Identification to vote?

So who here was asked for ID to vote? I wasn't... just walked in, gave my street address and name, and cast my vote... that seems to be the case pretty much everywhere.

That's not the case everywhere...
In NY, for instance, you have to sign the book and supposedly they check to see if your signature matches.

But in VT, all you do is spell your last name for them and you're set. You don't even need to know where you live - they tell you.

There is a copy of your signature in the book in WNY - you sign next to that where they also put which number you are in the voting process of that district.

same here, the signature i provided on my registration was printed in the book.

and supposedly they check to see if your signature matches.

She specifically said "sign it exactly the same way."

When my mom went to vote, she said my sister and I still have cards at our old polling place. I haven't voted there in over 5 years.

Unless it's your first federal election, in which case you may be require to provide photo identification thanks to the federal "Help America [Not] Vote Act" of 2002

Gave my address and name, signed against the sig on file. Done. Very efficient, very courteous. Unlike last time where the woman held out her hand for my voter registration card and then glared at me and heaved a sigh when I told her I didn't have it.

I know my rights, dammit. :)

See, that's SLIGHTLY better.....
I didn't even have to sign.
:P

Photo ID should at least be required.

Your aim is to disenfranchise the homeless?

It disenfranchises many poor people, not just hte homeless.

it was an example

I don't get it.� How does requiring a photo ID disenfranchise poor people?�

And as to the homeless... don't you need an address to register to vote, anyhow?� So that's a problem for them even without the ID.

See, that's what I don't know.... for all I know, their little book they looked me up in had a section for "no known address".

*shrugs*

You can give a street corner as an address.

And poor people don't have the time or the money to go through DMV shit. Plus, poor and homeless people are likely to not have the points of identification required to apply for a DMV ID in the first place.

Exactly.. which is why you should have a free, or even $5, ID card.
Or SOME form of ID.

I mean, come on, there has got to be a way... even a semi-permanent stamp of some kind... (not like the ones that rub off... :P )

Hrm.
Interesting point.

So what's the solution?
We obviously need some kind of positive identification.

Fingerprinting? DNA test? Retina scan? ;)

Actually, what we should do is start having birth certificates in ID card form. A lot of the world seems to have that.

Actually, what we should do is start having birth certificates in ID card form. A lot of the world seems to have that.

That's available where I live.

Retina scans? Well they can do one eye but not the other. I wonder if that would discriminate me from voting...hmmmm

We obviously need some kind of positive identification.

do we, though? do we even need voter registration? what we need is a system that allows everyone of voting age to vote and can prevent people from voting multiple times, through appropriate, privacy-minded record keeping.

I'm not sure how that can be done, though.

I think we're talking about he same thing here.

:D

I mean, my point was... I could have just looked down at ANY fucking entry in that book... and said it was my name. And they would have just checked me off.

That, in my mind, is absurd.

THe only thing stopping anyone from voting as "nate derose" was the fact that I showed up and voted as, well, me.

Wow, they didn't even ask for my address. They asked for my last name and then my first name, and then the guy asked if my middle initial was J, and I said yes. Then I signed two things and voted. That's how it goes everytime. No one's ever asked to see my ID.