GOP Challenging Voter Registrations

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GOP Challenging Voter Registrations

Civil Rights Groups Accuse Republicans Of Trying to Disenfranchise Minorities

By Jo Becker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 29, 2004; Page A05

Republicans yesterday continued to challenge the validity of tens of thousands of voter registrations in Ohio and other key states in the presidential election while a coalition of civil rights and labor groups sued the GOP, contending the Republican efforts were aimed at removing eligible minority voters from the rolls.

After initially saying he would not contest a Wednesday ruling halting the challenges, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell (R) worked with other election officials who asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati to allow GOP challenges to 35,000 voters from mostly urban and minority areas to proceed before the election. As of late last night, the court had not ruled.

Also yesterday, Republicans in Wisconsin attempted to challenge the registrations of 5,600 voters in Milwaukee but were turned down in an unanimous decision by the city's bipartisan election board.

The Republican challenges in Ohio, Wisconsin and other battleground states prompted civil rights and labor unions to sue in US District Court in Newark, saying the GOP is violating a consent decree, issued in the 1980s by Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise and still in effect, that prevents the Republicans from starting "ballot security" programs to prevent voter fraud that target minorities.

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Four years after the last election fiasco the US still has voting apparatus that is suspect, a ballot that exhibits the same confusion as the infamous "Butterfly Ballot,"
invalid voter lists and a multiple of registration problems. The US voting systems and apparatus gives every indication that it is run by the gang that could not shoot straight. And last but not least two political parties that are intent on using every weakness to their political advantage. Even if it ends up disenfranchising voters.

The system is obviously broken. In your opinion what need be done to fix it?

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Only taxpaying US Citizens should be allowed to vote. Bring a Citizenship ID card and last years tax return and you get the right to vote.

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Mary Poppins took off on her umbrella .... and landed in Ohio.

Laughing

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woiyo wrote

Quote:

Only taxpaying US Citizens should be allowed to vote. Bring a Citizenship ID card and last years tax return and you get the right to vote

That sounds like the southern poll tax that was designed to keep the blacks from voting. You would disenfranchise the poor and make them somehow lesser citizens of this nation. Terrible solution to an already broken system.

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au1929 wrote:

woiyo wrote

Quote:
Only taxpaying US Citizens should be allowed to vote. Bring a Citizenship ID card and last years tax return and you get the right to vote

That sounds like the southern poll tax that was designed to keep the blacks from voting. You would disenfranchise the poor and make them somehow lesser citizens of this nation. Terrible solution to an already broken system.

While I don't agree with bringing your tax return, I do agree with a picture ID that is authorized by the state. The only people this would not allow to vote would be illegal aliens. After all you have to show a pic ID to get on a plane or even to rent a video from Hollywood Video and Block Buster so why not to vote.

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"That sounds like the southern poll tax that was designed to keep the blacks from voting. You would disenfranchise the poor and make them somehow lesser citizens of this nation. Terrible solution to an already broken system."

Who says "blacks" do not pay taxes??

Who says the poor do not pay taxes??

Geepers...Where did that come from.

Only people who have a stake in the system should be allowed to elect to office those that will maintain the system.

No lifelong welfare recipients, no illegal alliens, no dead people, no taking "bums" off the street.

Only taxpaying citizens.

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There are many people who do not pay taxes. I have friends, retirees who do not have enough income to warrent paying taxes. I am not even sure whether file or need to file a tax return.
.Everyone who is an american citizen has the right and IMO a duty to vote. Rich, poor and any where in between. Citizenship and the constitution affords us that right.

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Re: GOP Challenging Voter Registrations

au1929 wrote:

Also yesterday, Republicans in Wisconsin attempted to challenge the registrations of 5,600 voters in Milwaukee but were turned down in an unanimous decision by the city's bipartisan election board.

There have been lots of questionable tatics being used to sign up people in Milwaukee, including but not limited to taking names out of the phone book and forging names on registration forms.

The registrations that the GOP challenged were invalid addresses. Some turned out to be vacant lots while others were simply non-existent. They used the same software that the USPS uses to confirm addresses. Why shouldn't these forms be questioned?

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JPM
The article was posted as a reference. The problems are endemic and not party related.
The system is broken what should be done to fix it.

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First, I think there needs to be a way to prove voter identity. There is no reason for an 18 year old to not have an id in todays world. You can even get a state issued id with nothing more than a social security number and proof of your address/identity.

Second, I think there needs to be a way to cross reference votes from different precincts. This is becoming a hot topic in Milwaukee because of all of the suspicious registrations, the states laws on provisional votes and the lawsuits already being filed to make sure these votes count.

There is nothing stopping me, or anybody else, from going from precinct to precinct and casting as many provisional votes as I can.

Third, there needs to be consistency. With so many different voting machines and different methods it is no wonder things get messed up.... hanging chads and difficult to follow voting forms... consistent handling of voting forms, I think, would clear up many of these issues. You could even hold pre-election instruction classes with fake ballots to educate new voters on the proccess.

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JFM
If you are advocating a national identity card I am in total agreement. That IMO is a first and very necessary step. In addition I wonder if it would be feasible to somehow permanently mark the card upon voting in a particular presidential election. That would solve the problem of being able to vote more than once.

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The mark is a very interesting idea. Perhaps if it had a magnetic strip like a credit card. Then when you go to vote you have to swipe your id card in order to get into the booth. It then removes your name (or you could just be assigned an id number) from the eligible voter list. If you tried to vote at a different location it simply wouldn't open the booth. The only problem would be the huge cost to set it all up... well worth it in my opinion to keep elections fair.

Plus if it was a picture id it would only take seconds to verify you were the person using it.

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jpinMilwaukee wrote:

The mark is a very interesting idea. Perhaps if it had a magnetic strip like a credit card. Then when you go to vote you have to swipe your id card in order to get into the booth. It then removes your name (or you could just be assigned an id number) from the eligible voter list. If you tried to vote at a different location it simply wouldn't open the booth. The only problem would be the huge cost to set it all up... well worth it in my opinion to keep elections fair.

Plus if it was a picture id it would only take seconds to verify you were the person using it.

"Yes, Satan?" -- Jim Carrey, Ace Ventura Pet Detective

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...then we could implant it as a microchip in your left eye.

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Or you could stop over reacting about it... you both have Social Security numbers don't you? What's the difference?

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Hey, I'm for permanant barcodes on everyone's face, placed there from birth... But that's just me.

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I guess silliness doesn't come across well without smileys.

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jpinMilwaukee wrote:

Or you could stop over reacting about it... you both have Social Security numbers don't you? What's the difference?

Because legal and even illegal aliens can get SS Numbers these days... an SS Number is NOT proof of citizenship or residency.

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FreeDuck wrote:

I guess silliness doesn't come across well without smileys.

Not in the political forum at least. Laughing

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Quote:

jpinMilwaukee wrote:

Quote:
Or you could stop over reacting about it... you both have Social Security numbers don't you? What's the difference?

Federal wrote
Because legal and even illegal aliens can get SS Numbers these days... an SS Number is NOT proof of citizenship or residency.

That is why a national ID is needed.

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GOP Challenging Voter Registrations

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