Photo requirement in voter ID bill could affect hundreds of thousands of N.C. voters
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If Republicans insist that a new voter ID law require voters to produce a state-issued ID, there will be several hundred thousand North Carolinians who will need to have their picture taken.
That’s the finding of a preliminary comparison conducted by the N.C. State Board of Elections of the state’s 6.3 million registered voters and data bases of people with North Carolina driver licenses or an ID card issued by the state Department of Motor Vehicles. The raw comparison found just over one million registered voters who don’t appear on the DMV lists, but that number is likely to be cut when the comparison is refined to eliminate mismatches caused by maiden names and other factors
The State Board of Elections found 1,005,585 registered voters whose names or other information did not appear in the DMV data bases. Of those, the breakdown by political party was:
- 508,090 Democrats
- 277,242 Republicans
- 219,315 unaffiliated
- 934 Libertarians
By race, the breakdown was:
- 267,396 blacks
- 665,421 whites
- 8,908 Asian
- 9,767 American Indian or Alaska native
- 6,273 two or more races
- 22,443 other
- 25,373 undesignated
Gary O. Bartlett. Executive Director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said the 1,005,585 number could drop substantially with further refinement of the comparison, but it appears that there are at least 700,000 North Carolina voters who lack a DMV-issued photo ID.
A likely sponsor of the voter ID bill, state Rep. Ric Killian (R-Mecklenburg), said Tuesday that he has not seen the results of the comparison and could not comment.
Bartlett has suggested to Killian that any voter identification requirement be limited to presenting a voter registration card, but he said he won’t know the requirements “until I see a bill.”
Currently, voters must produce identification when they register to vote and voting fraudulently is already a felony, but there is no identification requirement at the polls. In the 2010 election that gave Republicans control of the General Assembly, the GOP included passage of a voter ID bill as one of its top priorities.
Bob Hall of Democracy North Carolina, a voting rights advocacy group, has reviewed the State Board of Elections findings and said the results confirm concerns that an ID requirement would effect minority and older voters more than others.
“It’s a huge number of people. It is disproportionately African American, disproportionately older,” he said.
Hall said the findings should make Republicans reconsider whether they need a new law to address incidents of fraud that most election officials say are extremely rare.
“It should give them pause to consider what damage they are doing to the rights of people, hundreds of thousands of people,” Hall said.
I became a democratic party voter after the debate on the “motor voter” law years ago in congress. It was apparent then that Republicans prefer fewer voters and will put any obstacle in the way to having poor and less educated voters forbidden to vote. It’s just one of the autocratic tendencies of Republicans.
Along with rights comes responsibility. If you want to buy liquor or cigarettes, certain people, who maybe don’t look their age, must present a picture ID. If you want your senior citizens discount, some businesses require a photo ID. Who doesn’t think voting is more important for our republic than drinking, smoking, or getting your discount?
Cindy, buying liquor isn’t a right. Buying cigarettes isn’t a right. Businesses can require an ID or forego the business of those without IDs as they choose. Voting is a right. It isn’t dependent on having the money to buy cigarettes or liquor. Yes, voting is much more important to our republic than smoking, drinking, or getting a senior discount, and that’s why nothing must be allowed to interfere with it, including laws that stop the poor, elderly, or disabled from voting.
“Hall said the findings should make Republicans reconsider whether they need a new law to address incidents of fraud that most election officials say are extremely rare”
Key Words = Fraud, extremely rare
This is just another attempt for racist republicans reduce the numbers of their opposition.
Hi Douglas,Good point about the main parties the dinferefces on the main areas that affect the enormous middle class’ are reasonably marginal (although even marginal dinferefces can make a difference for particular individuals or sub-sets of the middle class).I suppose I was thinking that there are issues that do deeply affect people, including the middle class, but perhaps not immediately or proximately and these issues are ones that we are, in effect, voting on’, whether or not we realise it in the voting booth.When we vote in our immediate (middle class) interests I’d argue that we often stack up a lot of longer term consequences that are not in our interests, in terms of a less functional society, allowing opportunities for people with considerable resources to further control the structures and forms of our daily world, and the like.I’ve often claimed that I don’t think I’ve ever cast a vote in my interests but, of course, what I mean is that I haven’t cast a vote in my short-term interests (e.g., to get a tax cut) because I have the sense that it is in my and my family’s and others’ interests that our society is not too unequal, too harsh, too dominated by the pursuit of wealth at all costs, etc..You’re ultimately right, though, that the middle class are hardly likely to go into the streets’ and demand more active participation in decision-making when they perceive that their interests are being pretty well met anyway.
