Ohio House moving fast on voter photo-ID bill

[upstatecajun]

Source: Columbus Dispatch

Wednesday, March 23, 2011 03:06 AM
By Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


Voters would be required to show photo identification at the polls under a bill moving rapidly in the Ohio House despite opposition from Democrats and groups such as AARP Ohio.

For years, state lawmakers have debated how to balance the Republican focus on ensuring ballot security and integrity with Democratic insistence that the voting process be as open and accessible as possible.



Read more: http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2011/03/23/copy/ohio-house-gop-moving-fast-on-voter-photo-id-bill.html?adsec=politics&sid=101

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At this time you have to show proof of your current address not a photo ID in Ohio.










http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Liberal-Ohioan/195130570504421

[monmouth]

1. Photo IDs are required in most places for just about everything. I

don't see any problem with it. Most states require a photo ID anyway...

[inademv]

2. I think it has more to do with which "type" of ID

they require. It was either this bill or a similar one in another state that was targeted at minorities and college students because of the very specific photo ID that they would require, something about student IDs not being acceptable.

[upstatecajun]

3. There is no

problem with voters voting more than once here in Ohio. A wast of time.

[blunderbuss]

4. waste of time and money ...

don't we have an 8 billion dollar whole to fill

[rexcat]

8. As a resident of Ohio and a polling judge for elections...

Ohio now requires a government issued photo ID or a utility bill. The polling judges also verify the signature of the voter when they sign in against a scanned signature. All this bill will do is restrict the type of ID (no college/university IDs) and eliminate the use of the utility bill as a form of voter verification. All this bill does is suppress the Democratic Party vote by hitting the poor (Ohio issued photo IDs cost money) and college students. These two groups tend to vote for Democrats.

Generally poll workers, at least in Warren County Ohio, work the same precincts. Over the years I have worked as a polling judge I have gotten to know the residents of the precinct. I think this makes for a cleaner election.

In Ohio voter fraud is extremely rare and very difficult to do with the current ID law. There has been election fraud, which is different than voter fraud, and several republicans from the Cleveland area did Federal time because of the 2004 election.

If you are for voter suppression I think you are not in the correct internet community.

[monmouth]

15. I'm certainly not for voter suppression and marvel how you came

to that conclusion. As to my being in the correct internet community, you may have a point. Rude and snark are not for me.

[rexcat]

20. My point is you don't have a problem with photo IDs...

the main purpose of these laws is to suppress voter participation and they are targeting those who vote for Democrats. What is happening in Ohio has nothing to do with voter fraud. If you want to comment on Ohio issues at least be informed of the issues prior to making a comment. As I have stated there are no real issues in Ohio with voter fraud. The current law is working, either drivers license or a utility bill or letter from a governmental entity is currently valid for verification and I say that as a polling judge who works on election days. Your original comment lacked substance concerning the issue. From what I understood what you said you have no problems with showing photo ID. Not everyone can afford them or can take the time to get one. There is also an additional burden of having acceptable paperwork to obtain the State ID.

Another concern with this is these people who are pushing this are not unwelcome to the idea of a national ID, at least with these clowns in Ohio. "Show your papers please" is just not acceptable to me.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. that's not actually an argument in favor of this

Perhaps voting is different from other things that require a photo ID. Maybe the excessive requirement for ID in every aspect of life is an overreach. I don't know.

[melm00se]

5. it's difficult (if not nearly impossible)

to get by without a photo ID.

the bill appears to address the most common objection to voter ID laws:

Can't afford a photo ID

Free identification for persons who cannot afford photo identification

The bill requires the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, or a Deputy Registrar, to provide a state identification card free of charge to an individual who cannot afford photo identification. An individual who cannot afford to pay the fees associated with acquiring an Ohio identification card, including any lamination fee, may apply to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles or a deputy registrar for the issuance of an identification card or a temporary identification card without payment of any fee.

