Voter ID laws may keep a half-million eligible voters from fulfilling their duty this year, according to a study released by the Brennan Center for Justice on Wednesday.
As Fox News Latino reports:
“The report found that while legal precedent requires states to provide free voter IDs to eligible residents who don’t have them, even free IDs are not always easy to obtain. Structural barriers such as lack of transportation, restricted access to ID-issuing offices, the cost of necessary documentation, and bureaucratic red tape could prevent many Americans from voting in November.”
Misguided conservatives argue that the opposition to voter ID laws is part of a left-wing conspiracy to allow undocumented immigrants to cast their votes in favor of the Democratic Party. They stress that since IDs are required in many other areas of life, requiring an ID to vote isn’t asking for much.
“The response of proponents of these laws has been, well, just get an ID,” says Lawrence Norton, deputy director of the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. “Unfortunately, for many people, this is not going to be such a simple solution.”
The report lays out some of the obstacles many voters face in obtaining an ID:
“The 11 percent of eligible voters who lack the required photo ID must travel to a designated government office to obtain one. Yet many citizens will have trouble making this trip. In the 10 states with restrictive voter ID laws:
- Nearly 500,000 eligible voters do not have access to a vehicle and live more than 10 miles from the nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. Many of them live in rural areas with dwindling public transportation options.
- More than 10 million eligible voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest state ID-issuing office open more than two days a week.
- 1.2 million eligible black voters and 500,000 eligible Hispanic voters live more than 10 miles from their nearest ID-issuing office open more than two days a week. People of color are more likely to be disenfranchised by these laws since they are less likely to have photo ID than the general population.
- Many ID-issuing offices maintain limited business hours. For example, the office in Sauk City, Wisconsin is open only on the fifth Wednesday of any month. But only four months in 2012 — February, May, August, and October — have five Wednesdays. In other states — Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas — many part-time ID-issuing offices are in the rural regions with the highest concentrations of people of color and people in poverty.”
Voter ID laws seem reasonable at first glance. Progressives and conservatives alike will do anything to ensure that the democratic process is unfettered and untainted. But while everyone agrees that the undocumented and other ineligible voters should be strictly prohibited from the ballot box on Election Day, the way in which conservatives look to preserve the democratic process wittingly (and for their sake, we’ll say unwittingly) bars fully-eligible voters from participating.
It’s true that IDs are required in almost everything Americans do on a day-to-day basis. But isn’t voting something entirely different than the everyday? Shouldn’t voting be made easier than, say, cashing a paycheck or buying a pack of cigarettes?
About Being Latino Contributors
The caption misses the point. It’s like saying “Just get a job” or “Just buy a car.”
Why would it we all should have an ID of some kind
We all should have access to decent health care and a decent education, too, but we don’t.
This is article is so disingenuous how it tries to justify itself! So what we don’t vote everyday? We should all have IDs regardless. IDs are asked for almost everything we do now and you people know that! You are so guilty in your phony indignation! In the last week I don’t know how many times I have been asked to show my id. I boarded a plane last week 2 times I was asked, bought some beer – asked, purchased a camera with debit, asked, rented a car for the trip, asked and before I went on my trip I had to pick up a prescription at CVS and the Pharmacist, you guessed it, asked me for some kind of picture ID, I registered for a photography summer class at the local community college – they asked for ID at the bursars…and so on, and so on. Stop with this BS that its some kind of white man GOP plot to keep Latinos and Blacks from voting because we all know why all of you are against it. You know that if not asked for ID, people that are unethical (who will try to vote multiple times) and who are illegal will definitely vote and you all know that it would be a big boost for your Democratic party because 100% of them will vote for Obama. Why do you think it’s the Democrats and leftists that are against showing ID when voting? Every election that I have voted in since 2000 my wife and I have been kindly asked to show some picture identification by the person that looks up our name. I actually always have my ID ready on hand as I enter the polling place. Big deal if you are honest and not planning on taking part in voter fraud. I don’t see anything wrong in showing picture ID. NOW, if you Democrats are so against this showing and asking of IDs why don’t you all form a drive (you guys are excellent at that – like in voter registration drives you always do) where you get the legal populations you are so all concerned that they will be discriminated by the evil white folk and bus them (you do that well also when you bus all types of folks to your demonstrations) to the local Motor Vehicles and help them get an inexpensive non drivers picture ID and you can also get registered to vote at the same time when you do this! There problem solved and then everyone who is legal but unable to get ID, now can have one. You guys are so dishonest that we have all figured out your motives and scams.
Should illegals be allowed to vote? We all know deep down inside all of you guys want this!
http://youtu.be/lydLxa_gHkc
http://youtu.be/YsaoWja2OPs
Never before have I known someone who perfectly fit the definition of “crazed.”
