According to news reports, the Republicans have removed the requirement for a photo in their new compromise to the voter photo ID bill.
Republican candidates could always depend on applause when they mentioned their support of voter photo ID legislation. And both State House and State Senate Republicans included the legislation on their top ten lists of legislation to pass in the first 100 days of the 2011 session.
Since Republicans outnumber Democrats 67 – 52 in the State House and 31 – 19 in the State Senate it is hard to understand this quote from the Election Committee Chair David Lewis, “Part of what you do up here is if you don’t get everything you want, you get as much as you can get.”
While HB 351 needed a little tweaking to get it to be as simple and easy to understand (and administer) as the Georgia voter ID legislation, it showed promise. And, since it looks like the Republicans are already getting push-back from liberal lawmakers and liberal special interest groups – now would be a good time to copy and paste the Georgia law verbatim and do what they said they were going to do on the campaign trail.
Click the links to see Georgia’s voter PHOTO ID law (it’s really not much more than I have listed here).
Georgia’s voter ID law O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417 has been tested and is simple and easy to understand. They require one of the following forms of ID to vote:
Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a FREE Voter ID Card
A Georgia Driver’s License, even if expired
Valid employee photo ID from any branch department, agency or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or a county, municipality, board authority or other entity of this state
Valid U.S. passport ID
Valid U.S. military photo ID
Valid tribal photo ID
To receive a voter identification card, voter must provide:
A photo identity document or approved non-photo identity document that includes full legal name and date of birth
Documentation showing the voter’s date of birth
Evidence that the applicant is a registered voter
Documentation showing the applicant’s name and residential address
I am furious, FTTF is on ALERT. These elected officials have 586 days until elections they had better respond to the voice of the people here in NC or find another job. This is in the 100 day Republican plan, so they better straighten up and get it right. PHOTO ID IS THE ONLY WAY TO GO.
This is yet another example of Republican wussification. The people are on your side guys. Grow a spine and pass photo id as promised. It’s one of the reasons the people elected you!
Don’t people already have to show a photo id when they register to vote for the first time, so won’t they already have one. As an election judge, I want this passed with photo id.
The chairman of the House Elections Committee said Wednesday the proposal would allow someone to show their voter registration card to vote. Poll workers first would decide if the person’s signature matches the signature used when the person registered to vote.
http://www.wral.com/news/state/story/9356690/
To our “Republican” representatives, please stop licking the Liberals boots. It is quite unbecoming of principaled men and women!
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin
I have said repeatedly in e-mails to ALL the election committee members, in person to some, the FIRST requirement for voting in both the Federal and State constitution is that you are a citizen. A photo ID is miles better than what we have, but proof of citizenship is FIRST. Indiana requires a birth certificate to get a drivers license or state ID, THEN you use it as a voter ID. US Supreme Court has already ruled this does NOT disenfranchise anybody. This is what some of us have pushed our legislators to do and is the RIGHT thing. So what if Gov. Perdue vetoes it…..she will look like a fool when polls show of=ver 70% ov our state voters want voter photo ID.
Art Wilson
Norman Sanderson, please tell your colleagues that (1) this is IMPORTANT and (2) part of what many campaigned o. What is so hard about this when the Health Reform Act(??) calls for National ID’s with our medicval and financial records by 2013? Let’s get with it, GOP, or have a very unhappy electorate.
I am disappointed the voter ID has not pasted yet but hope our legislators will do the right thing and get the job done. There is no reason why anyone, who has the right to vote, would be disenfranchised. I believe that the ID would help to stop the fraud we have now. Those of us who believe in this must be as loud as the opposition. On this issue and on others.
CALL, CALL, CALL. Our job is to let these legislators know that they need to get a backbone. They campaigned on this. We all signed petitions and have worked for this for 2 years. We were assured this was a done deal. How embarassing and sad! If they cave on this -We, who campaigned for these officials will remove them in 2012!
Republicans were given majorities in Washington and North Carolina. Their primary mandate in Washington was to stop spending—in North Carolina to overthrow a voting law that invites fraud. Neither group is meeting their mandate. Both equivocate with feckless compromises whining a partial win is better than a shut down or a veto. Regardless of the protestations of the “enlightened,” pyrrhic victories by both entities augur a permanent minority for the GOP.
Photo ID voting is a must in NC. What’s wrong with these Republicans. We voted them in for change–real change, not Obama change!!!!
Excuse me but the GOP was elected to pass common sense legislation. NO ONE should be allowed to vote without ID…………how stupid can anyone be. Sorry but this is an extremely important bill.
Republican legislators! For goodness sakes, you are the majority now. Act like it. Vote fraud is rampant in N.C. and across the U.S.A. Help put a stop to it. Refuse to compromise and make photo ID a requirement for voting!
I had been watching and waiting to see if the republican party would do the right thing this time and was in Raliegh at the Legislator building just yesterday. I now know, and unless God changes my mind, I will within the next two hours,become an unaffiliated voter, justas soon as I can get done to the Beaufort County Board of Elections! I will from now on work with the tea party, and the constitution studies to help return our country back to a christian way of life. I will no longer be a puppet to a change that the republican party always propose and never manage to accomplish!
