Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters in Indiana
By John Amato Sunday Apr 27, 2008 12:00pmI've talked about this case at length with Rachel Maddow and anyone else that would listen, So has the ACLU, Digby and many others. Let's see what impact it has on Indiana's Democratic Primary. Keep an eye out, but it will really hurt big time in the general election. That was the point of this case and the Supreme Court once again shows its face as nothing but a purely partisan organization.
The Great Voter purge shall begin....
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws. n a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld Indiana's strict photo ID requirement, which Democrats andcivil rights groups said would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots. Its backers said it was needed to deter fraud.
It was the most important voting rights case since the Bush v. Gore dispute that sealed the 2000 election for George W. Bush mirrored.
And a very important point:
The case concerned a state law, passed in 2005, that was backed by Republicans as a way to deter voter fraud. Democrats and civil rights groups opposed the law as unconstitutional and called it a thinly veiled effort to discourage elderly, poor and minority voters — those most likely to lack proper ID and who tend to vote for Democrats.
There is little history in Indiana of either in person voter fraud — of the sort the law was designed to thwart — or voters being inconvenienced by the law's requirements.
via the Scotus Blog:Court rejects voter ID challenge; no new grants
Here's the Scotus opinion pdf.
This Dissent by EVANS is very good.
EVANS, Circuit Judge, dissenting. Let's not beat around the bush: The Indiana voter photo ID law is a not-too-thinly-veiled attempt to discourage election-day turnout by certain folks believed to skew Democratic. We should subject this law to strict scrutiny--or at least, in the wake of Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, (1992), something akin to "strict scrutiny light"--and strike it down as an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote...read on
Here’s the face of the Voter ID case in Indiana: “Preemptive doctrine” on voting rights
Supreme Court looks to be 5-4 to uphold Voting ID rules and purge the voting rolls…
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Republicans cannot maintain power honestly, so they have to disenfranchise.
The Supreme Court lost all its credibility when they TURNED OUR COUNTRY INTO A CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE FOR BUSH AND BY THE NIOCONS that put them in power.
But then again NOTHING SUPRISES ME ANYMORE
Guess it's time litigate mail-in voting. Seems to me that mail-in voting is much more likely to be abused than in person voting, yet the GOP is all fine and good with mail-in votes. Unless the ballot is signed in with DNA (blood) or a fingerprint, how do we know who's actually voting?
Uggh. I read this early this morning right after I listened to an interview with Scalia on NPR. Needless to say I skipped breakfast as I was nauseated.
Just wait until January. Cheney will declare himself God-Emperor and the supreme court will coronate him and start the holy church of Cheney inquisition.
on it's face it sounds reasonable, but it is obviously racist...
we live in a racist country, founded by slave owners that wanted to be free!!
The Private Life is Dead
Make no mistake...
This was done a week before the Indiana primary.
The Supreme Court has NO credibility.
They are accomplices.
They're fixin' to fix The Fix !
Only way they even have a prayer in hell.
Unfortunately for them, record-breaking voter registration by Democrats and John McSame's ball and chain albatross (George W. Bush), will make their efforts moot.
The 2008 Presidential/Senatorial/Congressional Elections , are the beginning of the end of the GOP in America. Good riddence.
I wasn't surprised by this decision, but I was disappointed.
The Evans dissent is in the Circuit opinion. Has nothig to do with the SCOTUS opinion. This fact is unclear from the way the post is set up.
As a Canadian standing on the sidelines, it's truly depressing to see the right wing playing tricks to thwart American democracy. But then again we had our very own neocon Conrad Black who ran his newspaper chain as a way to "catapult the propaganda". He is now residing in a Florida prison for the next 6 years, thanks to prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald who is the kind of American we admire up here in Canada. If only more people like him were in power!
SCOTUS, "Jim Crow rides again!"
If the Dems don't win big in November, whether massive voter purging or fraud happens, it will be their own fault.
To lose yet another election to one of the dumbest people in the world, is not only ridiculous, but should be the defining moment in the citizens sending the entire Dem party packing.