No, it’s not crazed Hector, it’s being fed up and indignation at how some sectors of society have this attitude of trying to get away with murder, and when they are not allowed or they are rightfully challenged, they cry racism or discrimination. Many of us see the scam and shams whether it be pushy “Dreamers” demanding things they have no right to because their parents broke the laws, or Obama ushering in vague amnesty like policies under our noses. Unbelievable! Believe me, your group is the one with the “crazed” policies of misguided social justice or egalitarianism that are nothing more than sly and well thought out tactics designed to destroy whatever fabric and glue is still left holding America together. The radicalized antics of left leaning Latinos do not bode well with the rest of the American population and the sad thing is that because of your radicalism and Latino chauvinism, you take the honest and legal minded Latino American citizens down the garbage chute with you. You and your ilk are responsible for ghettoizing us and giving us bad reputations. Why am I crazed? Because I have no problem showing a valid picture ID when voting, and because I feel that every Latino should also show ID when asked, and because I know the incredible amount of fraud in all manner that takes place in the illegal Latino community? It’s called reality.
Mario i on the money…
Mario (and Linda), believe it or not there are millions of Americans who do not own a car, go to school, or live near a city. If you took the time to actually read the report you’d know that the majority of the people being disenfranchised by these laws are black, not Latino. A poor, black, elderly person who lives in rural Tennessee has no need for a drivers license and generally lives hand to mouth using local resources. Now that person will not be able to vote. Your suggestion that such a person should just get an ID is classist, discriminatory, and chauvinistic to the extreme.
Mario, if you had actually read the report, or used that community college education you’re so proud of, you’d realize that the report identifies about 500,000 people who will likely be disenfranchised by these laws. Less than 1/2 of 1% of the voter turnout of 2008.
Mario, do you honestly believe that people are mad about these laws because we hate our country so much we want to engage voter fraud for a .5% advantage?
The reason these laws are offensive is because I’m offended by rich, white lawmakers telling poor, non-white Americans that they can’t vote. Even 1 American being turned away from the polls on election day is highly offensive to my pride as an American, and strikes at the foundations of the democratic process.
Your anger baffles me, and can only be explained by ignorance, fear, and greed on your part. I hope, for the sake of our country, you overcome these weaknesses some time soon.
Standing ovation for the commentary of Gabriel Benitez.
It was a summer photography class at a
community college taught by a very well known artist – not a community college education. And you are an elitist for putting down people with community college educations BTW – did not go to one, but they are excellent opportunities there for people on limited budget and times and who cannot attend a regular school – typical left wing snob you are. I gave a solution – use the monies generated by left wing organizations and causes (there are a lot of those always having fund raising drives) to create a program that will take poor home bound folk and give them the needed finances to obtain an inexpensive photo ID at their local municipality. Spare me your predictable class warfare “rich, white lawmakers” grievance studies major vocabulary “classist” commie speak. EVEN to get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid (Food stamps – in the age of your food stamp president Obama) one needs to have some form of picture ID. It’s on the Federal Social Security web site, stating what is required from the poor disenfranchised folk you speak of: “Identification such as a driver’s license, state ID, birth certificate or alien card;”
If you can show these identification items to get Food Stamp help (which 99.9% have some form of picture identification), why can’t you show photo ID when you vote? As I said, all of you are very disingenuous and sneaky and the rest of the nation is beginning to pick up on your scams to manipulate the system for your political advantage.
It was a summer photography class at a
community college taught by a very well known artist – not a community college education. And you are an elitist for putting down people with community college educations BTW – did not go to one, but they are excellent opportunities there for people on limited budget and times and who cannot attend a regular school – typical left wing snob you are. I gave a solution – use the monies generated by left wing organizations and causes (there are a lot of those always having fund raising drives) to create a program that will take poor home bound folk and give them the needed finances to obtain an inexpensive photo ID at their local municipality. Spare me your predictable class warfare “rich, white lawmakers” grievance studies major vocabulary “classist” commie speak. EVEN to get Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid (Food stamps – in the age of your food stamp president Obama) one needs to have some form of picture ID. It’s on the Federal Social Security web site, stating what is required from the poor disenfranchised folk you speak of: “Identification such as a driver’s license, state ID, birth certificate or alien card;”
If you can show these identification items to get Food Stamp help (which 99.9% have some form of picture identification), why can’t you show photo ID when you vote? As I said, all of you are very disingenuous and sneaky and the rest of the nation is beginning to pick up on your scams to manipulate the system for your political advantage.
I apologize for suggesting that you might be educated.
Sneaky me.