Obama and Voter ID

[Scout26]

I had to LOL when I got this e-mail.

Friend --

Earlier today, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to vote early in a presidential election.

You can help make history, too. Vote early for President Obama here in Illinois -- then, sign up to volunteer to make sure folks in battleground states get out to vote by Election Day.

Here are a few reasons why you should join the President and vote early today:

    --First Lady Michelle Obama. She voted early by mail last week, so you can join her by voting early, too.

    --Convenience. Some folks are just plain busy on Election Day. Early voting gives you the flexibility to cast your ballot when it's best for you.

    --Peace of mind. Knowing your vote is already in for President Obama is a great feeling -- and it frees you up to help get out the vote in key battleground states like Iowa and Wisconsin.

Make your voice heard. Find out where to vote, and cast your ballot today:

http://il.barackobama.com/Early-Vote-in-Illinois

Then, help get others to vote for the President, too, by committing to volunteer at an event near you:

http://il.barackobama.com/Get-Out-the-Vote-Illinois

Thanks,

Janelle

Janelle Rau-Clauson
Illinois State Director
Obama for America

The thing is, to early vote in Illinois you have to show ID, which Obama did.  Unlike on election day when all you have to do is state your name.   So here's the questions for the peanut gallery.  Did Obama validate the reason for Voter ID Laws yesterday?

[kgbsquirrel]

Did Obama validate the reason for Voter ID Laws yesterday?

*giggle-snort* At least I'm at work so it wont be my keyboard I ruin.

[HankB]

. . . The thing is, to early vote in Illinois you have to show ID, which Obama did.  Unlike on election day when all you have to do is state your name.   So here's the questions for the peanut gallery.  Did Obama validate the reason for Voter ID Laws yesterday?

What I want to know is WHICH ID did he use - was it his green card?

[MillCreek]

Actually, the thought occurs: when you are POTUS, do you get any sort of official Government photo ID?  Like I did when I was a military dependent of wife 2.0?

[lupinus]

Actually, the thought occurs: when you are POTUS, do you get any sort of official Government photo ID?  Like I did when I was a military dependent of wife 2.0?

Good question. Though, I suppose he'd still have a DL from his home state.

Sent via tapatalk

[Scout26]

According to news reports, he used his Illinois DL.  And joked that his hair wasn't as gray when the picture was taken.

[longeyes]

If true, goodbye to all that.

http://www.humanevents.com/2012/10/26/is-voter-fraud-being-committed-in-ohio/

[Cliffh]

Is Obama still going to have a photo-op of his voting on Nov. 6?

[Waitone]

Make me king and I'd eliminate early voting.  Election day does not sneak up on us.  It is fairly predictable.  Voting is a duty of free citizens.  If you don't want to plan your life around a very predictable day to vote, I don't want you voting.  I also don't want you breeding but I can't stop that.

[RaspberrySurprise]

A few days i can understand but weeks or more? Crazy.

[Boomhauer]

Make me king and I'd eliminate early voting.  Election day does not sneak up on us.  It is fairly predictable.  Voting is a duty of free citizens.  If you don't want to plan your life around a very predictable day to vote, I don't want you voting.  I also don't want you breeding but I can't stop that.

You need to wind your neck in there, Skippy. Some of us work all day or otherwise have very unpredictable schedules. Nothing wrong with early voting...

[kgbsquirrel]

Make me king and I'd eliminate early voting.  Election day does not sneak up on us.  It is fairly predictable.  Voting is a duty of free citizens.  If you don't want to plan your life around a very predictable day to vote, I don't want you voting.  I also don't want you breeding but I can't stop that.

What about the sailors, soldiers, marines and airmen on duty that day that can't leave?

[ArfinGreebly]

That's okay.

We'll just send them a plane full of absentee ballots, and then make the plane crash and burn.

[DittoHead]

I don't want you voting. 

I wonder where the accusations of voter suppression come from? 
Making voting easier is a reasonable pursuit, assuming that doing so does not compromise integrity.

[MillCreek]

A few days i can understand but weeks or more? Crazy.

Most of Washington state went to mail-in ballots years ago.  The one remaining hold out county went to mail-in ballots this year.  The ballots are mailed out a couple of weeks before election day, and you can vote and return them on the same day you receive them.  I have not read of any major problems associated with this practice. 

[erictank]

Make me king and I'd eliminate early voting.  Election day does not sneak up on us.  It is fairly predictable.  Voting is a duty of free citizens.  If you don't want to plan your life around a very predictable day to vote, I don't want you voting.  I also don't want you breeding but I can't stop that.

Some of us don't have the ABILITY to "plan our lives around a very predictable day to vote". We get to work 12-hour shifts (4A-4P) that day because that's our freaking schedule, and then go stand in line for an hour+ afterwards because it's important to do so. And then go home, get cleaned up from work, cook and eat dinner (which hour or so is the only time I have with my family that freaking DAY), and get to bed by about 7 so I can get as much as 7 hours sleep before I have to get up for my NEXT 12-hour shift. Sorry those of us with non-standard schedules, who keep things working for us all, are such an imposition for you.

