Supreme Court Says States Can Demand Photo I.D. for Voting
Although I have never been a big fan of George W. Bush, in my mind one of the most important parts of his legacy is the nomination of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Sam Alito. Once again these two outstanding jurists delivered a ruling that allows some sanity to prevail in our government.
You wouldn’t think that it was an undue burden on anyone to produce a government issued photo I.D. when asking for one of the most powerful documents in the world, an American ballot.
If you thought that, you would be wrong. Our friends on the Democratic side of the isle thought it was so burdensome that they took it all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States of America, where they just got swatted down by cooler heads, including Justice John Paul Stevens, a man not known for his conservative views.
I have followed this story for several months. Thank goodness the Court reaffirmed the Indiana law that requires the photo ID to help prevent voter fraud.
~~John Cronin~~
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080428/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_voter_id
By Mark Sherman Associated Press Writer
Supporters of the law say it’s all about preventing fraud.
Indiana has a “valid interest in protecting ‘the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,’” said Justice John Paul Stevens in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Stevens said that Indiana’s desire to prevent fraud and to inspire voter confidence in the election system are important even though there have been no reports of the kind of fraud the law was designed to combat. Evidence of voters being inconvenienced by the law’s requirements also is scant. For the overwhelming majority of voters, an Indiana driver’s license serves as the identification.
April 28th, 2008 at 11:58 pm
I applaud this decision. Its time states were allowed do something to prevent voter fraud and not just wait until it happened to respond. May there be a tidal wave of similar legislation across the nation.
April 29th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Some sanity finally!! We must do everything possible to protect our precious right to vote!
April 29th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Our friends on the Democratic side of the aisle took this issue all the way to the Supreme Court because it’s a problem for the Democrats who want to vote more than one time, are in prison, or are dead! Requiring a photo ID to vote is a no-brainer - it IS all about preventing voter fraud. I’m relieved that the Supreme Court got this one right!
In October 2005 OBAMA publicly praised a district court decision to BLOCK a Georgia law requiring a photo ID to vote:
http://obama.senate.gov/press/051019-obama_praises_c/
I hope someone in the media follows up on this and asks Obama what he NOW thinks about this ruling by the Supreme Court. ..
Hope this will encourage the 25 states who DO NOT require a photo ID to make it a requirement. ASAP.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
As Libertarian, I oppose the concept of government IDs, and I suppose the applications there of, but being a desperate time of the illegal invasion, I support it for now in hopes of better days. I don’t want those limy Democrats to get any of the illegal votes they pander to.