This shows you how vital federal civil rights laws are. All state laws have been thrown out by federal courts while state courts are upholding them. Wow. I still can't believe Snyder vetoed the worst Voter ID laws. Oh well, like they say, even a broken clock is correct twice a day. Good luck, Pennsylvania and keep fighting!

You know nothing about them, who supports them, etc.

Our democracy is broken in more than is easily recognizable.

I'm always amazed during election time...row after row of judges, that I'm supposed to vote on and I know nothing about them AND...it's not easy to find information.

Many times...I don't vote for any...

I know nothing about any of the judges, and will not vote for any at that point. But what I have been doing for the past several years is jot down names of judges from news stories---if the judgment was disgraceful or spot-on. Then if that name shows up, I can at least know "something" about them and vote accordingly. Without this list, I would never remember which judge has come up with what judgment.

I get my ballot several weeks before the election, which allows time to at least go to the Democrats website to find out who they're recommending. It's a huge improvement over the old system.

I usually do know who the Democratic party is endorsing, but there are times when I get to the polls and there are races that I didn't know were there.....not so much anymore, since I am more involved in the party and politics. But there was a time.

We have no mail-in voting, no early voting, no absentee voting without cause....you just better show up on election day in PA.

My main, on the ground, written resource, for picking the candidates I don't know is The Stranger. Their politics almost mirrors mine,

The Bar Association rates each judge and publishes their findings. It may not beq the bet information, but it at least something from which to start.

re who to vote for in judiciary races? Most political parties put out a "suggestions" list as to who to vote for in each race. When the Democrats haven't convinced me, for one reason or another, I've literally gone to the GOP's list and just voted in the opposite direction. Anyway, it's what I do when I can't glean enough information about a candidate.

is an elected rethug.

But I just found this article and this is just unbelievable but then maybe not -

So that Judge considers PA voters, most notably those who are without state-issued IDs for a variety of reasons, "rogues and vagabonds".

This is a blurb that I saved from a news story I saw back in June. I could probably track it down the Internets:

Arizona's entire immigration law should be upheld, Scalia wrote, because it is "entitled" to make its own immigration policy. At one point, he cites the fact that before the Civil War, Southern states could exclude free blacks from their borders to support the idea that states should be able to set their own immigration policies.

-- part of Scalia's dissent in the Supreme Court case on Arizona's immigration law 6/25/12.

"He was appointed as a Democrat in 1989 by Gov Bob Casey Sr,, but switched over to the Republican Party."
http://www.politicspa.com/poll-results-readers-judge-simpson-not-on-same-page/39706/

That would be the same Gov. Casey who griped about not speaking at the Democratic convention even as he steadfastly refused to endorse our candidate, Jimmy Carter.

At least Casey, Jr is not as extreme as his father.

whom Bob Casey Sr. refused to endorse. I recall that this happened in 1992, not in 1976.

but only the initial for your middle name on the voter's registration card can disqualify you from voting. Lines are going to be long in getting things fixed and people are going to give up. Have seen estimates of about 3/4 million affected overall. The company in charge of "communicating" the voter ID mess for the state is a Romney fundraiser.

I have a perfectly good first, middle, and last name. Years ago I decided to only use my first and last name on everything. Unfortunately, every so often I come across some silly requirement to use my middle initial or the middle name. I happen to be the only person in this country with my particular first and last name, so it's not as though I really need the middle name or initial to distinguish me from a host of other liked-named people.

And in any case, it ought to be reasonably obvious if you're who you're claiming to be, even with a trivial detail like middle name or initial.

...about the middle name vs. middle initial. The requirement is that the name be materially the same. A middle initial on one and a full middle name on the other is considered a match. It's on the state's website, among examples of many other variations that would count as a match.

That being said, it is still a horrible law and I hope the SC tosses it.

