If I wanted to read DNC talking points I'd go on the DNC website.

In my opinion, that statement was referring to the elimination of the voter fraud that has been part of the Democratic playbook for decades. The case that proves this beyond any doubt was the Minnesota Senatorial election which turned SNL star Al Franken into a Senator. There were districts in Minnesota in which the number of votes cast exceeded then number of registered voters. But the claim of "voter suppression" is the liberal narrative that Obama communications team has approved, and the Globe is doing its part to deliver that message.

Here in Florida we had an attempt at the same solution for a problem that didn't exist. The numbers regarding voter fraud in the US speaks for themselves, so there is no point in debating the issue with those who wish to make a case that something that doesn't exist exists. The Governor here could not prove it existed when pressed and I'm quite sure that is true elsewhere. Is it the Republican Party's desire to suppress voting rights? Sure it is. Is it a political act? Of course it is. Is it illegal? No. It merely represents who the Party represents and that isn't the majority of the country. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know who the laws are aimed at. These laws are just like the Jim Crow laws of the old Democratic south, except expanded. Hoping to net the elderly and the young along with the poor. The only real question is, Is it American? It is American as apple pie, just as those who support it are as frightened as little children. These folks fear the little people, the old, the young, the minorities as well they should. And if they take away their voice their outlet to vote then these folks should be terrified of what the future holds.

Logically, then, we should not be compelled to carry driver's licenses or even credit cards. We should be able to walk up to the cashier and give a credit card number and get our groceries. This baloney about the poor and elderly not having photo id is a straw man to mask an issue with religious fervor that is unreal. Voter fraud may or not swing an election. It is really "stupid" beyond belief to deny that it doesn't exit. Students living in dorms with homes in another state are not residents, but march unchallenged to the voting booths. If you think multiple votes are not cast in close elections you are eligible for some swamp land in Jersy. You don't really believe no voter fraud occurs in Florida and Arizona or even Maine. Everyone know the poor get food stamps and Obama phones and have Identification to get them. The elderly in America are not stupid and have never suffered the loss of voting rights. Who will suffer? You guessed it! If the Democrats were not going to lose a voting edge in close states, they would have no interest in this issue and would be outsourcing their labor into some other phony issue.

Just for clarifications sake. No one has ever really questioned the idea of a voter ID. The question has always been what kind of ID. Can you use a Federal ID in Texas for instance. The answer is, No. The question has always been the severe restrictions involved in obtaining a certain type of ID. I recently received my new voters registration card in Florida. Does it count as an ID. The answer is No. I am a disabled veteran. Does my military ID count. The answer is. No. It is not the ID per se it is that which surrounds it.

******On page 9 of today's Globe is another story about the VOTER FRAUD that is going on in states around the country. The following is my reply to BOTH ARTICLES.*************QUOTES FROM STORY ON Pg. 9 "As more states adopt strict voter ID rules, a review of TEMPORARY BALLOTS( those cast without ID) from Indiana and Georgia, which first implemented stringent standards, found that more than 1,200 such votes were tossed during the 2008 general election. During sparsely attended primaries this year in Georgia, Indiana, and Tennessee, the states with the toughest ID laws, hundreds more ballots were blocked ( those that could not be verified). Indiana, Georgia, and Tennessee require that voters provide a photo ID at the polls. Failing that, voters can use a temporary ballot that can be verified later".********* So- if I am reading this correctly, the votes cast WITHOUT and ID were put aside, an attempt at verification was made. They COULD NOT be verified and were tossed. SOUNDS FAIR TO ME. IF YOU ARE NOT A CITIZEN YOU CAN NOT VOTE. It is as simple as that.*************Story in the GLOBE July 7-----"A voter ID law in Texas has been blocked by the Justice Department, while in Florida, which also has a photo ID requirement, federal officials have sued to halt state attempts TO BAR NON-CITIZENS from voting".*****Can you believe that!!!!!Someone wants to bar NON CITIZENS from voting. The nerve of some people.!!!!!

