Not a big fan of the sternly worded letter strategy and not sure this will do much to help solve the problem. Nonetheless, it can’t hurt that 16 senators asked the DOJ to investigate the current spate of Voter ID laws to determine whether they violate the Voting Rights Act’s prohibitions on discrimination. I think it’s rather obvious that they do:
Studies have shown that as high as 11% of eligible voters nationwide do not have a government-issued ID. This percentage is higher for seniors, racial minorities, low-income voters and students.
In other words, Democratic voters. The danger here though is the GOPers who passed these laws will surely fight any challenges in the courts and SCOTUS would likely make the final determination. Considering the track record of the Roberts court, they could very well end up legalizing the disenfranchisement.
Which reminds me, the single most important reason to re-elect Obama is there is likely to be openings on that court in the next four years and we really don’t want a Republican president to be choosing the candidates. And please spare me the arguments about how Obama won’t nominate liberal enough judges who sufficiently hate corporations. Anybody he nominates will still be light years better than Roberts or Alito.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Well, that should only be about a third of the comments.
At least they’re talking about it. And IANAL, but isn’t there a good chance the laws can at least get suspended (not the right term, I know) while the court challenges go on, depending on judges and appeals, etc.
Svensker
How can we trust anything you write when you have friends who are Republicans?
cleek
cue the chorus of impatient indignant ideologues!
WE WANT WHAT I WANT AND WE WANT IT NOW!
Martin
But Kagan is a blank slate! And Sotomayor is secretly a right winger! How could Obama sell us out like that!
Jonas
Seniors are democratic voters now?
Brian R.
The FDL crowd will respond that there’s no difference between Sotomayor and Scalia, and you’d have to be an O-bot to believe otherwise.
Wurst Preznit Evar!!!1!!1one!
Jennifer
This was my point in the Great Firebagger “why won’t Obama say he loves gay marriage” Freak-Out.
Marriage equality isn’t going to come to states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama & etc. via state referedum or state-level legislation. Hell, many of these states passed anti-gay marriage constitutional amendments in 2004; the one here in Arkansas passed with a 75% majority. So…you’re looking at a decade or two before the bufords in these parts catch up with the rest of the country.
But…with a friendly majority on the court and a challenge to DOMA, marriage equality would become a de facto reality in ALL the states, because if Adam and Steve get married in New York and move to Arkansas, and the state government or one of its functionaries refuse to recognize the marriage as legally valid, well, then you’ve got a violation of full faith & credit. DOMA is unconstitutional without doubt, though the Roberts court would tie themselves into pretzels to claim that the constitution doesn’t say what it clearly says on the issue. With a friendly court…DOMA gets ruled unconstitutional (as it should) and in addition, all those state-level constituional amendments and anti-gay marriage laws end up in the same boat. The court can’t force Arkansas to legalize same-sex marriages performed in-state, but it can force it to strike the anti-gay marriage amendment from its consitution, since it requires the state to NOT recognize legal same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.
Once we get to that point, people who live in states that haven’t legalized same-sex marriage have only to go to a state that has to get the license and ceremony, and their home state has no choice but to recognize the marriage. It will be kind of like how people went to Reno for quickie divorces. And once we’re there…it’s not long before those states that still won’t allow the licenses to be granted/ceremonies to be performed in state figure out that, if they’re going to have to honor the marriages, they might as well get the economic benefits of allowing them to be performed in-state.
Getting the next appointment to the court is WAY fucking more important than having the president say he supports gay marriage, and in a nutshell, the above is why.
ML
It’s not a matter of the pedigree of “liberal judges” Obama has chosen to nominate.
It’s that he’s remained in hibernation while the GOP has stonewalled his nominations. It’s as if he doesn’t think it worthwhile to fight the republican party about the judiciary.
Warren Terra
I seem to recall that the Roberts Court has already given its blessing to voter-ID laws?
PaminBB
This is the unintended consequence of these voter disenfranchisement attempts. Plenty of the olds no longer drive, and they don’t always bother to get a state-issued alternative. And is there really a high percentage of students that lack driver’s licenses, or rather that they are often issued in another state?
c u n d gulag
Conservative voting rules:
Free
White
Over 41
Male
Stupid/Ignorant
Very rich/Very poor
Fearful/Xenophobic/Racist/Misogynistic
‘Nuff said!
boss bitch
Then Dems and other groups should start pushing people to get down to the DMV. Offer them a ride if you have to.
