Voting Restrictions Racist?

I fail to see how a law requiring photo ID at polls is discriminatory against anyone, but that’s just what the NAACP is claiming.

"The NAACP accuses the U.S. Justice Department of weakening one of the nation’s most important voting laws. On Friday, the Justice Department approved a Georgia law requiring voters to present a government-issued photo ID before casting a ballot. Supporters say the new law will prevent fraud at the polls. But opponents say it will keep thousands of voters away — especially poor and elderly people who don’t have drivers’ licenses and can’t afford to pay for a state-issued ID card. They say the new Georgia law essentially requires many black people to pay a fee before voting."

….

"Under the new Georgia law, the list of acceptable photo IDs for voters is limited to the following: a Georgia driver’s license, U.S. passport, U.S. or state agency employee ID, military ID, tribal ID or an ID card issued by a legally empowered branch of Georgia, any other state or the U.S. government."

How much could it possibly cost to get a non-license photo ID in Georgia?! In PA, it’s about $10. For what poor soul is that too much to bear? If the cost really would be a deterrent for many, lobby for some kind of subsidy instead of trying to get the whole idea scrapped. Don’t they realize how many dead people and other inelligible parties vote each year?

Am I missing something or is this really as stupid as it sounds?

Update: Gclectic left an intriguing comment in which he called my bluff and presented an interesting idea. As he points out, I haven’t a clue how many fraudulant votes are registered at elections. I don’t think anyone would really deny it’s a problem, but he’s right that I ought to have provided evidence. I was being flippant and he called me on it. That’s fair.

He also suggested some alternatives to the photo ID idea. I really like one of them – indellible ink. Yup, the same ink used in Iraq’s elections. I think that’d be a really cool – and fair – way to curb voter fraud. I’d be very interested to see how many of my fellow citizens were – or weren’t – walking around with inky fingers on election day. Come to think of it, there might even be a fringe benefit to the practice – increased voter turnout.

Something similar happens in the Catholic Church. Every year on Ash Wednesday, churches are packed. More people attend that mass – one that isn’t even a holy day of obligation – than any other mass throughout the year. Why? Well, the full answer is complicated, but at least some of them likely attend because they get something to show for it. They get ashes put on their foreheads. First of all, people, particularly Americans, like to feel like they get something to show for their efforts. Secondly, for the rest of the day they can advertise what good Catholics they (allegedly) are, simply by being seen in public.

What does the Catholic Church have to do with US elections? Well, perhaps if voters got to walk around with ink on their fingers – a something tangible they could show off – they’d be more inclined to get off their lazy butts and vote. I’m sure I don’t have to provide statistical proof that voter turnout is often no higher than 60% of those who are eligible. So, with indellible ink we could fight voter fraud and possibly increase voter turnout in the process. Cool. 🙂