Al Gore LOST.
John Kerry LOST.
If they lose again, they deserve it, and so does America.
Barbara in BC @ 12:
If only. If only.
Do you remember those times when the U.S. led the way and assisted the 3rd World in the conduct of free and fair elections? Now we've arrived at a point where those international monitors and inspectors may be needed right here.
I hope I live to see Scalia in the minority and marginilized.
Rico @ 16:
They should been on the scene in 2000.
We're also forgetting that %50 of the voting-age population still doesn't even bother to vote!
These laws are meaningless. A little purge here, a hanging chad there. It's all meaningless, because voter apathy will always trump all this pseudo-evil shit (that doesn't work very well anyway).
Two priorities
1. No more Bush judicial appointees. Bush doesn't get to appoint any more Republican machine hacks to the courts. Even if an appointee looks harmless, we need to consider the source, and that if he or she really were harmless, the president would never have appointed him or her.
2. We need the 111th Congress to pass a new Voter Rights Act to cut the legs out from underneath this decision. The SC didn't say that voter ID checks were constitutionally required, they just said that the Constitution doesn't forbid them. The Congress needs to forbid them and settle the matter.
Nice to see them leave such a nice huge window before the Indiana primary. Assholes.
If the Dems take control of the Presidency, House and Senate in Nov., they should go ahead and add 3 more Supreme Court positions to the court! There is no set number of Justices, and Congress makes the rules on adding Justices!
Here in California.......if you go to a polling place your are asked for an ID but if you vote by absentee ballot in the comfort of your own home no ID is required.
Perhaps it's a solution many Indiana residents should think about doing.
Maybe I missed something, but how do they plan to validate absentee ballots? Including those from military personnel?
Seems like the County Clerk should offer free photo voter IDs.
why is having a photo Id a bad thing?
We can cry in our beers, or we can start a credentials drive. Everyone should demand each state make it public and clear how to get a birth certificate in order to get ID. The dems have the organization; churches and community centers and aid agencies should all make sure that they help people get the ID they need. If the dems can bus people to the polls, if the MIllion Man March/Million Mom March/Million Martian March can march a million to the Mall in DC, we can certainly march people to the DMV/BMV with birth certificates in hand. We must out-organize the creeps. How about the Million Newly Photo ID'd March?!! It has a nice ring to it??
.
So,
Do who do I have to produce ID to when I fill in my absentee ballot?
.
Why do they want to rely on photo id's?
Who even looks like their photo on their id's?
donviti @ 26:
Because not all people are capable of obtainging or even have photo ID.
.
donviti @ 26:
"Let me see your papers."
donviti @ 26:
Go watch 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days. That was Romania 1987, and the US in the near future
Jesus Hussein Christ @ 19:
Churchgoers Pray For Lower Gas Prices
OAKLAND (CBS) ― With California gasoline averaging $3.89 a gallon, some people are praying in hopes they will see relief at the gas pump.
Rocky Twyman came to San Francisco over the weekend to stage a pray-in at a Chevron station and call on churchgoers to ask for God's intervention where he says politicians have failed.
ysbaddaden @ 29:
About 5 people have fake ID with their picture on it and my name. Their signature. And a couple of WSDL workers have been arrested for knocking out authentic fake WSDLs
Yeah it's a secure system.
Who doesn't have a state-issued photo ID?
I know people keep saying "the poor" and "the elderly" but what are the precise numbers? I would bet they're extremely low, and maybe the local Dems can turn this around by funding anyone who doesn't have the means to get an ID.
But this sounds like the % of people without ID already is probably negligible.
The ears and eyes of Justice, flesh deadened flesh,
A steamy odor of wax smoldering inside tears
Ghost the fringes of exhaustion screeching past
These wretched years…
Jesus Hussein Christ @ 35:
I always wondered what the 'H' stood for.
donviti @ 26:
The problem is they emphasize driving lessons. Plenty of poor, elderly, and folk in areas with good mass transporation may not even have a car and see no need for the license.
