Wow, a leftist complaining about the high cost of government. I'll have to bookmark this article for future reference the next time someone proclaims that the supernatural doesn't exist, or they "can't believe [whatever]".
Be that as it may, there is a question that anti-fair elections crowd can never answer: what percentage of eligible, legal, U.S. citizens do not possess ANY form of government-issued identification? Answer that, and you have the only the POTENTIAL number of "disenfranchised" voters.
From that group you would still have to break out the number of those would are in such a situation due to financial hardship.
I'm all for allowing legal, eligible voters to be able to vote without going through financial trouble in order to do so. But devoid in all these anti-I.D. arguments are any sort of statistics on who is truly prevented from voting by virtue of the fact that they don't have a government-issued I.D.
So there are many people in NYC without a driver's license. So what? What about passports, regular non-driver I.D. cards, birth certificates, school I.D.'s, etc. Who doesn't have some form of those types of I.D., or at least access to it?
I.D. Fees Further Voter Disenfranchisement
This piece was produced for HuffPost's OffTheBus by NYU School of Law's Brennan Center for Justice.
By Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
In New York City, we get used to sticker shock: $15 for a mojito: ok I'll nurse it all night. Try insuring a car or even just parking it, forget about it--I'll ride the subway. Rent for two human beings with walls and doors, oh that's going to cost you-- time to move to an outer borough. But recently I had a new source of outrage: the cost of renewing a NYS driver's license.
At first my renewal process was swimming along nicely. I was at the DMV Xpress which for the DMV was moving along at lightening pace: my picture was snapped by the surly woman behind the counter who didn't give me enough warning to even crack a smile, the eye examine was done to confirm that yes indeed the glasses that I wear every hour of every day would also need to be worn while I'm behind the wheel and only a full hour later I got to the down to real business: whipping out my debit card.
"$50, ma'am."
"Did you say $15?" I thought I had gotten off easy.
"No. $50. FIVE ZERO."
I choked. That didn't seem right. But this is a basic form of I.D. I thought. Especially in the "new normal" of 2007 where not having a valid I.D. can cost a citizen her voting rights. I handed over my debit card. At least I'll get miles on this transaction.
A friend of mine is a vice president at Greenwich Capitol. His birthday is two days after mine and so you guessed it, he also has a soon to be expired NYS driving license. He told me he was heading to the DMV soon. I told him to bring his check book. He was incredulous. "Fifty freaking dollars for a new license? You're kidding! Maybe I won't bother to renew." But we both knew that this was a bluff and since I'm a lawyer and he is an economist we can afford the $50 hit.
But this is not true of everyone. $50 for an I.D. is enough to prevent many from getting one. This cost barrier may explain why only about half of New York City residents even have a driver's license. And if a disturbing trend continues in which photo I.D.s are a prerequisite to voting, this $50 piece of plastic may act as a barrier to our most basic constitutional rights. This is one reason why making photo I.D.s a voting requirement makes no sense. People should not lose their franchise just because they don't have $50 to drop on a driver's license. Maybe they have other bills to pay, like that crazy rent which come January is set to jump even higher.
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This is AMERICA goddamn it!! We don't have papers here.
Actually, this voter ID business is just some more illegal alien hysteria. I have been a poll worker in two states and I can tell you that it really annoys the voters no end. I don't see that it accomplises a thing except to keep people away from the polls. I recomend absentee voting.
So the author's solution to this problem is to do away with the requirement for ID? Why not lower the cost? By the way, New York is not a red state so it's your Lefty government that is 'Disenfranchising' the poor.
IDs aren't the problem. For federal elections states can be mandated to issue photo IDs without charge for those without driver's licenses. There's no will in most red states to ensure that the poor vote. And as poverty and lack of education often go hand in hand, and no one in power at the local level wants to spend money to educate, adequately, the children of the poor. Our commitment to providing access to freedom, justice and the American way to the underclass is a joke.
OK, so you waste $50 for a driver's license and you don't drive? Does your state not offer a state issued photo ID card at a reduced cost?
The cost to renew a (non-driver) photo ID card in New York State is $9 for 4 years: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/licrenew.htm#fee . If it's a brand new photo ID (non-driver), it costs the same. The fee INCLUDES $5 for making the photo: http://www.nydmv.state.ny.us/broch/c-33.htm That's less than a nickel a week. Save a dollar a week for 3 months, and you'll have enough money for that ID, plus a wee bit more.
Want a better deal? You can get an 8-year photo (non-driver) ID in New York State for $13. That's a little more than 3 cents per week to save up, but saving one buck each week for less than 4 months will get the ID for you.