The Registrar, by rule, must establish standards to determine whether individuals are able to pay the fees for a state identification card. An application for a free state identification card must be accompanied by such documentary evidence of income and expenses as the Registrar may require by rule, to determine the individual's ability to pay those fees.<4>

If such a person's state identification card is lost, destroyed, or mutilated, a cardholder who applied for and received that card for free because the cardholder could not afford photo identification may apply to the Registrar or a Deputy Registrar for the issuance of a duplicate or replacement identification card without payment of any fee and without payment of any lamination fee.

[WatsonT]

9. So if most people have a photo ID anyway

and they're covering free ones for people who can't afford one, what's the problem here?

[rexcat]

10. You did not give the requirements to obtain the photo ID...

what if someone does not have a certified copy of their birth certificate, or in the case of an Indiana women who was born at home (back in the day) and does not have a way to obtain a birth certificate. What about the time and cost of going to obtain the card? The republicans are making it harder to vote. This is voter suppression. If you are for voter suppression that is fine. I find it offensive considering voter fraud is almost non-existent.

The current laws in Ohio are working. THERE IS NO ISSUE WITH VOTER FRAUD IN OHIO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Maeve]

17. What rexcat said--this is a cure in search of a problem

Another poll worker here--Franklin Co. There is no problem with voter fraud and we already have fairly strict laws. A bone for the Tea Party to chew on and a chance to keep the poor, the young and the old out of the voter pool.

[starroute]

16. Documentary evidence of income and expenses?

For most people it's not too much of a problem to document their income -- but how the hell do you document your expenses? That sounds like a deal-breaker.

I also keep wondering if this sort of law is even constitutional. I know that in other areas the courts follow a standard of whether a measure that appears likely to restrict people's rights is both necessary and minimally intrusive to obtain the desired result. These voter ID laws appear to be neither. Is the ACLU or anybody else studying the matter?

On edit: There's also the fact that many of these laws appear to be intentionally discriminatory, which is also a legal no-no.

[mascarax]

6. Another GOP war to suppress voters - also going on in MN, WI...

probably MI. Hmm. Isn't that where the GOP War on Teachers is raging?

In MN, there is no voter fraud problem. But the Repubs insist there is (usually citing how "felons voted for Franken" in the 2008 U.S. Senate race). This is about voter suppression and making money (surprise!). Implementing a photo ID in MN would cost a ton of money (estimates $20-40M) because it not only requires a lot of hardware, software and network infrastructure at each precinct voting site, training, massive advertising to inform citizens of this new waste of money, etc. Because the IDs need to be free, or it would be like a poll tax.

And who is it targeting? Seniors who don't have a license (or are in nursing homes), college students, Native Americans who live on reservations, people who don't drive (current state photo ID has a charge). So disenfranchising many who typically vote DFL (current Gov. Mark Dayton got a lot of the senior vote here, based on his past support)...wasting money and putting it in the pockets of private corporations who fund them...making it all harder...possibly not having the paper trail for recounts that have been successful in MN...focusing on blue or swing states. It's a national effort. And the technology being pushed here is untested in a mass market (just had a pilot) and not what I'd deem "mission critical" with stable uptime or reliability.

So it's not just about showing a photo ID to vote. And it's a solution looking for a problem. As are most business and GOP "solutions".


Maybe corporations should get photo IDs!

[Hubert Flottz]

7. The "Copperheads" are back in Ohio.

[DetlefK]

11. Example how it works in Germany:

It's election season in Germany and during spring/summer we will vote on several state-parliaments. (A recent poll showed, Sunday would bring us for the first time a green-party-led state-government, but it's still too close to call.)

I am registered as a voter in my town, just by being an adult citizen. (When I move to a different town, I have to re-register there.)

The city-council sends out "postcards of notification" to each single voter, one month prior to the election, that there is an election ahead and when and where I can vote. The letter also serves as a voucher, as it has a personalized registration number.