I know here In Philly, the people at my voting place have been the same ones for at least the past decade or more and they know me because I vote every election every year. But supposedly rethug goon "poll watchers" are going to be deployed and I expect some may try to start something using nuisance challenges based on nonsense like what was described.

the bill. This leaves it up to the poll workers to interpret "substantially conform". Since they don't want to make mistakes, they will require strict adherance to having the ID the same as the voter roll/registration. With the republican goons as poll watchers, you can bet they will challenge every Democrat that tries to vote. I went to the voter registration office last week about my ID and registration and the worker showed me a list of what she and her supervisors thought about it and she said it will depend on the poll worker and how strict the poll watchers are. Not having it defined in the bill is the problem.

shining a light on this darkness, it did what sunlight usually does - added illumination and started disinfecting. These bastards can only succeed in the dark, when they're sure nobody's looking or paying attention.

Which is why we HAVE TO!!!! And why we CANNOT afford to be complacent!

If they think you don't care, they won't, either!!!

And one more:

Quoting what Mad-Eye Moody always told Harry Potter: "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!!!"

It gives specific examples.

Link here: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/http;//www.portal.state.pa.us;80/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_891811_1281780_0_0_18/PANewVoterIDLaw-SubstantiallyConform.pdf

As obnoxious and unnecessary as the law is, official directives to poll workers specifically state that the name on the I.D. must "substantially conform" to the name in the voter log, but does not have to be exactly the same. Among the examples given is the presence/absence of a middle name or initial or some deviation in spelling. In these cases, the voter must be allowed to cast a regular ballot, i.e. not a provisional. Poll workers will apparently be allowed to use some common sense, at least in Pennsylvania. How do I know? I have a copy of the directive sent by the Secretary of State to all judges and clerks of elections throughout the state.

Please also be aware that the photo I.D. is for identification purposes only; in other words, if your driver's license is valid and has not expired, but your address has changed since the license was issued you must be allowed to cast a standard (not provisional) ballot. This is an issue in many of the rural parts of northeastern PA, where virtually all addresses have been changed over the last year to conform to the E-911 emergency system. If you think the poll worker is denying your right to vote, ask the judge of elections at your polling place to contact the county election board to straighten it out. They'll do it while you wait. I was a poll worker in PA for many years and we did this all the time.

Thanks for posting the official position on this issue!

The government has a multiyear plan to sort it out. Meanwhile, the repukes schemed a way to use it against those Democratic-leaning voters.

The term is "abuse of power".

http://mobile.philly.com/news/?wss=/philly/news/pennsylvania/&id=136288998&deliver=android&c=y&clmob=y&viewAll=y

So we're talking about a good chunk of potential registered voters who would be disenfranchised.

Do you still talk about "Ed Rendell's political machine" , there? It was an example in the Wellstone Action training that I took.

his machine has just about faded away, leaving his lackey Nutter, high and dry with a completely rethug-dominated state legislature and executive branch. About the only machine left is Bob Brady's - where he is Congressman for the 1st Congressional District and is also head of the Democratic Party in Philadelphia. However up until recently, he has generally been MIA.

Republicans, too - I have no problem with it.

who is a rethug. But of course, as an on-air personality, his father was taken care of quick, fast, and in a hurry.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021357561

Meanwhile it took months and months of TV time devoted to this by Al Sharpton, along with being a plaintiff in the lawsuit, for Vivette Applewhite to finally get an ID. Not so for other plaintiffs who were not born in PA but are residents.

