Nuns Turned Away At Ind. Polling Station
Some Complain About Indiana's New Strict Photo ID Election Law
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Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, shares a laugh with voters in front of a polling place in Indianapolis, Tuesday, May 6, 2008, as voters in Indiana and North Carolina crowd polling places Tuesday for the states' primary elections. (AP)
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Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., high-fives driver Sarah Fisher during a campaign event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Ind. Tuesday, May 6, 2008. Voters in Indiana and North Carolina crowd polls Tuesday, seeking to settle the largest remaining contests in the Democratic presidential nomination struggle between Clinton and Barack Obama. (AP)
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Photo Essay
N.C., Indiana Primaries
Last big-delegate prizes left in marathon Democratic race.
Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
“One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,”' Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives.
They weren't given provisional ballots because it would be impossible to get them to a motor vehicle branch and back in the 10-day time frame allotted by the law, Sister McGuire said. “You have to remember that some of these ladies don't walk well. They're in wheelchairs or on walkers or electric carts.”
Nonetheless, she said, the convent will make a “very concerted effort” to get proper identification for the nuns in time for the general election. “We're going to take from now until November to get them out and get this done. You can't do this like school kids on a bus,” she said. “I wish we could.”
Elsewhere across the pivotal state, voting appeared to run smoothly, despite the fears of election experts that the Supreme Court's recent refusal to strike down Indian's controversial photo identification law could cause confusion at the polls.
A voter hot line set up by the secretary of state's office had no complaints regarding photo IDs as of 3 p.m., said spokeswoman Bethany Derringer. In a primary expected to draw record numbers, most calls concerned precinct locations.
“The No. 1 call they've heard so far is just people asking where they can go to vote,” Derringer said.
But a group of voting rights advocates that established a separate hot line reported receiving several calls from would-be voters who were turned away at precincts because they did not have a state or federal identification bearing a photograph.
One newly married woman said she was told she couldn't vote because her driver's license name didn't match the one on her voter registration record, said Myrna Perez of the Brennan Center Justice at New York University's law school, coordinator of the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hot line. Another woman said she was turned away from casting her first-ever ballot because she had only a college-issued ID card and an out-of-state driver's license, Perez said.
“These laws are confusing. People don't know how they're supposed to be applied,” she said.
Indiana's photo ID law is the strictest in the country. The Republican-led effort was designed to combat ballot fraud, said supporters, who also have acknowledged that no case involving someone impersonating a voter at the polls has ever been prosecuted in Indiana.
The state's American Civil Liberties Union sued, calling the law a poll tax that disproportionately affected minorities and elderly voters, those most likely to lack such identification. On April 28, the Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 that the law did not violate the Constitution.
Since then, advocacy groups have fretted that people showing up to vote in Tuesday's primary would not understand their rights under the law, which include being able to cast a provisional ballot and obtain a proper ID within 10 days so that ballot would be counted later.
Rick Rice, a precinct judge at the Charles Martin Youth Center in South Bend, said one person complained about the voter ID law when he attempted to use a federal identification that didn't have an expiration date on it.
“I didn't know who it was put out by, but we couldn't accept it,” Rice said. “He had a driver's license, he was just trying to make a point. He wanted to push it and the law is very clear.”
Rice said the man voted, then asked where he could write to file a complaint.
Sean Greene, of the nonpartisan electionline.org, was monitoring precincts in the Lafayette area of Tippecanoe County. “It's going pretty well,” he said, despite long lines. “Most of the people I've seen today are prepared and used to this. They have their IDs out already.
That thought was echoed in South Bend, where Elizabeth Bridges, 63, said half of the people working in her voting precinct were family members, but still she showed her ID.
“I think the law is a good thing because a lot of people are crooked,” she said.
John Parker III, agreed.
“I think it's a good thing because I don't want anyone coming in and voting for me,” he said. “Someone could come in here and just use my name.”
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INCLUDING THESE TWO CANDIDATES RUNNING FOR OFFICE.
[Posted by vancouverboo at 08:18 PM : May 06, 2008]
i was just thinking the same thing ... they''re always trying to push the limits all the time ... those freakin'' nuns.
So nun of them could vote?
Do it now! Campaign elections are shams anyway. People, whether 98 or 18, should feel empowered to vote.
Posted by rushlimpdrug at 09:19 PM
LOL! Oh hey now that was funny! But you know, voting could be habbit forming.
Posted by dragonwagon5 at 10:12 PM : May 06, 2008
I guess they just had too much faith in the whole voting process.
Voter suppression by the un-patriotic Republican powers that be.
