Those who follow my Twitter Time Line may have seen my discussion with a voter ID proponent and one of his friends that began the evening of August 28th and ended on August 29th.

Here was his reasoning, which are the common talking points why there should be voter ID.

To avoid voter fraud

To ensure the person voting is eligible to vote

All adults need ID to survive in this country so what’s the big deal?

In the course of the discussion he added that:

Only disabled veterans should be allowed to vote via mail.

The Black Panthers are intimidating people at the polls.

Regardless, all voting should be done on one day and people can wait in line.

ID that is necessary will only be required at “registration” not at the polls.

Mitt Romney got zero votes in precincts in Philadelphia.

Requiring voter ID isn’t racist or places an undue burden on anyone, including the poor.

Here’s the deal with voting ID from my perspective:

Voting is not only a right, it’s a responsibility.

Despite what the proponents of voter ID say, there remains zero evidence of people voting who are not permitted to vote.

In fact, an “undocumented” alien faces over a year in Federal Prison if they are caught trying to vote.

Let’s be honest here, would you risk a year in prison to vote in an election where that vote would have little to no impact on the outcome and no benefit to you whatsoever? Its stupid thinking. There is no voter fraud in this country, at least not enough to have any impact on any election. No history of voter fraud could be found despite the efforts of the Republicans to find it since 2000 to justify their efforts to show cause for enacting what are clearly voter suppression laws. It’s a red herring for those who don’t think for themselves and eat up whatever crap they are served.

The fraud in this country is clearly that of vote counting.

Voter ID has no impact on addressing the fraud in counting the votes. The fraud comes from voting machines that keep no paper record of their count, from companies who keep the algorithms for these machines secret even from State officials wanting to check out their accuracy.

Vote counting fraud is real, there is a history of it and with electronic voting machines, and recounts are in most cases no longer available. However, for vote counting fraud to actually impact an outcome, you need to limit the number of people voting. Limit that number by means of voter caging (taking registered voters off the voting polls without notice) and of course, requiring voter ID at the polling booth. They aren’t advocating it just for registration. As Paul Weyrich, GOP strategist and founder of ALEC (who wrote the voter ID laws for all the states implementing them) the Republican do better with fewer people voting. See the clip below. This is their game.

Now this guy also added that everyone needs ID to survive in this country. That actually isn’t true. Those in rural areas, nursing homes, shut-ins, homeless actually do get by without ID or with ID’s that the voter ID laws don’t permit them to use to vote. They are in fact eligible to vote, they just can’t get the ID’s these laws require. They do not permit Student ID, Social Security Cards, Government Assistance ID’s, only certain ID’s that usually cost people money and/or require them to provide information they can’t get without a lot of effort and cost like birth certificates. Married women who had their names changed often can’t meet the challenge to provide proof of birth to get an ID in their current name because their birth certificates are in their maiden names. This has been happening in Pennsylvania, where incidentally the guy I was Tweeting with says he’s from.

Those who have analyze the Pennsylvania voter ID laws have clearly shown with validated data that requiring ID’s would negatively impact 74% of women, minorities, elderly who tend to vote Democratic. It’s no secret that is the reason these laws were passed. If they simply want all eligible voters to present an ID at the polls, provide them to all registered voters free of charge without requiring them to travel or pay anything beyond their capabilities. But that is not what the ID’s are for.

This guy also mentioned the “Black Panthers” intimidating people at the polls. How voter ID would solve that problem he didn’t say. Now we all know that there are about 4 members of the Black Panthers still around. So they must really be moving from polling place to polling place. I pointed out to this guy the “True the Vote” organization that proudly boasts their intent to keep minorities from voting. It’s their mission statement, they have a website. He questioned their existence. See the links below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_the_Vote

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-richie/true-the-vote-fudges-numb_b_2785093.html

http://www.politifact.com/personalities/true-vote/

He also believes that voting by mail should be eliminated unless you are a disabled veteran. He first thought that voting by mail was fine until I pointed out to him that voter ID wouldn’t work for those people who vote by mail. It was only then that he modified his view to only disabled veterans should have that capability, everyone else should not only vote at the polls, they should all do it on one day and stay in line.

Anyone who has looked at the situation and used simple logic and common sense know that voter ID aren’t required because there is no voter fraud where people who shouldn’t be voting are voting. That is a fact. There is however plenty of evidence that the Republicans understand that the fewer people who vote, the better they do in the outcomes. They are on tape saying it. They also push for vote counting machines that have been proven to be easily manipulated to misrepresent the tally which is why many jurisdictions are now removing them. They use groups like “True the Vote” to keep minorities away from the polls. They remove ballot machines from heavily democratic districts making those lines longer while placing plenty of them in Republican leaning districts so it presents them no problem. They want to eliminate early voting, vote by mail and require all Americans to vote on a work day knowing there could be long lines to complete a ballot that may take several minutes or more to complete. This is to discourage voting, not encourage it. It is to keep the numbers low so the results can be manipulated to their favor. This is the voting fraud in this country.

As we approach the midterms, it is very important that despite the obstacles the right has put up to keep you from voting, you do so anyway. If you are still allowed to vote by mail or early vote, do it. Of course make sure you are registered and verify that you registration is still good. Use this link below to regularly check your registration.

Florida is only one of several states including Arizona that regularly removes people from the polls based on some obscure procedure and end up not telling people they lost their registration. They only find out when they go to the polls. So check regularly.

Voter Caging Information:

http://projectvote.org/voter-caging.html

Check your voter registration:

http://www.canivote.org/

How to register to vote:

http://registertovote.org/index.html?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term=voter%2Bregistration&utm_content=Register&utm_campaign=Arizona%2B-%2BIP

Finally, even if you have to vote in person on voting day, don’t let the lines keep you from the polls. Show up and demand your right to vote. Don’t let “True the Vote” brown shirts intimidate you. If you can, take a day off from work and expect to be there a while. Use the Courts to demand that sufficient voting machines are provided in your precinct so you and others can vote. Don’t just roll your eyes and do nothing, get active and get active now to prepare for 2014. Low voter turnout will only bring more right wing nut jobs in office to make your life more miserable so they can make the rich even richer with no responsibility for American individual needs. Higher voter turnout often results in Progressive wins. Although Nate Silver says it is currently impossible for the Democrats to take back the House, he’s basing this on average voter turnout for midterms and gerrymandered districts. However, if voter turnout is at record highs, and you engage Republicans and Independents in your district to think about how this current House is making their lives more unstable for political and 1% gains, maybe they’ll vote the Republicans out. Many are bigoted, racist, misogynist and homophobic, but not all of them. Reach them; convince them that to vote Republican is to vote to continue Bigoted, Racist, Misogynistic and Homophobic policies. The vast majority of the nation is opposed to that, sadly the vast majority of the nation won’t vote during midterms. This is what we need to change.

Too many brave activists literally gave up their lives so everyone could exercise their right to vote, don’t let the GOP and their ignorant followers dishonor their legacy.

Get active and get out the vote.