Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Voter ID Advocates Scare Up Another One


There are times when even the most thoughtful individual suddenly veers off and makes the wrong turn down the rabbit hole. Such is the case with The Moneyed Politician. Jack Lohman’s blog, “Voter ID is important to a clean electoral system,” checks reality at the door and takes you into the fearful world of next door neighbors stealing elections.

It’s funny how convoluted layers of regulations and big government are perfectly fine for a party that whines about bureaucracy, red tape, nanny staters and advocates drowning our system in a bathtub. Oh but I forgot, this shouldn’t be a partisan issue, if you don’t count any of the points I just mentioned. Maybe Jack Lohman got “election fraud” mixed up with “voter fraud?”

Lohman writes, “We want to clean up the system to make it fair to both sides.”

That’s funny, if voter fraud is such a big problem in the Milwaukee area, why was it ruled out as a reason for all of their registration problems? Could it be the registration system needed to be fixed so the numbers of voters match up with the ballots? Yes.

Lohman even quotes one of the biggest Republican partisans I ever had the opportunity to interview in the past, Chris Lato;

Voter ID opponents, and those who believe the current system is A-OK, have
semi-successfully painted this as a Republican vs. Democrat issue. Too bad – we
know plenty of Democrats in Wisconsin (Yea Right) support such measures as ID at the polls, too. … The goal is not to restrict voting – rather, it is to ensure that every legal vote is counted. What are its opponents afraid of?”


This talking point is so "non-partisan" and fair? Consider the source.

The following contains so much misinformation, the pro-ID crowd should drop them. Just because the conservative Supreme Court Justices rejected arguments showcasing the impact of voter ID, it doesn't mean they were right or unbiased. This is now an ideologically driven Robert's court.

Opponents claim that Voter ID is used to block minorities from the polls, when in fact a good Voter ID system would guarantee access by all legal voters, regardless of race. No legitimate voter would be turned away, and all it would require is registering once every eight years or so. Republicans and Democrats alike.”

The myth ”no legitimate voter would be turned away” has already been proven to be a lie after a number of problems came up in a few state primaries.

Try not to laugh after reading this next line of Lohman’s sound logic:

"You can walk up to the polls, give them a name (anybody’s name), and get a ballot. Go to a different polling place and do it again with a different name. Like they say, vote early and vote often, and if you use the same alias it keeps them on the voting list long after they die."

God it’s fun voting all over the place. Most politicians, especially Republicans, are worth taking the chance of felony charges, prison and huge fines. It appears someone has an inflated image of themselves.

And this line takes the cake:

“Chris asks “What are its opponents afraid of?”

Sorry Chris Lato, but I don’t work within the conservative frame. If anyones afraid, it’s Republicans, who are afraid of larger voter turnouts. Remember, the smaller the turnout, the more easily the energized special interests get their election pick. It’s easy to figure Jack.

Lohman finishes the blog with this insulting insinuation:

“Recent history gives liberals a clear advantage over conservatives, and it is puzzling that they’d risk their image by demanding a tainted registration system.“

Beside a list of 19 possible fraud cases in the U.S., and most of those were felons not knowing the law, show me the fraud. And Lohman confuses a bad registration system, which is being cleaned up, with voter ID’s being shown at the polls. Two separate issues.

The next step after voter ID will be proof of citizenship. The whole problem with getting ID’s and proof of citizenship is finding your birth certificate. Having been a real estate salesperson for 8 years, I found most seller’s and buyers didn't know where to find their stored away personal paperwork. The point is, how many people will put off voting because they don’t know where their papers are, especially those that have little if any time?

Can you say poll tax? To get a copy, you have to pay the state money. Without that payment, you cannot vote. It’s a poll tax. Plus, if the state pays for it, they are using my tax money, and that too is a poll tax. Am I the only genius here, or is this common sense 101?

The Right to Vote: The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Nineteenth Amendment (1920). . . shall not be denied or abridged . . . by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.— Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964)

Here are a few links to past voter fraud stories:

Story
#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the response, John, and I do respect your right to disagree.

    But I have read nothing here (or anywhere else) that gives me reason to oppose Voter ID. It happens that I agree with the right-wingers on this one, so forgive me if I stand firm on my independent beliefs.

    I want an honest political system, and that extends also to those who vote for the politicians.

    Jack Lohman

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  2. Disenfranchisement should be your overriding concern. Link #6 is just one example. The nunns story I never did document on the blog is something you might want to google. Neither of these victims wants to pursue their problem to the Supreme Court though, which might put off a challenge to this highly partisan issue.

    Just the fact that Chris Lato is involved should send up enough red flags.

    Check out Ballot Battles in the Cap Times supplement. I will be linking and blogging that story soon.

    Thanks again, and despite your blind spot on this one (my opinion, back by facts), I think your solutions to many of our biggest problems are right on.

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  3. John, I don't know Chris, and never heard of him until I saw this one blog article. He may or may not be a wacko, but my beliefs are based on years of dismay with our current system. Next on my list are touch-screen voting, which have to go.

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