Libby Spencer
Senior citizens who don’t have IDs are likely to be very poor, so yeah Dem voters. But granted, the affluent ones that do have IDs are more likely to vote GOP.
Martin
Not quite. Obama won CA by 23 points. He lost >65 by 2 points. Other than Republicans and those that go to church more than once a week, >65 was the only other identified demographic that he lost. The 18-29 demographic, Obama won by 53 points. That demographic is increasingly dominated by latinos, btw.
Even among older minorities, Dems do worse. It doesn’t matter what demographic group you look at, older voters in that demographic are more likely to vote Republican.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and more likely to vote, full stop. I heard today that the under 30 turn out in ’10 was 11%. Combine that with Silver’s analysis that a lot of the mid-term races were a lot closer than the CW suggests, and you just want to bang your head against a wall.
ETA: made a google and found the stat is just over 20% for 18-29, down from 51% in 2008
Svensker
@ efgoldman
Deathstyle instead of lifestyle! Reminds me fondly of FOX News “homicide bomber” idiocy.
Linda Featheringill
efg #15
And, and, and . . . she stuck a flower into my gun!
:-)
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
Why don’t Naderites care about Roe v Wade? What is it about these white males who think they’re liberal but are nevertheless indifferent to women’s reproductive rights?
In the last 11 years, I’ve encountered a lot of white male so called “liberals” who don’t care about Roe and even others who openly say it would be great if Roe were overturned because the backlash would serve issues they actually care about (the old Red Brigade notion, “the worst – the better”).
cleek
@Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!):
people overestimate the power of “creative destruction” … ?
Kane
By November 2012 election:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg – 79
Antonin Scalia – 76
Anthony Kennedy – 76
Stephen Breyer – 74
Clarence Thomas – 64
Samuel Alito – 62
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
Man they’re flaky. It was literally only TWO weeks ago when blogs declared whether obama supported gay marriage to be the issue of the century — the issue of our times, akin to abolition of slavery — the issue that would dominate and decide the 2012 campaign. Here we are, not even 15 full days since new york voted to sanction gay marriage, and it’s completely off their radar.
Southern Beale
Marcus Bachmann and Liberace: separated at birth? We report … you decide!
MikeJ
@Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!): I never heard anyone other than Cesca talk about this.
Southern Beale
We saw “Horrible Bosses” today. Kinda cute, sorta like “9 to 5” with testosterone.
Citizen Alan
Mike Kay @ 20
Why do the Republicans even need to overturn Roe anymore? The current status of the law is that the government cannot infringe a woman’s right to an abortion but it can require that no one can provide an abortion unless he first complies with absurd licensing requirements imposed with just two weeks’ notice.
cat48
I think the new ladies on the Court have done well. They’ve even received “fawning” press stories about the new “Liberal” voices. I predict the return of Lui if he gets reelected. He’s very young.
Linda Featheringill
mike #20
The Red Brigade philosophy has gotten a lot of people killed in a lot of different places in the past 100 years or so.
And yet, there are still people who espouse that doctrine.
I wonder if they know where it comes from?
j
Well, when Jane Hamhock runs against Obama in a primary and wins, then SHE can call all the shots.
What are you, not “pure” enough?
dogwood
Yah, it’s hard to move forward when you have to clean up these messes all the time. And Roberts/ Alito vs Sotomayor/Kagan is enough to sober up any Democrat.
Right now the nation is ungovernable. Here’s what it’s like. You buy a fixer-upper that’s pretty well trashed. Your kids are convinced it will be a dream house in the blink of an eye. You’ve got short-term and long term goals and a line of credt. So you clean up and carve out some livable space. Now you start framing in the extra bed and bath you’ll need sooner or later and while you’re working, your wingnut neighbor breaks in and sets the kitchen on fire. So you clean up again, and before you can get back to the new addition, you’re forced to patch a leaky roof rather than get a new one because, despite having good credit the banker says no dice. Then while you were out dealing with roof issues your wingnut brother -in- law broke in and flooded the bathroom. Some of your family and friends think you are doing everything pretty well, some are concerned that you started on the addition before fixing the roof because you hired the wrong roofing advisor. Your children, however hate you because they thought it was going to be like Extreme Home Makeover.
