Democrats push back against voter ID laws

(CBS News) President Obama and Democrats in Congress are pushing back against the new voter identification laws and requirements that Republican-led states have been busy implementing across the country.

The president's re-election campaign will shortly launch the website GottaVote.org, an information hub designed to help voters meet voting requirements. Currently, the site asks lawyers to join the campaign's Victory Counsel, a volunteer legal team that helps Americans overcome barriers to voting. It also mentions a May voter registration "weekend of action."

As first reported on Politico, the site on Thursday featured a video telling the story of Dorothy Cooper, a 96-year-old Tennessee voter. In 2011, the Tennessee legislature passed strict new voter ID requirements. Cooper had trouble obtaining a voter ID card, even after presenting the four pieces of identification required.

More than two dozen states have passed strict voter ID laws since 2011. In the video, the Obama campaign's general counsel Bob Bauer calls the laws "corrosive."

"Around the country, under Republican leadership, various laws have been passed - all of them with the fundamental objective of impeding the right to vote," he says. Opponents of the laws say they suppress turnout among typically Democratic voting blocs, like students and minorities.

Supporters of the voter ID requirements say they're need to prevent voter fraud, even though there's little evidence of such fraud taking place. After Pennsylvania adopted a strict voter photo ID requirement, CBS News asked state officials how many people had been convicted of voter impersonation or voter fraud in the past five years. The answer was zero, CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn reported.

While the Obama campaign organizes its efforts to mitigate the impact of the laws, Democrats in Congress are trying to roll them back.

Five Democrats in the House on Thursday unveiled the Voter Empowerment Act, a bill to strengthen federal rules that enable citizens to register to vote and protect them from voter intimidation. The bill was introduced by Reps. John Lewis of Georgia, James Clyburn of South Carolina, John Conyers of Michigan, Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland.

"Just six months from a presidential election and amid an unprecedented drive to impose new restrictions on who can vote in states across the country, Democrats will fight for the right to vote and for the integrity of our electoral system," Hoyer said in a statement.

If it were to pass, the legislation would require states to offer an online registration option, require same-day registration for federal elections and give universities funds to encourage voter registration among students. The bill would also authorize funding for training poll workers and make "voter caging" -- a means of calling into question a person's right to vote -- a felony.

The legislation is extremely unlikely to get through the Republican-led House.

[mz_az]

Valid photo ID required for all below. There are more I am sure but you should get the idea ID is needed in everyday life. Voters should also be required to produce a valid ID..

1 adopt a pet

2 purchase a home

3 purchase an automobile

4 purchase a gun

5 obtain a bank account

6 obtain a credit card

7 obtain a passport

8 write a check

9 make a credit card purchase

10 apply for a loan to purchase anything

11 to prove your age

12 to get married

13 to receive a marriage license

14 to drive

15 to buy a house

16 to close on a house

17 to get medical care

18 to get on a plane

19 to get insurance on anything

20 to get a job

21 to get a post office box

22 to get a hunting license

23 to get a fishing license

24 to get a business license

25 to cash a paycheck

26 rent an apartment

27 rent a hotel room

27 rent a car

29 rent furniture

30 rent tools and equipment

31 receive welfare

32 receive social security

33 receive food stamps

34 buy cigarettes

35 buy alcohol

36 buy a bus ticket

37 buy a cell phone

38 buy any antihistamine

39 go in to a casino

40 go in to a bar

41 go to college

42 have your water turned on

43 have your electricity turned on

44 have your cable turned on

46 45 have your gas turned on

47 obtain trash pick up service

48 pick up a package from the post office

49 pick up a package from fed ex

50 pick up a package from ups

51 pick up a prescription

52 Sales tax exemption for people aged 80 and above

53 buy a car

54 Sales tax exemption for people aged 80 and above

55 Applying for a building permit

56 Cash transactions of $5000.00 or greater

57 Serving on a jury

58 Applying for a building permit

59 using a credit card

Things you don't need a valid ID for:
Vote.

[wdrussell1]

If a person intentionally casts an illegal vote that is a felony and they should be charged with it.

If a legal citizen is denied their right to vote then the politicians who passed the Jim Crow laws should be charged with a felony.

[TimeToEvolve]

Republions truly want fascism (corporate control of everything) for America. I guess because they make out like bandits in a system like that.

[Liberty_in_MA]

Normally I would say something but I died forty years ago. I am still voting for Obama in 2012 though. At least forty or fifty times.

[TimeToEvolve]

Sounds like a plan. I would love to see someone even get away with voting twice. Sounds like Fox Keeps You Stupid Channel rumor.

