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There’s interesting news out of Virginia. A seat in the House of Delegates was won by the Democrat on a recount. The margin of victory was one vote. This leaves the House of Delegates with a 50-50 tie between the two parties. It would seem that in order for them to get anything done, there will have to be bipartisanship, something that’s been sadly missing on the Federal level.
Bipartisanship is overrated. Partisanship usually is a better approach in modern American politics. Bipartisanship, as it’s used today, generally means Republicans caving in to Democrat demands while Democrats stand their ground.
Regarding the voting process, the longtime Democrat approach to it is to vote early and vote often. And when all else fails to litigate so one of their appointed judges can fix things for them.
Actually, in Virginia, there historically was a high level of bipartisanship and consensus (largely due to state law which restricts governors to a single term) and a measure of southern civility…that ended under a Republican majority that tried to push through a right wing social agenda and deny the minority an opportunity to participate in the legislative process. That ended earlier this month with a new moderate Democratic governor being elected and today with the recount results. The blue tide is spreading south from the D.C. suburbs and north and west from Richmond
Bipartisanship doesn’t equate to civility. You can have civility while passing legislation on a partisan basis. I’m all in favor of civility while opposing bipartisanship based on its current political definition (that I pointed out above.)
Virtually every election official does *not* say that voter fraud is almost non-existent today. What you meant to say is that virtually every Democrat official says voter fraud is almost non-existent today. And that’s because they don’t want the fraud in their favor interrupted. You need an ID to get on an airplane or even into government and private buildings. There’s no reason not to require an ID to protect the democratic voting process unless you want to protect fraudulent voting.
In Virginia, regarding the House of Delegates election that was yesterday a one vote victory by the Democrat, they found another uncounted vote (that the scanner didn’t count) for the Republican that has now tied the election.
It will be decided by a lottery or coin toss. The Virgina House may remain Republican after all.
That statement was only denying the president’s assertion that there were “millions” of fraudulent votes in 2016. That number is obvious hyperbole and of course inaccurate. But that in no way denies that voting fraud occurs in every election.
The very reason that the fraud is so unquantifiable is exactly because anyone can walk into a voting precint and claim to be anyone else and fraudulently vote in their name with no ID. And no one might ever know. When such fraud occurs, the vast majority of the time it goes undetected. Which is why ID should be required to vote. Just as it is required to fly or go into many buildings.
Virginia’s voting scanners IS programmed to reject an overvote, just like New York’s does. It was assumed the voter walked away from the scanner (as many overvoters do) even though it informed him he overvoted, so the scanner kept the ballot in order to officially count his other valid votes.
I believe if you walk away from the scanner after it spit it out due to the overvote, after a certain period of short time where you didn’t retrieve the ballot from the scanner feeder it will assume you left and re-swallow the ballot in order to count the valid votes.
As I stated earlier, it is impossible to even know how much voter fraud occurs since it is so easy to fraudulently vote in another person’s name without any ID (and in many states even fraudulently register fake names as voters, although doing that is easier to eventually recognize as a fraudulently registration if they check [which many states do not], unlike actually voting fraudulently, which is almost impossible to later determine occurred, let alone identify who did it in order to prosecute.)
If Kris Kobach got nine convictions just in his tenure in his state, despite the extreme difficulty in even identifying voting fraud when it happens and the difficulty in finding who voted fraudulently, imagine how much more fraud occurred in his state that went unidentified and how much fraud occurred in the other 49 states.
There are thousands of temporary poll workers in every state who work only 2 or 3 days a year for the board of elections with a 15 hour workday, 6am-9pm in some states like New York.I They mostly retirees and get about 3-4 hours of training once a year. They each deal with hundreds of voters each election day, signing them in, etc. In it extremely easy to vote in anyone’s name undetected. Most registered voters do not vote in non-presidential election years. And such fraud can, and does, go undetected that it isn’t even quantifiable how much occurs.
Why so much opposition to asking for ID, just like you’re asked when flying, buying alcohol, opening a bank account, applying for food stamps or Medicaid, renting a house, car or hotel room, or picking up a prescription?
Unless the goal is to permit fraudulent voting.
Btw, I’ve personally been a site administer at a poll site for the Board of Elections, and just at my site I’ve encountered a voter walking in to vote only to find that someone else already signed in to vote in his name. The first signature was in the same name as the voter and the voter who walked in to vote showed ID proving he was who he said he is. I contacted the Board for instructions on how to handle it and they advised to let him vote. I made a notation on the signature book what occurred but I know it was never followed up by anyone afterwards.
And this was just at one random poll site I administered one year. It was never investigated, let alone counted as, voting fraud despite a strong possibility that it was just that.
Voter fraud doesn’t matter. There’s nothing good running.
This year there was a tie vote in the Democratic Primary for City Council in the 133rd District in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city. This is in the North End, the last area of Bridgeport with a Jewish presence
Winning the primary is tantamount to winning the general election.
The following morning it was announced that an uncounted absentee ballot was found and the incumbent was declared the winner by one vote.
This was taken to court and the one absentee ballot that miraculously appeared ruled invalid.
A new election was ordered.