Here in Texas they want to start making smart id cardsd with computer chips, supposedly to prevent fraud, but that will raise the cost of getting a new card or renewing to $100.00. Now imagine a father, mother, and a couple of kids of driving age having to pay for all that on top of the rising cost of living.
Those mentioned above who don't drive tend to use state ID cards for something like writing cheques. But new laws in various states require additional forms of ID if that's the case to vote like Social Security Cards, which we are advised not to carry on us, birth certificates and passports, all of which cost money. For the more rural it could be an all day trip if someone gives them a ride to their county seat and back.
Rico @ 16:
The United States will not allow international observers for our elections. I'd bet they wouldn't even let poor Jimmy Carter observe an election here after he met with...gasp!! Hamas!!!!
Perhaps this is a good way for us to shame our government (if that's possible??). Start a campaign to get Iraqi, Venezuelan etc. civilians over here for election day to monitor the "goings on".
The sad thing for me in this whole Indiana fiasco is that I see the elderly being the most disenfranchised on Election Day. Once my Mom quit driving at 80 she threw her drivers license in the trash. Many senior's do not have photo I.D.'s. and will not even be aware that they need I.D.'s to vote and would not know where to go to get them or be able to get there anyhow. This is a sad day for America.
Photo id... just another effort in the long long line of ways to suppress the vote in America, because when the People vote, the People win.
Poll taxes, literacy tests, etc... and as strict constructionists.... the current SCOTUS probably would prefer that women didn't have the vote and that people of color are still relegated to 3/5 the vote of their white slave owners. Shameful.
Ve must vorget ze ID kardz.
Ve must advance to ze implanted bio-chips immediately! Achtung, baby!
erin @ 24:
They cross check signatures at the Registrar's office. This is why it takes so long to count the absentee ballots.
miss_kitty @ 37:
{giggle} me, too.
miss_kitty @ 37:
Me too! I always figured it was a nice Jewish name like Harold or Harvey or Howard.
Sorry, I had to go take a dump.
All these new government demanded expenses become in effect an indirect poll tax, make illegal by the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
Additionally, these "fraud" rules are a part of voting caging which is illegal. They're used to reduce the new numbers of newly registered voters at registration drives.
In 2004, these prevented some of our newly registered voters from exercising their franchise who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
So the Republicans in Congress are blocking a measure regarding voter-verified paper records for electrconic voting machines, while the largely Bush-friendly Supreme Court is supporting a measure which cold potentially be used to disenfranchise voters who lean Democratic. Not too hard to see which side of the bread they're trying to put the butter on, is it?
Abbybwood @ 44:
Homer.
Barbara in BC @ 12:
It is my understanding that P. Fitzgerald's name was on the chopping block as one of the DOJ attorneys that this administration wanted to get rid of. I guess he is just too honest a lawyer, I guess.
L.A. Confidential @ 33:
I'll bet these nincompoops voted for W and would again.
Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Abbybwood @ 44:
Jesus is an invisible bunny?
Word of advice, don't eat any of the chocolate eggs he drops.
And just why, if the internet can do it's magic with kitten videos, fund raising for Obama and porno can it not put ID services in the hands of anyone would wants/needs them? Show me where and my $20.00 is ready to fund such a service. Can't be THAT hard to set up transportation and a check list to make sure the needy voters have the right docs to display to do this one folks. And while we are at it put video hand helds in every polling place that threatens or blocks properly documented voters and posts it instantly on line. This IS a war right?
The corporate media doesn't get what the Supreme Court is doing, or has done, but the writers of "Boston Legal" gets it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GG7sj2APpc
It's a big long (10 minutes), but Alan's rant against the Supreme Court begins about 2:28.
Monster Truck races we're packed this weekend.
Jesus Hussein Christ @ 19:
Many people mistake apathy for empathy. http://www.strike-the-root.com/81/davies/davies13.html
Most of the current Supreme Justices remind me of the Allatoyah.
Freedomboy @ 52:
Hannah Montana is this weeks distraction of the moment.
Couldn't the minorities and elderly bypass this by voting via absentee ballot. They wouldn't have to leave their homes. It would work during the November election.
