Supreme Court upholds Arizona's photo ID law for elections

That is the most asinine argument I've ever heard. Cannot "afford" a photo ID? How did they get themselves to the voting site? Did they ride a borrowed donkey or did they drive a car?

Consequently, it is illegal in Texas to be an adult and in public without photo ID on your person. If a police officer says, "show me some ID, please." you comply or go to jail. I agree with this law. People who don't have ID's are generally people who are illegally in the country or are criminals trying to avoid arrest.

-Michael

 

Wow, you really don't know that city folk walk and take public transportation?

What if you're from out of state, just visiting?

 

Interestingly, I live in the 4th largest city in the United States and my state (Texas) is home of 4 of the 10 largest cities in the U.S. (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin). Walk in Houston? Houston is also the geographically largest city in the united states at 599 square miles. No, we don't walk anywhere. Neither does anybody outside of perhaps New York City or Chicago. Ever been to L.A. or Houston? Incidentally, Houston also has the 2nd largest freeway system after L.A. I don't get why people think Texas is land of the hicks. Your state is lame Texas rules.

No offense, but if you travel around town and across state lines without any form of identification, you're a colossal moron and deserve it if they put you in jail. How do you suppose the authorities should distinguish between illegal immigrants and legal residents or wanted criminals from upstanding citizens? Take their word for it? A smile and a thumbs-up?

What's the big deal? If people are driving cars (and most Americans do), they have a driver's license. If they don't, again, they deserve jail time if they are driving without one. The miniscule population who doesn't (New Yorkers perhaps, who are but a mere spec on the American landscape, which is made up primarily of rural areas and sprawling big cities with major freeway systems), can get official state ID's which are usually good for 5 years or more.

The big deal is that those opposing this legislation are trying to get illegal aliens to vote for pro-illegal-alien hispanic candidates, etc, to fulfill their liberal agendas by submitting illegal votes. Bring an ID, prove you're a citizen, thus allowed to vote, then submit your vote. Otherwise, please don't waste our time with your fraud attempt.

-Michael

 

If such a law does exist in Texas, I'm betting it's unconstitutional. I don't owe anyone proof of my identity, cop or no cop.

BTW, Austin is not in the list of top 10 largest US cities. It is #16.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html

 

Strange though when you look at who's funding and or "advising" the opposers it turns out to be the same "corporitos" behind the legislation.

 

I wonder how much of Houston's population are legel residents???

Wrong, I have no agenda except to assure each of our civil liberties are no violated.

 

Good luck with that It was on the news during the Superbowl coverage in Houston that several people in downtown at street parties were ticketed or arrested for not having ID.

I stand corrected on that. It's just a matter of a decade or less for Austin, anyway. For now, though that just means Texas has 3 of the top 10 largest cities in the U.S. The same number of "big cities" as California in the top 10. The point really was that people often act like NYC is the only "big city" there is and that it's a model for them all. It is not. Most parts of the nation are road-based and thus car-based. The only place you walk is from the parking lot to the destination. Without cars, I would have to figure out how to get 26 miles (one way) to work, 7 miles to the nearest grocery store or 6 miles to the nearest bus stop (which in and of itself would not take me many places).

-Michael

 

Houston is infested with illegal immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. I would not be surprised if there are several hundred thousand of them. Add to that tens of thousands of criminals and unemployed welfare cases who came here from New Orleans last year and are living off the teet of our taxes with no apparent intent to ever get jobs or move back home.

What's your point? Should the illegal aliens be allowed to vote?? What about those who haven't bothered to get Texas I.D. and live in Houston with their Louisiana ID's or allegedly "left them at home"?

How is asking someone to show I.D. to vote in an official election violating their rights? Voting is a privelege extended to legal CITIZENS (not merely residents). Asking them to show some proof of citizenship (or that they are actually the person named on the voter registration card and that it's not a deceased person) doesn't seem unreasonable to me. What POSSIBLE rights could be violated? Do you really, honestly, truly believe that there are legal, law-abiding, CITIZENS running around with no official I.D. of any kind, because the state wants 20 bucks for one? How are they cashing their paychecks or for that matter, getting a JOB without ID?

-Michael

-Michael

 

Michael,

I don't think I'd disagree with you on that, but many cities are unlike Houston in that they have excellent mass transit systems. Houston is just getting on board with light rail, and Metro is still lacking in many ways. But it is better than it used to be there. I don't know if you are old enough to remember HouTran or not, but it was horrible. When Kathy Whitmire was Mayor she basically copied MARTA in Atlanta to come up with Metro.