Second time around, absentee ballots that arrived without postmarks, delivered by a policeman were challenged in court. The second election was thrown out.
The new City Council was sworn into office and began work the first wee of December, but the 133rd faces a February primary for representation. The judge ordered a third election.Had one more citizen voted in person at the polls in September, there would have been a winner. Primary turnout was only about 10%.
Shlepping to the DMV to get a non-Drivers photo ID, especially when states with ID requirements for voting are waiving the fee, is a very very small request to ask of voters to vote and safeguard the integrity of the vote. ID is required for so many smaller things in today’s day and age.
@Yehudayona
CT asks voters to show a photo ID at the poling place, but it is NOT a requirement. A voter can refuse and simply fill out and swear/affirm to an affidavit and may vote.In CT you must have a photo ID in order to open a bank account.
Different jurisdictions have different rules….don’t think that your state’s rules apply across the USA, they don’t.
“BTW, apparently Georgia does require voters to show photo ID. That’s not deterring Moore supporters from accusations of voting fraud”
.all those illegal voters from Atlanta were bussed down to Alabama to vote for Jones…..Moore claims he has proof that over 1000 buses were seen heading south…..As Alice said to Toto: “We not kn Kansas anymore…” Georgia ain’t Alabama
It is still a very small thing to ask voters to get and produce an ID. IDs are required for so much less than voting. Voting should require a demonstration of concern for the integrity of the vote and of the voters desire to participate in the process.
@Yehudayona
I posted that a picture ID was required to open a bank account in CT. If you are opening an account with an on-line bank based elsewhere you are NOT opening it in CT, it doesn’t matter of you live in CT, you sign an agreement that the bank regulations of the bank’s state apply.The last on-line bank account I opened required that I send an image of my CT driver’s license
Asking for ID is not a retraction of anyone’s right to vote.
I would never get a photo ID to vote.
The Amish and Mennonites, as a matter of religious conviction, also choose not to excercise their right to vote. Additionally, should those who refuse to be photographed also not be denied the right to drive and have a driver’s license? Surely you wouldn’t advocate they be denied the right to economic progress and independence that comes along with the right to drive.
Asking for ID when voting, just as it is required when entering many buildings, flying, purchasing alcohol or applying for food stamps or Medicaid, is a very minimal requirement. And it insures the integrity of the vote.
Given the general agreement that committing voter fraud is extremely difficult to detect since generally no one will usually realize when someone voted in someone else’s name, let alone the difficulty to identify the perpetrators for prosecution even if it is detected, requiring photo ID seems to be a very reasonable and minimal solution.
There is no right to drive.
I can’t enter my office building without ID. Why can’t it be required to vote?
@Yehudayona
Mennonites do drive motor vehicles. They are often employed by the Amish as drivers when an Amish person/family must make a trip requiring motorized transportation.“I can’t enter my office building without ID. Why can’t it be required to vote?”
Because some people want to protect the right to fraudulently vote. So they invent rationalizations why showing ID is soo soo difficult. The poor fellow will have to once in his life go to the DMV office to get a free non-drivers ID. (States with voter ID requirements offer them for free.) And that is so hard to do even once.
What’s a Menonite?
It’s a Protestant religion that the Amish are a sub-group of.
I’m with Joe on this one. Rights aren’t free. They come with responsibilities. The rather modest effort to acquire a photo ID seems well worth the right to vote that it confers. I can see that, in earlier times, it may have been a significant imposition to obtain a photo ID (Heck! in really earlier times, they didn’t exist) but now they are easy enough to get that, barring severe disability, no one really has an excuse not to have one. It’s difficult to conduct normal life without one. Never mind opening a bank account, you can’t check into a hotel or cash a check without one or do a myriad of other things without a photo ID. Why should anything as important and significant as voting be different.
Priveleges aren’t free. Rights are supposed to be.
Requiring voters to present identification is retarded.
Do these fellows also need the government to send a chauffeur to ferry them to their polling site on election day, since they have no good public transportation?
The Republican won the tie breaker goral today and the Republicans will continue to control the Virginia House of Delegates.
If they can get a ride to the polls twice a year, they surely can get a ride once in their life to get an ID card.
The Republican won the tie breaker today and the Republicans will continue to control the Virginia House of Delegates.
B”H
There are many Americans who live very far from their polling station. The right to vote comes with responsibilities to excercise that right. Those unwilling to exert the necessary responsibilities forfeits their right.
Asking them to get an ID once in their life is asking little to excercise the right to vote. The right comes with responsibilities. This is one of them.
Btw, in many states including New York living too far from the polls is not a legally valid reason to obtain an absentee ballot. Only illness or being out of the county/city is valid to vote absentee in NY.
Virginia is done. The Republican won. A third recount will not occur and has not been requested. The Republicans continue to control the Virginia House of Delegates after everyone was sworn in yesterday.
I remember seeing a news item a while ago in the Lakewood Shopper
about a man winning a minor local office due to his own vote for
himself because no one else had voted in that particular election.remember seeing a news item a while ago in the Lakewood Shopper
about a man winning a minor local office due to his own vote for
himself because no one else had voted in that particular election.It would be amusing if there had been a demand for a recount.
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