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Need Photo ID To Vote?

Discussion in 'Fred's House of Pancakes' started by Sufferin' Prius Envy, Apr 7, 2005.

  1. Orsino

    Orsino New Member

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    It's not a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. The ones crowing "no proof" are--and it's no coincidence--quite satisfied with the way GOP-controlled balloting is going. For me, the very lack of transparency in the process is the real problem.

    We will never prove specific instances of fraud, though fraud has been proven statistically. The "ballots" never existed except as bits on a hard disk that is owned and protected as proprietary by a corporation chaired by Republican supporters. They will never allow voters a look inside unless they are made to by a court decision, and then only after a series of appeals go against them.

    We're done for, as far as "democracy" goes. With campaign financing so utterly owned by Big Money, the last remaining check on power was the verifiable ballot. And that's gone now, to such an extent that a secret tally from a privately-held company's machine running proprietary software that you can't examine can tip the balance however its masters want.

    Not enough Americans care sufficiently to change these facts, and so Big Money will win every election from now on--unless enough old-fashiioned ballots are there to make the difference.

    Welcome to one-party rule. How's it working for you?
     
  2. Greyskye

    Greyskye New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Orsino\";p=\"80920)</div>
    I think you nailed it Orsino. What's pathetic is that you have to go to the overseas media in order to get any decent coverage of the problems in our election processes. Here is a link to a site of a journalist in Britain who does work for the BBC and The Observer, two respected journalistic entities. This page has his articles and interviews covering voting problems in the US over the past 8 years: http://www.gregpalast.com/columns.cfm?subj...of%20Presidency His BBC television reports are available on the left side of the page as well.

    Also check out his columns on a number of other topics, including Corporate America ( http://www.gregpalast.com/columns.cfm?subj...orate%20America ).
     
  3. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Very well said John.

    I have been crowing “no proof†. . . but not in saying no proof is a good thing . . . no proof is a bad thing . . . a very bad thing! . . . unless . . . of course . . . there actually were no voter fraud! Then it would be a good thing. (Almost sounds like Kerrey’s - I voted for it before I voted against it. :eek: )

    Do I believe electronic voting is a good thing?
    Only if verifiable paper ballots are printed and the system is totally transparent . . . including open source software.

    Do I believe in Motor Voter?
    Only if the strongest security measures are applied. Social Security Number, Date and Location of Birth, fingerprint and photo ID.

    Do I believe people should be voting without showing ID?
    NO. And so do 91% of those who responded to the poll I mentioned in the first post.

    I would also like to see fingerprinting with indelible ink at the polls to prevent multi voting. We could walk around for a few days - like the Iraqis - with a dirty finger as a badge of honor for doing our patriotic duty. But of course the civil libertarians would scream bloody murder. At the very least they would demand that everyone have the civil right to go to the polls to get their fake “badge of honor†least they feel discriminated against and stigmatized by possibly being identified as one who is ineligible to vote . . . or at least be able to demand time off from work and be able to return with proof of voting. :|
     
  4. Tempus

    Tempus Senior Member

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  5. Greyskye

    Greyskye New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Tempus\";p=\"80961)</div>
    I should have been more clear in my message. No offense, but I was referring to major national media outlets, such as the 24 hour news networks, major print media, and the big-3 broadcast outlets. All of these have had occassional reports on election fraud/problems; but none of these 'liberal media' outlets have delivered any kind of sustained in-depth coverage. The BBC for example, has probably had more coverage of US election problems then the US has! :roll:
     
  6. bookrats

    bookrats New Member

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    I think what everyone's saying is that we want secure voting measures that make fraud difficult, and leave us with a verifiable paper trail. (I like the idea of transparent code, Patrick -- provide experts an opportunity to review the code for security.)

    I agree with that, and I think it's something that shouldn't be a partisan issue. And this thread seems to indicate that there's strong support for it, regardless of party.
     
  7. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

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  8. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Truth in advertising time?

