No Wonder Libs Don’t Want Voter ID Programs

[Conan71]

Liberals call voter ID programs discriminatory and "voter purging".  To what ends are they going trying to stack the polls?

Read on:

Dogs, dead people get election docs from nonprofit

By MIKE BAKER Associated Press
Published: 7/13/2012  6:04 AM
Last Modified: 7/13/2012  6:04 AM

OLYMPIA, Wash. — The voter registration form arrived in the mail last month with some key information already filled in: Rosie Charlston's name was complete, as was her Seattle address.
Problem is, Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998.

A group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults.

But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, noncitizens and people already registered to vote.

Brenda Charlston wasn't the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers.

"On a serious note, I think it's tampering with our voting system," Charlston said. "They're fishing for votes: That's how I view it."

Every presidential election cycle brings with it a variety of registration drives targeting people who typically are underrepresented at the polls, and Republicans have long seized on sloppy or questionable registrations as a sign of potential fraud on the part of Democrats.

It's an issue that is particularly sensitive this year GOP political leaders have used fears of fraud to successfully push laws across the country that could make voting more difficult by requiring voters to show identification. Democrats have fought the laws, arguing that they can disenfranchise citizens, minorities in particular.

The group at the root of the questionable mailings — the Voter Participation Center — acknowledges that the databases it uses to contact possible voters are imperfect because they are developed from commercially collected information. The group also says it expects people who receive misdirected mail to simply throw it away.

Several election officials said they believed the voter registration systems were secure enough to catch people who might improperly submit the misdirected documents.

But administrators in New Mexico, a potential swing state in the 2012 presidential race, warned that ineligible voters who complete the documents could make it onto the rolls.

New Mexico is one of two states in which noncitizens can qualify for a driver's license by simply proving residency — not necessarily legal residency — and state elections officials have no way of verifying the legal status of those who file registration documents.

Ken Ortiz, the chief of staff at the New Mexico secretary of state's office, said some noncitizens have contacted the state asking why they received the forms when they'd previously been told that they could not vote.

"We fear that some of these individuals who receive this mailing may feel that they are being encouraged to vote by our office or county government," Ortiz said.

The mailings appear official, arriving in privacy envelopes with the headline "VOTER REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED." Some information is already completed on the voter registration papers, and recipients also get an envelope to send completed forms to local elections officials.

The Voter Participation Center works with a vendor that has access to multiple commercial databases that could include people who subscribe to magazines or junk mail using names of their pet, said Page Gardner, the group's president. She said the nonprofit tries its best to target only eligible and unregistered voters but that some other names inevitably get on the final list.

"Is it a perfect process? No," Gardner said. Ultimately, she said they rely on the integrity of people and the security of the system and notes that the same forms are available to anyone at county offices or on the Internet.

The Voter Participation Center says it is trying to increase participation among minorities, unmarried women and people under the age of 30, with Gardner saying that those groups have historically been underrepresented in the election process. (um, gee wonder why that is?)

The group says it has helped register 1 million people since 2004 and some 300,000 people in the current election cycle.

The center conducted one mailing distribution last year and another earlier this year before its biggest mailing, which went out in June. It is planning one more for later this year.

Voter registration drives of all types can create a small subset of problems. An active voter, for example, may sign up again after encountering a registration drive at an event. Some registration workers at the community activist group ACORN were accused in past years of submitting false forms with names like Mickey Mouse — filings the group said were done by workers to increase their pay.

What makes the Voter Participation Center's work challenging is that the group is identifying voters based on data, instead of during in-person interactions. The mailings include pre-filled information that creates further confusion and concern, said Katie Blinn, a co-director of elections in Washington state.

Blinn said it appeared that many of the mailings were going to people who are already registered to vote. They have heard about a "handful" of pet-related forms in the state of the past few weeks and fielded calls from people wondering whether their registration was canceled.

