Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed a bill yesterday that will require people registering to vote to present a birth certificate or passport to prove citizenship when registering to vote for the first time. MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow said last night that Kansas has become the "gold standard in making it almost impossible to register to vote."
Maddow interviewed Kansas state Rep. Ann Mah , who told the host that "grass-roots
registration will almost come to a halt," killing door-to-door registration drives as well as those we've all seen at grocery stores and parks. Not many of us are packing our birth certificate or passport at all times.
Mah expects court challenges to the law due to the "holes [in the law] big
enough to drive a truck through." Watch the video after the jump.
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Acorn is sad that you do not believe the system is fair. They have worked tirelessly to make sure all Americans votes are sacred. I heard the Government has thousands of people working on this voter fraud thing,but so far only a few cases in the whole country. Why would anyone worry about their vote being nullified by a person with no I.D. preposterous!
Ask yourselves who is least likely to have his/her birth certificate on hand? Ask yourselves who is least likely to have a passport? The answers will be he same: The poor, the elderly, students who have never been abroad, and those, like myself, who keep important documents in a safe deposit at my bank. In a country where a 60 per cent turnout of eligible voters is considered a landslide, there is something bizarre about discouraging anyone. There is something phobic about willingness to deny many Kansans the right to vote ostensibly out of fear the hoards of undocumented workers are just waiting to crash the poling places.
Let me guess, right after they passed a law that says it is now illegal to carry a birth certificate or a passport in Kansas.
As a member of the League of Women Voters for 25 years I spent many an hour in front of stores, registering voters and handing out literature encouraging voters to vote. Never asked for party affiliation so never knew. Also spent hrs over the years being instructed on proper registration techniques by a county official as it was mandatory each year. Yet, in the state of Florida the League was intimidated to the point that they no longer will perform this service. It is very interesting that the tea party conservatives tout their opposition to taxes based on the early colonists statements and actions. They were not opposed to taxes, they were opposed to Taxation Without Representation, as a colony they were denied the right to vote! Yet at different times in our history we have used various means to deny our own citizens that right!
This , sadly, is one of those times. If the tea party folks lived up to their name they would be marching in the streets in defense of this most precious right!
I thought that the reason that you republicans wanted this law was because you didn't want the illegal aliens voting for Democrats? If you think that they're gonna vote for republicans, why do you care if they vote? According to your theory, it wouldn't hurt you at all and would actually help you win. Or is this just a racist thing with you?
You don't have to pack it all the time, just when you register to vote FOR THE FIRST TIME!. Kinda like when you register for school for the first time, play little league ball or any number of other things that you never even think about using it for.
No, actually, I don't think Democrats would be doing better in Kansas if our illegals were voting. Why? Because they WORK for money. They understand that government can't(shouldn't) support them because their own government has failed them. They get it that in order to eat, they have to work, unlike our own liberal class.
I've seen no evidence that Jose, Jesus, Manuel, or Paco are voting in our elections. If they were voting, don't you think that the Democrats would be doing better in Kansas?
Kansas_Voter was probably registered to vote by an ACORN representative, and currently resides in Chicago. But... He/She likes to use the name Kansas_Voter because it rings true, not that it actually is. My apologies on not being A CREDIBLE NEWS SOURCE like Ms. Maddow. But if you want to let ?Jose? from Mexico vote in our elections, be my guest. You'll suffer the consequences in due time. Fool.
reply to Jack: So the only examples you have are anecdotes from over 50 years ago, not any actual proof. Again, voter fraud is EXTREMELY rare, and this law is completely unnecessary. People like Jack are just mindless sheep who parrot anything that they hear Rush or Hannity say. He can't provide a single example of voter fraud, yet his feeble little mind is set in stone. Pathetic.
Kansas Voter might want to check ole' Obama's home state on the dead people voting thing. The "Chicago Way" (a reference to the famous line in The Untouchables) is an example of how the mob ruled. And.. if you want to go local, look up Pendergast. Umm.. or try Florida. Oh wait, maybe you might need some help with it, so Google ACORN.... And this is just the stuff we know about. So, Kansas Voter can stick it where the sun don't shine!
