Remember how near the end of the show Columbo would be about to leave, and then he'd turn around and say, "Just one more thing..." and then ask a pretty hard question.
I don't know if this is a hard thing or not. But I sure don't know the answer. So, "Just one more thing" for NC's Moral Monday warriors.
The Moral Monday folks have been going nuts that the NCGA has required people to get an ID to be able to vote. Now, other states (including NY, where the NY Times lives, and the Times has been criticizing NC, which I ALSO don't understand) already have requirements like that. Because they are worried about vote fraud. In fact, the ID requirements in NY are MORE stringent than the NC ID requirements. But NC is somehow acting badly, and NY is a liberal bastion. I don't understand that. No fewer than 34 states have ID laws, but NC is acting badly.
But that's not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is Ventra. Look at the requirements to ride a BUS....we're not talking about a game, not talkin' about a game, we're talking about a BUS, just to ride a BUS, you have to go through all this crap and give all this information. If poor people can't get an ID because it is too much of a burden, how dare Chicago impose this kind of burden just to ride the bus.
Now, I would have thought that poor people are more likely to ride the bus than wealthy people, who have cars or take cabs. Where are the Moral Monday folks in Chicago? Could it be because the city is owned by the Democrats? Could it be because the "outrage" by the Moral Monday folks is pure political posturing? Could it be that they don't actually care at all about the poor, or the outrageous burden that is being placed on people just to ride the bus, in Chicago?
So, just that one more thing.
(This post dedicated to my friend Bruce C., and his NYTimes subscription, which he values more than life itself).
I don't know if this is a hard thing or not. But I sure don't know the answer. So, "Just one more thing" for NC's Moral Monday warriors.
The Moral Monday folks have been going nuts that the NCGA has required people to get an ID to be able to vote. Now, other states (including NY, where the NY Times lives, and the Times has been criticizing NC, which I ALSO don't understand) already have requirements like that. Because they are worried about vote fraud. In fact, the ID requirements in NY are MORE stringent than the NC ID requirements. But NC is somehow acting badly, and NY is a liberal bastion. I don't understand that. No fewer than 34 states have ID laws, but NC is acting badly.
But that's not the strangest thing. The strangest thing is Ventra. Look at the requirements to ride a BUS....we're not talking about a game, not talkin' about a game, we're talking about a BUS, just to ride a BUS, you have to go through all this crap and give all this information. If poor people can't get an ID because it is too much of a burden, how dare Chicago impose this kind of burden just to ride the bus.
Now, I would have thought that poor people are more likely to ride the bus than wealthy people, who have cars or take cabs. Where are the Moral Monday folks in Chicago? Could it be because the city is owned by the Democrats? Could it be because the "outrage" by the Moral Monday folks is pure political posturing? Could it be that they don't actually care at all about the poor, or the outrageous burden that is being placed on people just to ride the bus, in Chicago?
So, just that one more thing.
(This post dedicated to my friend Bruce C., and his NYTimes subscription, which he values more than life itself).
3 comments:
Having grown up in NC, I'm curious about this issue but have not been following closely. So thanks for the links.
One issue, not NC specific, is, to what degree are these laws in search of a problem? How much voter fraud is there, really? This is not moving us towards small government, especially if a government issued photo ID is required.
The link you gave to ID laws for 34 states does not include NY. Looking at the link you gave for NY, the ID requirements they have are for registration, not voting, and they do not require a photo ID, so I'm not sure how you see them as stricter than NC. The distinction between presenting ID at registration vs voting seems slightly significant, as it would give a pass to those who had an ID when they registered but no longer have one (e.g. my 90-year old mother who gave up her license 2 years ago and no longer has a passport - yes, she still votes).
According to your link on requirements in 34 states, the stricter requirements do seem to skew more to the southern states. Having grown up there when the racism was more above board, I'm pretty suspicious of the motivation of the NC laws. Not to mention one Republican official (Don Yelton, since fired) pretty much admitted it was directed against poor blacks.
No, as Bruce says above, you're confusing the issue. The NY State requirement is ID for REGISTRATION, with the caveat that "If you did not provide identification with your voter registration form, you will be asked for it the first time you vote". And the requirement is not for PHOTO id--accepted IDs include government checks, bank statements, utility bills, previous voter registration cards, and so forth.
The NC requirement--and the ones generating complaint across other states--require photo ID every time you vote. This excludes many forms of ID that would be adequate for registration in NY State and lets the elderly keep voting without having to maintain a current ID (Bruce's 90-year-old mother above).
You kind of got that one all wrong - for me the issue was the limitations on early voting
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