    If you really were into truth in advertising, you would have mentioned the correct bill! :roll:

    The subject bill is SB 226 by Senator Cox, not AB 934 by Assembly Member Wyland.
    http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_...introduced.html

    Also should not be confused with AB 1006 by Assembly Member Keene.
    http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_...introduced.html

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius\";p=\"80717)</div>
    So how does it feel to live in a “blue†state where 91% of those polled agree with me? Doesn’t that make you an ultra left wing nutcase?

    Maybe to you this is a “none issue†- but to me it is not a non-issue.

    Other people seem interested in this topic - hence, they too are posting. I may not agree with everything they say, but that is what discussions are all about . . . learning.

    So you now speak for Arnold? Quite presumptuous for someone who despises him.

    You’re done? I think “toast†is more fitting inference. You came back, and you went down in flames.

    Thank You, I do have a good life . . . but experiencing people like you truly adds to the enjoyment. I enjoy a good laugh.
     
  9. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

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    Why don't you post a link to the non-partisan Office of Legislative Counsel's analysis of Cox' bill? What are you trying to hide?

    http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/sen/sb_...7_sen_comm.html

    (none has been prepared thus far for AB 1006 http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/postquer...=B&author=keene )

    :roll:

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy\";p=\"81298)</div>
    Why does he distance himself as far as he can from the right wing lunatic fringe, that you so ably personify and represent, at every opportunity that presents itself.
     
  10. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    There was no need to post the link because there is nothing onerous there.

    That is unless you consider, “This bill permits a voter who is unable to present proof of his or her identity, to vote a provisional ballot†as onerous.

    The rest is guessing:
    “. . . this bill could arguably, in some instances . . . It may lead to . . .voters may be unwilling . . .it may lead them to . . . may not want . . ."

    Just the act of saying “hi†to someone standing in line “could arguably, in some instances, discourage legally qualified people from voting†.

    But since you are trying to imply that I am hiding something by not posting that link - like the good conspiracy theorist you are - why don’t YOU point out something in the link which you think I am trying to hide.

    As bills go, this one is very narrowly focused on just one aspect of potential voter fraud - it doesn’t even attempt to address or solve any of the other potential avenues of voter fraud.

    The “non-partisan Office of Legislative Counsel's analysis†does righteously point out that
    “It\'s not clear to what extent voter fraud is a problem in California.â€</span>
    To do nothing is as bad as ignoring the problem . . . and the problem is that<span style=\'color:green\'> “It\'s not clear to what extent voter fraud is a problem in California.â€
     
  11. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

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    As always, your half truths are worse than lies!!!

    This is the independent Office of Legislative Counsel's analysis:

    "Is There Voter Fraud & Will This Prevent It?

    It's not clear to what extent voter fraud is a problem in California. Under current law, any member of the precinct board can challenge the ability of a person to vote on a number of grounds, including that the person isn't actually the person whose name appears on the index, isn't a resident of the precinct, isn't legally eligible to vote, or has already voted that day.

    Requiring a person to produce a driver's license, birth certificate, or utility bill doesn't ensure identity, nor does it guarantee that the person attempting to cast a ballot is actually the same person who is listed on the voter index."

    BILL ANALYSIS SB 226

    And:

    "Little empirical evidence exists that suggests that this is a problem in need of a solution. According to a 1999 report of the Secretary of State's (SOS) Election Fraud Investigations Unit, 750 cases were investigated and closed between 1994 and 1999. While the vast majority of these cases related to fraudulent voter registration, only 12 percent concerned fraudulent and double voting."

    BILL ANALYSIS AB 934

    Ninety instances of fraudulent or double voting, over a five years period (that is eighteen instances per year!!!), with well over ten million registered voters. Hardly a problem that justifies harassing every single voter at the polls.
     
  12. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Actually it’s a six year period, not five, “between 1994 and 1999". The math would then tell us that an average of only 15 cases per year were documented.