Must be nice to have nothing more important to do that day than idly plan when you want to go to the polls. Me, given the fact that my schedule sucks abyssmally, I'd MUCH rather that VA was somewhat more reasonable on early/absentee voting than it is. Making it easier for people to cast their votes is NOT a crime, nor even any sort of problem, so long as (as was mentioned by Dittohead) we can maintain the integrity of the process. And I think that that is a relatively-trivial problem.

[Waitone]

Making it easier for people to cast their votes is NOT a crime, nor even any sort of problem, so long as (as was mentioned by Dittohead) we can maintain the integrity of the process.

And if bullfrogs had wings they wouldn't bust their *ss every time they jumped.  Your situation is compelling.  And believe it or not mine sucks too; maybe not to your standard.  But the reality is any reasonable allowance made in one election will have a truck driven through it the next election.  We've heard many times this cycle the republic hangs by a thread.  Get it wrong this time and there may not be another time.  There is a kernel of truth in all hyperbole.  In this case the kernel is the legitimacy of the electoral process is in danger and has been by deliberate policy of politicians on both sides of the aisle.  If you've got a way to maintains the system's integrity, I'm all ears.  Right now we've got checker pants lawyers using hardworking people like you for their clients advantage and to the disadvantage of the republic.

[erictank]

And if bullfrogs had wings they wouldn't bust their *ss every time they jumped.  Your situation is compelling.  And believe it or not mine sucks too; maybe not to your standard.  But the reality is any reasonable allowance made in one election will have a truck driven through it the next election.  We've heard many times this cycle the republic hangs by a thread.  Get it wrong this time and there may not be another time.  There is a kernel of truth in all hyperbole.  In this case the kernel is the legitimacy of the electoral process is in danger and has been by deliberate policy of politicians on both sides of the aisle.  If you've got a way to maintains the system's integrity, I'm all ears.  Right now we've got checker pants lawyers using hardworking people like you for their clients advantage and to the disadvantage of the republic.

We hear *EVERY* cycle that the Republic hangs by a thread, that "this is the most important election EVAR!!!!11!1!!!one!!". It's how NRA does its fundraising, frankly, which pisses me off. That doesn't make it true. And a truly reasonable accommodation won't have a truck driven through it next time - though one might be smashed up at the tunnel entrance, I'll admit.

My off-the-cuff solution? Early voting, say perhaps a week's worth (though not necessarily limited to that), with the same ID standards as exist for voting on Election Day (FYI - I have *ZERO* issue with requiring ID at the polls. Only proviso is, ID must be either dirt-cheap, or free if one can prove valid hardship. But given how much one needs an ID to do anything in modern society, I don't think that requiring it for voting is an undue imposition). Mail-in for those who truly need it - military, those who are out of town for the entire period, etc. Not really seeing a problem here. Also not seeing that the "legitimacy of the electoral process is in danger and has been by deliberate policy of politicians on both sides of the aisle." Sure, some politicos and diehards in support of one or the other of the two wings of the Modern American Political Machine have taken unethical and fraudulent action for "their guy" or against "the other guy". That is not, IMO, a critical impending failure of the entire system, and certainly not one which would be exacerbated by making it easier for people to be able to make it to the polls when they're working on the first Tuesday of November. The fact that a system is not perfect and cannot be made to be perfect doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make it better.

[ArfinGreebly]

We hear *EVERY* cycle that the Republic hangs by a thread, that "this is the most important election EVAR!!!!11!1!!!one!!". It's how NRA does its fundraising, frankly, which pisses me off. That doesn't make it true. And a truly reasonable accommodation won't have a truck driven through it next time - though one might be smashed up at the tunnel entrance, I'll admit.

Without wishing to engage in hyperbole or alarmism, I'd just like to mention that, given the ratchet-like nature of encroachments, and given the idea that if you're standing near a cliff, every inch you are pushed toward the edge becomes the "most important inch" to you, there is some merit to the idea that this election is "most important" in that context.

Also, even as "young" as I am, I can't remember ever having to choose between [some candidate] and a guy who is now and has been openly hostile to our national culture, hostile to free enterprise, and willing to make promises to a) Brady, and b) the leadership of a hostile nation, of a nature requiring "discretion" in those conversations, as well as c) having appointed to his cabinet openly radical and/or communist activists.

We've had our share of inept presidents, socialist-inclined presidents, and criminally self-involved presidents, but the guy we have right now?  I can't locate a reasonable benchmark in history for a parallel.

So, I think it's rationally fair to say this is likely the most important differentiating choice the electorate has had presented to them in living memory.  And my living memory includes Ike.

[MechAg94]

I have no problem with early voting, I just want some sort of hard ID requirement. 

What I want to make more difficult is voter registration.  IMO, some 3rd party person stopping by to have you fill out a card so they can turn it in is way too wide open.