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Voter ID bill needs your support.

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CitizenClark:

--- Quote from: Gunscribe on January 30, 2012, 10:24:48 PM ---Since you have to have a Gov ID to get welfare, foodstamps, prescription drugs and check out library books, who is disenfranchised by this?

The people they claim that are affected by this already have ID.

Unless there is one or two lost hermits who grow their own food, chop their own wood, make their own clothes, candles and tools and only come to town once a year for the single purpose of casting a ballot everyone already has ID.

Yes ID for all registered voters!

--- End quote ---

I just got a library card here in Lincoln without showing any ID. I've never been on welfare or food stamps, so I can't speak to those. I do know that I have never had to present any sort of identification to pick up prescription drugs at the pharmacy--maybe I just have an honest face? :)

There is a major difference between all of the above and voting, in that the Supreme Court of the United States has held that you have a fundamental, constitutional right to participate in government via the ballot box. Restrictions on fundamental rights are subject to much more judicial scrutiny than restrictions on other rights, like, e.g., one's (statutory) right to get government welfare benefits. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strict_scrutiny and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_right#History_in_United_States_law.

CitizenClark:

--- Quote from: Dan W on January 30, 2012, 10:38:24 PM ---I am pretty sure you have to give ID to register to vote, I think the application calls for a drivers license or a Social security number. I think one can also use a bank statement or a utility bill to establish an address. 

But if you can't provide any of that information, in a legitimate form, you are not voting.

--- End quote ---

You can register to vote by mail; no inspection of a prospective voter's identification materials is required prior to your registration being processed. See http://www.sos.state.ne.us/elec/pdf/vr.pdf.

*CORRECTION: After doing a bit more reading, it appears that those who register to vote by mail are required to verify their identity when showing up at the polls the first time after registration. Again, though, the required ID materials are mostly things that a person would have acquired at no additional cost: " A copy of utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document which is dated within sixty days immediately prior to the date of presentation showing the same name and residence address provided on this application."


--- Quote ---I don't quite see the difference between that and showing ID to cast a ballot.

Seems like the requirement to identify yourself is already there, so how can it be a burden the second time around.

--- End quote ---

The difference is that a state ID costs money. I personally know at least one person who does not have a drivers license (due to epilepsy) and who does not regularly carry ID on his person.

Remember, there are many people who don't even have bank accounts, so you may be overestimating the ubiquity of state identification cards, either in the form of drivers licenses or ID-only cards. The fact that "most people have a drivers license" isn't going to cut the mustard when it comes to arguing about setting up barriers to an individual's exercise of a basic constitutional right.

Dan W:
First time registration by mail requires ID or proof of address

CitizenClark:

--- Quote from: Dan W on February 07, 2012, 11:46:54 AM ---First time registration by mail requires ID or proof of address

--- End quote ---

Yep, you are right, and I corrected myself above. As I mentioned there, the difference is in the form of ID required. Bringing a copy of my last electric bill to the polls costs me zero dollars. Going and getting a state ID card costs more than zero dollars. That is what drives the "poll tax" objections.

Dan W:
This committee amendment allay your concerns at all?


--- Quote ---32-322
(2) Prior to the statewide primary and general election in every even-numbered year, the Secretary of State shall notify each election commissioner and county clerk regarding every registered voter in the respective county who, according to the voter registration records of the Secretary of State, does not have a motor vehicle operator’s license or state identification card

Prior to the statewide primary and general election in every even-numbered year, the election commissioner or county clerk shall mail an acknowledgment of registration to every registered voter listed on the notification received from the Secretary of State for purposes of presenting identification at the voter’s polling place.
--- End quote ---


and 


--- Quote ---(d) For voters other than a voter subject to subdivision
(c) of this subsection, the voter has presented a government-issued
photographic identification or the acknowledgment of registration
provided to the voter pursuant to section 32-322;
--- End quote ---

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