Voter ID Laws
Voter ID Laws
The right of any citizen of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of age.” - The 26th Amendment. (Campus Congress, August
30, 2011). The right to vote guaranteed by the constitution is under attack.
Restricted Voter ID legislation is being passed in state after state. These voter
ID laws claim to combat voter fraud by requiring voters to have specific government issued photo ID’s when voting. The problem is they don’t actually prevent voter fraud.
Analysis
In 2007, the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law released The Truth About Voter Fraud, the most extensive analysis of voter fraud claims to date. The report finds that most allegations of fraud turn out to be baseless. The study reports other election irregularities rather than fraud by individual voters. The type of individual voter fraud supposedly targeted by recent legislative efforts to require certain forms of voter ID simply does not exist. (Campus Congress, August 30, 2011).
Problems
Problems at the polls that do exist are; malfunctioning voting machines, unprepared poll workers, aggressive groups outside polling stations, long lines at the polls, uncertified voting machines, flawed email voting, and voting machines that change or do not allow the voter to vote for a specific candidate. A voter in Pennsylvania says when voting during the Presidential election the voting machine simply would not let him vote for Barack Obama. "I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill
Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope.
The right of any citizen of the United States, who are eighteen years of age or older, to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of age.” - The 26th Amendment. (Campus Congress, August
30, 2011). The right to vote guaranteed by the constitution is under attack.
Restricted Voter ID legislation is being passed in state after state. These voter
ID laws claim to combat voter fraud by requiring voters to have specific government issued photo ID’s when voting. The problem is they don’t actually prevent voter fraud.
Analysis
In 2007, the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law released The Truth About Voter Fraud, the most extensive analysis of voter fraud claims to date. The report finds that most allegations of fraud turn out to be baseless. The study reports other election irregularities rather than fraud by individual voters. The type of individual voter fraud supposedly targeted by recent legislative efforts to require certain forms of voter ID simply does not exist. (Campus Congress, August 30, 2011).
Problems
Problems at the polls that do exist are; malfunctioning voting machines, unprepared poll workers, aggressive groups outside polling stations, long lines at the polls, uncertified voting machines, flawed email voting, and voting machines that change or do not allow the voter to vote for a specific candidate. A voter in Pennsylvania says when voting during the Presidential election the voting machine simply would not let him vote for Barack Obama. "I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill
Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope.
References: National Conference of State Legislatures. (October 24, 2012) Voter Identification Requirements Democalypse 2012 – Right Said Fraud. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from, http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-2-2012/democalypse-2012---right-said-fraud Steve Colbert - The Colbert Report. (July 20, 2011) Voter ID Laws. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from, http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/392598/july-20-2011/voter-id-laws Jazeera, Al Retrieved November 26, 2012 from, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/11/201211617032532829.html Campus Congress Garland, Maurice. (2012) WWII Veteran Victimized by Florida’s Stupid Voter ID Laws. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from, http://www.loop21.com/life/voter-ID-laws-suppression-florida-wwii-veteran Andrews, Wyatt CBS Miami (May 29, 2012) Decorated Broward War Hero Targeted In Gov. Scott’s Voter Purge. Retrieved November 26, 2012 from, http://miami.cbslocal.com/2012/05/29/decorated-broward-war-hero-targeted-in-gov-scotts-voter-purge/