That’s the story of being a democrat in Washington right now.
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
I realize a lot of blogger suffer from some form of ADD, it partly explains why they have trouble completing tasks, trouble maintaining professional and political relationships, and why they easily lose attention. But the irony is still delicious — marriage involves making a commitment, yet these self proclaimed activists are incapable of committing their focusing on any issue for more than 10 days.
Linda Featheringill
dogwood #31
Precious. Just precious. :-)
MikeJ
@dogwood:
And some of them are in the backyard actively trying to pump the propane from the grill into the basement, with hopes of blowing the house up. Fortunately they’re not capable of pulling that plan off, even if they do break the basement window.
Southern Beale
Seems the CW is that seniors tend to vote conservative/Republican. I can’t imagine that in places where these government ID laws have been passed people won’t be complaining that they couldn’t vote for their favorite Teanut to the AARP or their representative.
j
@22 Kane
And don’t forget to figure into the equation “Fire Island Johnny’s” health issues:
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/cassel/20070802.html
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
you can try to deflect and change the subject. but the issue stands, geeky white male “liberals” are indifferent to women’s rights.
let’s face it, most of these guys have never had a sustained relationship with a woman, so they don’t relate to women on a personal level. Nader, himself, is the best example of this. He’s a geek, who’s never been in a relationship, and is indifferent to women’s rights.
It’s no surprise that few women ever attend either a Nader rally or a Star Trek convention.
TenguPhule
What we need is a corporate personage that makes maximum profit for shareholders by making Alito, Thomas and Robers lives so miserable that they commit suicide. Pollute their home’s air, dump shit in their yards, file claims of imminent domain on their homes “for economic good”.
They made the bed. Let them taste the shit in it.
Martin
Yes. The only reason 2010 didn’t look like 2008 is the turnout. If Dems could turn out their side like 2008 in every election, there’d be no Republican party in 4 cycles.
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
I’ve actually had a naderite tell me how great it will be when the first woman is placed on trial for having an illegal abortion.
And you they’re are right. Overturning Roe will lead to a blacklash. But not in all places. Yes, there will be a backlash in suburban swing districts in key states. But there won’t be any backlash in evangelical, rural, red states like West Virgina, and women will die.
patrick II
@ Kane
Thomas will only be 64 in 2012, he was just 43 when he was appointed to the court in 1991. He might go another twenty years. Not just a travesty, but a long-term travesty.
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
These people actually believe, “In order to save America, you first have to destroy America.” That’s the lesson they took from the Great Depression, that social programs are easier to enact in desperate times. And while it’s partly true, it isn’t liberal to hope for massive hunger, homelessness, and bread lines so that solar power plants can be constructed.
Suffern ACE
@Kane – yep. you need to hold the WH for two more term if you are going to break the 5 and one more at least if Ginsberg decides to leave so it doesn’t go to six.
dogwood
Mike Kay:
That’s why elected Democrats ignore these people. Activists focus on an issue and burrow in. They become experts and they make connections. They write legislative proposals and try to find sponsors. They raise money and awareness. Poseurs like Hampsher talk like they are experts in every field. People who say they want a JOBS BILL NOW, show their lack of seriousness. I mean what exactly is a “jobs bill”? Is it infrastructure alone, or is energy included? What about taxes? Is that part of the deal? But most importantly – What concessions and compromises are you willing to accept to get it passed? Real activists would have answers to all these questions. Fake ones, not so much.
Monkey Business
Arch Liberal, Arch Conservative, Conservative Moderate, Liberal Moderate, Arch Conservative, Conservative. Two liberals, three conservatives.
Ginsburg is almost assured of retiring during Obama’s hypothetical second term, because the prospect of dying on the bench during a hypothetical Republican administration in 2016+ is downright frightening. Scalia would rather die on the bench than let a Democratic President choose his replacement; he may get his wish. Kennedy and Breyer could go either way. Alito is too young; barring something major, he’ll serve through Obama’s second term, and possibly into the second term of his successor.
Thomas is finding himself in hot water over his wife’s activities and his own misconduct. He won’t leave the court voluntarily. He’ll die on the bench if he’s allowed to. Whether or not he’s actually allowed to is the question.
