Mother To Challenge Son's Absentee Vote

[Are_grits_groceries]

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Grinnell mother said Sunday that her son's vote shouldn't be counted and she intends to challenge his vote.
Brenda Lyddon said her son, Christopher Willis, 26, is developmentally delayed. He lives at the CIRSI group home in Grinnell, an assisted living home for people with developmental disabilities.
Lyddon said he son should never have voted because he has the mind of a 7-year-old.

"He cannot read. He can barely write and so he could never even read a ballot. He couldn't tell you who's on there. He couldn't tell you who's running -- vice president, local, congressional, nothing," said Lyddon.
Willis told KCCI's Ryan Luby that he voted for Sen. Barack Obama. When Luby asked who was running for president this year, Willis answered "Barack Obama and John McCain."
When asked which parties the candidates represented, Willis said "John McCain is with Democrat party." He couldn't identify which party Obama represented.
"I have never registered him because I don't feel he can make his own decision and he can't and he's easily influenced," said Lyddon.

Lyddon said she volunteers for the McCain campaign, but said her son's choice to vote for Obama is not the reason she's upset.

<snip>
Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro told KCCI that if someone expresses an interest in voting, even if he or she is developmentally delayed, that person has a right to vote.
Mauro said if a judge were to rule someone as incompetent to vote, then that person couldn't vote.
Willis' mother said she would challenge the absentee ballot her son cast.
The deadline to challenge an absentee vote was last Friday, but Christopher's mother said she intends to challenge his vote anyway Monday at the county auditor's office.
<snip>
http://www.kcci.com/news/17874281/detail.html

Mommy Dearest!

[Sebastian Doyle]

1. If you can challenge votes on that basis

..then I want every Freeper vote challenged.

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. ROFLMAO!! nt

[mrcheerful]

3. Mommy is a freaking freeper plain and simple, I wonder if she would have made a

public out cry if he had voted McShit, btw shouldn't that tell mommy something? Like maybe a guy with the mind of a 7 yo knows enough to vote Obama.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. "volunteers for McCain campaign, but said son's choice to vote for Obama not reason she's upset."

Yeah, right.

[ColbertWatcher]

5. "her son's choice (...) is not the reason she's upset" Yeah, right.

Why do GOPers hate choice?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. Because thinking gives them a headache. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

7. Thinking contracts the God-shaped hole in their heads. n/t

[gratuitous]

12. Makes you wonder

Which one is developmentally delayed, the son or the mother.

[ColbertWatcher]

13. Yeah! No kidding! n/t

[The Inquisitive]

8. while I'm skeptical of her motivation, she does bring up an interesting issue

[amdezurik]

9. her son fits all Constitutional requirments...

[The Inquisitive]

17. I know, that's what makes it rather interesting

you do see the dilemma that is created because of that right?

[amdezurik]

19. well of course

the dilemma is where to draw the line. ANd if the line is drawn there, next thing you know there will be a line over there, then over there and on and on until only blue-eyed hermaphrodites who own condo's in Boca and are reformed Methodist/Buddhists can vote or some other equally ridiculous result.

[The Inquisitive]

25. not quite, that's just the slippery slope fallacy

we've already drawn the line really. You can't vote until the age of 18, the age of universal suffrage. Based on your argument, when the voting age was lowered to 18 from 21, the voting age should be approaching 1. We as a society have deemed 18 the age a human is mentally mature enough enough on both a cognitive and neurological level to make sufficiently educated and rational decisions. At age 18 citizens gain a number of rights, namely the right to vote.

This of course is based on the assumption that an 18 year old has the mental abilities of an 18 year old. If a 26 year old is evaluated by a panel of medical professionals and found to have the mental maturity of a seven year old, but still is given by society the right to vote then it would not be unreasonable to make the argument that an 8 year old with the mental maturity of an 8 year old should have the right to vote as well, something that all of us here would likely conclude to generally be a bad idea. This of course naturally feeds directly into a discussion and evaluation of the criteria by which we give an individual the right to vote.