At the voting place, I hand in the letter and get the ballot in exchange. A Photo-ID is required by law, but the volunteers sometimes just don't care for any ID. They just check if the letter says I'm eligible to vote here.





Honestly I just don't understand the problem some in the US have with implementing a mandatory Photo-ID.
The costs? I paid €20 for this one and it's valid for 10 years.
My address is on it, but that could easily be outdated. (Just like the address on my driver's license or any other Photo-ID...)

[Occulus]

19. The problem lies in the intentional discrimination against some voters

the requirements would create. What we have in the US is one party that seeks to destroy the country, rob it blind, crush their ideological opponents to the point they can't vote, and eventually leave with everything not nailed down.

I suspect you have nothing even close to Republicans in Germany. Oh wait... you did.

They were called "Nazis", I believe.

We know what they are and what they're actually about, hence the opposition to voter IDs.

[mod mom]

12. OSU Election Law Prof Tokaji commentary: "attempting to go further than Blackwell ever dared"

Posted: March 21, 2011

Ohio's New Disenfranchisement Bill
Daniel P. Tokaji
Professor of Law; Associate Director, Election Law @ Moritz
Moritz College of Law

In 2004, Ohio became infamous for making it difficult to vote and have one’s vote counted. Much of the criticism was directed at then-Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. Remember his directive to reject registration forms on less than 80-pound paper weight?

Now, Ohio House Republicans are attempting to go further than Blackwell ever dared. In an obvious attempt to gain an advantage in the 2012 presidential election, they are attempting to rush through a bill (HB 159) that would make it more difficult for eligible citizens to have their votes counted. Ohio already has a tough voter ID law, but the proposed bill would make the burden on eligible citizens more onerous, requiring that in-person voters present one of four specified forms of government-issued photo identification.

“Disenfranchisement” isn’t a word to be used lightly. But it is necessary to capture this bill’s purpose and impact. Passage of this bill would restore our state’s unfortunate reputation as the nation’s capital of vote suppression. Yet so far, it has gone completely under the radar. This comment provides background on the problem, debunks the arguments in favor of the bill, and anticipates the lawsuits that can be expected to follow if it passes.

The Problem

What’s so bad about voter ID? The basic problem is that many eligible citizens don’t have the types of ID that the bill would require. While it’s hard to say exactly how many will be discouraged from voting, we do know that some segments of the population will be especially hard hit – particularly young, elderly, disabled, and minority voters. These groups are much less likely to have the types of ID that Ohio’s new bill would mandate


-snip

http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/comments/index.php?ID=8199

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. This is unconstitutional

[Botany]

18. This is an unneeded bill ..... you can not vote more than once in Ohio

The reason given is to keep people from voting more than once.

If you vote early or by absentee ballot it is noted in the voting log @ your precinct so you can not vote more than once.
If you register for and absentee ballot but do not vote that way and you go to your precinct and vote you have to vote
a provisional ballot THAT WILL NOT BE COUNTED if you used your absentee ballot.
You are allowed to vote 1 time @ your precinct and if you went to another precinct and if you did not have I.D. or I.D. that
showed that you lived in that precinct you can swear out a statement and get a PROVISIONAL BALLOT BUT THAT BALLOT
WILL NOT BE COUNTED IF YOU HAVE ALREADY VOTED AND YOU CAN PE PROSECUTED BY YOUR COUNTY D.A..

This is about voter suppression end of story ..... because who sometimes doesn't have photo I.D.s? the poor and the elderly
(blacks in most cases) who tend to vote democrat ...... this is about winning @ the margins and trying to shave two to ten
votes per precinct from being legally cast and counted.

BTW the total # of duplicate votes in Ohio in 2008 was a grand total of 1 and he turned himself in.

Good thing Ohio has money to waste on this crap. What is next you are not allowed to fly on fire breathing dragons in residential neighborhoods?