Absolute best case scenario: the Democrats keep the Senate in 2012, and Ginsburg privately tells the White House to start looking for candidates to replace her in the next year or two. Scalia gets hit by a bus or has a massive heart attack reading the ACA. Obama nominates a true liberal to replace Ginsburg, and a moderate liberal to replace Scalia. Thomas gets removed from the court for misconduct and Obama picks a moderate liberal to replace him.
Roberts, Alito, and Kennedy are the minority in a lot of 5-4 and 6-3 decisions.
It’s not the 2012-2016 Presidency we should be worried about. It’s 2016-2020 and beyond.
Marc McKenzie
Well…it doesn’t surprise me one bit.
If anything, what happened in 2000 should have been a goddamned wake-up call. But that was drowned under the wave of “not a dime’s worth of difference.”
This clip from MSNBC illustrates the problem all too well:
http://weeseeyou.com/2011/07/07/in-case-you-missed-it-rev-sharpton-and-jamal-simmons-on-voter-rights/
@Mike Kay 43: Very true, Mike. What scares me, though, is the complete lack of concern for those who will be affected and will suffer. No, not the rich and well-off, but the “average Joe”.
Southern Beale
I always got the impression that Scalia was going to stroke out. He’s just so tightly wound. And Roberts has that seizure problem.
You just can’t look at someone’s age and assume they will be on the court forever.
Fletch
I remember being “carded” while buying a pack of ‘rolling papers’ at the age of 33 (in 1998) .
Why does the election of our Gov’t deserve less scutiny?
M
@Fletch
Because voting is a constitutional right.
Fletch
@M-
Because voting is a constitutional right.
I agree.
Voting is a constitutional right for every person who is eligible to vote.
How should we determine which people are eligible?
dogwood
Good grief, people like you are so transparent it’s pathetic. Illegal immigrants aren’t lining up to vote ; they ten to avoid places where government authorities congregate. So what really is your concern? Are you worried that the polls have failed to spot all those 16 year olds who vote illegally? Are you concerned about the authenticity of absentee ballots? In a nation where fewer than half of eligible voters cast a ballot in most elections, you’re concerned about this out of a sense of civic duty I’m sure.
superdestroyer
If 11% of adults do not have a government issued ID, then how would single-payer healthcare ever work. If anyone can walk into every clinic in the county and give them a made up name and say that they do not have an ID, the cheating will be massive and the confusion could harm everyone.
Maybe the expectation should be that everyone will get a picture ID from the government.
fnook
How should we determine which people are eligible?
We don’t have to determine anything. Citizens have the right to vote, right? unless convicted of a major crime. ID requirements don’t go to “eligibility.” They go to “are you who you say are,” which is different.
BruceFromOhio
Jennifer said:
That was some serious Firebagger overload that day, may have even carried into the next. There’s still some smoke damage in the garage, I think. Go ahead and throw Ohio in the mix, we still can’t get our shit straight on whether gambling is acceptable. Marriage equality in the Buckeye is, sadly, at least a generation away.
And thanks for the Ringo post(s).
Steeplejack
@superdestroyer:
This is hilarious. If we truly had single-payer health care that covered everyone, why would it matter if you showed up at a clinic and said your name was, say, Brick Oven Bill? Since single-payer by definition covers everyone, you would be covered and you would be treated. No cheating, no confusion.
The only exception might be if you were some devious foreigner trying to poach our sweet, sweet Americare. But in a true single-payer system, I think it might end up being like those stories you hear from U.S. travelers in countries like France where they have a medical emergency that forces them to get treated locally, and they are shocked–shocked!–to find that the care is as good as back in the good old USA and they pay out of pocket only some
trivialreasonable amount.Fletch
@dogwood
Illegal immigrants aren’t lining up to vote ; they ten to avoid places where government authorities congregate.
Where did I mention “illegal” immigrants? (I thought the appropriate leftist language was “undocumented individual”)
I live in Ohio. The law says that you must establish residency in your various gov’t districts and register to vote 30 days before the election.
I would think it’s almost “Necessary and Proper” to mandate proving your eligibility to vote.
Have you applied for Food Stamps or Welfare lately (or even put on “probation” in the criminal justice system)? Bring your photo ID…
BruceFromOhio
And where the heck is WyldMoran? He/She/It had such awesomeness to offer on voter suppression in Ohio, I expect a chance to “go big or stay home” would be irresistible.
