Talk Elections

2 polls say the same:

Quinnipiac

"While judges and politicians debate Pennsylvania's voter ID measure, voters are solidly in support of the measure, 62 - 35 percent," Brown said. And 99 percent of voters say they believe they have the necessary documents to cast a ballot."

Question 47d.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/presidential-swing-states-%28fl-oh-and-pa%29/release-detail?ReleaseID=1800

Franklin & Marshall College

About seven in eight voters (87 percent) answered "true" when asked if the state requires a photo ID to vote. Almost all voters (99 percent) said they have a valid photo ID. Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) favor requiring one and nearly half (46 percent) strongly favor it. Of the people in favor, more than half (54 percent) say they would still favor the requirement even if many eligible voters would be prevented from voting because they will not have one.

Almost four in 10 (39 percent) strongly or somewhat oppose the requirement.

The poll of 632 registered voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

http://republicanherald.com/news/poll-shows-majority-of-pennsylvanians-support-voter-id-law-1.1378869

It's not hard to get a photo id here, period.

It might not be valid, however.  I can get a photo id, a check cashing card, fairly easily in Philadelphia.  It's not valid for PA voting.  Same with a welfare photo id. 

The problem is it's a poll tax.  If they issued easily accessible, free photo-id voter-id cards, that'd be one thing.  But they aren't.

You can get a free one at the driver testing centers.......and I oppose poll taxes in any way shape or form, Spanish Moss :)

Yeah, this poll does nothing for me, really. Just because these people seem to think that they have correct ID doesn't mean that they do. If anything, it means that they aren't actually going to pay attention to the new rules because they think they're already covered. And odds are, a ton of them actually aren't.

I still can't believe a welfare id isn't valid. That is naked politics at its lowest level.

To be fair, if you don't have a photo ID you probably weren't going to vote in the first place. I think the real issue is that people might leave their IDs at home, get hassled at the polling place after a long wait in line, and then think returning to vote isn't worth the hassle. And that's something that cuts across all party lines. I forget stuff all the time. :p

Then New York sucks.

I fixed you post.

The average person on the street probably doesn't realize the right wing machine is trying to disenfranchise them.  They probably think they can stroll down with their expired library card and an electric bill and vote the way they have for decades.  We will only know the true result of Romney and Co's illegal electioneering after election day.

I truly hope 99% of Dems have the necessary ID, but there is no way of knowing at this time.

You'd have to be a pretty stupid fellow not to have one.

So, presumably, you don't have one?

No, I have 2 of them.

Doesn't a 'valid' photo id have to have a correct current address? How many people with non-expired drivers licenses have moved from the address listed thereon? And many of those have re-registered to vote at their new address as registering is a lot more available places (e.g. the library) than the BMV.

Most polling locations don't even require that. At my old one in Massachusetts, all you had to do is give them your name. No cards or electric bill required. That's a ridiculously lax standard.

In Minnesota currently you must also verify your address in addition to giving your name.

That's the way it was at my polling place MM.  In fact the old bubbas that worked it knew Mrs. M3 and I since we always voted within the first 5 people......but just a name and you were good to go.

I strongly believe that the voter ID laws will have no descernible impact on the election results, despite Democratic protestations.

Yeah, all I have to do is tell them who I am and sign next to my registration signature... so if you know someone and have their signature, you could learn to forge it well enough and vote.

But that kind of thing virtually never happens, certainly on no level where this is even reasonable to debate as an issue.

What perplexes me about this is that Republicans have infinitely more to lose by making voting laws a partisan issue than Democrats do.  Don't they realize that blue states can retaliate in the future? 

Just pass National Popular Vote in enough states at the next opportunity.  Then have CA, NY and IL change state laws to make voter registration the default for everyone over 18 and conduct elections by automatically mailing a ballot to every adult social security number in the state.  A president to the right of Obama could never be elected again in that world.

Don't you need to have a driver's license- or at least that's the most common way? So voting is mainly restricted to those who can drive??? And to pass the test you need a car- this seems silly.

I think in most states you can get a non-driving ID at the DMV also.

The solution to this "problem" is obviously to automatically register every citizen to vote on their 18th birthday and send them a free ID card in the mail. Democrats should get behind this and outflank the Republicans on this issue.

I'd love to see that idea gain traction. :)

Injunction granted.  Fox.

99% of people answered, “Yeah, sure, I have photo ID.” As has been stated, that doesn’t mean it is valid. That being said, there has been a serious voter education campaign on this for a few months now and, as Grumps mentioned, it is very easy to get valid identification. I think the state has bent over backwards on this. And, yes, free IDs are offered as well as free rides to and from the DMV to obtain your card.

This talk about scores of voters being disenfranchised is unfortunate excessive partisan hyperbole. Mr. Moderate put it perfectly: of those intending to vote, almost all of them do have the necessary identification. It’s just a matter of remembering to bring it. This is where the education campaign would have come up big but the injunction makes it irrelevant now. For what it’s worth, the parties have been very involved in educating their supporters, too.