Unfair voting restrictions in Indiana. Wait! What?

[indyjohn]

Alex, I'll go ahead and again try "Special Election" references for $1,000.

 

[jamil]

You don't know the number but you know the number is so high that it is popular?

Please explain this position. Your current reason is that your political adversary opposes it. That ceartainly isn't the reason to which you speak.

Oh, poll wokers "peel" through who can and can't vote. So do parties. So do lawyers.

C'mon dude. Untwist yer panties for a minute. Indiana's voter ID law was upheld. If you can't afford an ID you can get a freebie. If you show up at the polls without one you can still cast a provisional ballot.

Something I would like to see is making it more convenient to get the documentation required to get the ID. I had to request my birth certificate from another state. There were two ways. The easy way was very easy but not free. And the free way isn't easy. Not everyone is willing to pay for the easy way.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Well, I guess I know who's in the pro-voter suppression crowd. Meh... last gasps, I guess.

 

[bulletsmith]

An observation:

Early voting has been an option for a few election cycles now. I have taken advantage of it a few times. Basically it allows me to go on my own schedule to the Government center and cast my vote, weeks in advance. Polls are open from 6am to 6pm ( if I remember correctly). I have worked for some pretty unreasonable people in my time, but have never been told that I could not come in a few minutes late or even leave a few minutes early so I could go vote. These last few elections I have voted at the poles, they have been a ghost town.

The opinion I form from this observation is that people simply don't want to vote. My district had a 12% turnout in the last election. I find it impossible to believe that this is because access to the polls is limited, or that my neighbors don't have ID, or any of the other excuses are the major cause. Apathy, I believe, is the biggest enemy here.

This doesn't mean that it's ok to create law that disproportionately causes hardship to any group of people simply for the purpose of doing so. If that is indeed what has happened then fix it. Honestly though, can you think of another way to limit voter fraud than requiring ID to vote?

 

[mom45]

Doesn't every county have early voting or election board members that can visit those who cannot get out to vote? We have early voting at the courthouse for a few weeks before the actual election day. We have absentee voting. We have election board members that will visit people's homes to allow them to vote if they are elderly/shut in.

I have very few that show up at our polling place who have forgotten their ID and have yet to have one that got overly upset about having to go back home or to the license branch to get it. I did have a lady that had divorced and remarried who has BOTH of her ID's...the old and the one with her new married name. Interestingly, she came in and voted under her new name and then returned later and tried to vote again under the old name. I recognized her and confronted her about having already voted. She had stated the first time that she wasn't sure which name she would be under in the polling book. I remembered she had been listed in it under both as she reregistered and the clerk's office had not caught that she had a previous registration under a different name. I turned her away and flagged it in the book so it would get corrected. She would have voted a second time if we had not been paying attention. It was slow enough when she came through that I happened to be standing behind the clerk overseeing things both times.

In our county, those who truly want to vote can do it a number of different ways and not just on the day of election. There is ample opportunity and the ID requirement is a very good rule. If I have to show it to get medical treatment or any number of other things, why not require it for something as important as voting?

 

[HoughMade]

Well Lake County isn't Delaware County.
And 6p.m. poll closing times sounds smart (one of 3 states that close so early)?

How about we open an hour earlier in the morning so more people can go before work.

 

[KittySlayer]

An observation:

Early voting has been an option for a few election cycles now. I have taken advantage of it a few times. Basically it allows me to go on my own schedule to the Government center and cast my vote, weeks in advance. Polls are open from 6am to 6pm ( if I remember correctly). I have worked for some pretty unreasonable people in my time, but have never been told that I could not come in a few minutes late or even leave a few minutes early so I could go vote. These last few elections I have voted at the poles, they have been a ghost town.

The opinion I form from this observation is that people simply don't want to vote. My district had a 12% turnout in the last election. I find it impossible to believe that this is because access to the polls is limited, or that my neighbors don't have ID, or any of the other excuses are the major cause. Apathy, I believe, is the biggest enemy here.

This doesn't mean that it's ok to create law that disproportionately causes hardship to any group of people simply for the purpose of doing so. If that is indeed what has happened then fix it. Honestly though, can you think of another way to limit voter fraud than requiring ID to vote?

