ALEC strikes again...

there needs to be a campaign to strongly encourage students to vote absentee by mail from their hometown. After they have made sure they are legally registered in their hometown.

And as though this actually happens...

Except kU students from Missouri

also cannot be used to enter alcohol serving bars. I still dont understand why the discussion is not focussed more on helping all the disenfranchised people obtain a state approved ID card. You need one to open a bank account, rent in most places, to get a job etc etc.

Yes they can vote, but what happens after that?

1. It is not always so easy to get a state photo ID. You often need an official birth certificate, which costs money and takes time to obtain. Some elderly people don't even have one, esp. if they were immigrants. One person said he went through hell because their was a clerical error in his social security records, which made it hard to get a photo ID.

2. The linked article said in one state, the state at first said it was OK for colleges to add a date sticker to the college IDs, and then later said that would not be allowed for voting.

3. Many students choose to vote either at home with an absentee ballot or at the college. Either one is typically allowed. In any case, if a student votes absentee in a voterID state, they need to mail a photocopy of their official ID.

4. The article describes how some students will have heard that a college ID is allowed for voting, and then show up at the polls and find out it is not.

5. In Indiana, a WWII combat vet was not allowed to cast a regular ballot recently because his VA photo ID did not include an address.

6. Our illustrious governor claims that voter fraud is a huge problem in PA. However, in his 8 years as state attorney general he didn't prosecute a single case of voter fraud. The one major voter fraud case was about 20 years ago in PA, and that only involved absentee ballots.

no system is but if I remembered correctly the University asked me for an ID when I was registering. I did not have a state ID at the time so I used my passport to register. My guess if most college student can obtain/have a state ID usually one from their home state and if they can obtain that, they can do the same for their current state of residence.

The problem I see is with senoir citizens who are living off the grid, they have retired, have no bank account and probably living with a family member or their own house. Something have to be done to help em but dont paper it over by just registering them and then forgeting they exist until the next election cycle.

none of those things are rights given to us in the Constitution. Voting IS, but Republicans are doing all they can to stop Dems. from being able to vote. That's why gun licenses, but not school IDs, are acceptable forms of voter ID in TX.

I am saying that we only worried that these people cannot vote because of the unfortunate situation they fnd themselves in but are not worried that these people virtually cannot participate in the myriads of other societal functions that require a state ID.

The point is that the Repubs. are changing the rules to make it more difficult or impossible for students who used to be able to vote with their school IDs to vote THIS time around, and many of them may not realize it 'til they're at the polling place and they're disenfranchised. When they want to do the other things you listed, they'll be able to GET the proper ID if they don't have it. Nobody is trying to keep them from doing those things.

Why not for voting?

an out of state ID then you can get an in state ID. The requirements for most states are virtually the same. So its a matter of taking the extra step of obtaining a current ID for the new state

And furthermore some may have reasons for wanting to keep their license in a different state.

Yes, there are other barriers in life related to i.d. cards, but on a political discussion board, we tend to be concerned with the politically motivated issues.

Kids usually don't have a problem getting a bank account when the time comes that they need one. If they show up to the bank and find they need a different kind of id, they can get their id problem resolved, then go back to the bank in a day or two and get their account.

If they show up to vote and find out their id doesn't work, they can't go back and vote the next day.

College students tend to vote Democrat more than Republican.

Hmmm ....

but we can easily counter it by getting those college students to obtain a state ID. Make GOTV drive include helping students obtain a state ID.

You can't get an ID at the county clerk's office, or sheriff's department, or any of a number of government agencies. You have to go to the DMV, which has absolutely no relationship to the voting process.

You don't just show up at DMV and ask for an ID. First you've got to find a DMV office that is convenient and open during your available hours. In Wisconsin they closed DMV offices in predominately Democratic areas. Then you get to wait in line, which here in California can mean hours. Once you've made it to the window, you've got to prove that you exist via Social Security card or birth certificate, plus any other documents the GOP (because they are the ones who have made up the rules) have decided are necessary. Forget one of these and, whoops! It's back home, get the documents and get back in line.

Once you have the proper paperwork and have properly filled out the application, you pay your $20 fee, get your photo made and walk out of the DMV proudly knowing that you are preventing a crime which occurs 0.0001% of the time.

Except...

You don't have to pay the $20 to get your ID. If the ID is solely for voting, it's free. All you have to do is check the appropriate box. But if you don't check it, the clerk is forbidden from pointing it out to you -- at least in Wisconsin.

Let's see...

The GOP tried a poll tax and got shot down; they tried a "citizenship test" at the poll and got shot down; they burned crosses and lynched blacks and assassinated their leaders and still we voted; in Hispanic precincts they put guys in uniforms which resemble those worn by the INS to intimidate legal voters, and it didn't work; they reduce the number of polling stations by half in poor areas and double them in rich ones, and it still doesn't work -- all of this to keep the "wrong" people from voting.

So now they've created this bullshit "voter fraud" issue, and unless another civil rights type movement arises they are going to get away with it.

We need to ask the U.N. to monitor our elections.