Voter ID Laws: Necessary to combat rampant fraud or subtle subjugation of the Democratic demographic

Ah but your contention is that voter ID laws are passed in order to disenfranchise Democrat-voting public. Was that the motivation behind the Rhode Island and Delaware laws?

The vast majority of voter ID laws are passed with the intent of suppressing Democratic-leaning groups. The fact that there are two exceptions to this does not invalidate that fact. Perhaps someone familiar with the workings of the legislatures in those states could enlighten us- maybe they were passed as a package with other bills in order to gain some Republican support for the package. Pointing to two counterexamples and shouting “Neener neener neener” doesn’t win the argument.

I’m with you, then. I would like to see every state, Pennsylvania included, craft laws that allow easy access to voter ID, without sacrificing the integrity of the system, of course. The mindless insistence on a Social Security card, or indeed on any one piece of documentation, is foolish. The idea is to create documentation that allows us to be reasonably sure that the person voting is the person that registered to vote, and that this person is eligible to vote.

In cases like the one mentioned, where there is a Catch-22 (have to have the SS card to get the ID; have to have the ID to get the SS) the regulations should allow an affidavit in place of the SS card, clearly establishing that false statements are perjury, the penalty for perjury is thus-and-so, and that the subject says they no longer have (or never had) a SS card, but they were born in the United States. And the affidavit should be notariezed at no charge, and the state ID issued likewise.

So - in your opinion the only motivation possible to pass the Voter ID laws is to suppress Democrats?

Because I’ve seen people interviewed on TV, in which they say they’re here illegally but their dream is to see their kids go to college.

Don’t be ridiculous. It’s much greater risk to place yourself in front of cameras, and give interviews on TV (granted, to a sympathetic Univision camera, but a camera nonetheless) than it is to vote.

It is theoretically possible to support voter ID laws for other reasons but such persons compose an insignificant fraction of the proponents.

http://www.pe.com/local-news/breaking-news-headlines/20120126-san-bernardino-no-immigration-detainers-against-protesters.ece
http://www.dreamactivist.org/media-advisory-six-undocumented-youth-arrested-at-anti-arpaio-protest/

http://www2.journalnow.com/news/2011/sep/06/5/young-immigrants-arrested-in-charlotte-at-sit-in-t-ar-1362924/
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137476280/a-new-generation-of-dreamers-goes-public

And you know this how?

Because those impacted adversely are disproportionately Democratic voters.

Once again, why would Democrats in two of the very blue states pass laws that supposedly disproportionately impact adversely their own voters? What was their motivation, you think?

So - in your opinion there is not a trace of that motivation whatsoever in these laws? :dubious:

Just curious how and when you realized that this problem existed, and that these laws are an effective solution with only acceptable side effects. What convinced you?

Seeing how Democrats in two of the true blue states passed those laws - do you think there is a trace of that motivation in there? That is, the Democrats there may have thought that they were preventing fraud, but there was a trace of “let’s suppress Democrat voters” as well?

So you’re not going to answer? Pity.

Please do PM me if you’re ever coming to Kansas.

And the reason it could not possibly be a collateral effect is?

Please say something better than Republicans are evil!

It is where I live. There are signs listing the city ordinance, and yet you see still the guys there every day.

They could be charged with a crime if we had a system to catch them-- that is, voter ID laws. As it is, not so much.

As a matter of fact, Republicans are indeed evil. It is not a collateral effect, it is the primary effect and the desired effect. When you pass a law to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, and the main impact is to disenfranchise people who don’t vote the way you want them to, then your motivations are quite apparent.

Oh, absolutely. I don’t bring up the DREAM Act for any reason other than to say I have seen illegal aliens take the greater risk of demonstrating for it. I don’t mean to suggest that support for it is limited to illegal immigrants, nor do I even mean to suggest that the support of illegal immigrants for a particular law is somehow illegitimate.

I just mean to rebut your idea that illegal immigrants would not dare to put themselves “on the radar” by voting but showing that some put themselves on the radar by demonstrating.

But that’s anecdotal, yes?

OK. Let’s look at this investigation by the US House Committee on House Oversight. This was an election result challenge arising from the election of Loretta Sanchez in the 46th Congressional District of California. Ms. Sanchez won by 979 votes.

A challenge was raised to the result, because:

One step taken was to compare the list of registered voters with the INS database of registered aliens:

Of course, there was no way to know for whom those votes were cast.

And there was no way to know how many more total aliens were registered and voting:

Well?

I must apologize Elucidator. It was DavidM that has a problem understanding “compelling” and “interest” and not you. I’m sorry.

Ample evidence has been supplied in this thread that the problem DOES exist.