Pennsylvania passed a new voter ID law without an actual reason why they needed it , which led to the meanies at the ACLU suing because they hate partial democracy with largely arbitrary requirements. Today, a Pennsylvania state judge upheld the law .
I read somewhere that dividing the number of Philly / Pittsburgh voters that were potentially affected, by the number of hours the ID-issuing offices will be open between now and the registration cutoff, yielded an absurd result (impossible to process even a significant portion of those needing ID before the deadline). Have you seen any reporting along that line...?
Consider it apocryphal until confirmed (I mean, surely the judge wouldn't uphold the law if it were so, right?)...
ETA - <blockquote>In Philadelphia, it&rsquo;s even worse: 186,830 registered voters, or 18 percent, do not have ID.</blockquote> <a href="http:\/\/www.citypaper.net\/blogs\/nakedcity\/Corbett-contracts-with-Romney-fundraiser-Voter-ID-campaign.html" target="_blank">linky</a>
So let&#039;s run some (heh) conservative numbers... Say that estimate&#039;s off by a third. And I see there are <i>five</i> PennDOT offices in Philadelphia County - let&#039;s pretend most of the photo ID units are open on Monday, for a generous total of 48 hours a week. And assume full-blown registration is allowed right up to the day before the election...
124,553 potential voters to process in (5 offices*8 hours per day*67 days =) 2,680 hours.
Unless my math is flawed (or my logic - all too possible), that&#039;s a mere <b>46.47</b> voters to process per office, every single hour...
...unless a good chunk of those voters are willing and able to travel outside the county...
I voted in Connecticut yesterday and had to show ID. And I&#039;m white! Somebody obviously didn&#039;t get the memo on how this is supposed to work.
The trouble I have with all these voter ID and curtailed hours and purge the rolls schemes is that they were passed without an intervening general election. Legislators should face an intervening election, otherwise it looks like they are rigging the system to help insure their own re-election. It&#039;s a kind of cheating.
Also, no actual fraud, it&#039;s an indirect poll tax, first time in U.S. history voting has been restricted, etc.
He who counts the votes decides everything. After the fiasco in Milwaukee county where the County Clerk was using MS Access to track votes and had a little oopsy moment, I suspect a few burough/village/town clerks will be deciding the elections in these communities.
I read somewhere that dividing the number of Philly / Pittsburgh voters that were potentially affected, by the number of hours the ID-issuing offices will be open between now and the registration cutoff, yielded an absurd result (impossible to process even a significant portion of those needing ID before the deadline). Have you seen any reporting along that line...?
Maybe it was on Balloon Juice.
Consider it apocryphal until confirmed (I mean, surely the judge wouldn&#039;t uphold the law if it were so, right?)...
ETA - <blockquote>In Philadelphia, it&rsquo;s even worse: 186,830 registered voters, or 18 percent, do not have ID.</blockquote> <a href="http:\/\/www.citypaper.net\/blogs\/nakedcity\/Corbett-contracts-with-Romney-fundraiser-Voter-ID-campaign.html" target="_blank">linky</a>
So let&#039;s run some (heh) conservative numbers... Say that estimate&#039;s off by a third. And I see there are <i>five</i> PennDOT offices in Philadelphia County - let&#039;s pretend most of the photo ID units are open on Monday, for a generous total of 48 hours a week. And assume full-blown registration is allowed right up to the day before the election...
124,553 potential voters to process in (5 offices*8 hours per day*67 days =) 2,680 hours.
Unless my math is flawed (or my logic - all too possible), that&#039;s a mere <b>46.47</b> voters to process per office, every single hour...
...unless a good chunk of those voters are willing and able to travel outside the county...
I voted in Connecticut yesterday and had to show ID. And I&#039;m white! Somebody obviously didn&#039;t get the memo on how this is supposed to work.
Did anyone check this judge&#039;s ID before accepting his ruling?
The trouble I have with all these voter ID and curtailed hours and purge the rolls schemes is that they were passed without an intervening general election. Legislators should face an intervening election, otherwise it looks like they are rigging the system to help insure their own re-election. It&#039;s a kind of cheating.
Also, no actual fraud, it&#039;s an indirect poll tax, first time in U.S. history voting has been restricted, etc.
Primary, don&#039;t care.
He who counts the votes decides everything. After the fiasco in Milwaukee county where the County Clerk was using MS Access to track votes and had a little oopsy moment, I suspect a few burough/village/town clerks will be deciding the elections in these communities.