Julie Anderson, the auditor in Pierce County, Wash., estimates that about two dozen residents have contacted the county about registration forms arriving for dead relatives.



Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=13&articleid=20120713_13_0_OLYMPI140602

[nathanm]

Here's a suggestion: Prosecute the jackasses that are registering their pets. God forbid we do that. Instead we have to implement Poll Tax 2.0. 

[Teatownclown]

Liberals call voter ID programs discriminatory and "voter purging".  To what ends are they going trying to stack the polls?

Read on:

Coulda....or coulduh in your case.

You goof... lame example, as usual, and you apply it across the board. Your new nickname shall be catfish baiter because what you're doing is baiting a thread with catfish bait (or is that your underwear I smell?).

Don't you think there's a big difference between those registered who can't vote all of a sudden because they do not, all of a sudden, have a picture ID and this tripe you post?

Honestly Conan, why is this an issue? Do you hate Obama so much your only hope for the Morons is to disenfranchise scads of voters?

What happened to the Fast and Furious? It didn't derail the Justice Department from moving ahead in Florida.

[joiei]

how many cases of voter fraud have been prosecuted in Oklahoma in the past oh say 20 years?   Just asking.  And what was the results of those thousands of court cases?

[Ed W]

Is the right to vote derived from your officially issued government ID, or is it a right of citizenship?  The actual number of fraudulent voters is very, very low, yet the right fear mongers over the issue again and again.  Pennsylvania will be a swing state again this year, and the Republican leader of the state legislature baldly stated that the new voter ID law will win the state for Romney.  About 750,000 eligible voters do not have the required documents, including a 92 year old woman who does not have any state-issued ID.  She is challenging the new law in court.

The last time I voted, an elderly couple were ahead of me in line.  The husband had his driver's license, but the wife did not.  She was not permitted to cast a ballot, not even a provisional ballot, despite the fact that she was personally known by one of the poll workers who could vouch for her identity.  This law is truly asinine.

We have a hard enough time getting citizens to take an interest in government without throwing even more obstacles in their way.

There's more, but I gotta walk the dog before the rain gets here!  

 

[Conan71]

Is the right to vote derived from your officially issued government ID, or is it a right of citizenship?  The actual number of fraudulent voters is very, very low, yet the right fear mongers over the issue again and again.  Pennsylvania will be a swing state again this year, and the Republican leader of the state legislature baldly stated that the new voter ID law will win the state for Romney.  About 750,000 eligible voters do not have the required documents, including a 92 year old woman who does not have any state-issued ID.  She is challenging the new law in court.

The last time I voted, an elderly couple were ahead of me in line.  The husband had his driver's license, but the wife did not.  She was not permitted to cast a ballot, not even a provisional ballot, despite the fact that she was personally known by one of the poll workers who could vouch for her identity.  This law is truly asinine.

We have a hard enough time getting citizens to take an interest in government without throwing even more obstacles in their way.

There's more, but I gotta walk the dog before the rain gets here!  

 

At the risk of sounding like an donkey, no one was trying to penalize the elderly woman by not allowing her to vote, she didn't follow the rules which have been well-publicized.  I do feel for the elderly couple, but she didn't follow the rules.  I have a couple of friends who man the polls every election day including my former step-father with whom I'm still on great terms.  I'd never dream of asking for special treatment because I left my wallet at home.  

In Oklahoma, we are issued a free voter ID card.  You are required to register to vote, prior to voting, and they mail you a FREE voter ID card.  If anything, Oklahoma has tried to make it easier for voters that if they misplace that card or simply forget it, you can present multiple forms of government-issued photo ID.

State-issued Photo ID cards for those over 65 years of age have no expiration date to further limit the burden on the elderly.  If you are poor, you must provide some form of ID to get on state or federal assistance, and you must provide some sort of ID to cash a federal or state assistance check (at least in respectable establishments).  Everyone MUST register with the Social Security Administration.  So why aren't those examples considered discriminatory?  Would everyone be a lot happier if the feds would issue a free photo ID Social Security card?  That's a serious question and I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts.  There's your universal ID and it's no more a hardship to get it than to go to the SSA office which you'd have to do to get or adjust benefits in the first place.

