Koch Brothers, ALEC and Their Corporate Allies Plan to Privatize Government

[merrill]

Meet ALEC

November 30, 2011 | by Elisabeth MacNamara

ALEC isn’t a guy. ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, is a factory for anti-voter legislation, funded by power barons like Kraft Foods, McDonalds, Pfizer and the Koch brothers.

They are the driving force behind the recent flood of discriminatory voter ID laws, like the one in Texas, where a state-issued concealed handgun permit is an acceptable form of identification…but a state-issued student ID from a university is not.

The League is working tirelessly to fight back against these voter suppression schemes that could disenfranchise up to 5 million Americans in next year’s elections.

Voter impersonation is not the epidemic that these special interest groups would have you believe. Here are the facts:
5 Myths About Voter Impersonation

MYTH: Voter impersonation is a widespread problem.
FACT:Between 2002 and 2007, after undertaking a massive investigation into voting irregularities, the U.S. Justice Department did not prosecute a single individual for impersonating another voter at the polls.

MYTH: Third party registration drives contribute to voter impersonation.
FACT: Since 2008, only 31 cases of suspected voter impersonation have been reported to Florida authorities. But due to a restrictive new law there, the League has been forced to suspend its Florida voter registration activities for the first time in 72 years.

MYTH: Everyone either has an ID or can easily obtain one.
FACT: 11 percent of eligible voters or about 21 million people, don’t have updated, state-issued photo IDs. Furthermore, most states require producing a passport or birth certificate to get one. This presents a tremendous burden for people who work multiple jobs, lack transportation, have disabilities, live outside the state they were born, are poor or elderly.

MYTH: Election Day registration invites voter impersonation.
FACT: An investigation by the Secretary of State in Maine – which was the first state to adopt Election Day registration – did not find evidence of voting irregularities due to same day registration.

MYTH: Early voting increases voter impersonation.
FACT: Incidents of impersonation in early voting are just as rare as they are in Election Day balloting. A CBS News report on 17 early voting states revealed no widespread signs of irregularities in the 2008 election.

League of Women Voters

 

[Steelplate]

Yep.... the right only recognizes Tyranny from Gubmint though... so your words are going to fall on deaf ears.... and of course you will be called a Commie.

 

[California Girl]

Yep.... the right only recognizes Tyranny from Gubmint though... so your words are going to fall on deaf ears.... and of course you will be called a Commie.

Or, the intelligent among us will investigate the claims before we agree or disagree. Cuz some of us have a higher standard of 'truth' than accepting a cut and past piece of plagiarism.

 

[Stephanie]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

so I'll just assume the rest of what they say is crap.

 

[Stephanie]

so for 11% of people, the rest of us should not demand we have proper identification to VOTE..

 

[Steelplate]

No... assuming 11% of the people are trying to rig elections so that your candidates won't be elected is not a logical basis for potentially denying any already registered voter the right to vote by requiring them to jump through hoops due to your paranoia.

 

[Stephanie]

No... assuming 11% of the people are trying to rig elections so that your candidates won't be elected is not a logical basis for potentially denying any already registered voter the right to vote by requiring them to jump through hoops due to your paranoia.

If they are registered they KNOW they need their id for proof..
as for the disabled, they can vote absentee.

 

[Steelplate]

Yep.... the right only recognizes Tyranny from Gubmint though... so your words are going to fall on deaf ears.... and of course you will be called a Commie.

Or, the intelligent among us will investigate the claims before we agree or disagree. Cuz some of us have a higher standard of 'truth' than accepting a cut and past piece of plagiarism.

Wow... how intelligent. I assume you investigated the claims then?

 

[g5000]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

so I'll just assume the rest of what they say is crap.

Okay. And we will use that same standard for anything you have to say.

 

[g5000]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

The new law would require voters to show a Texas driver's license, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. passport, citizenship papers, or a military identification card before they could cast a ballot. Student ID cards issued by state universities, out-of-state driver's licenses, or ID cards issued to state employees would not be accepted.

Voter ID law put on hold by feds - San Antonio Express-News

 

[Stephanie]

here's what I found on it..

SNIP:
Texas Senate passes GOP-backed voter ID bill

Jay Janner/The Associated Press Sen. Troy Fraser (center) and Sen. Tommy Williams (right) talk to Sen. Robert Duncan during debate on Senate Bill 14, the voter ID bill, in the Senate Chamber at the Capitol in Austin on Tuesday. AText Size By TERRENCE STUTZ / Austin Bureau
[email protected]
Published: 26 January 2011 09:59 PM
Related AUSTIN — With a strong push from Republicans and over the vigorous objections of Democrats, the Senate on Wednesday approved legislation requiring all but elderly Texans to show a photo ID before voting.

Most of the proposed amendments to the bill — offered by Democrats — were rejected during several hours of debate Wednesday, but one change found bipartisan support. That added a state concealed handgun license to the list of photo IDs that would meet the requirement of the legislation.

In the end, the measure was approved 19-11, with all Republicans backing it and all but one absent Democrat voting no.

