Recently there have been a number of states passing legislation requiring photo identification at the voter polls. Currently thirty-four states have passed photo identification legislation. There are two forms of photo identification, non-strict and strict. Strict photo identification is when voters that do not have proper photo identification at the polls have to show their proper identification at a different time in order for their provisional ballot to count. Non-strict photo identification is when voters that do not have proper photo identification at the polls cast a provisional ballot that would be counted in a close election without the voter having to do additional tasks. Controversy surrounds the photo identification legislations laws. There are two main sides to this legislation, those that approve of photo identification and those that do not.
Support for photo identification is one point of view surrounding the controversy of photo identification legislations. There are a variety of reasons that one would support the photo identification legislation. The main reason for the support is that photo identification would prevent voter fraud. On Election Day, there are many cases of people posing as someone else to take another vote. This is crime but there are still reported cases of voter fraud. According to the National Conference of State Legislature, “proponents see increasing requirements for identification as a way to prevent in-person voter impersonation and increase public confidence in the election process” (Underhill, 2014, para.4). In other words, photo identification at the polls would drastically decrease voter fraud and help increase assurance of the democratic system. The idea behind photo identificati...
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...ion | Brennan Center for Justice. The Challenge of Obtaining Voter Identification | Brennan Center for Justice. Retrieved April 18, 2014, from http://www.brennancenter.org/publication/challenge-obtaining-voter-identification
Lee, S. (2012, November 5). Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know About Voter ID Laws. Top Stories RSS. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.propublica.org/article/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-voter-id-laws
Underhill, W. (2014, March 26). Voter Identification Requirements. Voter Identification Requirements. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx
Wasik, J. (2012, November 6). Voter Fraud: A Massive, Anti-Democratic Deception. Forbes. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwasik/2012/11/06/voter-fraud-a-massive-anti-democratic-deception/
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Not all people are able to get an ID due to many reasons such as homelessness or not having the ability to update an existing ID before the election. This issue mostly affects disabled or poor persons. Another reason this issue is because certain groups of people, such as Republicans, are trying to tamp down these voters by putting up laws such as these. Those there is a legitimate reason behind these laws, it does prevent a certain amount of people from voting, enough people to swing the vote one direction or another.
Today, the citizens of the United States must push Congress to formulate an oversight measure to fix voter disenfranchisement. By itself, Supreme Court Ruling Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder does minimal damage to the voting process of the United States. The court ruled discriminatory practices of district actions half a century old unconstitutional, but left a responsibility for Congress to modernize the Voting Rights Act, to ensure that no district nor individual is discriminated against. Given the history of the United States’s voter suppression and the original need for the Voting Rights Act, a new, modern voter equality policy is of dire importance.
Berry, Jeffrey. Goldman, Jerry (2008). The Challenge of Democracy (9th ed.). Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. Linder, Doug (2007).
Hasen, Richard. "Voter Suppression's New Pretext." the New York Times 16 November 2013: A- 19. Print.
"Voting and Registration." United States Census Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau, 08 May 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.
The wave of new voting restrictions passed around the country, mostly by Republicans, after their victories in the 2010 elections. Supporters of the law argue that such restrictions are necessary to prevent fraud. On the other hand, voting law opponents contend these laws disproportionately affect elderly, minority and low-income groups that tend to vote Democratic. Obtaining photo ID can be costly and burdensome because photo ID laws create a new "financial barrier to the ballot box”. It would have prevented hundreds of thousands of Hispanic voters from the polls just because they lack a state-issued photo ID.
Ibid. Is it a sham? Ibid. Is it a sham? Tony Coulson, “Voter Turnout in Canada: Findings from the 1997 Canadian Elections Study,”Electoral Insight, 1:2 (November 1999), 18-23.
Voter ID laws in the United States have begun to create controversy since the beginning of its adaptations in the early 2000’s. Voter ID laws in the United States is a law that requires U.S. citizens to have a special form of identification in order to vote in an election. The idea with Voter ID laws is that the state must make sure that the laws do not pose any sort of burden on the voters. These laws have been proposed in order to stop voting fraud. However, the institution of Voter ID laws has caused trouble in states, including Texas, regarding the various amount of identification requirements needed.
Dye, T. R., Zeigler, H., & Schubert, L. (2012). The Irony of Democracy (15th ed.).
Crosley, Hillary. “How Data Took Down NYC’s Stop and Frisk” The Hour (2013) 1-3. Print.
Voting is one of the citizens’ rights living in a country. In the past, not everyone can vote. Voting used to be for only white American men. However, our ancestors fought for that rights. Eventually, any American who are older than eighteen can vote, despite their race or gender. In addition, voter turnout is used to keep track of the voting. It is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election. Unfortunately, the voter turnout has been decreasing over time, and it means that there are less and fewer people who actually show up and vote. This essay will discuss the voter turnout in Harris County, Texas.
Center for Constitutional Rights. "Stop and Frisk - The Human Impact Report (full Text)."Stop and Friskorg. N.p., July-Aug. 2012. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
Voter ID laws eliminate all forms of voter fraud and restore integrity to elections, Government-issued photo IDs are inexpensive and easy to obtain, and voter ID laws don’t restrict the right to vote and restore confidence to voters. To begin with, what is voter fraud? Voter fraud is the illegal obstruction of an election. Voter fraud is composed of double voting, intimidation, undocumented citizens voting, tampering with electronic or paper ballots, as well as deceased voting. Some opponents, such as Attorney General Eric Holder, suggest that there is not a problem with voter fraud.
IDs as a valid form of identification, nor can out of state students vote without a valid
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.