vote](https://www.wral.com/senate-bill-seeks-to-curb-college-vote/12298695/)** > > A bill filed in the state Senate would carry a tax penalty for parents if their children register to vote at their college address. > [@](#): > > Senate Bill 667, known as “Equalize Voter Rights,” would remove the tax exemption for dependents who register to vote at any address other than their parents’ home. > > “If the voter is a dependent of the voter’s parent or legal guardian, is 18 years of age or older and the voter has registered at an address other than that of the parent or legal guardian, the parent or legal guardian will not be allowed to claim the voter as a dependent for state income tax purposes,” the bill says. > > **snip** > The bill would also require voters to have their vehicles registered at the same address as their voter registration. That also could cut down on college student registration, since many students maintain their vehicle registration in their home counties. Naming the bill 1984 style was a nice touch. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3293 "2013-04-04T03:24:03Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > They’ve thought up a new way to suppress the student vote. The North Carolina GOP ===\> laser focused on winning elections. (Makes them too busy to work on adding jobs or cleaning the water and air.) > > [Senate bill seeks to curb college vote](http://www.wral.com/senate-bill-seeks-to-curb-college-vote/12298695/) > > Naming the bill 1984 style was a nice touch. Interesting: > [@](#): > > Sponsor Bill Cook, R-Beaufort, didn’t immediately respond to inquiries about the intent of the legislation. > > \ > > The same provisions on student voting have also been rolled into a larger omnibus bill, Senate Bill 666, which would also shorten early voting days, ban early voting on evenings and weekends and prohibit same-day registration. > > That bill is also sponsored by Cook and is similar to House Bill 451, which was filed last week by House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes. > > UPDATE: In an emailed statement this afternoon, Cook defended S666 and S667, saying their reforms “will be appreciated by citizens in this state who view voting as a sacred civic duty.” > > “In these tough economic times, we need to be proactive in finding ways to save money. One day of early voting in North Carolina costs $98,000. Our counties bear this cost exclusively. Cutting back early voting from seventeen to ten days does this by saving roughly $686,000 per election. This money would be better used to hire teachers and first responders,” Cook said. > > “We are simply equalizing the playing field for all voters in our state,” the statement said. > > Jay DeLancy of the NC Voter Integrity Project also voiced support for the student voting restrictions, citing a case in which college students in Buncombe County changed the outcome of a race for a county commission seat in 2012. > > “That race showed how easily college students can be manipulated like pawns,” DeLancy said in a press release. “These bills will protect students from such abuse.” If electoral campaigning/advertising is “abuse,” what protects everybody **else** from it? Yew sayin’ college students need to **coddled?** Fuckin’ bleedin’-heart liberal . . . ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3294 "2013-04-04T03:52:04Z")
Bound to work. Throughout history, when the young are scolded and bullied by their elders, they wilt into subservient and respectful compliance. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3295 "2013-04-04T04:04:27Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > Naming the bill 1984 style was a nice touch. But companion-bill 666 tops it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3296 "2013-06-17T18:01:20Z")
[Supreme Court invalidates Arizona voter-registration law.](http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/17/us-usa-court-voters-idUSBRE95G0K720130617) > [@](#): > > (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Monday struck down an Arizona law that required people registering to vote in federal elections to show proof of citizenship, a victory for activists who say it discouraged Native Americans and Latinos from voting. > > In a 7-2 vote, the court said the voter registration provision of the 2004 state law, known as Proposition 200, was trumped by a federal law, the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. > > The state law was strongly opposed by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (Maldef) and Indian tribes. They said it deterred legal voters who did not have the required paperwork from registering to vote. > > Nina Perales, vice president of litigation at Maldef, said the ruling “sends a strong message that states cannot block their citizens from registering to vote by superimposing burdensome paperwork requirements on top of federal law.” > > The ruling will affect three other states - Georgia, Alabama and Kansas - that have similar laws, and prevent others that may have wanted to follow suit from enacting legislation along the same lines. 7 to 2 is pretty impressive as these things go. Even Scalia joined with the majority. (Thomas and Alito dissented.) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3297 "2013-06-17T18:08:33Z")
Well, yeah, but that was a slum-dunk. No way the state can supersede the Feds on citizenship. Except maybe for Alito and Thomas, and, frankly, don’t even want to _know_ their reasoning. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3298 "2013-06-17T20:52:06Z")
How many times have Scalia and Thomas been on the opposite side of anything? That in itself is noteworthy. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3299 "2013-06-17T23:17:53Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Well, yeah, but that was a slum-dunk. No way the state can supersede the Feds on citizenship. Except maybe for Alito and Thomas, and, frankly, don’t even want to _know_ their reasoning. Huh? It has nothing to do with citizenship. It has everything to do with the Constitution: Art I, Sec 4: > [@](#): > > The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. Arizona has every right to require that voter registrants provide evidence of citizenship, rub blue mud in their navels, and sign “Luck Be A Lady” prior to casting ballots. BUT – the federal government has the power to make such regulations too, and their power overrides the states’. In this case, Arizona made a law, but it conflicted with Congress’ e National Voter Registration Act of 1993. In that conflict, the Elections Clause says clearly that Congress wins. Where the hell does citizenship enter into it? Arizona’s law involved asking about citizenship, yes, but the result would be the same if Arizona’s law had required registrants to supply their blood type or their favorite Hansen brother. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943/3300 "2013-06-18T00:21:26Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > How many times have Scalia and Thomas been on the opposite side of anything? That in itself is noteworthy. They agree less often than other pairings. See [http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/SB\_agreement\_06-12-2013.pdf](http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/SB_agreement_06-12-2013.pdf). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943.md?page=164) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-id-demanding-gop-vote-suppressors-part-1/624943.md?page=166)