[Souptwins]

I must be missing the infringement on rights part of this. I'd be pretty ticked if I showed up to vote and someone had already come claiming to be me and took that opportunity from me. By all means, make sure I am who I say I am at the polling site. Exactly what right is verifying a person's identity infringing on?

[freeandequalpa]

The law disenfranchised legitimate voters who cannot obtain an approved form of ID. And there are people who cannot get ID. Read about it in this summary of the lawsuit filed against the PA law: http://wp.me/p2qD6U-r

[Heathergreeneyes]

This is a scam. Even if there were people who would be "disenfranchised", that number of people is tiny compared to the much larger number of people who could vote illegally because we do not ask for ID's.

The reality is the majority of people who are voting illegally, vote for Democrats. That and that alone is why Democrats oppose voter ID laws.

If the illegal voters were voting for Republicans, we would have a voter ID law within days, and signed by Obama within hours.

[TimeToEvolve]

If everyone voted there would not be even one Republicon in office. And the Republicon know this because they spend their time pretty much going after everyone who is not a rich white man.

[TimeToEvolve]

The ONLY way Republicons can win is to cheat. They represent only the top 1% of Americans who don't care about the 99% of us. They have no plans to help anyone else, in fact it is just the opposite. They cannot live and run for office without lying and cheating. It is a sad, sad and pathetic situation having these right wingers in charge of anything in our country.

[Heathergreeneyes]

So why then is it a Democrat group, ACORN, was the ones found cheating.......

[infantryman1968]

by retm-w May 17, 2012 10:49 PM EDT
I already proved my citizenship when I registered. The voting law says you must present at the polling place a government issued picture ID to vote. Well a military ID is a government issued ID with a picture, yet the gop controlled election board says it's not a valid ID. So how many other government issued picture ID's are they going to turn down.


LOL!


Total B.S.

If a service member was denied the right to vote with a military ID it would be on every news station for a month.

Most of the States are offering subsidised State Photo ID's for legal residence of low income. Problem Solved.

[freeandequalpa]

In the lawsuit filed against the PA case, one of the plaintiffs has a Veterans Card. It does not qualify as an acceptable form of ID under the PA law. This guy cannot get a free ID because the state in which he was born cannot find his birth certificate. So he's a veteran who cannot vote. Read about it here: http://freeandequalpa.wordpress.com/2012/05/12/applewhite-summary/

[BigMykul]

Supporters of the voter ID requirements say they're need to prevent voter fraud, even though there's little evidence of such fraud taking place. After Pennsylvania adopted a strict voter photo ID requirement, CBS News asked state officials how many people had been convicted of voter impersonation or voter fraud in the past five years. The answer was zero, CBS News producer Phil Hirschkorn reported.
_______________________________________________________________
Ok, if it was made the law that anyone caught speeding would spend time in prison for going at least 5 mph over the limit. It is a deterrent(sp). These are called such because they deter persons from committing the act the law is against. The PA law seems to have done that and prove that a voter id requirement does deter persons from committing voter fraud. Seems funny to me that these persons have to have ID to do most of the things that they do, like getting a retirement check, applying for pell grants, enrolling in college, opening a bank account, getting a job, receiving any government aid...etc.

[BigMykul]

I have always had to show ID to vote, whether local, stae or federal. What is wrong with preemptive measures to protect against the possibility of voter fraud.
The argument is that having to produce ID would make it difficult if not impossible for some to vote. Older folks, minorities, students. I believe that was what was expressed against the requirement. For older folks, how do they get their SS, medicare, disability,...etc. Each of these acts require a proper issued ID. Students (assuming mostly college students, maybe a few high-schoolers) have to have proper ID to enter college. This also includes proof of residence for tuition costs. Minorities, if receiving public assistance, this requires ID. If working, it requires ID.
So explain again to me how this would alienate these persons, who must have ID for most everything else?

[freeandequalpa]

You do not need a photo ID to get social security benefits. From the SSA webpage:

"Information You Need To Apply For Benefits

We suggest you have the following information when you apply. It will make completing the application much easier.

Your date and place of birth and Social Security number;
Your bank or other financial institution's Routing Transit Number and the account number [more info], if you want the benefits electronically deposited.
The amount of money earned last year and this year. If you are filing for benefits in the months of September through December, you will also need to estimate next year's earnings;
The name and address of your employer(s) for this year and last year;
The beginning and ending dates of any active U.S. military service you had before 1968; and
The name, Social Security number and date of birth or age of your current spouse and any former spouse. You should also know the dates and places of marriage and dates of divorce or death (if appropriate).

We will help you review your earnings history when we receive the application."

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/info/isba/retirement/firstpartyrib.htm#a0=4