Senator J.B. Jennings has introduced SB 412 which would require photo ID’s at the polls. There are several problems with this bill.
The first is that we already have enough checks in place for the election judge to know with certainty that the voter is who they say they are.
The second is we are setting ourselves up to become dependent on ID cards with photos. We all know that photo IDs are more greatly respected because all we have to do is match the picture to the face. This seems to immediately make sense. But I would ask each of you to consider how easy it is to fake a photo ID. All checking will stop when we assume the ID holder matches the picture.
This legislation is unnecessary because there are multiple checks that election judges to ensure the person in who he or she says they are. We ask for their address. We ask for the month and date of their birth and they usually tell us the year. If there is some kind of discrepancy, then we can ask for their ID card. As per current directive, we must ask for their ID card under certain circumstances. Just because there are dead people on the voter roll does not mean they vote.
I would like to see the so-called fraud number for the state of Maryland. What goes on in Florida or South Carolina has no bearing on what goes on in Maryland.
What Sen. Jennings should be doing is finding a way to ensure that voter records are updated. I work as an election judge, and I request each person who presents answers which do not match the data base info to fill out a card (which goes back to election headquarters) to update that info, which is not always done. Several voters have told me they have filled out an update card more than once. I ask Sen. Jennings to look into that matter.
This, in my humble opinion, is where the focus of his reform should be. I have lived in my house for almost eight years now and when I put my address into to voter data base I find a person registered to my address who I do not know.
Let’s fix the real problem. Requiring photo IDs will actually disenfranchise older people who no longer drive and young people who cannot find jobs so they have no need to drive.
This smacks of a partisan attempt to control who has access to voting.
You can follow the progress of this bill, SB 412, here.
What astounds me the most, is the perception that if you don't have voter ID you allow fraud. What should scare voters from both political sides is not the dead voting, but having electronic vote totals changed after the polls are closed. It is nearly impossible to vote several times or have several thousand people involved in a conspiracy to vote falsely. It takes a very few people to change via conspiracy the electronic vote totals that are summarized and sent up the chain. If you wish to throw an election, go for the big numbers, not the one or two here or there.
http://mlis.state.md.us/2012rs/bills/sb/sb0412f.pdf
1. A CURRENT GOVERNMENT–ISSUED PHOTO IDENTIFICATION; OR 2. IF THE VOTER DOES NOT HAVE A CURRENT GOVERNMENT–ISSUED PHOTO IDENTIFICATION: A. A CERTIFIED COPY OF A UNITED STATES BIRTH CERTIFICATE; B. CERTIFIED DOCUMENTATION OF NATURALIZATION; C. A UTILITY BILL; D. A CURRENT CREDIT CARD STATEMENT; OR E. A PROPERTY TAX STATEMENT.
Most people have some sort of ID anyway, and I am not adverse to being asked at the polls. I cannot see how being asked to prove you are who you say is an infringement on the Constitution or being "disenfranchised" in the process - in times past people have been asked to show a voter card and this even isn't done anymore. In the last 10 years I have not been asked - and in years past you always had to provide this to vote. Older citizens certainly have to show some sort of ID at the doctor's or at a hospital to get care unless they come in via ambulance, and even then identification is established, so I cannot buy the point of being disenfranchised as an older citizen that doesn't drive. Those that cannot drive still have the right of a write in vote as long as a judge does not throw the write in votes out.
The system needs better control, and the old voter's card was just dandy.
Now imagine a grand conspiracy to do this. You organize this group without the police knowing? Terrorists get caught in small groups, don't you think someone will squeal? You have committed a felony and go to jail again. Now you and one or two others try to find a way to change electronic vote totals which can change an election in a heartbeat without leaving a trace of what you have done since paper ballots are disappearing. Which one would you do? So the logical question is why would anyone pass a law that seems to have very little, if any effect? Well, look to who is proposing the legislation, Republicans are, not Democrats. So one or both of them believe there is some advantage to what they want. We have voted this way for over 200 years and have not had any problems. Why change? Last point, in Iowa and in Maine, the Republican primaries this year had voting tabulation problems. The Republicans did not demand voter ID but for some reason votes were not counted or summarized properly by the vote tabulators. The mistakes or some say fraud was at the summary level, not the voting level.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57371606/ind-election-chief-found-guilty-of-voter-fraud/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-friedman/republicans-require-no-ph_b_1173283.html