Who gets to vote is becoming a partisan issue, just like who gets a vote.
Mostly Republicans in 19 states have proposed legislation that would require proof of citizenship at the voting booth. Not content with the strict identification requirements recently upheld by the Supreme Court, these states want to make sure illegal immigrants are not voting, and improve voter confidence in the system.
Democratic leaders oppose strict ID laws, saying they disproportionately keep poor, disabled, elderly, and minority citizens away from the polls. Birth certificates, for example, take weeks to get, cost money, and may be difficult to track down if they are lost or kept out of state.
Missouri's secretary of state estimates that the law would disenfranchise 240,000 citizens unable to prove citizenship on such short notice. That number could be significant in November, as Missouri is a swing state that will likely go Red or Blue by a thin margin.
Do we have to protect the rights of citizens who may have difficulty obtaining proof? Which is a graver risk: letting a non-citizen vote, or keeping a citizen from exercising the voting — the quintessential act of democracy? What if we could review votes later to disqualify non-citizens, while attaching stiffer penalties for fraud?
Claudio Merazzi
Cross Jeanswear Co.
Jil Sander
Is a birth certificate the only proof of citizenship? (I really don't know)
1Passport
2Social Security Card
Well my husband is a resident and has a social security card...
3What's wrong with the voter registration card? Are those easy fraud-targets?
4That's why I take my parents everywhere I go.
5why are there so many pilgrim emoticons?
6Syako, in more recent years people have been creating voters registrar cards along with Social Security cards to show citizenship; also these are readily sold on the black market.
7From government passport website. Proof of citizenship could include:
NOTE: A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar’s signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note that some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.
A Delayed Birth Certificate filed more than one year after your birth may be acceptable if it:
If you do NOT have a previous U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate, you will need:
Issued by the State with your name, date of birth, which years were searched for a birth record and that there is no birth certificate on file for you.
Would you like to be told you can't vote in November because you can't come up with this stuff? What if you don't have the time or money? I can understand if they are checking votes, after as a sort of audit, but it seems like a pretty big burden to exercise your democratic right to vote.
8We really need to update our voting system.
9Very interesting topic. I have to show my adoption papers as proof of citizenship since I became a citizen when my step-dad adopted me when I was 6 yrs. old.
10personally, I wouldn't mind bringing my passport with me to polling places, but I realize not everyone has a passport...
11Some states are requiring photo ids to actually vote now - most states require them when you register, so that if you have a voter registration card you've already proven who you are. Indiana wants the stricter requirement it says to prevent voter fraud, but has never presented a case of "voter impersonation," which the law was designed to safeguard against.
12I think it's much more important to make sure a legitimate voter is able to cast a ballot than to protect against the mere possibility that someone is going to cheat. Toughen the penalties for getting caught at voter fraud.
I know when I voted I have to show my Voters card and a picture ID.
13I do too bella.
14Sure I can I would just tell them that the most important thing in the world is me myself and I. LOL!
Every one should have on hand in their home at least one document stating their citizenship. In most cases this would be a birth certificate. If you don't have one now, here is your friendly reminder. Get to it. Chop Chop!
I don't agree with stricter guidelines though. If the guide lines that are in place are fine by the Supreme Court than they are fine by me.
15I agree with Syako - we need an update, something that does not hurt so many citizens yet makes things more secure.
until we come up with that I don't think we should implement any rules that can disenfranchise so many people especially when the stakes are so high and votes really matter.
16Well I def. think you should have some proof of citizenship when you vote, I don't feel like thats too much to ask. In the cases of the elderly or poor, we should work out some kind of amnesty from paying the birth certificate fee for the first time you get it, if you lose it after that, you're on your own.
In the meantime we need to make sure all the states are on the same board, I know in NH if you live there for just ONE DAY you can register to vote and vote there. Even if you're in college, so you can vote in NH and then go to MA, or CT, or wherever your home state is and vote again. Things like that need to be cleaned up!
17I think proof of citizenship when you register though, not every time you come to your polling place.
18Maybe we should have a grace period — instead of stricter laws that will go into affect immediately, shutting a lot of citizens out of the democratic process, people will have some time to get all their documents in order.
19but if you have the proof when you register, whats the harm in bringing it with you to vote?
20since you already have it...
liberty, that could work, maybe this is something we should set the ground work for now but it won't actually take effect till 2012
21It depends on what state your in. Some states say you have to live their consecutively for a period of time, have bills in your name, job, etc. to apply for citizenship of that state.
22thats what i mean bella, there should be some kind of federal rules... it just seems like that would make everything a whole lot easier!
and now enter Cine to tell me how it should be left up to the states because of the Constitution....
23
24Many of us run out of the house on election day to vote before we go to work and are likely to forget that we have to have to grab our proof of citizenship, and could end up not voting. I keep that stuff in a lock box and on election day, I'm lucky if I remember to grab my voter guide. The fact is, no one has offered proof that illegal immigrants are voting in such numbers that we need to burden legitimate voters with this. It also creates the potential for voter harassment at the polls - poll workers could start challenging anyone who looks vaguely hispanic, or arab just to harass them. In places where there have been political machines stuffing the boxes with fraudulent ballots, they weren't illegal immigrants, they were party bosses and loyalists.
25If you prove who you are well enough to register, that should be enough.
I can't tell you how many new employees I've had to deal with that don't have a copy of their birth certificate, social security card, or passport. The most common claim is "My parents keep it in their safety deposit box in my hometown. I can't get to it." While I understand keeping certain docs safe is important (especially in these days of identity theft) sometimes people bury them so far that they cannot get to them.
26I had a friend I met once on a Saturday detention in high school. He was sort of a nerd who no one knew. He had a fake ID made just so he could vote. It's been a long time since that detention, but I'll never forget the bonds I made with those other students. We called ourselves the Breakfast Club.
27Wow @ Rac
28my grandpa's birth cert was lost in a courthouse fire before 1920. No one remembered what his actual birthday was, or what his initials stood for, so they just called him Jack. ha!
29When my wife and registered in WI, we just needed a valid photo ID. When we go to vote, they just ask us to verify our address, and show photo ID. Why is it so hard to get a photo ID?
30On a tangeant, I'd like to say how distressing I found it after my random Mexico trip this weekend that I had to have a birth certificate to get back into the country, but many Mexican nationals coming to shop in America don't have to show anything but their state (are they states there?) ID card. How does that make any sense at all?
Meh. I agree that the stricter regulations shouldn't be put into effect until the next voting cycle to give people time to get their paperwork in order.
31I think even most states offer photo IDs even without a driver's license. If you can't prove your citizenship in this day and age when information is so readily available, I say you've probably got something to hide.
32I don't think we should have to carry citizenship papers around with us in the U.S. My family's been here since the late 1600's, I don't have anything to hide: I simply was brought up in a free country.
33I'm not saying we have to carry our papers everywhere, Stephley, but every citizen should be able to prove who they say they are, especially when participating in an election.
34As long as it's just for registering to vote, I'm okay with proving citizenship. Otherwise, I think someone's trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist and it makes me wonder about the true motive for the requirement.
35This isn't a short-term solution, but perhaps there could be something implemented in the future that would place proof of citizenship directly on one's standard picture ID?
36Hey Cabaker. It should be up to the state, because of the Constitution...blah...blah...blah....
37"I can't tell you how many new employees I've had to deal with that don't have a copy of their birth certificate, social security card, or passport. The most common claim is "My parents keep it in their safety deposit box in my hometown. I can't get to it." "
Very interesting!
How did a driver's license become so non-valid? All of these other documents are just as easily duplicated.
38he he he he! cine!
39Jill, maybe the embossing in the birth certificate? thats what makes it valid, maybe thats harder to duplicate?
i dunno!
40It's my understanding that the validity of a birth certificate is dependent on its being "certified," which I think does have something to do with the embossing. Could be wrong, though.
41jude i think you're right because i tried to use mine once for something and they said it was invalid without the embossing, and the state of NY at the time charged me 71 bucks to get a new one!!
you can bet i'll never lose that copy!!
42Are new graduates that idiotic Jillness? Have they ever heard of the US Mail?
43What I love is how banks insist on having your second I.D. be a credit card. I just laugh and say yeah RIGHT!
44Birth and death certificates have to be certified to be any help. You can't get one and photocopy it to use. I was born in a military hospital centuries ago and getting anything from them always is a headache. I have a birth certificate at home, but really don't want to be putting it in my purse once or twice a year so that I can vote. And as a citizen, I shouldn't have to.
45Aren't driver's licenses certified as well? I know mine has a hologram that covers half my face...very sexy.
I don't recommend that ANYONE send their documents through the US mail.
The postal service is hanging on by a thread. I recieved over 1000 piece of mail last year that were not even for my address!! I spent a lot of time thinking, "How did an envelope addressed to a city in Georgia from another city in Georgia end up in California?"
46Social Security Card is NOT proof of citizenship.
Passport and Original Birth Certificate are.
If you have no birth certificate, there are legal avenues you can use to prove citizenship.
If you are a Naturalized Citizen, your Naturalization Certificate is valid.
If you have a Green Card, you show that for proof of citizenship.
All others need not apply.
Your local Social Service agency can assist you.
47I'm not one for conspiracy theories but this absolutely harkens back to the days of the Jim Crow laws where you had to own property, pay a "poll tax," grandfather clause (where you couldn't vote unless your grandfather was eligible), etc. Of course, this was used to deter black and poor white people from voting in elections.
This is nothing short of despicable and completely undemocratic. BOOO, HISS!!!!
48That's it Nica, there's something wrong with the new emphasis on proving citizenship.
49Yeah Jillness, I agree.
Don't you need your birth certificate and another form of ID to get a driver's license?
Shouldn't the driver's license be enough then?
I'm not carrying birth certificate around everywhere either. It's ridiculous.
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