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Subscribe to RSSUSA Today looks at the burden new Voter ID laws are causing for some voters: “Marian Berkley has managed to make it through her first 83 years without a state-issued photo ID. But after last week's ruling in Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court upholding a new law that will require voters to present certain government-approved IDs at the polls in November, Berkley has decided she must get one. Berkley, a retired factory worker, found herself sifting through personal documents with voting rights activist Karen Buck to get in order the vital records she'll need to acquire a state ID so she can vote. Most of Berkley's necessary documents were in place — a birth certificate noting that she was born on a farm in Delaware, a Social Security card and utility bills in her name.
She still needs to track down her marriage certificate to certify that her last name changed. Berkley could run into trouble if someone at the state ID office decides to quibble about her first name being spelled differently on her birth certificate than it is on her Social Security card, said Buck, the executive director of the SeniorLAW Center. ‘Really?’ asked an exasperated Berkley, who has been homebound in recent years after multiple hip operations and other ailments. ‘How much more do I have to do to prove who I am?’”
Just a couple of churchgoing pols… “Mitt Romney gave the public a rare glimpse of himself practicing his Mormon faith Sunday, as he attended church services near his New Hampshire vacation home,” the New York Daily News writes, adding, “President Obama, who was in New Hampshire campaigning on Saturday, was back in Washington, DC Sunday, where the periodic churchgoer and his family attended service at St. John’s Episcopal Church, a one block walk from the White House.”
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The Republican Party has made it clear that they cannot win on the issues. The only way they CAN win is to try to cheat to suppress the vote. Shame on them.
Will she have to pay for this ID? Is that not a poll tax?
Oh, for heaven's sake, Noid- cease flagellating the deceased equine
http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news/breaking/&id=166490216&viewAll=y#more
In New Jersey, you need all the same paperwork to get a driver's license- and then some.
Want a tutorial on Penssylvania voter fraud? Read this
http://archives.citypaper.net/articles/101295/article009.shtml
I don't know of another place where election results were tossed by a federal judge because of rampant fraud. Seems to me that it should not have taken twenty years for the problem to be addressed- but at least something is being done about it now.
BWAAK! VOTER FRAUD! VOTER FRAUD! BWAAK!
Hows that big FAT teachers pension, courtesy of NJ taxpayers, working out for you, lair?
I remember last election the republicans showing up at the polls with guns to vote... Is that the kind of ID they want an 83 y/o lady to carry?
Whatever happened to our civil rights? and why now, when a black man is president and up for re-election do the republicans change the rules?
Everyone on election day should find a person who needs a ride to the polls... This will backfire on the rightist...
Ms no jo - the 1995 article you linked discussed absentee ballot fraud. Absentee voting is not a voter ID fraud issue since no ID is required for that. Requiring a picture ID to be shown at polls has nothing to do with mail in ballots.
If you want a current and real perspective on voter ID fraud in Pennsylvania check out the pdf of the Pennsylvania 6 point stipulation as they prepare for their "defense" of voter ID laws. Note that even they specify that there is no voter ID fraud.It can be found @ http ://bradblog. com/Docs/PA_ApplewhiteStipulation_NoInPersonVoterFraud_071212.pdf
Note that the State of Pennsylvania also specifies that the AG Kelly (appointed by Gov. Corbett) will not testify. Why they don't want their AG on the stand is very questionable in this case. Are they afraid of the quesitons that might be asked?
Recently, David Burgess (deputy secretary for planning and service delivery at Pennsylvania’s Department of State) testified in state court in Harrisburg that the voter ID law may affect as many as 1,500,000 people in Pennsylvania. As of 2008 there were only 8,755,000 registered voters in PA total (source: http ://www .portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/voter_registration_statistics/12725 )
So, no voter ID fraud and, as the article noted, difficulties in getting voter IDs (especially for the elderly). Frankly, all of this portends that the State of Pennsylvania may in one year disenfranchise MORE voters than has occurred on ALL cases of voter fraud in the past.
The questions here are simple; 1) is it an appropriate use of millions of tax payer dollars to address a non-issue that even the State of Pennsylvania admits in legal filings doesn't exist, and; 2) why would the State of Pennsylvania knowingly create a situation where potentially thousands of voters (primarily elderly and minority) will be disenfranchised, and; 3) wouldn't these disenfranchisements make the State of Pennsylvania the largest perpetrator of election fraud in the Pennsylvania history?
Shades of Jim Crow!!
no joe, no bo, nj
I didn't realize that this 83-yr-old woman was applying for a driver's license. I thought she just wanted to exercise her constitutional right to vote.
Matthew-2771918
it's because no jo sees the word "fraud" and without thought is attracted to it like flies are to $hit. And since absentee voters tend to benefit the Republicans more than the Democrats, THAT VOTER FRAUD will not be addressed.
Yeah...
And I remember at the last election the Black Panthers showing up at the polls with clubs in THEIR hands... ready thump anyone that looked like they might vote against Obama!
HYPOCRITES!
(show me the clown nose, fisty!)
You mean BOTH Black Panthers? At ONE poll? Ohhhhh - I'm so scared!!
Notice Terry did not imply that the gun toters were going to shoot anybody, but sotb has no fear of accusing the black panthers of taking practice swings to club someone because .. well, because.
Right back atcha' hypocrite.
The latest edition of Men Behaving Badly...
