stAllio! has a good post on the subject of the Voter ID law and its impact on voting. The provisional vote process gives us something of a record as to whether otherwise eligible voters were deprived of their right to vote. The Marion County provisional ballots show 34 provisional ballots. Only two followed up by returning to the Clerk’s office to show their ID, thereby allowing their votes to count — meaning 32 of them were apparently disenfranchised. Of those 32, 26 appear to have been long-time voters at their particular precinct.
As stAllio! puts it:
of the 32, 26 were regular, long-term voters who had been voting in that location for years, but this year their votes were taken away from them. and that’s just in marion county, in one election that had low turnout in many areas. how many more were disenfranchised statewide? and how many more will be disenfranchised if the law isn’t overturned?
I don’t understand this:
How does that mean that 32 of them were disengranchised? I guess there is -zero- chance that they really were not legally permitted to vote, even if some of them have voted illegally for years?
I’m not saying that is the case, but I don’t understand how the opposite can just be assumed.
Were all 34 driven to the polls, or were some of them driving without a license?
Maybe some of them walked there?
The population density in Marion makes that more likely than in most places, I suppose.
Also, 34 out of Marion county seems like a pretty small number – I agree this is worth looking into, but it doesn’t seem to represent a crisis.
The 32 weren’t disenfranchised at all. They didn’t follow through because they were either illegal, lazy, stupid, or a combination thereof. The whole disenfranchisement argument is crap, having a FREE photo ID provided to you takes care of that.
If voting is as important to you as being able to cash a check, you’ll find a way to get a FREE photo I.D.
jason: why would fraudulent voters continue go to their polling places now that voter ID is in effect? and why would they fill out provisional ballots, knowing full well that they couldn’t acquire the proper ID? it makes no sense.
besides, even if we assume that some of the votes are suspect, occam’s razor suggests that many if not most were legitimate.
I will agree that some may have been denied a vote that should have had one. Odds are, some of those 32 were valid, as stAllio says.
However, Tim makes valid point as well. Only 2 came back. Why? Why should their vote count if they will no come back to verify?
I will also agree that there have been some people that were flat denied a vote that should have had one, like the Purdue student newspaper editor.
At the same time, how many people have been denied votes because they didn’t register? How many valid votes have been voided becuase of voter fraud?
Like many things we have, our system isn’t going to be perfect. ONLY 32 votes doesn’t sound that bad to me, and it is also somehting that could be challanged and verified if those 32 votes would have made a difference.
Good question. My understanding is that, to the extent it exists, the evidence of “voter fraud” is even more tenuous than evidence of voters being deprived of the right to vote because of these additional burdens.
When it comes to something as fundamental as the right to vote, I think the burden has to be on proponents of imposing barriers to that right.
I see invalid votes as taking away the right to vote for those that did, though. Being able to vote and having my vote invalidated by an illegal vote is the same thing as not being able to vote at all.
The difference is that I KNOW about it when I am restricted from voting. I can fight it, I can document it, and if I’m really allowed to vote, more than likely my vote will be counted eventually.
However, as you pointed out, voter fraud is much harder to prove and detect. That is why I feel strongly about preventing it. I think a right that is taken away when I don’t see it is FAR worse than one I can witness.
The hidden votes are the ones that elect someone without the will of the people, not the votes blocked in full view of the public. The public see it, and will rebel if needed.
You know another cool thing about the Voter ID law? It prevents invisible elephants from shitting in my lawn. I can’t prove it, but I just know it would be happening otherwise.
HAHAHAHA!
I can’t respond to that, but I’m glad your lawn is doing better…
Doug –
Unless you can provide fresh elephant scat, the law is obviously working perfectly for you – and for us all!
First, I’ll have to sort the invisible elephant scat from the all-too-visible dog scat in my back yard. With two mid-size dogs, winter gets kind of ugly in the Masson back yard.
In other news, Hillary Clinton’s Senate term has been 100% effective in preventing both invisible elephant deposition AND Martian invasion.
Scientists are still searching for the link…
And I for one welcome our Clintonian
overlordsprotectors.