Has anyone heard if lawsuits are being filed against all these voter disenfranchisement

[DuaneBidoux]

legislations being passed all over the country by Republican state legislators and governors?

I can't imagine that any of these will ultimately be found constitutional but am wondering if there are actions being taken to try and make sure they are not enforced until after court hearings. So far I haven't heard anything on shows like Rachel about whether there are court battles being mounted that could keep these from being in effect next November.

[al_liberal]

1. Last I read laws mandating state issued photo ids are perfectly legal. n/t

[AndyTiedye]

2. Isn't a Mandated State ID that Costs Money a Poll Tax?

[dragonlady]

3. That's correct, but

they are willing to offer IDs free in order to get the law on the books. For example, it will cost Wisconsin several million dollars to require a photo ID (although the state is supposedly "broke"), and much of the cost is for giving free non-driving IDs to people who request them. They are counting on many people not having the birth certificate, etc. that is needed to get the ID or not having time, transportation or energy to go to the DMV.

[DuaneBidoux]

4. So how can we handle this?

[SoCalDem]

5. How "we" Democrats should "handle" it?

We make damned sure that OUR voters HAVE the required ID cards. It's infinitely cheaper and easier to do that than it is to file lawsuits that take years to work their way through the system, and end up falling into the docket of right wing judges all over the place.

and if we EVER get to a place of power where democrats really and truly control things, we "fix" whatever problems there are (but we know that never happens, don;t we?)

Every election-season we go through this, and we talk circles around the issue, and every election season we read about all the cases where people are turned away on election day....you would think we would figure it out.

If an ID-less person ends up with a valid ID, that's a win-win, because they probably need that ID for things other than voting.

Even though elections are run by states, many of the races are for NATIONAL/FEDERAL offices, so there should probably be a nationally-accepted voter ID card issued to everyone who registers to vote, and at the local/state office levels, a utility bill that co-verifies the voter and provides a real-time address should be all one needs to vote.

My favorite has always been for the government to undertake a Passport-for-all-citizens approach.. That solves a multitude of "problems".

[DuaneBidoux]

6. I was thinking more in the short term: next November

Maybe we need to fund corner "photo booths" and send out an army of volunteers to drive people to get their "official" id.

I guess I was thinking about creating some kind of political machinery to make sure that these laws don't steal our next election in November. Hope somene is seriously thinking abut this.

[SoCalDem]

7. Yes, if we ever start handling it in the short-term, the long-term

"problem" goes away to a large extent.

Too many elections are "squeakers", where a few hundred votes may have shifted the balance in our favor.

We all know the GOP spends every waking hour trying to come up with ways to thwart our voters, so if we quit trying so hard to only confront them in courts, and started to hit them head on "in the field", we might actually start winning more seats and start to get a majority here and there.

GOP has spent DECADES weaseling their way into power all over the place, and now they are in positions of power that allows them to dictate the rules.. We can scream and holler about the unfair rules all we want, but for now, if we want to "play the game" we have to play along and beat them within the confines of the rules they have legally put in place.

It also shows good faith with our voters, since many of them are poor and say they cannot afford to get the necessary IDs, do why not help them get IDs so they can vote and of course valid IDs are always a problem for poor people, so I'm pretty sure they would appreciate the effort that gives them something they have needed for other aspects of their lives.