October 19, 2005
Cheapest tax I’ve ever heard of…
From Nealz Nuze:
Democrats have succeeded in blocking, for now, a new law in Georgia that requires Georgia voters to show a government-issued picture ID when they show up to vote. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy has temporarily blocked enforcement of the law. He says the law is an unconstitutional poll tax. He also says it will not combat voter fraud. For voters without driver’s licenses, the state was going to issue free picture IDs. Free .. that means no cost. Still, the judge calls it a poll tax. You don’t pay any money, but it’s a tax.
Boortz goes on to point out that this is all an effort to allow illegal votes to be cast, a move that will likely benefit Democrats. From the original story:
A federal judge Tuesday blocked Georgia from enforcing a new state law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls.
In issuing the preliminary injunction, U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy (search) said the law amounts to an unconstitutional poll tax because the state is not doing enough to make ID cards available to those who cannot afford them.
The requirement “is most likely to prevent Georgia’s elderly, poor and African-American voters from voting,” Murphy wrote. “For those citizens, the character and magnitude of their injury — the loss of their right to vote — is undeniably demoralizing and extreme.”
So far, the law has been used only for local elections. The injunction could prevent its use during municipal elections Nov. 8.
Voter and civil rights groups sued over the new law, which eliminates the use of other forms of voter identification, such as Social Security cards, birth certificates or utility bills. Supporters, including Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue (search), argued that the measure would help prevent fraud.
A driver’s license with a photo is sufficient under the law. But those who do not have a license must obtain a state ID card, which can cost up to $35. The governor said such cards would be given free to those who cannot afford the fee.
I’m going to have to agree with Boortz on this one. I don’t see why we should be making it so easy to vote. What’s really odd here is that Democrats, who have been screaming over the “stolen” election of 2000 are only concerned with how votes are counted, not with who’s allowed to vote. The same people who are so concerned with stolen elections are completely unconcerned with whether or not voting laws can be enforced.
Now, for full disclosure, I personally believe that my purposes will be served by requiring a hoop or two to be jumped through before you’re allowed to vote. I am opposed to “motor voter laws”, because I think if you have a desire to vote, you should register separately to do so. This will, in my opinion, keep the sorts of people who vote to expand the welfare state away from the polls, which I view as a good thing. I think the country is better served by voting being carried out by the sorts of people who actually take time to inform themselves of the issues and who make an effort to register to vote, but perhaps that’s just me.
That being said, I do not see why we shouldn’t require voters to show identification when they vote? Having people actually prove that they are who they say they are, and that they are legally entitled to vote, seems like a reasonable request. And I like the idea of having a paper trail for the electronic voting machines, although I’m not too concerned about it. I know the sorts of security those machines employ, and the hurdles they need to go through to get approved for use, so I’d be more worried about a random hardware failure wiping out a few votes than I would about some whiz-kid (as Boortz says) programming them to rig an election. So requiring a Georgia State ID to vote, especially since the state is willing to provide them free to those who cannot afford them, seems like a good idea to me.
Now, it’s not very difficult to get a Georgia state ID. From the Driver Services web site, there are just a few things to prove:
- Prove you reside in Georgia
- Prove your identity
- Provide your social security number
- If you’re a US Citizen, prove your citizenship. If you are not, you must prove you are in this country legally.
And that’s it. How does this equate to a poll tax? Enforcing the idea that to vote, you need to be a citizen of this country, legally registered to vote, and only vote once, seems pretty good. In fact, I’d go one step farther. I’d take a lesson from the Iraqis, and instead of giving votors a little sticker, inking their fingers. That will do more to ensure that voters only vote once than any electronic checking we can come up with.
The Unrepentant Individual linked with Voter Fraud Really Does Occur!
Baboon Pirates linked with Carnival Of The Vanities #162
Eric's Grumbles Before The Grave linked with Carnival of Liberty XVII
Ogre's Politics & Views linked with ACLU Supports Voter Fraud
Myopic Zeal linked with Harold Murphy Says Showing ID at the Polls is a Tax
Steve Eady's Brainlock linked with No suffrage for the weary
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The privilege and duty of voting is an interesting issue. I’m fine with requiring an ID for voting if it is revoked if you fail to vote.
The principal issue really is: many people who vote only think about the act of voting on the day of the election. By this time, it is generally too late to both get an ID and vote. Filling out a form to claim financial distress in order to receive a free ID would take even more time.
