Thought I'd get someone to explain this to me...

[torbjork]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolit...united-nations

I'm a little bit confused here. Is it really the case in some states that you can show up at a poll station during a political election and not have to show the poll officials a government issued photo ID like a driver's license or passport before they tick off your name in the census and allow you to vote? Cases where the voter is sufficiently known to the voting official that s/he can be positively ID'd that way exempted, of course.

[Don Roley]

The laws on the books were pretty much written before there were established forms of ID.

There are a lot of jokes, based on fact, of how graveyards have been used in elections.

Some states are trying to follow the example of countries like Mexico that require a form of ID before you are allowed to vote, but you see the resistance.

[torbjork]

how graveyards have been used in elections.

But how? Wouldn't dead people show up as such in the census list? I would have thought that the Social Security Administration whatsit keeps track of who's living or dead and gives the voter registries a heads-up?

Also I'm not sure how having to be ID'd would discriminate against minorities - IIRC you have to show a photo ID to pay by check for instance, wouldn't pretty much everyone have one? Or do they mean illegal aliens, who obviously might have a hard time getting US issued IDs?

No offense, but I think this is made even more bizarre by the fact that there are many places in the US where you not only have to show photo ID, but sign up for membership in a "private" club to get a drink, even though you're obviously, and to the point of balding, well above the legal drinking age.

Anyway, why Mexico? As FDR put it, look to Norway!
http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/krd...html?id=538255

I can't overemphasize how quaint I find it that someone would be allowed to vote without proving they are who they say they are. On the other hand, you have to realize that stringent ID requirements like the ones we have here have consequences beyond the electoral procedures.

[Erik]

I can't overemphasize how quaint I find it that someone would be allowed to vote without proving they are who they say they are. On the other hand, you have to realize that stringent ID requirements like the ones we have here have consequences beyond the electoral procedures.

You said it there, Torbjorn.

I wish the US were more like Norway, but that's another topic....

[Don Roley]

But how? Wouldn't dead people show up as such in the census list? I would have thought that the Social Security Administration whatsit keeps track of who's living or dead and gives the voter registries a heads-up?

That has only happened in the last few years. It actually used to be a fairly common way of making a fake ID. Find someone who had died (preferably at childbirth or near to it so no one would remember them) and use their birth certificate, etc to make a new set of ID documents.

[TonyU]

I wish the US were more like Norway, but that's another topic....

Well, you can always move there.

[Silent memory]

That has only happened in the last few years. It actually used to be a fairly common way of making a fake ID. Find someone who had died (preferably at childbirth or near to it so no one would remember them) and use their birth certificate, etc to make a new set of ID documents.

That is part of the plot for the book Day of the Jackal.

[torbjork]

Well, you can always move there.

No, he can't
Anyway, thanks for the information on the election laws.

[Tripitaka of AA]

Replying to Torbjorn's first post... I believe the system in the UK allows people to arrive at the polling station with no form of ID and still vote. The Electoral Register is maintained and updated prior to elections, through mailshots and visits from electoral officials (they offer to help people ensure that all the eligible voters who reside at each address are listed). A week or so before the election, a Voter's Card arrives by post, detailing the times and date of the election and the giving the address of the polling station. The Card should be taken along by the voter, to enable speedy processing at the Polling station, but it is not essential. At the Polling Station, the Voter is asked for his card, or if that is not available they ask for a PostCode and go down the list of Voters registered at each address. They probably have Name, Date Of Birth and Gender. That's about it. Seems to work.

The chances of fraud at the Polls seems fairly low on the list of concerns.. at least, where I live.

Here is the Official Site for the Electoral Commission.

[Ramirez]

Well, you can always move there.

Erik is always welcome in Canada.

Sent from my MZ604 using Tapatalk

[Erik]

Thanks, Mark.

[Webmaster]

Here is something that you guys will enjoy. Video Journalist James O'Keefe Veritas Project went to a polling place in US Attorney General Holder's precinct and got his primary ballot.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-Holder-Ballot

Here is also an article advocating voter IDs.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-now-john-fund

[Jonathan Randall]

Here is something that you guys will enjoy. Video Journalist James O'Keefe Veritas Project went to a polling place in US Attorney General Holder's precinct and got his primary ballot.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Governm...-Holder-Ballot

Here is also an article advocating voter IDs.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...-now-john-fund

I have to say, that for the life of me, I cannot see the trouble with requiring ID to vote. You need ID to buy a bottle of wine at Wal-Mart, but not to elect a President of the United States? This is not the 1800's or early-1900's when most everyone in a town knew everyone else and posing as somebody else was difficult. This is 2012.

[Sorros]

I am told by Mexicans here in Arizona. The real market in Mexico is the selling of stollen SSN cards, some of the card or numbers have been used for decades by five and six different people. Also look for the man here at the FOOD City parking lot Selling Mexican tapes and CDs. Out of the trunk of his car. He can fix you up with a SSN card for $150, or a blank birth certificatie for $300.

That has only happened in the last few years. It actually used to be a fairly common way of making a fake ID. Find someone who had died (preferably at childbirth or near to it so no one would remember them) and use their birth certificate, etc to make a new set of ID documents.