Quote:
Originally Posted by bahbahmickey
So you are saying there is exactly 0 instances where voter ID laws would stop a fraudulent vote?
Have you ever lost your license or social security card? Do you know how big of a pain in the ass it is to get all the documentation together to get a new one? I had my wallet stolen once before and there was a small piece of me that jokingly wanted to say screw it and that I just wouldn't drive anywhere anymore. I spent the next day forcing a friend to drive me around town to the various places I had to go to and we had to do it in a particular order because of the proof of ID requirements each piece had. I had to figure out where I had stored my birth certificate. Moment of panic when it wasn't in my security deposit box. I forgot I had to use it sometime before and still had it in my strongbox at home. Took 6 hours to get it all done with a friend that was more than willing to help and that's in a city with plenty of resources. Note that I dumbly didn't know better and that I don't carry stuff like my social security card with me anymore.
If I hadn't had possessed my birth certificate, I don't even know how much longer the process would have been. I think it would entail having to find some place to somehow get a photo ID made and work from there. My point is that it's a very real hassle to do these things, and I'm a very capable person with a car, money for gas, the ability to schedule time off to do things like this.
To bring this on topic, I admit that there may be some minor voting fraud happening, even if I have never see any actual evidence. I'm saying that I agree that it may be possible but I'm also saying that I don't believe it's happening until someone shows me some cases where it was shown to actually be happening. Because I haven't been shown any real evidence of it happening, I could not being to venture a guess on the number of fraudulent votes being cast.
However, with confidence, I can say that I know there are many people that would vote and now cannot or just won't because of the increased number of hurdles needed to be leaped. As for your reaction to those that just won't do it now that it's harder and more work, you're probably going to say "What's stopping them? It's not me." And you're half-right. No one is stopping them, but we have put in place more difficulty and it is preventing people from voting. As someone mentioned before, these are people that DO want to vote as they have gone out of their way to register to vote. We're not talking about unregistered people that wouldn't matter anyway. And yes, I agree, many of them have the physical capability to go through the extra hoops, but if they're not willing and the people implementing the voter ID laws know they won't be willing, then putting the laws in place are actually restricting their votes.
All so you can feel safe about a problem that isn't even happening.