Posted on 05/31/2012 5:37:56 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to keep off the Nov. 6 ballot a proposed constitutional amendment that would require voters to show a photo ID.
The ACLU petition, filed Wednesday, May 30, argues that the ballot question is misleading and fails to inform voters of changes in election law that could undermine their right to vote.
"The question is misleading and false," said Charles Samuelson, ACLU Minnesota's executive director.
The question asks voters whether the state constitution should be amended to "require all voters to present valid photo identification to vote."
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
A recent Fox News special report entitled "Stealing Your Vote" prominently featured the work of Minnesota Majority as part of their report.
Thanks to your efforts during this past legislative session, Minnesotans will finally get the chance to vote on the Voter ID Amendment this November!
A Non-Vote is a NO Vote. Did you know that when you go vote this November, if you fail to vote on the Voter ID Amendment, the State of Minnesota will vote NO for you? Leaving the question blank counts as a NO vote under Minnesota law.
Pledge to Vote YES on Voter ID. You can help put a stop to voter fraud in Minnesota by pledging to vote YES on the Voter ID Amendment. A new ballot committee called ProtectMyVote.com has been established to help pass the Voter ID Amendment. Please pledge to vote YES by clicking on the link below:
http://www.protectmyvote.com/?page_id=981
I’ll select yes only because there is no hell yes.
Richfield man among 6 accused of illegal voting in Duluth, Iron Range
By Mark Stodghill
Duluth News Tribune
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_18706947
Six people have recently been charged in St. Louis County with a felony crime that is rarely seen on a Northeastern Minnesota court docket: “Voting while ineligible.”
It’s a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, but a conviction most likely will result in a probationary sentence.
Under Minnesota law, a person is ineligible to vote if their civil rights had not been restored after being convicted of treason, or any felony, or while under a guardianship in which a court order revoked the ward’s right to vote, or if found by a court of law to be legally incompetent.
All six of the people charged - four at the St. Louis County District Court in Duluth and two at the St. Louis County District Court in Hibbing - are accused of being convicted felons when they allegedly voted in the November 2008 general election.
http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_18706947
they can tell us names and stuff, but can never seem to determine how to tell us who they voted for. why do you suppose that is???
Yeah, I can see how that statement is misleading... (sarc.)
MN needs this law. Only have to look back when Franken was elected - ballets in a trunk of a car for how many days were found. The crooked liberals are worried that they may lose power in MN.
The American Communist and Liberal Union (ACLU) just keeps going from bad to worse.
Given that anyone who would try to vote by showing a photo ID issued by their gym or warehouse club probably should be disenfranchised due to sheer stupidity, the wording could easily be amended to incorporate the ACLU’s suggestion. Certainly, the term “government-issued photo ID” could be employed without seriously impacting the results.
In the former America, the idea of voter ID would be a slam-dunk... a no-brainer that should get scant notice.
Nowadays, the AG is out actively campaigning on behalf of Obama against voters showing proof of who they are.
My response is... if it matters enough to vote, it matters enough to get proper identification. Elections happen ever two years or so. Generally, those who don’t have a photo ID aren’t working anyway, so we’re to believe they somehow can’t find the time to take the bus to the nearest DMV and get a non-driving photo ID? Really???
That assertion speaks volumes about this regime’s opinion of blacks and other minorities.
Geez, it takes about 4 proofs of ID to renew a drivers license at 65 in GA. But the ACLU wants no proof to vote? And yes, both of these situations might have a life or death outcome for US citizens.
While voting is a right granted to eligible voters, it is not mandatory. If a person feels compelled to take part in the process, they surely can make the effort to obtain a valid ID. In most states, they’re free, and one can get a free ride to obtain it. Any arguments against voter ID are arguments for voter fraud, plain and simple.
I thought Milwaukee was the vote cheat capital of the US...
Furthermore, what is ‘false’ about it? It’s a question which means the ANSWER may be true or false but a question is not a statement of fact.
I know that the ACLU are grasping at straws but their third-grade mentality still grates...
Wrong. It will strengthen their vote by ensuring that their vote is not diluted by a bunch of fraudulent votes from non-registered or even non-existent people.
"The question is misleading and false," said Charles Samuelson, ACLU Minnesota's executive director.
No, but ironic that he should put it that way since that is exactly what the ACLU and others are doing - being misleading on this issue.
I’ve heard practically every excuse under the sun, but the one I head yesterday was a topper. “What about the 90 yr old lady who doesn’t have an ID?”