Todd Aiken Republican Missouri candidate for Senate
6 Republican Congressmen wild partiers in Isreal, including skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee, just days after a wicked fight over the debt ceiling caused our credit rating to drop.
Really can we afford to have such neanderthals working for us in Congress?? We pay for them to do our work, we provide them with excellent benefits that many of us cannot afford. Are we such big suckers to continue with this?
[...including skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee...]
Seems the poster boys for Christianity take pride in desecrating a holy site...
Willards' Aid, Gorka, should have been there to yell......"kiss my a$$....show some respect.....this is a Holy Site"!.......Unless of course he would have joined them!
The Dems might be wise to attack this as a women's issue. How many of us know women who started work before they were married and therefore whose social security is in there maiden name and stayed so for decades? And who keeps a copy of their marriage certificate? And what of the women who may or may not have taken their spouses last name, and who later after separation or legal divorce went back to their maiden names informally on other documents - utilities/rental agreements?
Responsible people thats who. It is required that your name on your social security number be changed when your name changes. Most women with half a brain in their head keep copies of their paperwork, (marriage license etc) just for such circumstances. The court clerk even tells you when you get married to keep xx number of copies of your marriage certificate because if you need them in the future they will be more expensive to get. But in this country we wouldn't want anyone to be responsible for any of their actions.
Word of advice to anyone upset about the new voter id laws - get yourself and anyone you know who needs one a voter id or make sure they vote absentee (no way for them to check that one, wink, wink). Just beat them at their own game. Know someone who has no ID? Take them to get one or contact your local election office and find on the steps to help the vote absentee. It is not the laws that are the problem, it is the fact that they are rushed in an election year that is a problem. If we had a couple of years to prepare for this then everyone would have time to get to the DMV and get a photo id, since we don't, just bombard the DMV, get yourself a photo id even if you state has to pay overtime and hire extra folks to perform the service.
Mickey - you are correct, those poster boys, what ever will we do with them? First they swim in the Sea of Galilee naked and then they think that there is a thing called "legitimate rape". Pretty stupid bunch of folks and not to be trusted.
The republican ship just keeps sinking.
Show those tax returns Willard, show them tax returns. 12 years like your father did.
It is funny how the republican party and Norquist fight hard so as not to pay taxes, yet they refuse to show how little they actually do pay...
Is Bishop Romney going to apportion his 10% religious donation to the Episcopal church he occasionally visits?
If he takes in $1/2 million/week, one visit to the church should be worth $50k to St. John’s Episcopal Church.
where is the supreme court of PA? how could any judge, with the exception of one who is paid off, allow any citizen the continued right to vote? these residents have proven year after year their legal right to vote and now a well paid judge is going to remove that right?
the citizens of PA, republicans, dems, independents, should all be up in arms and protesting in one loud voice, that any elected offical would jepordize their god given right to vote.
kick the bums out, all of them!!!!!!
No one is objecting to a valid right to vote for registered U.S. Citizens. But with Obama waving his magic wand over illegal immigrants of Hispanic descent, he has not granted them the right to vote. They are here illegally and are not U.S. citizens.
Sorry, but in the end, the States are empowered to set the rules for voter registration in each state.
If would seem that he is waving the same wand Reagan did, just saying.
Actually Gateway, it's a little bit different.
President Reagan granted immunity to over 3 million illegal aliens. President Obama never granted immunity, just prioritized the resources to go after repeat offenders and those with criminal records instead of illegals that were brought here as children.
Make a sweep of retirement homes and communities, college campuses and housing projects with applications and people to help gather the papers and other information needed to get a picture Id in PA and other states that are requiring this. Disenfranchising these people is tantamount to poll taxes or tests to be allowed to vote. That crap was made illegal decades ago. State after state where they're trying to disenfranchise senior citizens, the poor, colldge students the Republican right wing extremists have been behind such efforts even when several independant sources say there IS NO VOTER FRAUD.
The short answer is to flood the polls with absentee ballots.
The long answer is a national id like the one in Mexico. Should be renewed every year, contains fingerprint images as well as a picture, and is compared against a national database to ensure people vote only once in every election. Swipe the card (like a credit card) and the system validates.
The story is BULLS--T!!!!!!!!!. Here is what you need for voter ID in PA
Your social security # (not the card...just the number)
Copy of 2 utility bills to prove residence!!
That's it..all done...74% of the country wants voter ID for our MOST IMPORTANT RIGHT AS A CITIZEN!!!!!!!!!
You only have a problem if you are cheating
That's the requirement to vote via absentee ballot only.
Your posting is BULLS--T!!!!!!!!!.
@ kr lotta numbers, I'm from PA. and I have been pitchin a bitch about this since it began, I'm democrat. have state id so it won't affect me. Most fair minded people are very upset but there are also many that have no problem with the situation. Do you know that one of the top appointnees of the state said that the new voter program would assure a Rommney win in PA. I don't know how something like that could be said and there not be some sort of investigation. I guess if we have a republican gov. it's all nice and legal.
this story is NOT bull!!!! what you need to get a photo id in PA. is birth certificate,and several utility bills. The birth ceritificate is the problem for some. Due to moving,fire or other situations there are people that don't have a birth certificate. that is the problem. If you don't believe me, check it out. You CANNOT get a photo id in PA. WITHOUT a birth certificate.
OH yeah, I forgot, a woman needs a marriage license to prove the last name change.