    A right winger would say, “it is pathetic that only 15 cases per year are documented.â€

    A left winger would say “the fact that only 15 cases per year are documented shows that the system works.â€

    An ultra left wing nutcase conspiracy theorist would say, “There is no credible documentation of election fraud in California. Period. This is a fix for a problem that does not exit.â€
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius\";p=\"79516)</div>
    So which is it?
    Does 15 show that the system is working at preventing voter fraud?
    Does it show a pathetic lack of voter verification at the polls?
    Or is 15 meaningless . . . because the Office of Legislative Counsel's analysis is not credible?

    If the police in the state of California only wrote 15 tickets for DUI would that then prove we don’t have a problem? Or would reality kick in and tell you that there is lack of enforcement?

    (For IsrAmeriPrius: Don’t bother answering. We already know your answer! You would probably also go on to say, “pulling over suspected drunk drivers will create traffic jams on the roads and the enforcement would be racist in that a higher percentage of minorities would be denied their rights to drive.†You can't logically say anything else and not contradict your stand on this bill.)

    Stop being so lazy. Reach into your back pocket and pull out some ID . . . or at least protest this “major assault on your liberties and voting rights†and ask for a provisional ballot.

    Funny. I’m still waiting for proof of “Republican shenanigans in the last two presidential election cycles, travesties experienced in Ohio and Florida", and my favorite - “illegal not so random police check points that were set up to intimidate citizens in poor neighborhoods from exercising their constitutional right to vote.â€
     
  13. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

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    How pathetic.

    A link to an independent site with the answer to your question was provided several days ago. Pretending to wait for an answer which has already been provided is a typical diversionary tactic for those who would never concede their errors.

    OK, the ninety cases could have occurred in a six years period (it says between 1994 and 1999, not during 1994 through 1999). That is a minuscule number, which did not affect the outcome of any election. That cannot be said for hundreds if not thousands of voters who were wrongly removed from the voters roles in Florida in 2000 by a Republican Secretary of State’s office. That was one of the reasons that Bush "won" that year. Let's fix the problems that affect the outcome of elections first before saddling voters in California with necessary red tape.
     
  14. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    How utterly orthodox of you!
    Throw up drivel as proof and then blame the other person for your own shortcomings.

    Your link did not answer a single one of my questions . . . not one item of concrete proof, it is all ALLEGATIONS and GENERALIZATIONS!!! (as I had earlier stated in my rebuttal)

    You call that PROOF?

    Please provide just one link which states something along the lines of: “Today in Federal Court, Judge Uncle Sam sentenced Officer Joe Blow to a 15 year term in federal prison for involvement in a [2000-2004] civil rights violation by conducting a racially targeted, illegal police check point, outside an Umpty Squat, Florida polling place.â€


    You can call your Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law nonpartisan all you want - it just doesn’t make it so. (I’m surprise YOU didn’t accuse THEM of being right of center!)

    A look at their Action Alert Archives gives the true story of their “nonpartisanship.â€

    <span style=\'color:green\'>
    URGENT!!! – Urge Senators Not to Confirm Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General

    Urgent!! – Call Your U.S. Senator to Express Opposition to the Proposed Federal Marriage Amendment

    CALL SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS ACT

    Call Your Senator to Support Election Reform and Urge Changes to Discriminatory Provisions

    National Call in Day to Urge Election Reform on Decemeber 12!!!

    URGENT!!! - Call Members of Senate to Oppose John Ashcroft as Attorney General

    Urgent!! - National Hate Crimes Prevention Call In Day September 7

    URGENT!!! Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1082) Before House of Representatives.

    Hate Crimes Prevention Act

    Judicial Nominations

    URGENT!!! - Hate Crimes Prevention Act Vote on June 8, 2000


    Just one link with PROOF . . . that’s all I ask.
    You have already given the proof of voter fraud in California . . . even though you said, “There is no credible documentation of election fraud in California. Period.â€

    Come on man . . . Prove the police check points ever happened! I DARE YOU!!!!!
    Either that or just SHUT UP! . . . AGAIN! . . . because your arguments ONLY consist of ALLEGATIONS, GENERALIZATIONS and CONSPIRACY THEORY.
     