The legislation moves to the House, which also is expected to pass it thanks to the huge majority of Republicans in the lower chamber. Two years ago, when the House was almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, a Senate voter ID bill was bottled up and never reached the House floor.

Excluded from the photo requirement are voters 70 and older as of the end of this year. They will remain under current law and be asked to show only a voter registration card.

Democrats warned that the bill will run into trouble under the federal Voting Rights Act, designed to protect minority voting rights in several southern states — including Texas — and Alaska, Arizona and some urban areas. Under that law, the U.S. Justice Department must review all changes in election laws in those states.

“This requirement is just a poll tax by another name,” said Sen. Wendy Davis , D-Fort Worth, referring to the now outlawed practice of requiring voters to pay a fee before voting. The poll tax was used to discourage voting by minorities decades ago.

An amendment by Davis that would have removed the fee for any photo ID that qualifies for voting under the bill — such as a driver’s license — was rejected by the Republican majority.

Sen. Troy Fraser , R-Horseshoe Bay, author of the bill, noted that it will allow Texans to get a state ID card for free from the Department of Public Safety. The state ID is one of the photo IDs that would establish the voter’s identity for voting purposes.

Fraser and other Republicans also rejected the arguments of Democrats that the measure will run afoul of the Voting Rights Act because of what they said was its adverse impact on minorities in Texas.

“I have no concerns about this bill going before the Justice Department,” Fraser said. “This bill clearly meets the parameters set by the U.S. Supreme Court [for voter ID laws].”

Republicans say their proposal mirrors the Indiana voter ID law, which has been in effect for nearly five years and was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.


Texas Senate passes GOP-backed voter ID bill | Texas Legislature News - News for Dallas, Texas - The Dallas Morning News

 

[Stephanie]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

The new law would require voters to show a Texas driver's license, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. passport, citizenship papers, or a military identification card before they could cast a ballot. Student ID cards issued by state universities, out-of-state driver's licenses, or ID cards issued to state employees would not be accepted.

Voter ID law put on hold by feds - San Antonio Express-News

Oh brother..
you had to edit just for that...

 

[g5000]

Sen. Troy Fraser , R-Horseshoe Bay, author of the bill, noted that it will allow Texans to get a state ID card for free from the Department of Public Safety. The state ID is one of the photo IDs that would establish the voter’s identity for voting purposes.

Last I checked in my home state, it cost about 30 bucks to get a copy of my birth certificate for a photo ID.

 

[Ernie S.]

Just how would you go about prosecuting someone who has impersonated an eligible voter? I would bet that there are hundreds, if not thousands of cases with no way to identify a case of fraud, much less prosecute the offender.

 

[g5000]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

The new law would require voters to show a Texas driver's license, a Texas concealed handgun license, a U.S. passport, citizenship papers, or a military identification card before they could cast a ballot. Student ID cards issued by state universities, out-of-state driver's licenses, or ID cards issued to state employees would not be accepted.

Voter ID law put on hold by feds - San Antonio Express-News

Oh brother..
you had to edit just for that...

Since your assumption about student IDs was completely wrong, we can now assert anything else you have to say is also crap.

 

[merrill]

ALEC Exposed

ALEC Exposed: State Legislative Bills Drafted by Secretive Corporate-Lawmaker Coalition

This week the Center for Media and Democracy released 800 model bills, legislation that is straight out of the corporate playbook and drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council.

The group’s membership includes both state lawmakers and corporate executives who gather behind closed doors to discuss and vote on draft legislation.

ALEC has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months for its role in crafting bills to attack worker rights, to roll back environmental regulations, privatize education, deregulate major industries, and pass voter ID laws.

Thanks to ALEC, at least a dozen states have recently adopted a nearly identical resolution asking Congress to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to stop regulating carbon emissions. We are joined by Lisa Graves, executive director of the Center for Media Democracy.

ALEC Exposed: State Legislative Bills Drafted by Secretive Corporate-Lawmaker Coalition

 

[Stephanie]

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."





Voter ID law put on hold by feds - San Antonio Express-News

Oh brother..
you had to edit just for that...

Since your assumption about student IDs was completely wrong, we can now assert anything else you have to say is also crap.

you can do whatever the hell you like...have at it.

 

[Ernie S.]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

so I'll just assume the rest of what they say is crap.

You do realize that many students attend school away from home and as residents of their home states vote by absentee ballot?
A driver's license or pistol permit is proof of residence. A student ID is not.

 

[Ernie S.]

No... assuming 11% of the people are trying to rig elections so that your candidates won't be elected is not a logical basis for potentially denying any already registered voter the right to vote by requiring them to jump through hoops due to your paranoia.

The majority of your 11% are already registered to vote. All they need do, assuming they are too lazy or possibly infirm, to get an ID, can vote by absentee ballot.

 

[Stephanie]

I find it hard to believe a student Id if it has their picture on it is not accepted..

so I'll just assume the rest of what they say is crap.

You do realize that many students attend school away from home and as residents of their home states vote by absentee ballot?
A driver's license or pistol permit is proof of residence. A student ID is not.

Yes, you are right, I was wrong..