Though, thinking it through, it’s so devious and evil it almost begs salute: pack your court, then pack your legislatures, pass a bunch of loony-tune bullshit laws that the court either punts, shows a better way to do it, or just let’s it slide. That’s some long-term planning and execution that would make ol’ Turdblossom just grin.
ETA: monkeybiz @ 46, nice rundown. Thomas won’t get flung in this session, perhaps the next. But if not then, probably not at all.
Corner Stone
@BruceFromOhio: You’re reaching dog. That was pathetic.
BruceFromOhio
Only the best for you, CS.
Fletch
@Fnook
Citizens have the right to vote, right?
A three yr old American citizen can vote? Really?
ID requirements don’t go to “eligibility.”
As an Ohioan, why can’t I vote in Michigan or Kentucky? How do you prevent me from voting in those other jurisdictions.
They go to “are you who you say are,” which is different
Because proving “who you say you are” in real life doesn’t apply to elections? Nice!
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
When Roe was decided in 1973, abortion was only fully legal in 4 states (NY, WA, AK, HI).
Gay marriage will come via the Supreme Court. Sadly, I don’t think most so called “liberals” realize that.
Mike Kay ( Geronimo!!)
Registration laws would prevent it.
Look, let’s not pretend, this isn’t about I.Ds. Republicans oppose increased voter turn out. When the Motor Voter law was passed 1993, a law that simply allowed people to register at their local motor vehicle department with their driver’s license (ie their photo I.D.s), 150 out of 170 republicans voted against the measure. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1993/roll154.xml
Corner Stone
@BruceFromOhio: Appreciates yas.
dogwood
Fletch@57:
No. However, you are asserting a false analogy here. Food stamps and welfare are not analogous to voting. I may be eligible for food stamps, but I can reasonably be expected to prove it since I will be receiving a payment-in-kind paid for by the taxpayers. I obviously don’t have a fundamental right to the benefit since it can be revoked. If the government ended the food stamp program, I wouldn’t get very far in court demanding my fundamental rights as a citizen. Voting is not a benefit; it does not entail a transfer of goods or service. It is a right, and I should not have to pay to exercise it, especially since it doesn’t apply to all citizens. If you have a drivers lic. this means you vote for free. If you don’t you have to pony up.
pjcamp
That’s assuming he nominates someone. So far, he’s shown no great urgency in that regard. He is running for reelection and his administration is still not fully staffed, in large part because he hasn’t nominated anyone yet. Ditto for the federal judiciary (which, if he were thinking about future SCOTUS nominees, would motivate some urgency).
I honestly don’t know how this guy’s mind works.
Mike Kay ( Geronimo !!)
you should ask bin Laden how Obama’s mind works. Ooops, you can’t he’s at the bottom of the ocean.
superdestroyer
Steeplejack
If I can walk into a doctors office and give your name then the advantages of a unified medical records is lost. Everything that I tell the health care work, lab results, etc will end up on your medical records and all of the prescriptions that I receive will be attributed to you. England, the poster boy of the single payer crowd, required a government ID.
For single-payer to work, then everyone needs a government issue, picture ID.
The ID that the government can function without everyone havng and ID is foolish. Taxes, health care, entitlements, etc require that everything be attributed to the correct person.
TheMightyTrowel
I live in england and I have never been asked for an ID when I walk into the doctor’s office. They ask my name and my address, that’s it. When I registered intially I was a student at a UK university – that was good enough information because all students get NHS care. I can’t remember, but I may once have been asked for my NI (national insurance) card number when registering with a new practice, but usually they just take your former address and former doctor’s office and transfer the files from there. As to voting, when elections are coming up, letters are automatically sent to all UK eligible voters (incl my BF) to tell them where they are registered to vote. Even when you move, you are automatically registered in the local precinct or you can vote by post.
Steeplejack
@superdestroyer:
Nice straw man you constructed there. No one is arguing against the need for identification. They are arguing against specific onerous forms of identification that the Republicans are using as voter suppression tactics.
When I went to vote in 2010 (in Virginia) I presented a voter registration card that was mailed to me after I originally registered here. I did not have to produce a driver’s license (which I did not have) or a picture ID. I do have the latter, an official Virginia state ID card. Getting it required the same long, tedious bus ride to the DMV as a driver’s license, and the cost was not insignificant (somewhere between $20-50). If I were a 75-year-old shut-in who already had a valid voter registration, why should I be required to go this extra step?