Really? She’s 90 years old and has no form of ID? How does she buy anything? She needs an ID to get cash from her bank, she will need an ID to write a check, and in many places you need to present a photo ID along with your credit card. You need to present an ID in order to open a bank account, to access your account in order to get a Debit card, and even to transfer funds between savings and checkings accounts.
You need an ID to drive a car, to get a book from your library, to get either medical, home or automobile insurance. You need an ID to apply for goverment assistance, including Social Security.
Yet, this idiot would claim that no ID is required to select the leader of the greatest nation on earth.
My mother lived to 100 and never missed voting in an election. As soon as she gave up driving, she obtained a photo ID. She took voting as a serious matter and exercised personal responsibility to ensure she could vote.
Sorry have to differ on this one. Rights are not 'granted' to anyone by anyone or anything. You probably meant that voting is a right to be exercised only by eligible voters...
But the libertarian side of me does have a problem with Voter ID as a concept. Citizens ultimately have power over the state as in "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it." If this is true, then it's impossible, unworkable and contradictory for the state government facing abolition to be the same state government that decides who it will and won't permit to vote. If you & I are deciding whether or not you will move out of a house that I own, I may solicit your opinion but what are the chances that I will allow your view to trump mine?
Obviously these are ideals and/or hypotheticals but then so are most of the concepts enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Ideals are beyond individuals as they should be. Government of laws not men etc.
Now, as a practical matter I recognize that we must first clean house before we can hope to reestablish proper Constitutional structure and practices, therefore if Voter ID is the only way to reduce or eliminate vote fraud then it is a necessary evil but conservatives should be cognizant of the Law of Unintended Consequences. If and when leftists lose power via the ballot box, rest assured that they will make obtaining a photo ID so easy that the proverbial man off the banana boat will be able to obtain one with little or no documentation.
The left never seeks peace in class warfare. Why are is a driver's license and/or vehicle registration difficult to obtain in terms of bureaucratic nonsense? Because anyone who owns a car also owns freedom of movement. But again if an ID is required for voting then IDs will become as plentiful and free as leaves on trees.
In sum, Voter ID is a temporary, imperfect fix.
Why are is a driver’s license =>
Why is a driver’s license
Translation: Your Honor, this law would not allow us to steal elections like we did for Al Franken.
One can not function in America's society without one!
Not much longer in my mind.
FMCDH(BITS)
They did make one technical error, not in the amendment, but in the enabling legislation.
“...enabling legislation requires a “government-issued” ID.”
The amendment can be passed as is, but the enabling legislation needs some way to permit the government to authorize some limited kinds of privately issued photo ID.
That is, there are strict identification laws, forms of ID that someone must present to get a driver’s license. If an approved private organization conforms to these demands, or greater than these demands, their photo ID should be “approvable”.
For example, a licensed bonding agency requires lots of proof of ID, and fingerprints, before it will bond a person. Thus they only have a negligible number of frauds nationwide.
Minnesota is a state where police carry small fingerprint readers, used even for traffic stops, to establish identity. No reason in the world that voting centers can’t borrow one of these units. Far more reliable than photo ID.
Again, these are all enabling act ideas, not the main referendum proposal. If these organizations want to challenge it, they can challenge the enabling acts. To challenge the referendum just means they support vote fraud.
Even Best Buy requires ID to return something with receipt! Not sure what else the would want if you didn’t have a receipt. I always ask “wait.. I need ID to do (fill in the blank) but I can vote with out one?” when asked for id. Gets them to think.. for a second or two anyways.
it has to be a us government entity id.
otherwise seiu cards, consular matricula, or any other form of dubious ID has to be accepted.
seriously the whole ID cost issue is utterly a red herring. The democrats fear absentee voter fraud prevention next.
They didn’t really need the fraud in the Franken case. They out lawyered Norm and beat him in the recount.
not to say the fraud didn’t help. it certainly did. But they could have pulled it off as long as a recount was triggered.
Even that may not be good enough. A student ID from a state university would be a "government issued photo ID". However, it would omit one important item: the student's place of residence. The student could then vote at the campus polling place using student ID, his off-campus residence poll using his passport, and back at his parent's home using his driver's license.
While there is lots of potential haggling in the enabling acts, this one is tricky. That is why a fingerprint alternative may be a good one, for people for whom a photo ID is problematic. And it would be the job of the legislature to tailor it to minimize or eliminate abuse.
A fingerprint reader might also be the way to go when issuing non-military absentee ballots, to insure only one goes to each legal voter. It could even have a little window in it with peel up adhesive tape, so they could peel up the window, touch the adhesive with their fingertip, and lower the window. So the absentee ballot would be “fingerprint signed.”
Lots of possibilities here.
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