She probably meant it's almost impossible for illegals to register to vote in Kansas
Voter fraud is EXTREMELY rare, which is why the supporters of this law have a hard time coming up with examples to back them up. I'd like to see you provide an example of a dead person voting. Can you do it?
I suppose you like the idea of dead people voting (which DOES happen.) I suppose you like paying taxes to help the ILLEGAL immigrant (I mean the fence jumpers, not the people who go through the border checks). I suppose you like the idea of foriegn influence on US elections. I suppose you would like to disregard all requirements at all in voting. Hell,.. I have a dog named Jack. Can he vote?
reply to Abe: They were there to register new voters. I approached one of them and asked if they could change my address for me, and they could, but they were there to register new voters.
I've got one of those and it's not a legal document. You need a paper copy of your birth certificate with a raised seal for it to be considered a legal document.
I know "personal responsibility" is one of those buzz-phrases the right likes to apply to anything where they're asked to consider the public good, so you probably weren't really thinking this through, but you're misplacing where the responsibility falls here.
It's the responsibility of the government to facilitate citizens' right to vote and their opportunity to do so, and to make itself accountable to them as openly as possible. It is not the responsibility of citizens to *prove* their right to vote to government by whatever arbitrary standard may be imposed. What's next, poll taxes? "If a citizen really cares, he shouldn't mind a little fee, right?"
I'd think with all the carping on the right about intrusive, overbearing government, this is exactly the sort of overly strict rulemaking that conservatives would oppose. But not when it stands to benefit their preferred party, apparently.
No, you don't necessarily have one. Your parents might... or might not, depending on how well they kept records. The state you were born in might... or might not, depending on how well the hospital you were born in kept records. If you were adopted you almost certainly don't, although you might have a substitute document.
Frankly, unless you've applied for a passport at some point (which many Americans don't), in which case you would have requested a certified copy from appropriate state authorities, it's quite plausible that you don't have one. And even if you *do*, you're highly unlikely to have it handy if there's a voter registration drive at work or school or in a local park or mall, or when you go to renew your driver's license — IOW, all the easiest opportunities to register to vote.
I think you mischaracterize Maddow, but that's neither here nor there: she's just the messenger. The message itself is that the state is plainly, transparently, trying to make it more difficult for people to register and therefore to vote — especially poor people, young people, urbanites who move a lot, and various other demographics that just *happen* to have more liberal sensibilities and vote mostly for Democrats.
IOW, the strategy is to hold power not by winning over the people, but by preventing them from having a say. It's undemocratic to its very core.
Voter registration drives are more common say at colleges where Young people are
you idiot
No you are the fucking idiot. Maddow is orders of magnitude smarter than you. The
point Maddow was making you dumb ignorant right-wing peasant (while exaggerating
admittingly) is that often times first time voters are registered first time in these
drives where you wouldn't have these documents you retard. The point of all this is
to decrease the # of new voters that could potentially vote Democratic since first time voteres tend to be younger who in turn tend to vote more Democratic you dolt.
LOL!! Again maddow is orders of magnitude smarter than you.
Hi Rachel, I heard Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the show and I have to say I was very disappointed in her response to what the Dems are doing about Republican voter intimidation. Where is the plan? These tactics to limit first time voters, minorities, voter registration drives should be challenged by the Dems in the courts. Their tactics scream of unconstitutionality! I like Rep. Wasserman-Shultz but she really has to have concrete plans in place now. Just talking about it won't do it. The Republicans are ruthless and she knows it. The time to fight back now. It isn't just for the upcoming elections, it's about the rights of people to exercise their right to vote without being challenged. This smacks of the voter intimidation that went on in the south for so many years. Enough! Take 'em to court!
Last thought after 3 beers and a shot of vodka. I want to F Rachel Maddow like the dog that she is.