If election days were holidays, I would have much less issue with this. But they are not. If they were holidays, then we could have same-day registration, same-day ID, and voting. But to get up, get ready for work, work from 8-5, get home from work, and then have a couple of hours in which to wait through lines to get this ID and vote, you shut people out. For Bortz, maybe it’s fine, because (1) he’s already got his ID and (2) if he didn’t, he can afford the luxury of time to get to the DMV and wait an hour. An elderly person who has no need for a driver’s license, under this scheme, seems to have to find (1) a way to the DMV, (2) the time to go, and (3) the money or proper documentation that he does not have it.
I don’t like the analogy to a “poll tax”, but it certainly can obstruct a would-be voter from voting. There are enough nagging voices that tell you “it’s not worth the hassle of going to the polls” let alone “it’s not worth the hassle of getting this ID thing and going to the polls”.
Maybe the best way to clear this up is to give people a reason to think that voting is important in the first place.
-Sam
Sam,
This isn’t a “voter ID”. The only thing that is required is a state-issued ID. This can be a driver’s license, or a normal state ID card if you don’t want or don’t qualify for a driver’s license.
People who drive already typically have this. People who don’t drive typically have this as well, as there are a lot of needs for picture ID in daily life. And people who don’t have any form of ID should probably have this anyway.
You’re right, there are a lot of voices out there saying telling people “there’s not much reason to go vote”. And if those people choose to listen, that’s THEIR PROBLEM. I don’t see why we need to kowtow to make voting such an easy process that people do it “just because”.
I don’t think we need to make it “hard” to vote, but I don’t think we need to make it ridiculously easy… ESPECIALLY if that means that we’re compromising the legitimacy of our own voting processes by allowing people who cannot legally vote to do so.
No suffrage for the weary
I’m weary of being outraged.
I’m weary of the corruption, weary of the bureaucracy, and weary of the lies that comprise the Judicial branch of our government.
Rome, Georgia… U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy suspended a new state …
Harold Murphy Says Showing ID at the Polls is a Tax
U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy says that having to show a photo id to vote amounts to a poll tax.
James Joyner makes the case.
Murphy’s ruling is absurd on its face if the state is giving the cards free. A tax of zero is not a tax!
[snip]
…
ACLU Supports Voter Fraud
Time for the weekly Stop the ACLU Blogburst. The weekly blogburst is to point out the true goals of the ACLU and help to point out to the general public where and when the ACLU opposes freedom, as they quite…
So, I can’t believe the libertarians missed this one. Those who are so against progressive tax rates missed the progressive tax here.
The wealthy must pay a poll tax under this scheme. If you are indigent the fee for a photo ID is waived. However, if you are instead wealthy and choose not to have a Driver’s License because you live in a nice midtown Atlanta Apartment that is two blocks from work and you choose not to have a state issued ID because you don’t want Big Brother watching you, well then, you must pay for a state issued photo ID which is a poll tax.
Any poll tax is unconstitutional and that includes one that only affects the non-indigent. Therefore, the only way Georgia can get by with this scheme is to make state issued ID’s free to everyone. I am sure they will do that before they appeal this decision. The person who messed up in this case is not the judge but the attorney for the legislature or in the Governor’s office who did not think through the possible constitutional issues as fully as he/she should have.
Rachel, you make an excellent point.
Let’s have a government-issued ID here in Georgia that is less than a “state ID”. It will be a card specifically to be used as a voter ID, complete with picture, name, and address. It won’t have D.O.B., but will simply certify that the holder is a registered voter.
Make it a Georgia Voter ID card in addition to driver’s license or state ID card. And it will be free. To vote, you will need to show government-issued ID to prove your identity, which could include driver’s license, state ID, voter ID card, or passport.
That way Georgia can legally require voters to prove identification, but at the same time can still raise revenue from people who otherwise need a driver’s license or state ID card.
Sound like a plan?
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[...] In a debate with a friend over a Georgia judge calling an ID requirement a poll tax if required for voting, that friend said that it’s really just a way to keep poor lazy people from voting. Of course, she didn’t put it like that, but I can read between the lines. She said that illegal immigrants and legal voters won’t really try to cast illegal ballots, because there’s just not much of a point to doing so. After all, how many people do you think really take voting seriously enough to do it illegally, but not legally? [...]