If we assume we can trust the medical experts who evaluated the mentally handicapped individual then suspending said individuals right to vote isn't unreasonable. However, It becomes a question of civil rights for the handicapped. Our social values and laws clash. We're caught in a dilemma.

In reality it really doesn't make sense to let those, due to inherent qualities not of their own fault, who cannot meet the levels of mental maturity an 18 year old is thought to possess. However denying them this right implicitly makes the claim that they are lesser beings in a legal sense as a result of their condition. That's the rub.

[Trekologer]

31. I don't think age is comparable

When it comes to age, there are not shades of grey to draw the line through: you are either 18 or over or you are not. For citizenship, you are either a citizen or you are not. There aren't debatable degrees of age or citizenship. Compare that to mental ability. It is highly subjective, based on the analysis of professionals who often do not agree.

[The Inquisitive]

33. But 18 isn't an arbitrary choice

We assume that there is a certain sufficient mental maturity that an 18 year old has that distinguishes them from those that are younger. Otherwise why has society decided on age 18? What (nonphysical) properties does an 18 year old possess that those substantially younger do not? By your reasoning 18 is just as good an age as any. I could just as easily substitute any age and justify it with your argument.

I agree the analysis by professionals is lacking, but surely we can agree that there are those whose age vastly exceeds their cognitive development, for genetic and physical reasons.

[sl8]

21. To which Constitutional requirements are you referring?

Which constitution, for that matter?

[amdezurik]

26. the one that counts in a GE

of age
a citizen, native or naturalized

[sl8]

27. That would the Iowa Constitution, then.

What determines if he's considered a disqualified person under Article II, Section 5?

[amdezurik]

34. not for federal office

sorry you are trying to make soime kind of point I guess, but you are only coming off as a smarmy rude jerk. State does not trump federal for federal offices.

[sl8]

37. Sorry for the snarkiness.

I didn't notice it last night when I was writing, but my tone did leave something to be desired.

Your post seemed to be implying that the US Constitution listed voter eligibility requirements. It doesn't - the authors left that entirely up to the States. Obviously there have been some changes since 1787, but voter eligibility is still left to the States, with some constraints now imposed by the federal government. Various amendments and voting acts have ruled out discriminating against voters based on race, sex, age, and tax status, but the individual States still set their own eligibility requirements for voters in elections for both State and Federal offices.

Are convicted felons permitted to vote for President?

I suspect that mental competence requirements also vary considerably by state.

You might find this article interesting:

Law & Psychiatry: "I Vote. I Count": Mental Disability and the Right to Vote
http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/51/7/849

Anyway, I hope this clarifies my thoughts, a little.

Oh - "rude jerk" I can see, but "smarmy"? That hurts. :)

[petronius]

11. It's interesting in an intellectual sense, but IMO there is so much dirty history

wrapped up in the efforts to deny people the vote that it should be freakishly hard to disqualify anyone. The right to vote should be right up there with the right to keep breathing air...

[ColbertWatcher]

14. I bet she's just pissed that she didn't go after her son's vote! n/t

[petronius]

15. She probably is - I have no doubt that she's a RW leech

And there probably are people around the country casting ballots for mentally disabled relatives. However, I willing to risk that, and hope that the small number of fraudsters cancel each other out, rather than risk opening doors to unfair voter disqualifying...

[The Inquisitive]

18. I agree with you completely

[sl8]

16. Change to Iowa's Constitution regarding this is on the ballot.

From http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2008/10/12/news/local/doc48f2c8903ad01617762815.txt :

By Charlotte Eby | Sunday, October 12, 2008 11:11 PM CDT

DES MOINES — Iowa voters will decide this fall whether to change the state’s constitution to reflect a more politically correct term to describe those with mental illness or mental disabilities.