 

Maybe because some representatives don't have a clue about people outside their own state. Ever been to Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, DC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans? Not everyone drives a car. Even Houston and LA have public transportation - who do you think is riding the buses? They are actual people, maybe not as good as you, but people nonetheless.

Our former mayor wanted to change the slogan to "Our city kicks your city's [butt]." I lived in Texas (Houston) for six years as a kid. I didn't care much for it.

The discussion is about picture id. You're a colossal moron if you think that a person has to have id at all times.

Well, there is a presumption of innocence and the Fourth Amendment. The authorities shouldn't be harrassing people who are minding their own business.

Not everyone is like you. Millions of Americans, admittedly a minority, do not drive cars. Most of them are city dwellers, elderly or poor. It may not be a big deal to you, but it is to them.

Your miniscule population numbers in the millions. US passports might be more convenient as most State IDs require a person to go to the DMV while there are generally many Post Offices convenient to non-drivers.

That's ridiculous speculation.

 

:applause:Great points, Daisy. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one up for a little verbal "rasslin'" tonight.:smilewinkgrin:

 

No, they should not be counted in the census.

Asking is not a violation, mandating is.

 

So I ask again, how do you all propose to protect the integrity of an election by preventing ineligible voters from voting?

 

Ditto.

How do you verify (primarily)
a) identity (is it the person, is the person on the roster ALIVE?)
b) citizenship (is the person voting an actual citizen)

And of course secondarily:
c) prevention of multiple votes by the same person!!

I am honest to goodness mind-boggled by people who don't carry ID or claim to somehow be unable to attain it, which I don't believe, not for one second. Passport, State ID, driver's license, whatever, just get one.

And FYI, I believe that most elderly, etc, who may not drive still do in fact have driver's licenses or very minimally they have exchanged those for state ID's (which look almost identicle to driver's licenses). They need to write checks, cash checks and for various other purposes identify themselves.

As for the 4th amendment issue, I am not suggesting that cops are driving down the street asking everyone for ID. This isn't communist China. But, if any interaction takes place with police for other reasons, including reasonable suspicion, then individuals should be able to present ID so that they can quickly ascertain that the person is not a threat.

You "number of the beast" alarmists amuse me. It is not a violation of civil rights to ask someone to prove that they are eligible to vote in order to actually vote. The notion is absurd.

-Michael

 

Why isn't that done at registration?

You should get out more.

Again, you should get out more. Many cities have neighborhood check-cashing places that don't require ids (they make up for that in fees). Mail-in checks don't require id. Many people don't use checks nowadays when credit/debit cards are so convenient.

Lack of reasonable suspicion should keep them away.

What are you talking about, "number of the beast"? I carry my voter's registration card which should be enough - if you're not registered and in their book that they keep, you can only vote provisionally. In New York, they do not have photos attached to the cards. If the Feds want to mandate how the States must determine eligibility, I think the constitution may have to be amended. At any rate, the Feds should pay the increased costs of issuing each registered voter a minimal cost ID.


So, how would voters having id prevent their being stricken illegally from the registration rolls by overly, um, zealous, election officials? That seems to be the bigger problem in voter fraud.

 

I really believe the voting problem is merely a bump on the road to the real problem. The bigger question is how to we tell US citizens from non-citizens. Not just at the election both, at the airport, at your Church, at your kids school, to receive a welfare check etc...

I think we're trying to cure a side effect but are leaving the desease untouched...

 

Check for citizenship and residency when a person registers to vote. If a state chooses to, it can issue a photo registration card at no or at minimal cost to be presented at the polls. Currently, my state issues a non-photo registration card and checks signatures against a printout at the voting booth.

How do you prevent people who are legally registered from being kicked off the voter rolls by partisan election officials?

 

Verifying signatures for those who show up with a valid voter registration card would be adequate, and an additional helpful measure would be a photo printed on the card, as you stated.

However, I'm going to have to plead ignorance here and have you help me become enlightened -- what are all of these "kicked off" voters that you're talking about? Furthermore, you do know that if we're talking about a presidential election, that it doesn't matter one hoot until we get rid of the Electoral Voting method.

As for suggesting that I need to "get out more"... I woudl ask -- what is it you do everyday that makes you so "worldly?".... I spend my day with 3,200 teenagers from ages 14-19 (sometimes 20, 21) and a diverse staff of 300 adults from ages 22 to 75 and parents of varying ages, socio-economic status and education level. I'm sure I have a better idea of what's going on in the real world of the average folks than most people do.

-Michael