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Pennyslvania Did the Right Thing Regarding Voter ID Law

Strickland33

Strickland33

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/pennsylvania-voter-id-ruling_n_1919187.html

A judge postponed Pennsylvania's controversial voter identification requirement on Tuesday, ordering the state not to enforce it in this year's presidential election but allowing it to go into full effect next year.

The decision by Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson on the law requiring each voter to show a valid photo ID could be appealed to the state Supreme Court.

However, Simpson based his decision on guidelines given to him days ago by the high court justices, and it could easily be the final word on the law just five weeks before the Nov. 6 election.
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His ruling came after listening to two days of testimony about the state's eleventh-hour efforts to make it easier to get a valid photo ID. He also heard about long lines and ill-informed clerks at driver's license centers and identification requirements that made it hard for some registered voters to get a state-issued photo ID.
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Even if the law is on-point (I don't think it is), unveiling it so late in the game with so many potentially negative consequences was bad news across the board. At the very least, folks in PA should have ample time to get voter IDs and should not be disenfranchised because a bunch of overzealous Republicans have lost faith in Mitt Romney.
 
A) Who doesn't already have an ID? (cue RJ: old and poor)
B) If for some reason you don't have an ID, how is 5 weeks not enough time to get one? I can pretty much be sure that if you don't have an ID then you don't have a job, so going somewhere during normal business hours to procure one is not a big deal. And if it is, then you probably aren't voting anyway.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
A) Who doesn't already have an ID? (cue RJ: old and poor)

9.2% of Pennslyvanians don't have ACCEPTABLE ID for a wide range of reasons.

B) If for some reason you don't have an ID, how is 5 weeks not enough time to get one? I can pretty much be sure that if you don't have an ID then you don't have a job, so going somewhere during normal business hours to procure one is not a big deal. And if it is, then you probably aren't voting anyway.

Totally ignorant and BS assumptions....as usual...
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.....
 
welp, this thread is about to turn into 15 pages of arguing why people should be forced to have an ID even if they don't need it and whether it's possible in 2012 to function in society w/out an ID (even though it is)

"PAPERS, PLEASE!"

papers-please-1-krackow.jpg
 
I think the decision gives credence to both sides of the issue while effectively neutralizing the potential for this law to act as an agent of voter suppression in this election. Outside of Pubs who wanted Dem votes suppressed in this election, I find it hard to believe that anybody would be too bent out of shape about this decision.
 
RJKarl said:
That was the entire point of the law.
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I guess we'll see whether this is the case soon. If they choose not to appeal, then I'll have to reconsider my initial skepticism.
 
Strickland33 said:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/pennsylvania-voter-id-ruling_n_1919187.html

Even if the law is on-point (I don't think it is), unveiling it so late in the game with so many potentially negative consequences was bad news across the board. At the very least, folks in PA should have ample time to get voter IDs and should not be disenfranchised because a bunch of overzealous Republicans have lost faith in Mitt Romney.
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I agree 100%. Pos Rep. I have no problem with voter ID laws personally (and would like to see more strict laws nationwide) but there is no reason to implement them immediately. It should be a gradual process to ensure that everyone has ample time to obtain proper verification.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
A) Who doesn't already have an ID? (cue RJ: old and poor)
B) If for some reason you don't have an ID, how is 5 weeks not enough time to get one? I can pretty much be sure that if you don't have an ID then you don't have a job, so going somewhere during normal business hours to procure one is not a big deal. And if it is, then you probably aren't voting anyway.
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Most people know very little about how other Americans live. This is especially true for those in a different income bracket.

My church has "adopted" a public school to do things behind the scenes such as landscaping, painting, and cleaning. I heard many fellow members make comments like, "I didn't know a school in our district could look this bad."
 
If you can't figure it out maybe you're not as smart as you think you are.
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
What does that have to do with having an ID in any way whatsoever?
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Walk a mile in the shoes of an impoverished rural family and you may revisit some of your previously held misconceptions about what is reasonable to expect from them. Good lesson to be learned no matter the circumstance.
 
I do not care how rural or impoverished they are. Unless they are physically handicapped, I fail to see how they are unable to procure a free ID card with 5 weeks' notice. Are they immobile shut-ins? If not, they manage to function in their lives to at least some minimal degree. How is going to pick up a free ID card not the most minimal of requirements?
 
2&2 Slider To Leyritz said:
I do not care how rural or impoverished they are. Unless they are physically handicapped, I fail to see how they are unable to procure a free ID card with 5 weeks' notice. Are they immobile shut-ins? If not, they manage to function in their lives to at least some minimal degree. How is going to pick up a free ID card not the most minimal of requirements?
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Should they have to take a day off work when living paycheck to paycheck?
 
You all paint the picture of some dude who is locked in his cardboard box all year but only emerges triumphantly on election day to expend all of his yearly energy to get to his polling place to proudly cast his vote, and then returns to his shack to eat dirt the rest of the year, never to be seen by anyone.
 
BeachBumDeac said:
Should they have to take a day off work when living paycheck to paycheck?
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That's the dilemma with the Voter ID laws that were proposed for this election cycle. Pennsylvania's Supreme Court ruled against the law for precisely or in part because of the above logic.

What you've written seems to me to be just as much of a straw man argument as "voting fraud" is to this election, when it comes to instituting these types of restrictions with an eye toward the 2016 election.

I just don't understand what's so damned controversial and it seems to be a really relevant compromise.
 
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