I'm an Independent who leans Democratic, & I have absolutely NO problem with a law requiring voters to show photo I.D. I voted for the first time in 1980, & I couldn't believe that you had to provide NO identification to vote. I'm on SSDI(and I don't get that much,either) and all the I.D. cost me was $11 and change for the certified copy of my birth certificate (which I can use in the future to get things like a passport if the need arises(fat chance!!!)). And this state (IL) issues photo I.D.'s to the disabled FREE, but even if I didn't qualify for the free one, it'd be no more than 10 or 20 dollars for the I.D. And for the poster who sez that the law is obviously racist...BS!!!!!
ysbaddaden @ 29:
I had the same FL drivers license photo for 15 years. I didn't look a thing like the picture anymore. So I went to get it retaken and got to sit there for three hours. Great inspiration to get a current picture.
Clsoer and closer we come to a third world country...
L.A. Confidential @ 15:
yes it was nice of him to let rove change his testimony , then change his testimony again and again,democracy in action ! for rove!
When a place gets crowded enough to require ID's, social collapse is not far away.
--Robert A. Heinlein
Jeremiah Wright:
Barack HUSSEIN Obama," he said, emphasizing the Illinois senator's middle name dramatically, "Barack HUSSEIN Obama, Barack HUSSEIN Obama. There are Arabic-speaking Christians, there Arabic-speaking Jews, Arabic-speaking Muslims and Arabic-speaking atheists. Arabic is a language, it is not a religion. Stop trying to scare folks by giving them this Arabic name like it's some disease."
That should play real well in Indiana.
Presently, the Bush Administration, the DOJ and the Supremes have a stacked deck and hold all the cards. Some enterprizing group simply needs to outsmart them fast. Simply put, how can we make obtaining a photo ID extremely easy. You can walk into the Department of Motor Vehicles and get a drivers license with a photo ID with almost no documentation. Why can't you want into a bank, a post office, a health center, a grocery store, etc and present a utility bill with your name and address, or a sociral security card, or any two forms of ID, have your photo snapped and walk out with an ID? The court says you have to obtain it. It is not lay down the criteria for obtaining it. Let's make it easy to get. Most forms of ID do not require a birth certificate or hard to get documentation to obtain. Why should this? It's a bad ruling, but it can be overcome if we use our brains.
tyree @ 61:
and who went to jail? nobody thats who !fitzgeralds a bush lacky boot licker that accomplished zilch! why does anybody make a hero out of a polished turd!
hood @ 56:
Did you see Scalia on 60 Minutes last night. He said interrogation/torture is not punishment!
Bushed! @ 27:
The best comment yet! I have been thinking about this all weekend because of a repuke (who else?) attempt to pass the same law here in Oklahoma. That is exactly what needs to be done!
If an ID is going to be deemed necessary, then the voter registration needs to be a photo voter ID, not something separate like a driver's license. However; Congress needs to step in and circumvent this attempt at Jim Crow and partisan exclusionary tactics, but then again, I think I'll just sit here and blow solid gold bars out my ass because that is more probable and plausible considering the current congress and senate.
288–289. Pp. 5–7.
(b) Each of Indiana’s asserted interests is unquestionably relevant
to its interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral
process. SCOTUS
What a hoot. These clowns should exchange their black robes for white ones with pointed hoods.
I live in IN. I have worked the polls as part of the precinct election board. (Hey..If you have concerns about voting...sign up to work the polls!). I have and will continue to uphold the law and abide by the oath/s I take when I work as an election official. Having said all of that...let me tell you why I am against the voter ID law:
1) If you are poor or elderly and you need and ID you have to go the DMV to get on and while you make get the actual ID for free who covers the cost of transportation to the DMV let alone the cost to get the documents necessary to secure and ID if you don't have them? There are many rural parts of Indiana and the DMV is not always just a bus ride away..and if you've lost your birth certificate do you know how to get a copy of it?
