SwimFinsSF

It harkens back to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The thought goes that the threat of someone voting who shouldn’t be is outweighed by the possibility of scaring a legitimate voter away by asking them to prove ID before voting. Given all the intimidation that occured in the South when African-Americans were first given the right to vote, this thought process is understandable. States were very resistant to enforce the 15th amendment and that lack of action culminated with the attack on peaceful marchers in March 1965 in Selma, Alabama by state troopers. Congress decided more had to be done and passed the Voting Rights Act.
My that’s a long-winded answer but hope it helps.

Wow…. Thats a great answer… Kinda unfortunate to see these kind oft hings beig given as the reasons for trying to validate accuracy of a vote and ensure fair elections but given the history I understand. Does make me worry though about the potential for people to exploit this by knowing who regularly doesn’t vote in a given district and sending in plants to ‘use’ their vote…

Hmm… not sure what the right solution is.. Just makes me uncomfortable to think that someone could walk in and pretend to be me to steal my vote. Even if they let me vote with a provisional ballot, there is no way of removing the ‘imposters’ vote… *sigh*…

Guess i’m not surprised the system is more flawed than they want you to believe in high school poli-sci! 🙂

I’ve always had to show ID along with a current utility bill to prove my residence. I didn’t realize things were different elsewhere.

If you live in the United States and they ask you for this information when you go to vote, they’re clearly breaking the law – in a big way. There’s no difference from state to state. It’s a Federal law and has to be administered the same no matter where you live. Seriously. It’s big deal if you’re asked for anything more than your name when you show up at the polls.

same thing happened to me down here in SoCal: didn’t check my I.D. But I was also distracted by the hunky volunteer named Zayden. I think I wrote him in as a candidate, but Arnold still won.