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About Funky Dung

Who is Funky Dung? 29-year-old grad student in Intelligent Systems (A.I.) at the University of Pittsburgh. I consider myself to be politically moderate and independent and somewhere between a traditional and neo-traditional Catholic. I was raised Lutheran, spent a number of years as an agnostic, and joined the Catholic Church at the 2000 Easter Vigil. Why Funky Dung? I haven't been asked this question nearly as many times as you or I might expect. Funky Dung is a reference to an obscure Pink Floyd song. On the album Atom Heart Mother, there is a track called Atom Heart Mother Suite. It's broken up into movements, like a symphony, and one of the movements is called Funky Dung. I picked that nickname a long time ago (while I was still in high school I think), shortly after getting an internet connection for the first time. To me it means "cool/neat/groovy/spiffy stuff/crap/shiznit", as in "That's some cool stuff, dude!" Whence Ales Rarus? I used to enjoy making people guess what this means, but I've decided to relent and make it known to all. Ales Rarus is a Latin play on words. "Avis rarus" means "a rare bird" and carries similar meaning to "an odd fellow". "Ales" is another Latin word for bird that carries connotations of omens, signs of the times, and/or augery. If you want to get technical, both "avis" and "ales" are feminine (requiring "rara", but they can be made masculine in poetry (which tends to breaks lots of rules). I decided I'd rather have a masculine name in Latin. ;) Yeah, I'm a nerd. So what? :-P Wherefore blog? It is my intention to "teach in order to lead others to faith" by being always "on the lookout for occasions of announcing Christ by word, either to unbelievers . . . or to the faithful" through the "use of the communications media". I also act knowing that I "have the right and even at times a duty to manifest to the sacred pastors [my] opinion on matters which pertain to the good of the Church, and [I] have a right to make [my] opinion known to the other Christian faithful, with due regard to the integrity of faith and morals and reverence toward [my and their] pastors, and with consideration for the common good and the dignity of persons." (adapted from CCC 904-907) Statement of Faith I have been baptized and confirmed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I, therefore, renounce Satan; I renounce all his works; I renounce all his allurements. I hold and profess all that is contained in the Apostles' Creed, the Niceno- Constantinopolitan Creed, and the Athanasian Creed. Having been buried with Christ unto death and raised up with him unto a new life, I promise to live no longer for myself or for that world which is the enemy of God but for him who died for me and rose again, serving God, my heavenly Father, faithfully and unto death in the holy Catholic Church. I am obedient to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. That is, I promote and defend authentic Catholic Teaching and Faith in union with Christ and His Church and in union with the Holy Father, the Bishop of Rome, the Successor of St. Peter. Thanks be unto Thee, O my God, for all Thy infinite goodness, and, especially, for the love Thou hast shown unto me at my Confirmation. I Give Thee thanks that Thou didst then send down Thy Holy Spirit unto my soul with all His gifts and graces. May He take full possession of me for ever. May His divine unction cause my face to shine. May His heavenly wisdom reign in my heart. May His understanding enlighten my darkness. May His counsel guide me. May His knowledge instruct me. May His piety make me fervent. May His divine fear keep me from all evil. Drive from my soul, O Lord, all that may defile it. Give me grace to be Thy faithful soldier, that having fought the good fight of faith, I may be brought to the crown of everlasting life, through the merits of Thy dearly beloved Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Behind the Curtain: an Interview With Funky Dung (Thursday, March 03, 2005) I try to avoid most memes that make their way 'round the blogosphere (We really do need a better name, don't we?), but some are worth participating in. Take for instance the "interview game" that's the talk o' the 'sphere. I think it's a great way to get to know the people in neighborhood. Who are the people in your neighborhood? In your neighborhod? In your neigh-bor-hoo-ood...*smack* Sorry, Sesame Street flashback. Anyhow, I saw Jeff "Curt Jester" Miller's answers and figured since he's a regular reader of mine he'd be a good interviewer. Without further ado, here are my answers to his questions. 1. Being that your pseudonym Funky Dung was chosen from a Pink Floyd track on Atom Heart Mother, what is you favorite Pink Floyd song and why? Wow. That's a tuffy. It's hard to pick out a single favorite. Pink Floyd isn't really a band known for singles. They mostly did album rock and my appreciation of them is mostly of a gestalt nature. If I had to pick one, though, it'd be "Comfortably Numb". I get chills up my spine every time I hear it and if it's been long enough since the last time, I get midty-eyed. I really don't know why. That's a rather unsatisfying answer for an interview, so here are the lyrics to a Rush song. It's not their best piece of music, but the lyrics describe me pretty well.

New World Man He's a rebel and a runner He's a signal turning green He's a restless young romantic Wants to run the big machine He's got a problem with his poisons But you know he'll find a cure He's cleaning up his systems To keep his nature pure Learning to match the beat of the old world man Learning to catch the heat of the third world man He's got to make his own mistakes And learn to mend the mess he makes He's old enough to know what's right But young enough not to choose it He's noble enough to win the world But weak enough to lose it --- He's a new world man... He's a radio receiver Tuned to factories and farms He's a writer and arranger And a young boy bearing arms He's got a problem with his power With weapons on patrol He's got to walk a fine line And keep his self-control Trying to save the day for the old world man Trying to pave the way for the third world man He's not concerned with yesterday He knows constant change is here today He's noble enough to know what's right But weak enough not to choose it He's wise enough to win the world But fool enough to lose it --- He's a new world man...
2. What do you consider your most important turning point from agnosticism to the Catholic Church. At some point in '99, I started attending RCIA at the Pittsburgh Oratory. I mostly went to ask a lot of obnoxious Protestant questions. Or at least that's what I told myself. I think deep down I wanted desperately to have faith again. At that point I think I'd decided that if any variety of Christianity had the Truth, the Catholic Church did. Protestantism's wholesale rejection of 1500 years of tradition didn't sit well with me, even as a former Lutheran. During class one week, Sister Bernadette Young (who runs the program) passed out thin booklet called "Handbook for Today's Catholic". One paragraph in that book spoke to me and I nearly cried as I read it.
"A person who is seeking deeper insight into reality may sometimes have doubts, even about God himself. Such doubts do not necessarily indicate lack of faith. They may be just the opposite - a sign of growing faith. Faith is alive and dynamic. It seeks, through grace, to penetrate into the very mystery of God. If a particular doctrine of faith no longer 'makes sense' to a person, the person should go right on seeking. To know what a doctrine says is one thing. To gain insight into its meaning through the gift of understanding is something else. When in doubt, 'Seek and you will find.' The person who seeks y reading, discussing, thinking, or praying eventually sees the light. The person who talks to God even when God is 'not there' is alive with faith."
At the end of class I told Sr. Bernadette that I wanted to enter the Church at the next Easter vigil. 3. If you were a tree what kind of, oh sorry about that .. what is the PODest thing you have ever done? I set up WikiIndex, a clearinghouse for reviews of theological books, good, bad, and ugly. It has a long way to go, but it'll be cool when it's finished. :) 4. What is your favorite quote from Venerable John Henry Newman? "Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt." 5. If you could ban one hymn from existence, what would it be? That's a tough one. As a member of the Society for a Moratorium on the Music of Marty Haugen and David Haas, there are obviously a lot of songs that grate on my nerves. If I had to pick one, though, I'd probably pick "Sing of the Lord's Goodness" by Ernie Sands.