2) In IN we have a significant Amish and Mennonite community. They have religious objections to having their photos taken then they get to do the following:
1. Go the polls on Election Day, and cast a provisional ballot. Within 10 days of the election, visit the county election office and affirm that an exemption applies to you.
2. Vote absentee-in-person at the county election office before Election Day, and while there, affirm that an exemption applies to you.
The above also applies if you are indigent.
If you are unable or unwilling to present ID meeting these requirements, you may cast a provisional ballot. If you cast a provisional ballot, you have until noon 10 days after the election to follow up with the county election board and either provide the necessary documentation or affirm one of the law’s exemptions applies to you.
Think that one through. If you go to vote on Election day and because either you or exempt or because you don't have an ID...ok...I'll give you a provisional ballot...but know this: The provisional ballots must, at all times, remain separate from all other ballots.
The envelopes containing provisional ballots cast by voters who are determined to be ineligible or whose eligibility cannot be verified should remain unopened, and the provisional vote should not be counted.
So your vote may not count election night. Your vote most likely will not count until you come up with the ID or documentation....(The ballot’s validity will be determined by evaluation of the information on the OUTSIDE of the envelope regarding the voter’s qualifications in that precinct. The envelope will only be opened after the voter’s eligibility is determined to be accurate based on the evaluation of their voter eligibility and assessment of the
voter’s needed documentation (if applicable).)
http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/hava/2007%20Media%20Kit/Provisional%20Ba...
Now I say this not being a legal expert nor having been involved in counting provisional ballots. Where I vote that is done at the county clerk's office. Please, research this issue for yourself: http://www.in.gov/sos/photoid/
For honesty's sake I will say I have yet to have a problem with the photo ID in the precincts where I have worked. However, I didn't have any problems BEFORE the photo ID law either.
sr
I agree with what "Bushed" says, above. We need to get things moving now. This could backfire big time on Republicans if we get going and get all the democrats equipped and ready. I also agree with the previous poster about getting Congress to pass a law to prohibit disenfranchisement by any means.
What is ironic is that Supreme Court concedes that there is no evidence of fraud at the polling place in Indiana, and relies on fraud in absentee voting to justify its restrictions on voting at the polls. To the extent that there is a real potential for fraud, it is with absentee voting. Since that form of voting is preferred by those who vote for the legislators who adopted the poling place voter ID law, don't look for any new anti-fraud legislation for absentee voting anytime soon.
ysbaddaden @ 51:
Chocolate? Are you kidding? I tried one and it tasted like shit. So, yeah, don't eat them.
Pol Pot-O-Cheesesauce @ 67:
They are in the process of centralizing the birth records at the state level instead of the county level. It's a clusterfuck. Records get lost, destroyed, or mysteriously take 6 months to a year to show up in the mail box.
xargaw @ 64:
In IN this is what it takes to get an ID:
Proof of Identity and Legal Status
1 Primary Document Original or Certified facsimile:
US Birth Certificate, Military ID, US Passport or valid CIS documents
1 Secondary Document -
Bank Statement, Insurance Card, Paycheck Stub, ...etc
1 Proof of SSN or Ineligibility -
Social Security Card or Letter of Ineligibility from the Social Security Administration
1 Proof of Indiana Residency Document -
Current Bill, Benefit Statement or Voter Registration card
OR
2 Primary Documents
US Birth Certificate, Military ID or US Passport
1 Proof of SSN or Ineligibility -
Social Security Card or Letter of Ineligibility from the Social Security Administration
1 Proof of Indiana Residency Document -
Current Bill, Benefit Statement or Voter Registration card
Confused yet? see http://www.in.gov/bmv/3470.htm#6
sr
Sylvarose @ 70:
I am totally grateful that you posted this. It is good to see some of the reasons why the voter ID law is problematic. However, I was about to ask anyone to explain to me why it is unreasonable to require that people have a photo ID. Actually, not really so much that, but that if there was to a law passed requiring a photo ID, then why is it so impossible to expect people to just go ahead and get one? Don't most of us carry an ID of some sort for our own good, our own identification for a myriad of reasons? If so, then we can carry this same ID to the polling place, stick in it the face of these people and get to voting.
