Quietly, without much fanfare, Republican Governors and State Legislatures are changing the face of the Voting Public, across America. Literally.
If you want to Vote -- you better have one of the acceptable Photo IDs at the ready.
Afterall, Citizenship is no longer enough.
Paying Taxes is no longer enough.
Living out your Senior Years with your Lifetime of Voter participation intact, is no longer enough for them.
These GOP Governors DON'T Believe you are who you say you are -- UNLESS YOU Prove it.
In triplicate! Or else, No Vote for you!
Walker signs photo ID measure; legal challenge possible
by Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel -- May 25, 2011
Madison - Ending a decade-long quest by GOP officials, Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Wednesday requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.
[...]
The law will require poll workers to start asking voters for photo IDs for the July 12 state Senate recall elections, but the voters will not be required to present them until next year's presidential primary.
[...]
Wisconsin is now the 11th state to have approved requiring some form of photo ID at the polls. Democrats say the measure is costly and unnecessary and will do little to prevent voter fraud while disenfranchising thousands of minority, elderly and rural voters.
[...]
Unlike voters in Indiana, people in Wisconsin casting absentee ballots would have to include a photocopy of their ID when they mail their ballots. Getting copies made will be an additional burden on elderly voters and others with limited mobility, critics said.
Yup, I can picture my 93 year-old grandma, running down to Kinkos right now.
Right after she gets that motor scooter running again.
[continuing ...]
The legislation should prevent people from voting in another's name, but not the most commonly prosecuted form of voter fraud in the state -- felons voting while on state supervision.
The state Department of Justice and Milwaukee County district attorney's office have prosecuted 20 cases of voter fraud from the November 2008 election. None involves people voting in someone else's name at the polls.
20 cases of voter fraud.
out of
475,192 Total Votes Cast -- Milwaukee County Fall General Election 2008.
0.004%
that is 1 Voter out of 23,760 Voters in Milwaukee County "trying to sway the Election their way" ... it's a Scourge Sweeping America!
Or perhaps it's just 1 Voter out of 20 thousand really ISN'T a 'Rhodes Scholar' Felon !? ... Perhaps those confused persons just skipped the Civics Class that would have taught them, that 'Felons are ineligible to vote'?
Seems plausible.
I'm not really sure, how the New Photo ID Laws are suppose to educate such "Convicted Felons" ... to stop them from Voting, next time?
No doubt, THEY already have their State Photo IDs.
Here are some essential Voter Fraud Stats from a Federal Study, that the GOP rather you NOT know:
STUDY: Feds Prosecuted Only 38 Cases Of Voter Fraud Between 2002-05, 14 Were Thrown Out
ThinkProgress -- May 16th, 2007
[...] The study “makes unmistakably clear” that “the government’s failure to prosecute or convict more than a handful of people for voter fraud isn’t for lack of trying.”
Since 2002, the Justice Department’s Ballot Access and Voting Integrity Initiative has, as [Alberto] Gonzales put it, “made enforcement of election fraud and corruption offenses a top priority.” And yet between October 2002 and September 2005, just 38 cases were brought nationally, and of those, 14 ended in dismissals or acquittals, 11 in guilty pleas, and 13 in convictions. [...]
Here’s a chart from the study:
Whooo ... scary! 24 people, were going to 'overturn the election' -- with their 24 'fraudulent' votes.
THIS is the 'scourge' that is Voter Fraud ...
THIS is really the thing the GOP fears the most ...
In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud
by Eric Lipton and Ian Urbina, NYTimes -- April 12, 2007
Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews.
Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly, cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged and 86 convicted as of last year.
Most of those charged have been Democrats, voting records show. Many of those charged by the Justice Department appear to have mistakenly filled out registration forms or misunderstood eligibility rules, a review of court records and interviews with prosecutors and defense lawyers show.
[...]
larger
Voter fraud is a highly polarized issue, with Republicans asserting frequent abuses and Democrats contending that the problem has been greatly exaggerated to promote voter identification laws that could inhibit the turnout by poor voters.
The thing the GOP fears the most ... behind their wolf-cries of massive Voter Fraud, is simply this:
Strong "turnout by poor voters";
and Strong turnout by minority voters;
and Strong turnout by seniors voters, too;
Perhaps these are the real Demographics that the GOP hopes to dissuade from, performing their Constitution-given Civic Duty.
Afterall, in the GOP's version of America, you have to be "this tall"
before they even let you step onto THEIR Ride.
It seems like something valuable has been lost, in the latest Tea Party translation ... of what American Ideals really mean ...
But such dumbing down of OUR Historic documents, doesn't really stop the the GOP from trying to salvage THEIR fabled-version of America, however tricky and behind-the-scenes, their disenfranchisement efforts continue to be ...
[THAT Story ...]
Afterall, the GOP -- IS the Party of the Litmus Test !
the un-initiated, need not apply.
(... unless, of course, it's for one of their minimum wage jobs ...)