After 96-year-old Chattanooga woman denied voting ID, state reviewing photo ID process

[d_r]

Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press

NASHVILLE — The widely publicized case of 96-year-old Dorothy Cooper, of Chattanooga, who ran into problems seeking a free photo ID to vote under a new Tennessee law, has taught officials an invaluable lesson, state Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said Wednesday.

"In terms of other individuals who may be in that situation again, we're encouraging our employees to use some common-sense discretion in deciding whether or not that person is presenting documentation that is legitimate and issue the photo ID accordingly," Gibbons said.

He said the department has contacted Cooper and told her she would be issued the photo ID if she returns to a driver service center.

Cooper initially said after being turned away from the service center on Cherokee Boulevard that she intended to vote absentee, a process in which one mails his or her vote to authorities and does not require a photo ID.

Read more: http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/13/local-case-spurs-id-process-review/

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I had posted the beginning of this story last week and thought some might be interested in the continuation

[Downwinder]

1. Thanks for the update.

Absentee gets a paper ballot, helps out USPS, and runs the cost up. Cost is the only thing they understand.

[SharonAnn]

2. Unfortunately, Absentee Ballots are used in lots of Election Fraud.

There's a lot of chicanery that can be done with them.

[CreekDog]

3. "Unfortunately, Absentee Ballots are used in lots of Election Fraud."

prove that or it didn't happen.

[Downwinder]

5. From the rhetoric I have been hearing,

poll voters are responsible for all voter fraud. Else why the requirement of a picture ID.

[MsPithy]

8. Why require picture ID? To prevent DEMOCRATS from voting, of course!

This is the reincarnation of the Jim Crow "literacy tests" African Americans had to pass before they could vote, expanded to include traditionally Democratic voters. Actual voter fraud is practically nonexistent.

http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/

[indepat]

24. It was so gracious for Bill Gibbons to let her have her photo ID if she will only trudge

down there again, as though this is just a Sunday stroll in the park for the countless old, disabled, frail Tennesseans who will be unable to/just decide to hell with it which is what the legislature and governor wanted. PS Mr. Gibbons, if a modicum of common sense had been applied, this god-damn law would not have been rammed through by the most reichous ones. :patriot:

[SoapBox]

9. Ditto! PROVE it! Show here at the DU, case(s) of absolute multiple/fake voting!

Show it or stow it.

...I'm SO tired of this Dog Whistle.

[left on green only]

11. Ditto!?????

Looks like you have been listening to a lot of rush and have been suitably impressed with the "intellectual" rhetoric, as well as the logic expressed in that stolid medium, enough to incorporate it as your own. I would bet that you are the type who puts cash into envelopes and then mails it in to pay your bills because you are cock sure that any act or thought that is devious or dishonest would be beneath the consciousness any American. BTW: I have this beautiful bridge that spans the Golden Gate in San Francisco that I would just love to sell you.

I don't mean to be cruel in my paragraph above, but election fraud is a rampant part of life in America. I know it exists because I have been an intended victim of it, and I couldn't care less if you believe it, or not. In fact, it is so brazen and insidious in our culture that I have experienced poll workers at the poll on election day, take my completed ballot from my hand, look to see what holes I had punched, and then put my ballot into a separate stack next to the ballot box, rather than deposit it through the slot in the top of the box.

Anyone who mails in an absentee ballot and expects it to be processed in accordance with how they voted is indeed living in a fantasy world. It may happen that way, and it may not. It is just like putting cash into an envelope and then mailing it in to pay your bills. You do not know anything about the person who is going to open up your envelope. For anyone to assume that they are honest is an act of insanity.

[left on green only]

12. Addendum

Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are laws that prohibit election fraud, just like there are laws in a lot of place against jay-walking, spitting on the sidewalk and walking your dog without a leash. From what I have encountered, I would say that laws affecting the latter are more frequently enforced than laws which affect the former.

[Downwinder]

17. I still contend that election fraud occurs in the counting

room rather than with the voters.

[left on green only]

19. I feel certain that is true, and on a large scale

it would apply to the ballots that manage to make it as far as the counting room. There are so many opportunities along the way for fraud to take place. I believe that in many municipalities where the votes are actually counted, there is a requirement that a worker from each party be present as the votes are tallied, but I have to doubt if that is a universal rule. For example in places like Orange County, California, there may not be enough democratic party volunteers to cover all of the locations where the votes are actually tallied. And believe me, Al Gore knows that it wasn't true in Florida in 2004.

[Downwinder]

20. In many places, since the changeover to electronics,

poll watchers are not allowed to observe the machine counting in progress. In no place, that I am aware of, are they allowed to examine the software or machine instructions.

[No Elephants]

15. What if someone in city hall or town hall threw out a bunch of absentee ballots?

Who would ever know?

[Downwinder]

18. Things have a strange way of coming to light.

Like mail that wasn't delivered.

[rhett o rick]

4. I hadnt heard of a single case. Help me out. nm

[kestrel91316]

6. Fine. Then work to outlaw it. But in the meantime, I FOR ONE will continue

to vote exclusively by mail, as is my legal right.

[otohara]

22. Hype and Hooey

this is a lie!

[Ian David]

7. By "use common sense" he means, "determine if they are black." n/t

[0rganism]

10. +1... "common-sense discretion" = "everyday racism"

black? No ID for you
brown? No ID for you
elderly white person? OK, we'll let it slide

[plumbob]

14. Take another look.

[d_r]

13. one difference between now and then

when I went to the dmv lots of African American folks were working there. I don't think it can fly now like it did then. Maybe I'm wrong though.

[No Elephants]

16. I wonder if all towns are like yours.

[d_r]

21. excellent point

[newspeak]

23. repugs all worried about voter fraud, RIGHT!!!!!

very few commit voter fraud; but, election fraud, now that's a different story. They sure aren't worried about that, especially if they are the ones perpetrating the fraud.

Of course, when a repug led group comes into your state to register voters, then proceeds to destroy of the democratic registrations and gets away with it. Now what's that? But, ACORN is bad. instead of destroying those suspect registrations, they bundled them as suspect and handed them in for the registrars office to scrutinize and the corporate media made "much ado about nothing." The repugs with the help of a complicit media, will do anything to disenfranchise certain voters (that's any voter that won't vote for them).

[Tippy]

25. This who mess was a deliberat act to keep his woman from voting

Naturally the name on the Birth certificate was her maiden name and she did not have her marriage certificate....so why did the election official make a big deal out of that...the election official did what she was told to do....keep them from voting for any reason...I sure hope she does not vote absentee as absentee ballots have been known to go uncounted here in TN.....