If you're 62 years or older, you can get a 10-year photo (non-driver) ID for $6.50. If you're on disability (SSI), you can also get the 10-year ID for $6.50 (a little more than a penny a week, or 1 dollar per week for less than 2 months). AND if you're over 62 and get SSI, there's no renewal fee.
I know of no one, not even an alcoholic bum on the street, who would be financially unable to save 3 cents per week for that 4-year photo ID. For that matter, a case of cheap beer (24 cans) costs about $12. One less case = 1 photo ID.
Every drivers license has a photo ID imprinted. Why not require that every five years ( the 20th,25th 30th birthday and so on ) every Social Security card be updated with a new photo.
The design and construction of a national voting
system be turned over to NASA. The success in the Mars
program has proven their abilities. The states will have no say in the program but they will be trained in the operation just as Social Security personnel function. If the individual states wish to use the Federal machines
for state and local elections this can worked out.
Get over it. ID to vote. ID to drive. That is the Law and it is definitely needed to thwart voter fraud.
Liberals can't win without cheating.
The tune is the same just changing the words don't make it new. Some people blame the Democrats, some blame the Republicans. i hold the people at fault. we re-elected these shortsighted,clueless, out of touch, old farts. There needs to be term limits. and, age limits. They are set in their old ways and are not going to change no matter what we want.
This is the set-up to bring in a hidden "pole tax"!
They will have photo I D's as a requirement to vote and then be forced to make these
I D's available at 'no cost'. Then the 'no cost photo I D' will be set up so those applying for it will have a substantial time obstacle to contend with! ( Along with a variety of other requirements that will be disclosed to the applicant one at a time.) These obstacle may well mean taking at least 1 day from work!
Our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES will leave no stone unturned in their persuit to eliminate or nullify each and every 'right' that we have. These ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES have ONE (1) priority -- that is to get re-elected by whatever means they can.
Every American should remind these politicians of the oath they have taken at every opportunity!! When they are challenged on their 'oath' those supporters within earshot will listen very carefully and the time for evasive and misleading answers will be over!
The American people are very high on upholding an 'oath'. ( As long as it is someone else that is being held to that standard.)
It's time for everyone to unite as individual Americans, rather than by party affiliation, to confront our ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES on theit 'oath of office' influence on their voting record!!
Does New York State have a state picture I.D.for those who don't drive? Colorado does, and I think it's free. Senior citizens who can no longer drive use it and it is as valid as a driver's license. as I.D. We also were allowed to accept it as valid I.D. for employment in my husband's business.
This is New York State where everything costs more than any other place on the planet. My CDL was $125. The price of taxes is driving people to leave this state. Our elected officials can't get a budget on time but, a vacation they seem to find time for. There is so many closed businesses in every area of the state,and the roads and bridges are falling apart,but,then New York City is all that matters. When Hillary was reelected she said the state was heading in a new direction , well, down ain't new but, it is faster.
this is the same state that was wringing hands about giving drivers licenses to ILLEGAL ALIENS?
The American Taxpayer has been thrown overboard by corporate puppets that have us by the short ones. This is yet another insult to the middle class. In Illinois as everywhere you can buy fake drivers licenses, social security cards, and passports. (Probably in Durbins office)
Americans taxpayers are held to standards to have appropriate paper work, insurance, car seats, and such and others do not have to follow any rules. Taxpayers pay not only for their way but for the "rule makers" and "others way". Its time we told the government who they worked for!
Perhaps France (of all people) has the right idea in protesting. At least they are fighting back, too many Americans are suffering from apathy as our civil liberties and rights are eroded. Soon the government will have us so beat down we will be forced to take the chip. Stand up America! Take your country back!
Reply | posted 10:23 am on 11/28/2007
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.....this is the same state that was wring hands about giving drivers licenses to ILLEGAL ALIENS?
The American Taxpayer has been thrown overboard by corporate puppets that have us by the short ones. This is yet another insult to the middle class. In Illinois as everywhere you can buy fake drivers licenses, social security cards, and passports. (Probably in Durbins office)
Americans taxpayers are held to standards to have appropriate paper work, insurance, car seats, and such and others do not have to follow any rules. Taxpayers pay not only for their way but for the "rule makers" and "others way". Its time we told the government who they worked for!
Perhaps France (of all people) has the right idea in protesting. At least they are fighting back, too many Americans are suffering from apathy as our civil liberties and rights are eroded. Soon the government will have us so beat down we will so ok to a chip. Stand up America! Take your country back!
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Posted November 27, 2007 | 07:28 PM (EST)