  15. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

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    I have provided you more proof regarding real problems with voting procedures in Florida and Ohio, as opposed to the statistically insignificant imaginary problems which you perceive in California, than Bush and his cronies had of the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction when they dragged us to war in Iraq two years ago.

    None of your Christmas colored oversized fonts are going to change that fact.

    No election outcome in California has ever been affected by the isolated problems that were cited by the California Office of Legislative Counsel.

    End of discussion.
     
  16. Bill60546

    Bill60546 Member

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    Wow; and who ever said "Kaliforn-i-ans" were laid back?

    Voter ID is crucial and am all for it. On David Brinkley's last interview with Ferdinand Marcos (sp), he asked what the Phillipines' President response to the comment that the elections were rigged. Mr. Marcos, without missing a beat, looked straight into the camera and said, "The elections in Manila are just as fair as they are in Chicago".
     
  17. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Ooooh . . . Christmas tree colors . . . :roll:

    I’m so sorry to upset your esthetic sensitivities. I used red in “Action Alert†when they used blue.. . my mistake! I used green in the copy of the body of their post - they again used blue, but I almost always use green to connote a copy of another web page or post. If you were just seeing colors, I’m sorry you couldn’t comprehend their significance.

    So once again, sorry if the combination is contrary to your delicate sense of artistic correctness. If it is the fact that they are “Christmas†colors, get over yourself. That too is a conspiracy theory that won’t stick.

    If size really is an issue for you, blame Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law . . . they are the ones who used even larger fonts on their page. My sensibilities told me not to make it quite so grandiose.

    Nice double speak there IsrAmeriPrius. (You must be an ACLU lawyer . . . wrong a majority of the time, but crafty.)

    Lets break down your sentence in its two parts:
    “No election outcome in California has ever been affected . . .â€
    “ . . . by the isolated problems that were cited by the California Office of Legislative Counsel.â€


    Nobody ever said an election outcome in California was affected by the cited problems, but that is a far cry from your connotation of:

    “No election outcome in California was ever affected by voter fraud.â€

    If THAT is your contention, I would so love you to try to prove that one . . . just like you tried to prove “police check points.†(I’m still waiting . . . and will be waiting just as long for this one too.)

    The problem is the unknown scope of voter fraud, not the lack of election outcome problems caused by these few discovered cases.

    If you believe voter fraud could never affect the outcome of an election, you need look no further back than the 1997 Miami mayoral race. The outcome was overturned because votes were cast by felons and non-residents. It was none other than this 1997 Miami race which provided the impetus behind the Florida voter roll purge.

    MIAMI (AllPolitics, March 4) -- A judge has overturned last fall's election of Xavier Suarez as Miami's mayor because of evidence of absentee ballot fraud.
    http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/03/04/miami.mayor/

    (Ooh, sorry . . .“oversized fonts†:oops: )


    So if you are content with your “proof†and your new indefensible “No election outcome . . .†- Go away proud! For you really are a case. :silly:
     
  18. Orsino

    Orsino New Member

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    Absentee ballot fraud has nothing to do with proposals for photo IDs in voting, of course.
     
  19. Sufferin' Prius Envy

    Sufferin' Prius Envy Platinum Member

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    Of course, and I agree.
    But that’s apparently not what some state Senators think when they used the narrowness of the bill as an argument against passage of the bill . . . because it doesn’t do something else!

    "Because this focuses on what you do at the precinct, it doesn't go to the problem of whether people are registering to vote who shouldn't have registered to vote," said Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey.

    The bill is very narrow in scope and only addresses fraud at polling booths.

    That’s like arguing against a bill to curb illegal immigration because it does nothing to raise the minimum wage.