Did you read the article. It also stated far more eligible voters votes were not counted because of the law. If you lived in one of these states it might well be yours.

The fraud involved in this issue is the Republican claim that there is widespread voter fraud. Even during an intensified period of searching for voter fraud during the Bush administration, almost none was found: "Five years after the Bush administration began a crackdown on voter fraud, the Justice Department has turned up virtually no evidence of any organized effort to skew federal elections, according to court records and interviews." [ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html ] As the New York Times noted in an editorial entitled "The Myth of Voter Fraud" last year, "There is almost no voting fraud in America. And none of the lawmakers who claim there is have ever been able to document any but the most isolated cases. The only reason Republicans are passing these laws is to give themselves a political edge by suppressing Democratic votes." [ http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/opinion/the-myth-of-voter-fraud.html ]

I'll tell you this No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn I'll tell you 'bout Texas Radio and the Big Beat Soft drivin', slow and mad, like some new language Now, listen to this, and I'll tell you 'bout the Texas I'll tell you 'bout the Texas Radio I'll tell you 'bout the hopeless night Wandering the Western dream Tell you 'bout the maiden with raw iron soul

You show ID to buy beer but not to vote?

It is a blatant lie to say that requiring a photo ID to vote denies citizens their voting rights. This is nothing more than an Obama campaign talking point to mobilize African-American voters who are experiencing depression-level unemployment under Obama. If a person is a citizen and if they want to vote, it is not a burden to simply apply for proper identification.

Who said that? It wasn't anywhere in the article. The claim is it creates an added burden, which it does, but I saw no claim that voting rights were denied. There was a time when there was a poll tax, which was also a burden. The key is to adapt. In the case of the poll tax it was eliminated. For voter ID, the solution for those who feel it is a burden, and for the community that is allegedly burdened, is to engage in efforts to help those who are burdened get the ID's more easily, similar to voter registration drives. One thing I am curious about, however. Here in MA, or at least in Hingham, voter registration requires establishment of residency. A voter ID card should, in theory, render that moot, overturning the function of voting districts. If photo ID cards for voting purposes were issued on a national level, then in principle one should be able to vote anywhere, rather than in your voting district. The identification number on the card would prevent voting more than once.

Who said that? Our esteemed attorney general for one.

Nice posting, Richmond. Only closed minds could click on dislike.

No, he didn't. He said it would have a disproportionate impact on minority voters. He's right, but the solution is to find a balance, not have knee-jerk reactions. If it is a simple matter of helping people get to the right offices and file the right forms, such apparata are already in place for voter registration and can be adapted. If there is a Constitutional issue it will be resolved, whether in the supreme courts of the states, or at the Federal level.

The right-wing push for voter ID laws are not responding to any demonstrated need. If we're going to say that driving a car requires a license why not the same for voting, then we should also demand licensing for all guns as lethal instruments.

I know that when I have gone to vote, they have checked off the wrong name and I have corrected them. The only thing you need in my area to vote multiple times is a street name and the ability to point to an unchecked name upside down. Voter fraud is hard to prove because turnout is so low that it is pretty easy to pick a name that no one will show up to challenge. An id is not a barrier to vote. You have to have id for cigarettes, alcohol, food stamps, driving, healthcare ( my docs require that you show id at least the first time), and for employment. Everyone who is legit has an id. If you aren't legit, well, you shouldn't be voting anyway.

I wish I looked young enough to have to show ID to buy beer.

Who cares who clicks on like or dislike? I certainly don't, and I doubt Richmond12 cares whether it is clicked at all.

The remedy for "disproportionate impact" on the poor is to make photo IDs for citizens free and give rides to the government office to get them, not to encourage voting by those who are ineligible to vote under the law.

I said that. Twice. Nice to know we agree.

Thanks for the compliment, Ozark. The "dislikes" for my postings are usually the result of my strong, irrefutuable arguments. What they "dislike", is that I have made an iron clad point, which cannot be disproved. The "dislike" being proved wrong.