Nevada may require voters to show photo ID
By Nevada News Bureau
CARSON CITY – Secretary of State Ross Miller announced last week he is seeking legislation in the 2013 session aimed at curbing the potential for voter fraud by including photographs of registered voters at polling places on election day.
Miller said his proposal is not a voter identification measure. Instead it would be an upgrade to the current antiquated paper roster system by implementing electronic voter rosters with the enhanced feature of a photograph of each registered voter.
The requirement of a photograph in the new electronic roster would prevent ineligible voters from impersonating other, eligible voters at a polling place, Miller said. The proposed law, which is currently being drafted, will seek to import existing photographs of eligible voters from the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles database of drivers’ licenses and state identification cards.
The photographs would be part of a new “electronic poll book” as an adjunct to the existing poll books that currently use signatures for identifying voters. When photographs of the eligible voters are not available through the database, poll workers would be available to take photos at the polling place at the time of voting and verify their identity by way of an affidavit.
Voter ID laws have been passed in other states, but have frequently led to court challenges. Nevada does not now have such a law.
Sen. Michael Roberson, R-Las Vegas, proposed a voter ID law in the 2011 legislative session, but the measure did not win approval from a Senate Committee and died without action.
Assemblyman Lynn Stewart, R-Henderson, has submitted a bill draft request for a voter identification law for the 2013 session.
“This provides a significant safeguard in our election process while simultaneously ensuring that we don’t disenfranchise any voters,” Miller said. “It’s really just an enhancement of the existing system, by providing an electronic poll book that could include a photo to go with the already recorded signature.”
Yay!! It’s about doggoned time! Who doesn’t have an ID? Seriously?
Poor people. So whats to be gained…nothing. There is no evidence there has been any fraud that influenced the general or electoral college for over 100 years. This is all about revoking voter registration primarily for urban blacks and hispanics who are more likely to vote Democrat. Pure racism.
How is this targeting anyone? Prove who you are and that you are a registered voter. Prevent fraud like Chicago’s voting dead.
Actually John, there has been well documented voter fraud – perpetrated by the Republican party. In Florida it is well documented how the Republican party reduced the voter days and ended up with several hour long voting lines, primarily in minority precincts. It took me 10 minutes in my precinct in California to vote. The former Republican governor Charlie Crist admits during his administration when he actually increased the number of voter days, a number of operatives in the republican party were angry with him as it would increase Democratic voters. But he did so because he was governor over all Floridians, not just Republicans. In Ohio, they pushed laws to make it more difficult for voters in predominately Democratic districts to vote. And you are right, they have not been able to produce any real evidence of voter fraud. Except that perpetrated by Republicans – Republicans should be ashamed of themselves. There ideas appeal to fewer and fewer voters and so the only way they believe they can win, is rig the system. Pathetic! Enjoy Rick
Republicans don’t need to be ashamed, they should be afraid of the old white blood in the party that is becoming increasingly irrelevant and are clueless that the majority of the population aren’t falling for their BS.
The more people that turn out to vote, the more they lose.
I wonder if GW will turn out to be the last stand of the old white men. If votes really do matter and voter turn out increases, there is a good chance it will.
You guys try to turn the discussion from curbing voter fraud into an attack on Republicans.
There is plenty of voter fraud going on, and there are lots of claims against BOTH parties.
If you REALLY think that it’s the “other” party that’s doing it, you should be happy to end voter fraud.
And John’s comment that poor people, “urban blacks and hispanics” don’t have id, I’m calling BULL. In urban life you must have an id. How do you drive? How do you get government aid, if you have it? Unemployment? Heck, how do you get medical care without ID anymore? Why shouldn’t you have ID to be allowed to determine who will represent the American people in government?
That MYTH that poor people have no ID is just that; a MYTH perpetrated by the Democrats.
If states require ID’s for voting, than they should provide those ID’s free of charge.
This will eliminate about half of the women voters
?? David?? Off the wall claim. I’ve had an id since I was 17, didn’t drive till I was 19. I am female. On what do you base your statement? Are women so frail and incompetent that we cannot manage to get identification?
Sexist.
BTW, this is a fact I find out of whack, Ross Miller, the Nevada Secretary Of State pushing for this, is a democrat.
Yes let’s do this and curb voter fraud… oh wait, there IS virtually NO fraud and those who have been looking for it have been unable to find it at the polls. In the last election, the greatest fraud has been at the registration part of the process and as Rick says, perpetrated by Republicans.