And note that you moved the goalposts regarding health care. I agree that an ID is very helpful to make sure your medical history can be referenced and you get the right meds–if you are switching doctors, say–but that’s not the point you made. You specifically referenced “massive cheating” and confusion that “could harm everyone.”
If the care is “free”–in the sense that it is prepaid for everyone out of the single-payer till–how can there be massive cheating?
Also, you said nothing about someone giving my name at the clinic; you gave the example that someone can “walk into every clinic in the county and give them a made up name and say that they do not have an ID.” There is a difference. If someone says he is me, he should be able to prove it, although not necessarily with a “government issue, picture ID.”
Look, I just started with a new dentist a couple of months ago. I gave my name, the name of the insurance provider and the account number for my company. That’s all. No ID whatsoever. I didn’t even have an insurance card. I had the information written down on an index card. Could someone else with that information impersonate me and start getting dental care somewhere else? Yeah. And at some point the insurance company would notice and start asking questions about why I’m getting care from two different dentists, and eventually it would get sorted out. Actually–I just realized this–under single-payer that problem goes away. Citizen Steeplejack is receiving dental care here. Unknown citizen X is receiving dental care there. (Unless ZOMG! it’s the illegal Mexicans!) Hmm. But I digress.
If
someoneunknown citizen X comes in with no ID and a made-up name, he could still get care (under single-payer). The staff would presumably start a new file for “Brick Oven Bill,” vagrant, address “the park across the street,” and things would proceed from there.Finally, I see that TheMightyTrowel has addressed this in practical, real-world terms.
kay
You’re ignoring registration, which is yet another of the 5,000 voting flim-flams media and conservatives have foisted on us.
You said you live in Ohio, so let’s walk thru Ohio process. When you register, two things happen: your ID (driver’s license or SS #) is verified. That’s your identity. Your address is verified (not that you reside there, but that it exists). That’s done thru the postal service database. All of that is done when you register, and you’re put in a state database, which then goes to your county. You’re not a voter. You weren’t before. That’s registration. Step One.
What you and conservatives are demanding is a SECOND process, on election day.
The one and only (rational) reason conservatives demand this SECOND process is to guard against “voter impersonation fraud”. You know this is true because you just walked thru the registration process with me, right?
Voter impersonation fraud imagines (and that’s the right word) that a NON-REGISTERED voter who has been deemed invalid by that first process IMPERSONATES a registered voter. He or she walks in and signs the book as a DIFFERENT PERSON. He’s the nailed by the pollworker for impersonating another voter.
You think about how goddamnned ridiculous that scenario is, and ask yourself again why you and conservatives insist on a SECOND PROCESS.
You think about someone risking a felony by walking in and taking the chance that the voter he or she is impersonating has already voted that day, or absentee, and then taking the chance of signing the poll book (in Ohio, that’s the process) as another person.
It’s ludicrous. That’s why it never happens.
Registration and voting. Two different processes.
kay
Come back, because this is my very favorite subject. We’ll go thru Ohio voting process line by line, and you will see :)
You’ll either die of boredom or be persuaded, one. You really require additional haranguing by me, in my view.
superdestroyer
TheMightyTrowel
There is a national Health service number that is used in the United Kingdom. http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/corporate/news/nhsnumber/ And notice how the government wants to use it for patient identification.
Of course many other countries do require an ID card for everyone. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_document#European_Union
superdestroyer
Steeplejack
Without a national ID, a criminal can use your name, DOB, and address to go from healthcare provider to healthcare getting perscriptions for pain killers. Criminal providers can keep submitting bills to CMS using your identity. pranksters can look at your medical records and have things added. Image applying for life insurance and finding out that someone else’s health problems are on your medical records.
A national health care system and an integrated medical record system will require a national ID system. And I bet that 75 y/o shut in or the none English speaker will have no problem getting an ID if it means more entitlements.
Of course, the real reason progressives do not want any voter verificaiton is that progressives benefit greatly from voter fraud, double voting, non-citizens voters, and having the dead vote.
Mike Kay (Team America)
superdestroyer,
if you guys are so concerned about lack of I.D.s then why did you opposed the Motor Voter law? 150 out of 170 republicans voted against the measure. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1993/roll154.xml