I recently wrote about The other ways that the republicans can steal this election, and after watching the movie Recount this weekend and seeing a flurry of frightening articles in Rolling Stone and elsewhere, I thought that I needed to bring it up again. Not only are there programs in place for this election to purge voter rolls, they are happening. They are terrifying. They are inevitable. The one thing we can do about it is inform ourselves and each other of their dangers, so we have a powerful voice to fight back against them on election day and the lawsuits to follow. For some really insightful reading, go here and download the comic book. If you are wondering who could possibly be in charge of all of this, go here. And here. Greg Palast's article on his blog and on Rolling Stone should not be ignored.
One out of five African Americans does NOT have a government issued ID, and they want to do this?
Think about it - 3 million New Yorkers don't have a freaking driver's license. And it's not like you can just stroll up to any government building and get a FREE ID card. You can't. That wipes out poor people's vote in certain states. I'm getting mad and incoherent. I should stop now. We already know that the election is unfair. Check this site out if you want to do something about it. Shout out to Ari Savitzky and all the good people at FairVoteRI. Good work.
If you think there is no hope for mankind, there isn't! I mean, just look at this guy:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
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While I think the laws on ID are bordering on ridiculous, I don't think thinks are looking as bleak as they sound. As a registered voter of Indiana (no joke - I registered while in college, so if we turn it to a blue state, I will be taking credit), I learned what types of ID are allowed when voting. While they do require a government-issued photo ID, they have a whole binder full of examples of what is acceptable along with pictures of sample ID's so that voters can identify which one of those they hold. The most obvious ones are an Indiana State License and a US Passport, (a note about this one: it has to be an Indiana license. I found that out when all I had was my NY license and they wouldn't let me use it as valid ID.) But apart from those two, they take almost all college ID's from Indiana (they don't take ID's from private colleges in Indiana - that was the other form of photo ID I had on me). This is because the most of the colleges are state colleges, and the ID's that they issue to all students are considered state ID's. They happen to have your photo, so they're A-ok to use to vote. There are also all kinds of ID's that one can get by being members of certain groups or by working certain jobs. I can't say for sure what all counts or how you get those ID's, but as I was searching through the book to see what I had on me to use to prove who I was, I passed by a very specific and long list of ID's that you could use that most people from Indiana had, (I ended up using my passport). So while I don't necessarily agree with demanding a photo ID, and I don't know how much it would cost to get one in Indiana, I do know there are a lot of options for people who don't have a license in IN. Yes, I agree they should be more in- and out-of-state friendly, but then again, there are a lot of things that happen in Indiana that don't make any sense (the KKK started there and still have headquarters about 45 mins outside of Indianapolis, daylight savings time (if you don't know how this works in Indiana and you want a laugh, look it up), people call themselves hoosiers even though no one knows what the word means, AND it's a red state.. need I say more?)
The main problem I have with laws on ID to vote is that a) it's not free and b) it's not easy to acquire. What if you didn't have a passport and your state school ID was expired? Would you be out of luck? If you are living in another state and found out that it is too late to send in an absentee ballot, you may be shit out of luck. That sucks.
And what if you didn't go to college?
But you're right, maybe I overdid it a bit. I'm glad to know there are some workarounds, and thanks for breaking it down for us. But it's still scary as hell!
Good luck in Indiana!
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