About the Voter ID laws

So, people claim the dead rise on election day. Well, it's been known to happen, but how often do the dead renew their voter registrations?

Apparently, demanding that people show a photo ID is supposed to reduce voter fraud. Well, sorry, but it just ain't so. Why? Because this "voter fraud" you keep hearing about simply does not exist. It's not that ineligible voters aren't voting, but rather, that people simply aren't casting ballots for people who don't exist.

I'm not sure how it's done in other states (or even in other districts here in Texas)...but every election I've ever voted in, which has been quite a few since I became eligible over a decade ago, has had election officials sitting at a table with big print-outs in front of them. In order to vote, one must have possessed either a voter registration card or a photo identification card.

In order to vote in any of these elections, a person must accomplish the following:
1) Be a registered voter.
2) Have a registered address of residence within the specific precinct.
3) Possess either a state-issued photo identification card, OR a valid voter registration card.

When you walk to the table, you must show one of the cards aforementioned, so your name may be checked against the rolls of registered voters.

In order to vote "multiple times" in such a situation not requiring a photo ID, a person must do the following:
1) Obtain a voter registration card in the name of someone else.
2) Ensure that such a person is a registered voter in the precinct.
3) Ensure that such a person has not already voted.


So yeah, that's pretty much it. In order to commit voter fraud in the manner this law is supposed to protect us from, you'd have to jump through a shitload of hoops. You'd have to collect a bunch of voter registration cards, travel to each precinct, hope the person is still on the voter rolls, and hope you don't get recognized.

The first part is the real kicker, seeing as how voter registration cards get sent to the voter's physical address of record. You'd have to be robbing a lot of mail boxes.

Now let's see who this disenfranchises...

1) The elderly.
2) Those with no other need for a photo ID.
3) Those whose photo ID cards have been confiscated by the state.

Let's say I'm 80 years old. I'm disabled and cannot drive. I get SSI direct-deposited to my bank account. My kids handle all my shit. No need to pay for an ID card...unless, of course, I want to vote. Too old to matter? Well, that's only five years older than the front-runner for the GOP election!

Let's say I'm a day laborer and have been for the past five years because the job market sucks donkey balls, and I live in an area that negates the need for an automobile. I have no need to pay for an ID card...unless, of course, I want to vote.

Let's say I've been pulled over by state troopers looking to increase the state's revenue, and I refuse to waive my 4th Amendment rights. My driver's license that I've paid for has been confiscated and replaced with "yellow papers" for the next month, and a court-ordered provisional driver's license for the remainder of the arbitrary suspension of my normal driver's license, regardless of whether I'm ever even prosecuted for the alleged offense. If I want to vote, I'm required to pay for an ID card...even though I've already done so.

Do most people have a valid and current state-issued ID? Absolutely yes, for reasons not related to voting. Does every legal voter possess a state-issued photo ID? No. Is voter fraud running rough-shod over this nation, as a result of not having a law requiring a photo ID? Absolutely not, and insinuating that it is, is simply retarded.

Now, the most important question to ask...DOES THE POSSESSION OF A STATE-ISSUED PHOTOGRAPHIC IDENTIFICATION CARD COST MONEY? Of course, it does. If one is required to expend money for the purposes of voting, that constitutes a "poll tax" and is quite simply illegal. There is no ifs, ands, or buts about it. It's unconstitutional to require a poll tax in order to vote.