Following is a quote from McCain’s former strategist
http://www.n,ewyorker.com/reporting/2012/10/ “Steve Schmidt, a senior strategist for John McCain during his 2008 presidential campaign, said on MSNBC this morning that the idea of voter fraud “doesn’t really exist.”
“I think that all of this stuff that has transpired over the last two years is in search of a solution to a problem, voting fraud, that doesn’t really exist when you look deeply at the question,” Schmidt said. “It’s part of the mythology now in the Republican Party that there’s widespread voter fraud across the country. In fact, there’s not.””
29/121029fa_fact_mayer
Rick, its not that there isnt some fraud, but it it not material…it doesnt determine the outcome of the election. The problem is that the person committing fraud has to pay people to commit a crime. That takes a lot of money, and you still have no way to track if the person is doing what they were paid to do. Its just not worth it.
Dogula, I am going to assume you have never lived in a city. You dont need to drive. There is public transportaiton and parking is horrendously expensive. But that misses the point. The point of voter ID is to throw everyone off the rolls and force them to have to travel to some place away from their home to re-register. Generally that is only accomplished during business hours and blue collar folks generally cant get off work to register. So everyone knows this dispraportionately effects inner-city minorities who are difficutl to register. White collar workers work a lot more hours but we have flexibility. We also tend to vote Republican.
So, what you’re saying, John, is that inner city minorities are incapable of taking care of the most basic of necessities for life in the modern world.
Racist.
This from the far left Wall Street Journal: http://blogs.wsj.com/numbersguy/counting-voter-fraud-1165/
And here we see the divide of the country. Oh my God, how dare the country require an ID before one performs one of the biggest and most important honors in our country. All this BS about it will hurt the blacks, the Hispanic’s, the women, blah, blah, blah, we have become a wimpy, whining, cry baby bunch of fools. You all need to get over yourselves and off your band wagons. You want to vote show an ID big flipping deal. Both sides are out to cheat, steel, and rob all to get votes and one side is no better than the other. I’m sick and tire of listening to all the non-since.
Dogula, I typed that slowly, you should be able to keep up. It is a pain in the butt for shift workers to get off work to register and voter registration offices are closed on Saturday. Where in the world did you come up with being incapable of handling basic necessities? Last I checked grocery stores are open nights and weekends. But now, lets get to the point. Why? Why have the law if there is no problem? Why cant you and Boone point out a problem that actually needs solving? Why cant the folks at the Wall Street Journal find a problem? Why do economists say there is no rational reason to engage in individual voter fraud? Then what is the point?
When I started voting at 18, my home state always made you show ID, and they checked your signature against the one on file. I thought this is how it would be done in every state.
Now I have voted absentee for 10+ years, so have been unaware of what goes on in polling places.
It’s nice to give states their own say, but in voting matters, and especially with the trouble here and there over the last years, wouldn’t it be prudent to come up with one standardized system, that ensures safe, untampered voting?
Some background:
History of National Identification Cards
National ID cards have long been advocated as a means to enhance national security, unmask potential terrorists, and guard against illegal immigrants. They are in use in many countries around the world including most European countries, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Currently, the United States and the United Kingdom have continued to debate the merits of adopting national ID cards. The types of card, their functions, and privacy safeguards vary widely.
Americans have rejected the idea of a national ID card. When the Social Security Number (SSN) was created in 1936, it was meant to be used only as an account number associated with the administration of the Social Security system. Though use of the SSN has expanded considerably, it is not a universal identifier and efforts to make it one have been consistently rejected. In 1971, the Social Security Administration task force on the SSN rejected the extension of the Social Security Number to the status of an ID card. In 1973, the Health, Education and Welfare Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems concluded that a national identifier was not desirable. In 1976, the Federal Advisory Committee on False Identification rejected the idea of an identifier.
In 1977, the Carter Administration reiterated that the SSN was not to become an identifier, and in 1981 the Reagan Administration stated that it was “explicitly opposed” to the creation of a national ID card. The Clinton administration advocated a “Health Security Card” in 1993 and assured the public that the card, issued to every American, would have “full protection for privacy and confidentiality.” Still, the idea was rejected and the health security card was never created. In 1999 Congress repealed a controversial provision in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 which gave authorization to include Social Security Numbers on driver’s licenses.