There are many illegal voters that are not checked at the polling stations. Americans have a right to vote and Illegal aliens are not the first iota of American. when they try to vote that is fraud and they have to be brought to justice. We have to pass the law to show ID at the stations.
the rethugs are hell bent on stealing the 2012 election. well we dems are on to u and we will fight the koch bro rove and the lying faux gnus. the people dems indep and real republican are finally on to you and you won’t get away with it
In the 1990s, I encountered cases of both of your lsescas in Arkansas. Working on a gubernatorial campaign in 1994, we started tracking the addresses of absentee ballots, and encountered a number of these where the voter’s address was a vacant lot, but the ballot had been picked up in person. We also encountered a situation where individuals wearing buttons for the incumbent (later convicted of fraud in an unrelated matter) were going to a senior citizen’s apartment complex and offering to help them fill out absentee ballots. We caught this because the janitor at campaign HQ lived there and called them on it. A surprising number of absentees were requested from skilled nursing facilities (a well-known LTC firm was a major player in state politics) with an unusually high return rate. The town I lived in was home to a significant program for developmentally disabled adults, including several group homes. Typically, these people were bussed in to vote. Poll-watching in 1994, I observed a number of these residents collect a paper ballot, go to a voting booth, and stand their until the driver came by and filled it out. When one did this himself and went to hand it to the judge for scanning, the driver snatched it and told him you forgot to vote for this one. I challenged these ballots, and for the rest of the day the residents were careful to specifically ask for help from the driver in filling out the ballots, which was technically legal. Motor voter was implemented by 1996, and these voters essentially all disappeared from the polling sites. Checking names and addresses of those requesting absentee ballots revealed that essentially all of them were now voting absentee, which was not subject to scrutiny by pollwatchers. The organization was founded by a former State Senator who had been a kingmaker in Democratic politics dating almost to the Faubus period (he had a disabled son), and had close ties to his machine. The group provided about 150-200 votes in a legislative district that in 1998 returned about 5,000 ballots, and was potentially enough to turn any reasonably close election. This isn’t to say that fraud was actually occurring, but there was certainly reason to smell smoke.Ironically, the australian secret ballot was originally adopted in the South as part of the Jim Crow laws in order to identify and control votes. In Arkansas, at least, these laws were adopted as a response to a growing alliance between poor white and black voters as part of the Grange movement in the 1880s, an alliance that threatened to cost the Klan/Democrat alliance political control of the state. Unlike pre-printed party ballots, illiterate voters had to request help from (by law) poll workers to fill out their secret ballot, and they had little way to tell if they were actually completed, not counting the intimidation factor of having to tell operatives appointed by the local Democrat machine exactly how you wanted to vote. Prior to the new ballots, the post-Reconstruction state maintained a functioning multiracial, two party system. After passage, voter turnout plummeted, and the Republican voter shares fell even more than turnout would indicate.The issue of properly qualified voters is real. It isn’t a coincidence that Sanchez defeated a long-time GOP incumbent for the Orange County congressional seat only after the Clinton administration cut corners on granting citizenship to a lot of aliens in California. The last Senate race in Minnesota may well have been decided by illegally voting prison inmates. Equally important are checks that voter lists are accurate and individuals are not registered in multiple jurisdictions (which would be a huge problem with college students if they typically voted at least one conviction for this was obtained after the 2008 election).
Photo ID’s should,in my opinion be required for a citizen to vote. Even if a small number of fraudulent votes are cast, it robs from the legal voters. Voting is a privilege that can be revoked. It should not be granted to those who don’t qualify. I will fight for the rights of legal voters and work to eliminate laws that artificially restrict the right BUT, I think we should do our best to prevent fraudulent voting and punish it severalty when it is detected.
[...] Similar stats across the country. Looks like about 11% or so do not have a valid photo ID. Strict Voter ID bill could affect hundreds of thousands | The American Independent Hall said the findings should make Republicans reconsider whether they need a new law to address [...]