If it's no hardship to get to the polls, it's no hardship to get to somewhere you can get a free photo ID.

I was brought up to believe by very patriotic parents that voting is one of the most if not the most sacred of rights of being an American.  Sorry, I can't slough it off when there's obvious mass movements to influence voting amongst people who can't be bothered to register on their own and take an active part in the system.  No one is trying to keep legal American citizens from registering to vote nor from voting.  

It's not even a matter of assuring we are only keeping illegals and anyone else specifically restricted from voting from doing it.  Do you really want someone who has zero interest in the candidates nor the issues voting because they got a free ride to the polls, free lunch, and a little pep talk on how they should vote?  Voter intimidation and voter manipulation is just plain wrong, and that's what the example I posted points to.  

Eligibility
A person who is eligible to register to vote must be at least 18 years old, a United States citizen and a resident of the State of Oklahoma.



How to Register
You must fill out a voter registration application form. Voter registration applications are available at your County Election Board, post offices, tag agencies, libraries and many other public locations. You will be offered a voter registration application when you get your driver's license and when you apply for assistance at some government agencies. You also may download an application form.

You must sign and date the oath printed on the form. When you sign the voter registration application form, you swear that you are eligible to register to vote.



Changing Your Registration
If you need to change your name, your address or your political affiliation, you must fill out another voter registration application form. You may change your registration at any time with one exception. You may not change your political affiliation during the period from April 1 through August 31, inclusive, in any even-numbered year. The last day on which you may change your political affiliation before the closed period is March 31; the first day on which you may change your political affiliation after the closed period is September 1.



Submitting Your Application
You may mail your voter registration application to the State Election Board. The card is already addressed, but you must add a first-class postage stamp. If you fill out your voter registration application form at a tag agency when you get your driver's license or when you apply for assistance at a government agency, the agency will mail the form to the State Election Board for you.



Voter Identification Card
You do not become a registered voter until the county election board in the county where you reside has approved your application. When your application is approved, the county election board will mail a voter identification card to you. Your voter identification card lists your name, address, political affiliation and the polling place for your voting precinct. When you receive your voter identification card, look at it carefully and report any errors to the county election board immediately. Keep your voter identification card in a safe place and always take it with you when you go to vote.

If your voter registration application cannot be approved, you will receive a letter from the county election board. The letter will tell you why your application was not approved and explain the steps you need to take to become registered. You may be able to return the letter with some additional information, or you may need to fill out and send in another voter registration application form.



Closed Primary System
Oklahoma has a closed primary system. Only voters who are registered members of a recognized political party may vote for the party's candidates in primary and runoff primary elections. Registered Independent voters may be eligible to vote in party's primaries and runoff primaries if authorized by the party.

However, nonpartisan judicial offices, state questions and county questions often are included in primary elections. All registered voters, including Independents, are entitled to receive those ballots. At general elections, all voters receive the same ballot and may vote for any candidate or question on the ballot.



When to Register
You may submit your voter registration application form at any time. However, voter identification cards cannot be issued during the 24 days prior to an election. If your registration application is received by the county election board during the 24 days before an election, you will not receive your voter identification card until after the election.

If you will become 18 during the 60 days before an election, you may apply for voter registration between 25 and 60 days before the election.



Additional Information
For additional information about voting in Oklahoma, contact your local county election board or the State Election Board.

Oklahoma State Election Board
PO Box 53156
Oklahoma City, OK 73152
(405) 521-2391

info@elections.ok.gov

http://www.ok.gov/elections/Voter_Registration/

Facts about Proof of Identity for Voting in Oklahoma

The proof of identity law (sometimes called the "voter ID" law) was contained in State Question 746 (Legislative Referendum No. 347).  The question appeared on the ballot at the November 2, 2010, General Election, and it was approved by 74% of the votes cast.