In response to the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, there has been renewed interest in the creation of national ID cards. Soon after the attacks, Larry Ellison, head of California-based software company Oracle Corporation, called for the development of a national identification system and offered to donate the technology to make this possible. He proposed ID cards with embedded digitized thumbprints and photographs of all legal residents in the U.S. There was much public debate about the issue, and Congressional hearings were held. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich testified that he “would not institute a national ID card because you do get into civil liberties issues.” When it created the Department of Homeland Security, Congress made clear in the enabling legislation that the agency could not create a national ID system. In September 2004, then-DHS Secretary Tom Ridge reiterated, “[t]he legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security was very specific on the question of a national ID card. They said there will be no national ID card.”
The public continues to debate the issue, and there have been many other proposals for the creation of a national identification system, some through the standardization of state driver’s licenses. The debate remains in the international spotlight — several nations are considering implementing such systems. The U.S. Congress has passed the REAL ID Act of 2005, which mandates federal requirements for driver’s licenses. Critics argue that it would make driver’s licenses into de facto national IDs.
**********************************
It is obvious that calls for voter ID that includes photos and other data is part of the historic mevement to have a national ID card in the U.S. Fear is the best way to get folks to give up privacy protections. If folks cant see the that the risks outway the benfits, then maybe we get what they deserve. One should read IBM and the Holocaust, by Edwin Black, the story of how IBM and its subsidiaries activily participated in helping the German government identify the ethnicity of peple living in Germany and linking that data to other information such as location of residence. It was this early 1930 census project, and the forst wide-scale use of computer punch cards, that allowed the Nazi’s to so efficiently implement their final solution. Again, if someone thinks this isnt something that can happen anywhere, then maybe they deserve what they get. Prooving who you are and whether you belong in any special place is certainly something 40 years ago we would have associated with tolitarian regimes. That we are now so willing to make this part of daily US life to deal with even straw man problems (that is problems that dont even exist) – is a pretty sad commentary on how the nation has become more concerned with economics and comforts rather than principal and personal freedoms. Maybe its time we start taking the Libritarian party platform a lot more seriously!
John, you never heard of motor voter? You can register to vote in a LOT of different places. You’re just making up excuses. Typical.
Most places require an ID of some sort just to get the jobs that YOU claim keep people from registering to vote.
People usually can manage to accomplish what is important to them. I managed to make it to the polls on voting Tuesdays for years before they started making it STUPIDLY easy to vote.
Whether or not there IS voter fraud going on (and yes, there is some) you can’t name one good reason to not verify a person’s identity before voting. You should have seen the rigamarole the post office put everyone through last year to renew post office boxes. Two forms of ID and a utility bill to prove you live where you say you do. Was that discriminatory against minorities? Why aren’t you protesting that?
Seriously?:
“So, what you’re saying, John, is that inner city minorities are incapable of taking care of the most basic of necessities for life in the modern world.
Racist”
Once again you resort to putting words in peoples mouths to set up the same old pathetic straw man argument. Which is all you ever seem to have.
And even if they did say that and mean it, it wouldn’t be able to be considered racist because THEY DIDN’T MENTION RACE.
I wonder if you are so dull that you don’t know how dull you are.
ljames, thanks that was one heck of an effort to write that history. Pretty interesting.
Dogula, alright, I am typing extra slow now. A person shouldnt be required to spend the energy it takes to lift a pen unless there is a reason. There is no reason to have voter id. There is no fraud that is substantial enough to actually effect an election. You cannot find anything that is peer reviewed that says differently. The reason is simple, there is no way to verify the person taking the money is actually voting for the person they are being paid to vote for. Without that, there can be no MASS fraud.
racist? sexist?
name calling is so overrated, it sounds like the sandbox.
I think the writers here are better then that, or at least have shown to be most of the time.
The fed penalty for individual voter fraud is $10K fine and 5 yrs. in prison and then there’s state penalties. What kind of person is going to take that risk to cast one vote? GOP voter suppression is a solution in search of a problem.
John, implying that I am stupid does not make you look smarter. Really.
My father in law once told me about how back when he still lived in Chicago as a young man, his dad was paid $5 for his vote. That was a lot of money back in the ’30’s. And it still goes on today. You might say there’s no way to prove that he voted the way he was paid to, but you can’t prove he didn’t, either.
Dogula, you are still advocating fixes for a problem that does not exist. The problem that does exist, is that a number of states are trying to make it harder for certain legal citizens to vote – see Ohio, Florida and a number of other states that are run largely (or wholly by Republicans. We should be making it easier to vote not harder. As we see that the harder disenfranchises legal voters and is not “curbing” the almost non-existent fraud. That is factual not opinion. Oregon vote by mail has proved reliable and popular with no real evidence of fraud (meaning what fraud exist is largely so small it remains undetectable and immaterial). Enjoy Rick