Obama 4 more–that is my answer. Acorn under another name with Howard Dean smiling and Soros funding as the biggest voter fraud takes place again. The hipanic community has been bought off with hopes of amnesty and foodstamps and health care and will be on the dem doles for decades right where inner city blacks are now. The more uninformed you are the more liberal you vote. A photo ID just proves you arre who you say you are. When the trooper looks at you and your license, he immediately verifies physically who you are. We are idiots if we allow the liberals to win on this one.
I hope our legislature listens to the voters and fulfills its promise to pass a voter ID bill that truly represents the reform we deserve. If not, then our group will work to remove these spineless “representatives of the people”, and believe me, the Moccasin Creek Minutemen are active; ask Bob Etheridge, Brad Miller and David Price.
It took 112 years, but finally the sappers breached the castle walls. The vanguard, along with the court followed, but stopped in the courtyard proclaiming, “This will do! To siege the rest of the castle will invite defeat.” What was left of the disillusioned sappers left with the army—never to return.
I encourage everyone who is passionate about Voter ID to visit http://www.NCVotersforVoterID.com. This is site is being developed to keep advise the public on this issue and keep pressure on our legislators to get this bill right.
Republicans!! Please do not follow the motto I gave to Liberals:
Republicans!! Please do not follow the motto I feel the Liberals live by:
“Do as I say, not as I do
It’s all about me and not about you!”
The people of NC gave you the majority and a mandate, so turn your promise into law-pass the
Voter PHOTO ID legislation!!
‘Compromise’ always means Republicans must leave their values at the door and accommodate leftist anti-constitutional policy-du-jour. Here’s a promise: if the GOP chooses not to represent the voters who elected them to office, IN THE ’12 ELECTION WE WILL THROW THEM OUT OF OFFICE LIKE LAST NIGHT’S TRASH. COUNT. ON. IT.
Anything short of PHOTO ID opens the door for more ways to cheat. PHOTO ID is just the first step in assuring we have legitimate elections. There are a lot of Republicans who have worked very hard to get Republicans in office. We don’t need Republicans to act like Democrats.
I cannot express my disappointment and embarrassment that North Carolina will not have Photo I.D.to vote.It is just plane stupid to think that poll works are now going to be responsible for being writing experts!What if someone has a stroke, does this mean their right to vote will be taken away because their writing does match their card.Having worked this system in Arkansas and Georgia photos can be checked very quickly. This will just end up with close elections being decide in the courts.Ninety-nine percent have some form of government I.D. For the few hundred that do not have I.D. and the fewer amount of them who do vote can go any drivers licensee office and get I.D. that looks like a drivers licensee. There is only one reason not to want voters not to show I.D.
This is outrageous! Nothing short of the most complicated and drawn out transaction to prevent new voters is acceptable. We cannot have college kids, old people and minorities ruining our local elections!!!
As a Korean Veteran I would hate to have thought I would have to rely on this bunch of spinless people in the NC Legislature to protect my back because I know now they would sell me out as they have on the photo ID issue.
If all you wish to serve one term go ahead and back off the photo, voter ID. The voters sent to there to do the job. Act as you promised or resign. Voting is somthing to be proud of and a
voter ID card is something our men and women in the military are dying for each day. Don’t shame us or
them by backing down from the job. jan g
There is nothing that is any more “common sense” than requiring one to show a photo ID to validate an honest vote! Please send a hand written note to your rep.
Requiring a valid photo ID is common sense, it mitigates the risk of potential voter fraud. This is an issue to stand on principle, it’s not one to compromise just to get more votes. The GOP has majorities in both houses; do not back down.
This is not a one party issue, we want our State to protect our votes as citizens, it has nothing to do with party (I am an unaffiliated voter). Early Voting increases the potential for voter fraud, a photo ID requirement is a valid internal control to mitigate that risk.
Kansas just passed a bill which might be of interest:
Under the Kansas bill:
•Voters would be required to provide an ID when they cast ballots starting Jan. 1, 2012. The ID could include a driver’s license, a state ID card, a passport, a military ID, or a license for carrying a concealed handgun. Exemptions could include people with permanent physical disabilities or active-duty military personnel and their spouses.
•A free state ID would be available to anyone 18 or older, as long they sign an affidavit stating they plan to vote and don’t have any other form of ID acceptable under the bill.
•Voters casting advance ballots by mail must provide a current driver’s license number, state ID card number or a copy of an acceptable ID form.
•Would-be voters must prove their citizenship when they register to vote beginning Jan. 1, 2013. Acceptable documents for proving citizenship include a birth certificate, a passport or a driver’s license from another state as long as the license shows they have proved their citizenship.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/29/2762041/voter-id-bill-goes-to-brownback.html#ixzz1IDs3x9Eu
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/29/2762041/voter-id-bill-goes-to-brownback.html
Republicans on the House Administration Committee want to shore up voter registration rules in the wake of a Colorado study that found as many as 5,000 non-citizens in the state took part in last year’s election.
Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), the panel’s chairman, called the study “a disturbing wake-up call” that should cause every state to review its safeguards to prevent illegal voting.
“We simply cannot have an electoral system that allows thousands of non-citizens to violate the law and vote in our elections. We must do more to protect the integrity of our electoral processes,” Harper added.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/153079-gop-says-5000-non-citizens-voting-in-colorado-a-wake-up-call-for-states
To Our State Legislators: I have served on a county elections board for a number of years. There is no doubt that Voter ID is the best way to stop fraud. I heard during the campaign that “I will fight.” Now lets see how much fight you have in you. Not much according to reports. If you don’t pass Voter ID, just do nothing. Then In place of Voter ID, pass a recall law. In two years we can elect some one in your place that has some courage and fight to do whats right.
The Duplin County Board of Elections are in the process of investigating reported violations of the election laws in four precincts, that took place during the November 2010 elections. These reported violations have just come to the attention of the election Board.
I noticed in today’s N&O front page(Apr 01, 2011) that the State Health Plan…”was fast-tracked through the Republican-controlled legislature over the last two weeks in a series of votes that fell largely along party lines. Amendments proposed by Democrats were either swiftly voted down or ruled out of order.” Why am I NOT reading this quote about HB 351??????
The Socialists are pushing to prevent photo IDs so that they can vote more than once and also vote for dead relatives. This has got to stop. If they cave, they will face a fierce WE THE PEOPLE at the polls next time. This is what is wrong with the House of Representatives in DC and that Boehner character from Ohio, aka the Caveman because he caves to every whining socialist on the other side of the aisle.
When will it be the right time,if the so-called Republicans weasle out to lobbyists and high pressure liberal politicians. This is a American issue, NOT a political issue! The laws state one vote to 1 person who is LEGAL! Not dead people or illegals! This is why the Tea Party and AFP as well as many other groups have formed. To Seriously Correct the way political groups on both sides live off of the American public with little or no regard for the consequences. Contact your official Republicans and Independents and just say YES to this bill.
The latest talk is that the house republicans are going to redo the bill to make it a true voter photo ID bill. But if you are interested in the topic, make sure that you keep calling your legislator to make sure what you want to happen, happens.
I can’t recall seeing such unanimous outrage over an issue. This should be straight forward……you don’t compromise with corruption.
*Most people who pay bills and their taxes have a photo ID. Voters who want a Photo Voter ID are paying taxes, politician’s salaries and working hard to make sure the system works, most politicians are working against us. The same people who are not paying taxes, emergency room visits, taking our jobs or want to work the system in some way are the ones who the politicians seem to support. I guess our vote doesn’t count!
*If we are so concerned about voter rights, which most of us are in one way or another, making sure everyone can get out to vote just showing an electrical bill is ridiculous. My dog ate my electrical bill! What if someone had a fire and they couldn’t find an electrical bill? Will you give this credence?
I support photo ID for voting in NC.
photo ID is required to drive a car, buy a beer,get on an airplane, cash a check, carry a gun, get into
Cost Co. We need to insure no voter fraud. Seems
simple enough. Just require it.
The many required usages for a photo ID are well known and mentioned in the comments above. If a photo ID is required for cashing a check, etc., what then is the reasoning for not requiring a photo ID to vote, one of most sacred of our rights in this country. If not a photo ID for voting, maybe we should outlaw the requirement for a photo ID for all the other federal, state and local transactions for which it is required. Hmmmm?? I am tired of the whining about disenfranchising minorities, etc. What about the rights of everyone else, such as the average citizen. Voter fraud does occur (as witnessed by the recent finding in CO) no matter what politicians tell us and the photo ID would help stop some of the voter fraud.
I think this is a betrayal of the purpose we sent Republicans to Raleigh for. Why in the world are they backing down on this? Big deal! Without a picture anyone can get a fake ID.
I don’t understand why this doesn’t fly. As a chronic pain patient I see physicians quite frequently, Every medical practice requires me to show a photo ID. On May 31 I will be seeing a new physician at another practice. They sent me a letter reminding me to bring a photo ID.
I guess we go back to ACORN under new affiliate names dragging street people to the polling places again. Let’s see… five days… five homeless shelter addresses…five polling places. They don’t even need to go to the cemetary for names.
By the way. The Secretary of State of Colorado found 11,805 noncitizens registered to vote in his state. I wonder how many we may have here?
Republican legislators be warned. Many of us will vote you out as fast as we voted you in.
You Republicans need to get a spine. We voted you in to do exactly what you said you would do. If not we’ll just vote you out. Quit being afraid of the media. We don’t
Come on! Voter ID is a must. Dems are afraid they will never win again without cheating. Anyone with brains enough to vote has enough brains to obtain ID.
I support voter I.d. And my vote will reflect the outcome of this bill.
Every Tea Party and patriot group in North Carolina should be exerting all the influence they can to get Voter PHOTO I.D. passed. It has been made quite clear why there is so much objection from the left to this bill. Compromise should not be an option here.