Photo ID bus gets little use (Georgia's voter ID mess turns into a joke)

[Thom Little]

The Georgia Licensing On Wheels bus was supposed to make it easier for elderly and poor people to get the photo identification they need to vote under a controversial new law.

The idea was to bring photo IDs to the estimated 300,000 voting age people who don't have driver's licenses. When announced by Gov. Sonny Perdue's office in August, officials said the bus could issue up to 200 ID cards per day. But in three months of traveling the state, the aging bus has broken down three times and issued just 471 photo IDs. That's fewer than 11 per county visited.

Critics say the low numbers show that one 15-year-old bus is a feeble response to concerns that the law will disenfranchise poor, elderly and minority voters. Perdue says the numbers show ID cards for voting are not in great demand. Either way, Georgians getting IDs from the bus are happy not to stand in long lines at driver's license service centers.

.......

"The bus breaking down is a perfect metaphor," said Neil Bradley, associate director of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. "The bus has always been a public relations ploy and isn't an effective remedy for anything. And the numbers really establish that."


http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/1205/19metglowbus.html

[superconnected]

1. Makes me wonder if the poor, elderly and immigrants

will ever get to vote again.

[Sgent]

2. What's the problem with requiring ID?

I agree that GA's law was screwed up -- but more because they charged for the ID than the theory behind having one.

I can't see the problem with requiring that people prove whom they claim to be. Although to be sure I would allow an oath signed under the penalty of perjury and authenticated with a biometric marker to substitute for an ID in cases where the person didn't have one at the poll.

Just wondering... what country is it ok for immigrants to vote in? I think citizenship should also be part of the requirements (although I do think we should loosen restrictions on becoming a citizen).

[VegasWolf]

3. I agree. Even free library cards require some sort of identification. nt

[xchrom]

4. because of the history of abuse associated with issuing

said id's.

[onehandle]

7. Newsflash. This is about voter suppression. Dems in particular.

Georgia already requires proof of identity to vote at the polls.

Then they check you off the voter list eliminating any shenanigans.

This is Rove, Ralph Reed, and their puppets finishing off the Dems here.

And about immigrants. Citizenship is required here. I don't know where you got that.

[saigon68]

10. Ralph Reed is an Ugly Hateful little Troll

A true Taliborn-again deviant.

[roseBudd]

8. Drivers of cars don't have to do anything to vote, in fact they even drive

to the polls. Those who do not drive, the majority of whom are poor and or black and elderly have to do something the car drivers don't have to do to vote.

Elections are not being stolen by bogus voting. This is a red herring. The GOP has always sought to supress the poor and minorities.

If I know my birthdate, and my social then I am who I say I am.

[CottonBear]

9. We used to have 16 forms of ID now we just have a few and a GA DL

is hard to get.

You see, GA has over 150 counties (more than any state but TX) and only 1/3 of the counties have DMV offices. The offices are in rural, mostly white populated areas and the minorites, poor, students, disabled all live in cities or towns or do not have cars.

It is all about voter supression couched in terms of voter fraud when the real problem is Republican election fraud.

Why the hell did we go from Democratic governance to a facist Republican state in the course of one election?

Answer: Fucking Diebold. No more Max Cleland. Hello Sack of Shit Chambliss and idiot Gov. Sonny Perdue
backed up by Rep. Jack Kingston, Rep. Phil Gingery and Sen. Johhny Isakson.

Give me a break. It is all about white Dixiecrats taking back control of our state through election fraud via Diebold.

[SoCalDem]

5. Just get these folks to a Costco.

Costco has mastered the task of taking a picture of you and laminating it on a card while you wait.

or better yet..why not let churches & grocery stores set up ID facilities.. An ancient truck seems to be a bad idea, made worse.

[Indy Lurker]

6. In Illinois, they compare signatures

with the one used when you register to vote.

I suppose you could practice the signature of a registered voter that won't be making it to the polls, but I can't see overturning an election this way.

[jsamuel]

11. If you gave 2 voting machines to those who couldn't drive and 200 to those

who could, those who couldn't drive would not be able to vote as well, period.

It is much like the long lines in Ohio. I don't know if something like this could never work, but no one has given a solution that doesn't reek of the above statement.