The proof of identity law requires every voter who votes in person at the precinct polling place or during early voting at the County Election Board to show proof of identity before receiving a ballot.

A document used for proof of identity for voting must have been issued by the United States government, the State of Oklahoma, or a federally recognized tribal government.

The law requires any document used for proof of identity for voting to contain the following information:

the name of the person to whom it was issued
a photograph of the person to whom it was issued
an expiration date that is after the date of the election
The law also requires the voter's name on the proof of identity document to "substantially conform" to the voter's name in the Precinct Registry.  In other words, your name on your proof of identity must match your name in the Precinct Registry.

The following documents may be used for proof of identity for voting:

an Oklahoma driver license
a State Identification Card*
a passport
a military identification
* A State Identification card issued to a person 65 years of age or older does not have an expiration date but is, by law, a valid proof of identity for voting.

In addition, voters may use the voter identification card they received by mail from the County Election Board when they registered to vote.  The law allows use of the voter identification card even though it does not include a photograph or an expiration date.

If you do not have or if you refuse to show proof of identity, you may only vote by provisional ballot.

Voters who cast provisional ballots are required to fill out and sign an affidavit that explains why their provisional ballot should be counted.  Provisional ballots are sealed inside special envelopes and are not put through the voting device.  After election day, County Election Board officials will investigate the information provided by the voter on the affidavit and either will approve the provisional ballot for counting or will reject it based on the outcome of that investigation.

In order for a provisional ballot to be approved for counting, the information on the affidavit must match the information in the voter's registration record.

Is my ID valid for voting in Oklahoma?

FAQs about proof of identity for voting

[Red Arrow]

Here's a suggestion: Prosecute the jackasses that are registering their pets. God forbid we do that. Instead we have to implement Poll Tax 2.0. 

Oklahoma allows your voter registration card which if FREE.  Poll Tax?

[Red Arrow]

The last time I voted, an elderly couple were ahead of me in line.  The husband had his driver's license, but the wife did not.  She was not permitted to cast a ballot, not even a provisional ballot, despite the fact that she was personally known by one of the poll workers who could vouch for her identity.  This law is truly asinine.

Knowing you need an ID and showing up to vote without one is truly asinine.  OK allows your FREE voter ID.  If you cannot be bothered to get one, well, too bad.

[Conan71]

Knowing you need an ID and showing up to vote without one is truly asinine.  OK allows your FREE voter ID.  If you cannot be bothered to get one, well, too bad.

Hard donkey.  We shouldn't inconvenience people who can't follow simple rules.

[Hoss]

Oklahoma allows your voter registration card which if FREE.  Poll Tax?

Requiring photo ID?  Maybe that's the beef?  That always costs money.

[nathanm]

Oklahoma allows your voter registration card which if FREE.  Poll Tax?

You may not have noticed this, but there are other states beyond our borders which fall within the nation we share. Don't believe for one second that the problems in other states can't find their way here.

[Red Arrow]

Requiring photo ID?  Maybe that's the beef?  That always costs money.

May be true in some states but not RED Oklahoma.

[Hoss]

May be true in some states but not RED Oklahoma.

What?  That photoID doesn't cost money?  Last time I checked, licenses and IDs that were state issued did.  I thought Oklahoma required photo ID at the booth.

[Red Arrow]

You may not have noticed this, but there are other states beyond our borders which fall within the nation we share. Don't believe for one second that the problems in other states can't find their way here.

I don't see voter ID as a problem. 

[Red Arrow]

What?  That photoID doesn't cost money?  Last time I checked, licenses and IDs that were state issued did.  I thought Oklahoma required photo ID at the booth.

Please see several posts stating that your FREE voter registration card is acceptable ID.  Check it out if you don't believe it.