Interesting that Republican controlled state legislatures around the nation this year are pushing the same themes.
- Nine Republican state legislatures have passed, or are considering passing, different versions of laws restricting collective bargaining for public workers.
- Thirty states are in the process of make new requirements for potential voters to show a picture ID in order to be allowed to vote.
The League of Women Voters is opposed to Ohio’s HB-159, “The Fair and Secure Elections Act,” saying it is unnecessary and that HB159 will work to disenfranchise many eligible voters.
HB-159 was approved by the House on a 58-38 party line vote on March 23. It is now in the Ohio Senate and tomorrow, Wednesday, June 22, the Senate’s State & Local Government & Veterans Affairs Committee will hold hearings. Under the bill, only the following forms of ID will be accepted to vote: Ohio driver’s license, Ohio state ID, Military ID and US Passport.
HB159 would eliminate currently acceptable forms of ID, including out of state licenses, voter registrations cards, notices from the election authority, utility bills, bank statements or other government documents that can effectively verify identity. The League estimates that about 900,000 of Ohio’s 8 million registered voters lack a government issued photo ID to vote, and that racial minorities, the working poor, students, the elderly and people with disabilities are twice as likely to lack a photo ID.
A NYT editorial, “The Republican Threat to Voting,” states:
“Less than a year before the 2012 presidential voting begins, Republican legislatures and governors across the country are rewriting voting laws to make it much harder for the young, the poor and African-Americans — groups that typically vote Democratic — to cast a ballot.
Spreading fear of a nonexistent flood of voter fraud, they are demanding that citizens be required to show a government-issued identification before they are allowed to vote. Republicans have been pushing these changes for years, but now more than two-thirds of the states have adopted or are considering such laws. The Advancement Project, an advocacy group of civil rights lawyers, correctly describes the push as “the largest legislative effort to scale back voting rights in a century.”
Eight states already had photo ID laws. Now more than 30 other states are joining the bandwagon of disenfranchisement, as Republicans outdo each other to propose bills with new voting barriers. The Wisconsin bill refuses to recognize college photo ID cards, even if they are issued by a state university, thus cutting off many students at the University of Wisconsin and other campuses. The Texas bill, so vital that Gov. Rick Perry declared it emergency legislation, would also reject student IDs, but would allow anyone with a handgun license to vote.
A Florida bill would curtail early voting periods, which have proved popular and brought in new voters, and would limit address changes at the polls. “I’m going to call this bill for what it is, good-old-fashioned voter suppression,” Ben Wilcox of the League of Women Voters told The Florida Times-Union.
Many of these bills were inspired by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a business-backed conservative group, which has circulated voter ID proposals in scores of state legislatures. The Supreme Court, unfortunately, has already upheld Indiana’s voter ID requirement, in a 2008 decision that helped unleash the stampede of new bills.”
Is it possible to make voting too convenient and too easy — to the point that its overall importance is lost on those voting? I think so. Citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan brave risk of death to vote in their elections. Do you think they complain about ID requirements, not having enough early, or absentee voting?
Many people think we need to make voting as easy as possible by pushing for 30 day advance voting and unrestricted absentee with forms mailed to everyone. I’m not one of those people.
Regardless of what party affiliation you lean towards, I believe people should have just a little ‘drive’ to want to vote. If able bodied voters aren’t motivated (or care) enough to spare 15 minutes over the course of a 13 hour voting day to vote in person – or make it downtown to vote in person within 7-10 days prior to the election, do you really want them voting in the first place? My answer would be no. (Why not make it an 18 hour voting period, or even 24 hours?)
When it comes to shortening the early voting interval, much can happen within 30 days. Is limiting early voting to 7-10 days early really that bad?
On the new requirement to show a state issued ID… With all the things you have to show a state issued ID for, people don’t want to require it for voting? Even if there isn’t wide spread fraud, isn’t it a good way to help maintain and even improve (even just a little) the integrity of the election? There are concerns about people not being able to afford ID’s — here is a simple solution. Give out state issued ID cards (not driver’s license) free to everyone eligible. That is one expense I would fully support. Maintain election integrity without being a financial burden to those who can least afford it.
Bryan, Thanks for your comments. Check out the push back to your POV from these sources — testimony given by The League of Women Voters, testimony by AARP , by a college student advocate, and by a college professor of law. Even the Republican Secretary of State, Jon Husted, is opposed to the picture ID requirement.
It looks like the matter is not settled and that this morning there will be a vote to determine if the ID requirement will go through.
Bryan voting legally should be made as easy as possible, not do so will only go against the very ideal of America. There has not been one proven case in Ohio in the last 10 years that one person has voted illegally in any election or ballet initiative, so why change what has been working up until now. People vote when it becomes a habit to their everyday life, not on something that they must go out of their way to do. If you think this plan is to keep those who are not legally allowed to vote from voting then you sir are bad judge of intent, this is only a ruse to keep voter turn out low. If these elected officials cared so much about the sanctity of our votes there would be a paper trail of votes cast, and there would be more access to voting places, instead there is not.
…so an individual has to flash the ID to purchase stogies and hooch but not to vote? Voting is already so easy in Chicago and Minneapolis people vote even after they are dead…
While very few are caught voting illegally, a fewer yet prosecuted, I have no doubt in my mind that Democrats and their allies, e.g., ACORN, engage in massive election fraud. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
In the world of the “big sort”, urban and internet legends, and the tendency to demonize your political rivals, it is dangrous to take as an article of faith that Democrats and the inept, much abused ACORN engaged in massive election fraud when all the Republican money, sympathetic law enforcement, media and bloggers haven’t come up with any cases, let alone anything “massive.”
….Republicans Change Voting Rules To Require Picture ID — LWV Warns Of More Honest Election…
I care naught what those socialist hags allege.
Rick,
You missed a prime opportunity for self-censorship.
Besides, mature observers will note [smart ass comeback deleted] babes.
Regards,
Eric
I think these bills are s**t. Sure, I have a driver’s license, and it would pose no problem for me to whip it out when I go to vote. But, until 3 years ago, I didn’t. I’m 28 now, which means I could legally vote for 7 years before I was able to drive. And I not only had no state issued ID, I had no way to get one. There was nobody to take me to the DMV to get my ABC card. So, yes, I do sympathize with all the people who will now be denied one of the most basic of human RIGHTS (not privileges, RIGHTS) because the Republicans are all “sour grapes” that their candidate didn’t win the election nearly 4 years ago. Don’t you get it, douche bags? It was one of you, ya damn dirty Republicans, who f**** up our country in the first place…lost all our money, made us lose our jobs, sent our citizens to war, allowed them to die for what? So you could line your pockets with dirty money stolen from the poorest of the poor. And if you get your way, that’s how you’ll keep it…the poor will stay poor, and the rich will get richer. While you’re wiping your asses with $100 bills, us regular Joe’s’ are out here, scraping away, trying our damnedest to make a living and not getting ahead. And all because of Republicans. Now, you want to ensure your future, and ours, by making sure the smallest number of Democratic vote possible is collected. Why the hell do you want to change something that’s been working so well for so many years? I hope you know that there is a special seat reserved in hell for each and every one of you. Die, Republican scum…