The Iowa Constitution currently refers to an “idiot” and “insane person” when describing which Iowans are ineligible to vote.

The amendment would change that description to “a person adjudged mentally incompetent to vote.”
<...>

[fed_up_mother]

23. If she has her son's power of attorney, I can see her side

I would be very upset if someone forced my kid to vote for McCain!

[Patriought]

10. My brother is handicapped...

Given that this miserable fucking bitch can't seem to find the time to care for her son, but somehow has the time to challenge his vote and volunteer for McCain (and no, she would not be doing so had he voted for McCain) tells me everything I need to know. She is a selfish, worthless fuck.

And please, if anyone is thinking of arguing, "don't judge her for putting her son in a home" stow it. A) I'm well aware that some kids are simply beyond their parents ability to care for.
B) My own mother cares for my brother, has her entire life, and she's now 74. When she passes, I will care for him until one of us dies.
C) Please excuse my language, but I hate people who do not respect the handicapped. This woman could'nt be bothered to care for her son, but she has no compunction about using him to get her name in the news...Just one notch below Sarah Palin if you ask me.

I hope her first day in Hell is a ten thousand years long, and that her first day is the shortest.

[SmileyRose]

32. "miserable fucking bitch?"

If you are going to hate this woman on the basis of so few facts then maybe you should vote for McPalin. They seem to be the one's drawing the hate crowd.

[Ilsa]

36. I hate that she is disrespecting his decision about voting also.

Yeah, I wonder if she is using him the way she claims others will use him later. My son is disabled, and I'd hate to see anyone do that to him.

As for the home for him, well, we may have to do the same for our son later. I can't imagine letting him go yet, though.

[kenny blankenship]

20. Thanks Mom! You know you are the wind beneath my wings.

[KamaAina]

22. They must have Faux News on all day at the group home

When asked which parties the candidates represented, Willis said "John McCain is with Democrat party."

[Jed Dilligan]

24. Well, why don't we just have IQ tests for voting? Just like the good ol' days

down south. Only this time we can't be racist so no one will be qualified to vote.

[Lyric]

28. My son is eight years old, so her son and mine are mentally very similar.

And I would feel completely comfortable letting my kid vote if he were an adult at the same mental level that he is right now. My son doesn't understand every nuance, but he understands a few key things:

1. Things have sucked in recent years. He doesn't get his favorite foods often (because of the expense,) we have no money for going to movies or going skating, both of his Mommies are stressed and upset over money, and broken-hearted because they can't get married.

2. He understands that people like Bush and McCain are part of the cause for these things, and that Obama is running in order to get these guys away from power and help fix what they broke.

3. He understands that there is a terrible war going on, and that Barack Obama wants to end that war so nobody else fighting over there has to die.

He doesn't understand every single nuance of the difference between the parties, but he understands the candidates, and that's what really matters. He certainly knows enough to vote; a large percentage of adult voters use criteria almost exactly the same in order to cast THEIR vote. "Who's going to fix my horrible life, at least a little?" Well, OktoberKid has reasoned that one out.

It's a pity this woman doesn't feel the same way about HER son.

[Dorian Gray]

29. What an asshole

That's horrible.

Yeah, I'm SURE she'd be doing it if her son voted the way she voted. :eyes:

[Ms. Toad]

30. Sad, one of the more interesting door knocks I did in 2004

was for an individual like her son. Mom was a little suspicious when I came to the door asking for her son, but eagerly called him to the door when she realized I was campaigning for Kerry. Her son was excited to be thinking about voting for president, knew who he wanted to vote for, and mom was excited for him.

[RoyGBiv]

35. This is a setup ...

Planned story that will, at some point soon I'm certain, be used to cast aspersions on the entire voter registration system. "It's too easy to register," they'll say.

Too much detail for what would otherwise be a blip on the back page of the free paper.

People using their children this way disgust me.

Fuck 'em.