Only the destructive forces of the Republican party would make it difficult for real Americans to participate in their election process!
The US Constitution is being undermined by anti-American Republican forces, who will try any dirty tricks to win power.
And when Americans mindless vote for these traitors, they turn around and trash the country, kill off our young in wasteful wars and drive up the national debt.
WAKE UP, AMERICANS!
You can''t vote for KNOWN liars, deceivers and Constitution subverters, and then complain when America is damned!
Well SISTAH, maybe you''d better get your azz in gear and get a PHOTO ID
Voter suppression by the un-patriotic Republican powers that be.
Only the destructive forces of the Republican party would make it difficult for real Americans to participate in their election process!
Posted by Agnim
I think you got that backwards, those nuns would be voting for their right wing favorite- the bush clone, anti abortion anti g@y rights man McBush. They WANT the votes.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn''t get one but came to the precinct anyway.
%u201COne came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, ''I don''t want to go do that,%u201D'' Sister McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drives."
Oh GEZUS! just what we need, a bunch of alzheimers riddled rightwing nuns who cant follow instructions and cant even drive- voting for THE most important election ever.
Anyone who is ill enough mentally to waste their lives with a Santa Claus in the sky and be involved with a pedo shielding hypocritical thing like a church is not going to vote right- STAY HOME SISTAHS!
let *US* get the vote right this time cause you idiots couldnt do it the last TWO elections.
Posted by newster1 at 01:37 AM : May 07, 2008"
Yes, for them, McCain is still a kid. LOL.
Posted by sjbj2322
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Great post. I can''t help but think. These nuns have lived good, long lives. I wonder why....
"None of them drives"???!
Posted by newster1 at 01:37 AM : May 07, 2008"
Yes, for them, McCain is still a kid. LOL.
Posted by abbe91
Uh, last time I looked this was a free country where anyone''s vote counted whether the vote was for a Republican or a Democrat. They will have their vote. I believe the have 30 days or so to get IDs. By your statements it''s obvious you people don''t want a free election you want to win and you don''t care how you get there.
Posted by mudrose
"you people"? what group do you THINK am I in mudrose that makes me part of the group called: "you people"?, FYI: I am a registered libertarian- Ive had it with BOTH main parties- the re-pubic-cons and the dumbocraps, one thing''s for sure, if McBush gets in we are done and over with- we need someone in who will REVERSE 8 years of destruction and damage, not another Bush clone to keep the policy of failures and borrowing going like they have been.
The religious reich is the one who put BUSH in power solely due to his anti abortion anti g@y agendas.
Posted by newster1 at 09:15 AM : May 07, 2008
So Captain America will be your write in candidate? :) In your wildest hallucinations, who do you think will fulfill your fantasy???
Posted by abbe91 at 05:14 AM : May 07, 2008
Now THAT was funny! :)
Posted by newster1 at 09:15 AM : May 07, 2008
Whatever happenned to those promises - 8yrs after the fact ??? Anyone ?? Any Repug ?
Are we suppose to be upset about this. If they let them through, then I would be upset. It''s bad enough the majority of people do no research into the candidate they vote for, atleast they have to research the rules on voting.
Posted by in_correct at 10:01 AM : May 07, 2008
Prevent nuns from voting? I don''t think anyone prevented them from voting, they didn''t obey the law. Right?
Posted by missybelle at 11:37 AM : May 07, 2008
And we certainly can''t have "nun" of that, especially since nuns are notorious for actually voting their Christian principles instead of just professing them as a ploy to gain power and wealth...
[Posted by missybelle at 11:37 AM : May 07, 2008]
yes ... they have a ''habit'' of doing that.
(Posted by newster1 at 09:15 AM : May 07, 2008)
In your wildest hallucinations, who do you think will fulfill your fantasy???]
[Posted by LibH8er at 09:19 AM : May 07, 2008]
i think a monkey would be able to do this ... after a little time to adjust to the surroundings.
Never Mind!
Never Mind!
Posted by KidofSTL
The cathoholics will only vote for a rightwing buybull thumper type like bush the anti choice anti g@y rights nut who claimed god talks to him and told him to invade Iraq.
Never Mind!
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Posted by KidofSTL at 01:05 PM : May 07, 2008
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Of course they were,..I mean anybody who would devote their whole life to Christ most certainly believes in Pastor Wrong!! NOT!!
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by rf35
May 7, 2008 1:49 PM PDT
- "Brides of Christ." I haven''t heard that term in a while. It makes me think that the polygamist group in Texas was maybe just doing what Jesus is doing. That guy has more wives than you can shake a stick at.
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