Retired nuns barred from voting in Indiana

[SoCalDem]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/07/uselections2008.usa

Retired nuns barred from voting in Indiana

* McClatchy newspapers
* guardian.co.uk,
* Wednesday May 7 2008
* Article history


This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday May 07 2008. It was last updated at 01:56 on May 07 2008.

At least 10 retired nuns in South Bend, Indiana, were barred from voting in today's Indiana Democratic primary election because they lacked photo IDs required under a state law that the supreme court upheld last week.

John Borkowski, a South Bend lawyer volunteering as an election watchdog for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said several of the retired nuns had been voting all of their lives but were told they lacked the required identification cards and could only file provisional ballots. Since 2005, Indiana's toughest-in-the-nation law requires every voter to produce a state or federal photo ID card. The supreme court, after weighing scores of legal briefs from conservatives who backed the statute and liberals who opposed it, upheld the law by a 6-3 vote, saying there was little evidence that it was unduly burdensome for voters.

Borkowski said Sister Julie McGuire, one of several nuns on poll duty, wasn't pleased to turn away the nuns, some of whom were in their 80s and 90s and no longer had driver's licenses. "Here's the supreme irony," Borkowski said. "This law was passed supposedly to prevent and deter voter fraud, even though there was no real record of serious voter fraud in Indiana. Here you have a bunch of nuns whose votes can't be accepted by a bunch of nuns ... who live with them in the polling place in their convent because they don't have an ID."

snip

[jeff30997]

1. It reminds me of Catch 22...

Mixed with a touch of 1984.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. And republicans jump up and down with joy

Bastards.

[SoCalDem]

3. Voting is a RIGHT.. and if a state is going to MANDATE

a specific ID, then the states should provide it FREE..

It is infintely POSSIBLE to ientify who is a citizen, so why not just have all registrar's offices be funded to hire MORE people to ISSUE the appropriate IDs?

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. The reason the SC said Indiana's law is okay

is because they are providing IDs for free.

I wonder though if some of these nuns were born at home (like my mom) and have no birth certificate.

When MO passed its evil voter ID law in 2006, there were 65,000 people in the state with no ID and no way to get one. SIXTY FIVE THOUSAND. Now you know there are nowhere near 65,000 cases of voter fraud in the entire country. Yet MO saw fit to disenfranchise 65,000 citizens.

[SoCalDem]

6. There has to be a way.. Even getting a passport IS possible

without a birth certificate.. Surely the people who cannot produce a BC for whatever reason,could be issued cards with some sort of waiver..

THAT is what we should be working on.. GETTING IDs for people FIRST..and THEN getting lawyers to fight the law..

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. My mom had a passport

She also had a drivers license. But she had lost track of both of these documents since she had quit driving 10 years before she needed a license as an ID.

Anyway, my point is, she WAS able to get a license AND a passport without a birth certificate.

[frickaline]

8. Hmm I had heard on CNN that they were not providing these IDs for free

Kelli Arena did a story about a handicapped woman from Indiana, Karen Vaughn, who had to pay $100+ to get ID:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/studentnews/04/28/transcript.tue/index.html

In addition to these nuns, several college students were turned down because they only had college ID.

To me, this is outrageous poll taxing. Do you have a source where it says there is free ID available?

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. I read that in a newspaper article the day after the ruling

It said that was the main reason the SC approved the law in Indiana. Sorry can't remember which newspaper. Maybe the NY Times? I usually read it every day.

I have paid close attention to this issue because my own mother, who did not have a birth certificate, was a disenfranchised voter in MO. The state supreme court threw out the voter ID law just a few days before my mother died. This issue really hits home with me.

[frickaline]

13. Its weird ... I just don't understand why CNN would have reported this story then:

was something changed? (this story was dated April 29, 2008)

"KELLI ARENA: The hurdles are real for people like Karen Vaughn, a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport. She had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was.

KAREN VAUGHN, INDIANA VOTING RIGHTS PLAINTIFF: They just don't care; we're unimportant."

[LucyParsons]

5. Unfortunately, the US Supreme Court has upheld the IN voter ID law

Which is, of course, only to be expected - one more ruling the long, fine tradition of our highest court siding against democracy and on the side of corporate interests and the oligarchy.

I bet most of those nuns don't share my political views, but I am ANGRY that they, as US citizens, were not allowed to vote.

[whistler162]

7. Check out their website.....

http://www.cscsisters.org/

I think that it may have been a bit of political activism.O8) :thumbsup: :yourock:

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Awesome!!

If all nuns were still like this, I could be a Catholic again.

[L0oniX]

12. Apparently someone thinks that voting was NUN of their business.

:evilgrin:

[frickaline]

14. omg thats bad!

:spray: :rofl: