I’ve been fortunate, and so has everyone I’ve ever known. When we go to vote, we’ve never been turned away because someone pretended they were us and took our place. We’ve never had to go home without voting.

But clearly, most conservatives have this happen regularly. What has your experience been like when this has happened? Have you ever been able to actually vote?

Never.

@Dutchess_III: “Never.”

Well that can’t be true. Didn’t you just make this statement?

Never and I’ve been voting for over 50 years.

I have never been told I already voted. What on earth does that have to do with showing ID?

^ This is why you support showing an ID when voting, right?

Well sure. I mean it would be not good if you could just say “I’m Joe Blow” and automatically allowed to vote under that name.
Also, to establish you’re an American citizen.

@Dutchess_III: “Well sure. I mean it would be not good if you could just say “I’m Joe Blow” and automatically allowed to vote under that name.”

But this hasn’t actually happened to you that much recently, right? Is this much of a problem with your friends and family? When was the last time they were able to vote and not be sent home told that someone already pretended to be them and voted?

@Dutchess_III: “Also, to establish you’re an American citizen.”

Ok, what? How are you registered to vote if…forget it. I’m going to ignore this part. Stick to my question.

Never.

Never. But, to be fair, I have always needed to show my ID.

Never. And I have a twin brother. :D

IMO it’s only logical to require ID at some point in the voting process. If no ID is required then anybody can vote. You’d get Russians & North Koreans flocking into the states to vote.

To register to vote you must show a photo ID.

Not when you vote.

Seems like they glance at my ID and cross my name off of a list.

@Dutchess_III: “IMO it’s only logical to require ID at some point in the voting process. If no ID is required then anybody can vote. You’d get Russians & North Koreans flocking into the states to vote.”

Please – I’m begging you: Play this out in detail. I’d love to see how you’re able to make any sense of what you just wrote.

If you allow just anyone to get registered to vote without proving that they’re eligible to vote in the US then random people can vote.
Do you have a really hard time understanding simple concepts?

^ You can’t play this out?

You’re so scared of potential and non-existent voter fraud that you’re willing to proactively implement a poll tax and disenfranchise people.

Is that simple enough of a concept?

I’m not afraid of voter fraud. It is highly unlikely to happen because of what minimal checks and balances we have around our voting system.

^ So why do you support disenfranchising people?

Oh stop it child.

You can just say: “I want these laws because they help my Republican party.”

That would be far more honest than saying that you’re against disenfranchising voters, but you’re for limiting voting to those who can afford it.

I have never had that happen.

Never, but then I’ve only been voting since June, 1968.

Nobody with whom I’ve ever communicated has said that happened to them.

It’s never happened. I have never met anyone making such a claim, nor have I heard even rumors of it happening from anyone I can name.

@stanleybmanly

In what year did you cast your first ballot?

Probably 64. And that was in Nebraska. And I have NEVER spent more than 5 minutes waiting my turn to vote there, in Illinois, Massachusetts or California.

5 minutes? OMG @stanleybmanly! You need food and water brought to you!

What’s your longest wait time?

Mine was about 4 hours, on 3/3/20, during the CA primary.

Last Nov I used a drop box, which took about a minute.

@stanleybmanly

Did you vote for LBJ?

Consider that Johnson’s opponent was Barry Goldwater. Then have a guess.

@Brian1946 Where in California were you compelled to wait 4 hours to vote? Was that about the disease?

I have never tried to vote twice, was never turned away, would avoid living in Georgia if at all possible, and no one has ever tried to vote as me. I did have my signature questioned once, because it was detected that my signature was different from the one I used when I first filled out a voter registration card.

@Dutchess_III Random wicked person goes to polling place: “Hi I’d like to vote.”
poll worker: “What district do you live in?”
wicked person: “That one… 13.”
poll worker: “Ok… go over there and talk to the person there.”
wicked person: “Hi I’m from district… 13 and I’d like to vote.”
poll worker: “What’s your name?”
wicked person: “Bob.”
poll worker: “Full name?”
wicked person: “Bob Rogers.”
poll worker: “Hmm… I don’t see a Bob Rogers on my list.” (Raises hand for supervisor.)

Exactly. Showing your address pins down what district you’re in rather than just taking the word of some rambling guy.
I still can’t understand how that is unconstitutional.

Just telling them your name and which of their limited list of names you are in their district is not unconstitutional, and has worked just fine without ID for hundreds of years.

The unconstitutional part is requiring you to have and to present official documents. And there are other issues of privacy and freedom about requiring someone to present an official ID, particularly an ID you have to pay and provide various other documents in order to get, ID that have various rules about expiry and invalidation, ID that also tell the person looking at the ID various information about you that you might prefer not to reveal, and so on.

Exactly. That is the built in defense rendering any MEANINGFUL effort to commit fraud at the polling place so manifestly difficult that it has YET to be breeched barring the participation of those administering the process.

In the olden days didn’t the male land holders (the only ones allowed to vote) have to have someone vouch for them as a form of ID?

In the old days (just as in many places now) poll workers could personally identify their voters. And once again anyone falsely announcing they were someone else were likely to be within earshot of others who knew and recognized the name.

And that!

Obama did his first run not long after Rick and I got together. We got into Rachel Maddow and had some pretty spirited debates.
At one point I said “Wait! Are you even registered to vote??”
He said he was not.
I said “Why are we even bothering with these debates?” and I shut it down.
He ran out the next day and got his happy ass registered to vote for the first time in his life!
And the debates resumed.
Glad I got ahold of him because I’m pretty sure that if left to himself he’d be a Republican of the worst kind! But he’s a registered Democrat.