Bottom line is that while I can see how there is an effort to cull certain voters, why is it that these voters can't prevent it by getting an ID? It's frustrating to me to think that GOoPers can knock undesirables, as far as they are concerned, off the voter rolls by simply asking for a photo ID, but our side can't just foil this tactic...by getting photo IDs!
The problem I have is that Indiana did not present evidence that voter fraud had actually occurred. It sort of undercuts the argument that the law is really so necessary. It smells a little funny to me. However, Indiana should not have to wait for voter fraud to occur to pass such a law. Think about it.
On the whole, I think the opinion can be justified. But what do I know, I only took 5 or 6 university and law school-level courses on the Constitution.
The people here who are calling for the Dems to ameliorate the effects of such laws by contacting those who cannot get IDs for whatever reason are spot on. This is hardly the kind of thing that warrants the extreme reaction of many. The SCOTUS is there to decide the law on the facts presented and the law as it exists, not to do what YOU think is "right." The problem lies with the Indian legislature. Organization and action are the solution. Will C&L post a story on the Dem effort to address the effects in Indiana. Will the even BE any effort???
this supreme court makes the argument for the abolishment of life terms. everyone in authority should be accountable. life time appointments negate that. they should hold themselves up for election. maybe that will wipe the smugness of scalia's face.
Common Cause on Election Reform @:
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=191150
The election machinery is broken by design.
There is no way Repugs should have any chance in the next election given how that group has screwed up but they've stolen the last two presidential elections.
Here we go again. New policies to stop nonexistent voter fraud to suppress votes of the poor, elderly and minorities. The whole system is rigged against the same demographic. 10's of thousands of votes are thrown out all over the country in every election, usually in the poor districts because malfunctioning voting equipment or because election officials just plain screw up . The whole advance voter registration system is also designed to discourage votes from the same group of people. States with same day registration have voter turnouts at least 10% higher and don't have don't have a fraud problem.
We can never expect to have a truly honest election with such a screwed up system.
donviti @ 26:
Voting is a right. Having a photo ID is not...And if you move and have an older ID you can't vote.. Happens to college kids all the time...
Bonkers Hussein @ 76:
Good question! Here's the answer...it can't just be any ID..it has to meet the following FOUR criteria :
1) Display your photo
2) Display your name, and the name must conform to your voter registration record. Conform does not mean identical ---- so for you fellow hoosiers out there if your name is Robert John Crew and your ID says Bob J Crew or just Bob Crew than your name CONFORMS! Question a judge or clerk who tells you otherwise.
3) Display an expiration date and either be current or have expired sometime after the date of the last General Election (November 7, 2006)
* Including Military IDs with expiration does of "INDEF" (my understanding was that this meant they were good...I will have to double check on this Saturday when I go for inspector training --- been over a year since I did this last)
4. Be issued by the State of Indiana or the U.S. government. A student ID from an Indiana State school may only be used if it meets all of the 4 criteria specified above. (This is important for college students. If they are attending a state school like Ivy Tech, Indiana University or Purdue University or any of the regional campuses of those universities and their school ID meets the other criteria - photo, name, expiration date...then their school ID is valid!!!)
So...if you don't drive...and you haven't for years..and you aren't in the military..or never were...and you never traveled outside the US...and you aren't a student...then in order to meet the above criteria...you are going to need to go to the Indiana BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) to get an ID. And while the ID maybe free...you need to make sure you have all the documentation required by the state of Indiana to get an ID http://www.in.gov/bmv/3470.htm.
See why this maybe a burden on the elderly and the poor? Even if you have all the documentation necessary to get the ID..you still need to get to the BMV. Now let's say you don't have your original birth certificate.well than certified copies of birth and death certificates are available from the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) or available from the local health department in the county where the event occurred (http://www.in.gov/isdh/bdcertifs/bdcert.html). You can also got to the State Vital Records Office in Indianapolis. All requests require proper identification (and you guessed it...check out what you need as proper ID get a birth certificate