As expected, a liberal can't actually go to the KDHE website, go to the vital records section and find something like a request form for a copy of a birth certificate, or the wallet-sized STAMPED OFFICIAL AND SIGNED card as mentioned above. Typical liberal.
Tacitus,
Nothing of what you said is relevant. You are bringing up things that happened in the 40s and 50s, very little of what you said still exists in 2011. Please come back when you have an argument that is less than 60 years old.
Sorry but that is NOT a standard sized Certificate & I would deny you a vote. Hey I should work the polls in Kansas as a Judge! Anyone have a spare Nazi or Klan Klown Kostume to make sure the "right" people vote for the "Right" candidates?
But do you carry the PROPER Birth Certificate? How do I know your Birth Certificate is Real? yours may look fake. Maybe I saw someone else with the same Certificate & they already voted. Re,member the Gestapo also wanted papers.
So many people from rural areas who lived through the great depression lost everything they had under Hoover, but were put back to work on WPA projects (FDR). Later, they benefited greatly with progressive programs such as rural electrification and farm subsidies (though republicans take credit for that now). Combine this experience with Democratic support of Social Security / Medicare / Medicaid. So yes, people in this classification often do vote democrat. But don't worry Abe, they're old and won't be around much longer.
and you were already registered, just needed to change your address. This bill would not affect responsible people like you.
People from rural areas do not "tend to vote democrat", people from rural areas (especially the older ones) tend to be hardcore republicans. Also, is there really a problem in getting the elderly to register to vote?
I know that it's trendy to think the republicans are going to take away your right to vote (or make OH SO IMPOSSIBLE to register to vote), but as long as you aren't a complete retard (I know, I'm asking a lot here), you should have no problem registering to vote as long as you aren't scrambling to register on the deadline. At one point do we cut the umbilical cord and actually let people take care of their own responsibilities?
And if you still think there is a threat to the millions of potential democrat voters, look at one of the least likeliest groups to be registered and most likeliest to vote democrat: college students. How many college students study abroad nowadays and have passports readily available? I'd say most.
This bill isn't telling people they have to bring their birth certificates and passports to the voter booth. They are asking them to bring them when they register for the FIRST time. One time only, for something that should be done weeks if not months before the elections.
Personal responsibility, it's not that hard.
Kansas actually issues a wallet-sized birth certificate card. LOOK IT UP LIBERALS. (Yeah, I'm talking to you, psycho bitchy liberal women like Maddow.) I've used it to CERTIFY that I am a US citizen when applying for jobs. I don't carry my Social Security Card that employers usually want to see, and the KDHE-issued wallet birth cert works fine as a substitute. But, low quality research by the Maddow show is typical.
As the idiot Maddow points out, many young people don't carry their birth certificate, making it a little harder to register to vote. Also, many people who were born in rural areas in the 30s (or before) do not have their birth certificate -- and in many cases were not even born in a hospital. Finally, blacks born before the 40s were often not issued birth certificates (for separate reasons).
What do these three groups have in common? They tend to vote democrat. Making it just a little harder for democrats to get to the polls is the name of the game.
I've seen voter registration at grocery stores a lot, and have used it to change my registration to my new address a few years ago. It's very helpful, and since there is no evidence of voter fraud, this law is unnecessary and just a way to keep potential Democratic voters from registering.
And to add to that, yeah people won't be carrying their birth certificates to grocery stores. But I can't remember the last time I saw a voter registration drive at a Hyvee or Price Chopper. If they come door to door, any functioning adult should be able to get their birth certificate in a few minutes.
Maddow is a fucking idiot. How hard is it to have your birth certificate? If you were born, you have one. If you are over 18 you should have inherited all your important documents (birth certificate, SS card) from your parents. I know Maddow is a militant-liberal (much different than a regular liberal), so she thinks everyone needs to be coddled and have their hands held through life, but this is not too much to ask for. I hate Brownback, but this isn't a reason to criticize him, there's plenty of other reasons.
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