And so did our founding fathers. They called it a poll tax.

they can't vote if they can't get documents, but many of the elderly ones were born without them.

and you live in one of the states that historically treated its black people like shit.

birth certificate. Destroyed in WW2. I vote.

even though they are citizens?

or are you just proclaiming your ignorance?

that stupid.

why not share what you really think?

not to your liking. Good-night. Sweet dreams.

you don't care.

you don't care even if the issue causes citizens to be denied the right to vote and it costs Obama the election.

you don't care.

in fact, you seem to be pleased that such could happen.

to do about it If you care so much - help them. Every election I transport people all day long to vote. What do you do - besides type a lot of words

older black citizens in the south often don't have birth certificates.

do you realize that? because many were born outside hospitals and in racist states, there was little interest in issuing the documents or treating them as full citizens.

yet they were full citizens.

what do you propose be done about states that require birth certificates to get id and id to vote?

but maybe you want Obama to lose, maybe that's why you support these laws.

because otherwise the blatant unfairness towards those who are citizens, and elderly black people were already among the most unfairly treated citizens in this country by this country (or their state) would be something you support continuing through a new denial of the most basic right of citizenship.

i would think that story of unfairness would touch you. you often speak of the holocaust and what it did to your family on the basis of how they were born.

that you so denigrate black folks' stories of racism and institutionalized discrimination and dehumanization makes a mockery of your statements imploring us to remember the holocaust. both were the result of bigotry.

you should not be so transparent in your dismissive attitude and mocking of stories of discrimination and racism towards black people --much less laws that seek to stop them as citizens, from voting.

and the questioning of Obama's citizenship.

do you do to help black people

For all you've posted, you still support voter ID requirements against citizens who were born without birth certificates and have no practical way of getting them because they were born outside hospitals.

you wish to continue this discussion please PM me.

I think you should be willing to have that discussion in the open and since it's related directly to this issue, there's no reason not to have it here.

Also, another poster asked you a question...be interested in your answer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1359814

the only straightforward opinion you've offered in here and to me was that white people face racism and that you support these laws.

The problem being that many current residents born in other states could be disenfranchised here due to lack of proof of birth.

Coming to the U.S. through Ellis Island BY CHOICE is not the same as coming to the U.S. in the hold of a ship and then being sold and bred like chattel over many generations, and then finally released "into the wild".

And based on the requirements here in PA just for getting a driver's license -

this means that your having had a birth certificate "destroyed" would have been irrelevant because it wouldn't have been accepted here in PA anyway. And people born here in the U.S. wouldn't have a "certificate of U.S. citizenship" nor would they have a "certificate of naturalization" because being born in the U.S. = "citizen of U.S.". There is no "Commie" or "Socialist" or "Nazi" or "Marxist" "National ID Card" here.

From the turn of the century through WW2, the city of Philadelphia's black population quadrupled. Many came here from rural areas, were born on farms and/or at home, and fled up north to escape lynchings, bombings, and murders by the same types of foaming-at-the-mouth racists that still litter the country today.

In this urban area, many use public transit and may have had no money for, need for, or desire for a car, so they have no driver's license. And the insurance for a car is outrageous, so many cannot afford to drive here in the city anyway. When they moved here, they may have stayed with a friend or family member, or in a rooming house (paying cash for the room), they then established residency at that initial dwelling, eventually got a job and their own residence, and gradually built up a history here in PA - paying rent or a mortgage, utilities and various income or property taxes, etc.

Now they have suddenly become non-entities.

The fact that the U.S. Constitution has 4 Amendments dedicated solely to voting should be a clue as to where a problem exists in this country and it seems the franchise is the last bastion for the descendants of the wealthy, white, land-owners to maintain a grip on power.

about the questions from the PA SC judges. It looks as though at least one of the Republican judges is asking some rather pointed questions about voter suppression and I bet this is a big concern. They are trying to prevent the problems that this one judge seems to be concerned with.

to process the numbers needed in time for the election.

THAT is what the Penn SC will rule on, PennDot cannot do what the legislature asked them to do in time for the election.

as in, not within 120 days of an election, or something along those lines.

And excellent idea! In fact, it should only be able to go into effect AT LEAST 1 year after passage, subject to what types of changes are required to implement.

I mean who goes through all that trouble to get an ID and then decides not to vote? Damn right I'd find the time to vote if I had to jump through all those hoops.