Well you simply don't make a very good victim. How dare you think and solve your own problems instead of whining about them.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Ill have to send that link out to other like-minded people.

 

[phylodog]

returned later and tried to vote again under the old name

That should result in an arrest and if convicted, 30 days in jail.

 

[jamil]

And what about maintaining adequate polling locations, and/or extending polling times? Are you opposed to that?

I wouldn't mind seeing more polling locations or at least more machines per location. Last time there was really high turnout and only 6 machines. Took me over an hour waiting in line.

 

[jamil]

Well, I guess I know who's in the pro-voter suppression crowd. Meh... last gasps, I guess.

Sounds like you're making **** up. What voter suppression?

 

[KittySlayer]

How about we open an hour earlier in the morning so more people can go before work.

Because all those disenfranchised voters who regularly work 12 hour shifts need their beauty sleep.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I wouldn't mind seeing more polling locations or at least more machines per location. Last time there was really high turnout and only 6 machines. Took me over an hour waiting in line.

Oh no Jamil. If you can't wait, you must not take voting seriously! (Purp)

 

[hopper68]

Doesn't every county have early voting or election board members that can visit those who cannot get out to vote? We have early voting at the courthouse for a few weeks before the actual election day. We have absentee voting. We have election board members that will visit people's homes to allow them to vote if they are elderly/shut in.

I have very few that show up at our polling place who have forgotten their ID and have yet to have one that got overly upset about having to go back home or to the license branch to get it. I did have a lady that had divorced and remarried who has BOTH of her ID's...the old and the one with her new married name. Interestingly, she came in and voted under her new name and then returned later and tried to vote again under the old name. I recognized her and confronted her about having already voted. She had stated the first time that she wasn't sure which name she would be under in the polling book. I remembered she had been listed in it under both as she reregistered and the clerk's office had not caught that she had a previous registration under a different name. I turned her away and flagged it in the book so it would get corrected. She would have voted a second time if we had not been paying attention. It was slow enough when she came through that I happened to be standing behind the clerk overseeing things both times.

In our county, those who truly want to vote can do it a number of different ways and not just on the day of election. There is ample opportunity and the ID requirement is a very good rule. If I have to show it to get medical treatment or any number of other things, why not require it for something as important as voting?

Unpossible!!! The experts on INGO said voter fraud was a fraud. It never happens and nobody has ever seen it in any form!!

 

[Kutnupe14]

Because all those disenfranchised voters who regularly work 12 hour shifts need their beauty sleep.

Lots of assumptions, based on how your life works. It's Amazing how many people are unable to see the world through different eyes.

 

[mom45]

That should result in an arrest and if convicted, 30 days in jail.

I called it in to the clerk's office and made sure they had her info. When I confronted her, she acted shocked that I was accusing her of trying to vote a second time but when I pointed out where she had already signed the poll book, she didn't have much to say and left quietly. I had no authority to detain her and had her name and address, etc. so figured it was up to the clerk to address the situation.

We also went through the books and flagged people we knew were deceased and had family members fill out forms to remove them from the books if they came in. Apparently, the clerk's office has not done a purge in several years and cannot remove names without proof they are deceased. I believe the turnout percentages are pretty low in a lot of our precincts because so many just don't get removed when they move or die. People don't remember to contact the clerk's office to cancel their registration when they move to another area.

 

[mom45]

Unpossible!!! The experts on INGO said voter fraud was a fraud. It never happens and nobody has ever seen it in any form!!

I just made that up.

 

[jamil]

Oh no Jamil. If you can't wait, you must not take voting seriously! (Purp)

It's okay to want to accomplish two goals, make it easier/more convenient to vote, and reduce opportunities for fraud by requiring ID.

 

[2A_Tom]

Oh no Jamil. If you can't wait, you must not take voting seriously! (Purp)

I don't get it, what crime did Jamil purpetrate?

 

[Kutnupe14]

It's okay to want to accomplish two goals, make it easier/more convenient to vote, and reduce opportunities for fraud by requiring ID.

I don't disagree, and I haven't even addressed ID laws. I've asking about later polling times (6pm is ridiculous), and polling precincts that equally distributed by population. I'm not sure why anyone would oppose such measures.