15 thoughts on “Voting Restrictions Racist?

  1. Gclectic

    Sorry, Eric, but I’ve got to call you on this one. I *don’t* know how many dead people vote every year, and you’ve given no evidence that they constitute a problem. I’ve always been inclined to believe that (outside of party machine locales like Chicago) graveyard votes are mostly urban myths. However, I’m always glad to be convinced by actual research, if you could point me to anything reputable.

    I could go either way on the ID issue, but always get worried when I hear of people finding ways to prevent folks from voting. Maybe we should instead go with the indelible ink approach that we applauded so loudly in Aghanistan and Iraq. You could still get an ineligible voter pretending to be a dead man (if he did his research, and the voting district was careless in maintaining its voting rolls, and he didn’t mind going to jail if the district wasn’t as careless as he expected) but only once per election. With the current system, he could presumably vote as many times as he could prepare fake IDs (subject to the same caveats as above).

  2. Funky Dung

    Well, to be honest, I was feeling flippant when I wrote that. My point, though, was that voter fraud is a real problem. I don’t think anyone denies that.

    You’re right that there are likely better solutions than use of photo IDs for curbing it. Actually, I really like the indellible ink idea. In fact, I’m going to amend this article to reflect your suggestions. Thanks. 🙂

  3. Steve Nicoloso

    Do we really want to increase voter turnout? Do we really want people voting to make a fashion statement? (For that matter, do we really want people attending Ash Wed Mass so that they may be seen of men as “good Catholics”?) I say anything that keeps the marginally apathetic home on election day (or Ash Wed) is a good thing.

    I have to admit the requirement of a photo ID which cannot be obtained freely does fall quite clearly as a “poll tax”… however nominal the fee might be. Simply relax the law to let people present other convincing forms of ID, which may be obtained for free or that ID-less people might already have (bank statement, utility bill, SS card, in various combinations). Or, better, add a provision to the statute that state (non-driver) photo IDs be free.

    Always the faithful curmudgeon…

  4. Funky Dung

    I’m not arguing that the Ash Weds phenomenon is a good thing. However, if it could be exploited to get people voting, I think it’d be a good thing. There are too many Monday-morning quarterbacks in this country. People talk about governmental matters like they’re discussing the weather. When one compares the number of people complaining about government to voter turnout (even just anecdotally), it’s seems that there are likely a number of non-voters amongst them (though I admit I can’t prove it).

    I like Australia’s solution. Every citizen must check in at a polling place. There’s no compulsion to vote, but if you’re there, why not?

  5. Adam Graham

    Well, I think the idea of the ink is interesting. It doesn’t prevent one of the biggest types of frauds and that is people who aren’t citizens legally voting. That’s been a huge issue out West.

  6. Steve Nicoloso

    Again Funky, why specifically (other than a bumper sticker) is it a good thing to get more people (who would otherwise be too lazy or apathetic or unwilling to pay a $25 fine) out there to vote. Do you really want that vote to count the same as yours, i.e., that of a person who would presumably crawl 3 miles on broken glass to vote? I absolutely agree it’s a good thing to eliminate voter fraud, but forcing uninterested, apathetic, lazy people to vote just gives uninterested, apathetic, lazy people a bigger voice… they don’t deserve it. Let them stay home and watch Oprah or play Gamecube. Bitching about results on Wednesday AM is relatively harmless, and surely worth putting up with if paired with the net social benefit of morons not bothering to vote.

    And why, Adam, is having non-citizens vote such a fraud? I can see that it might be illegal, but does that make it fraud? Ought it be illegal? Why not give resident aliens the right to vote? They have as much stake as citizens (many if not most of whom don’t bother themselves to vote anyway) do. They pay taxes (including FICA), purchase homes, bank, shop, cart kids to soccer practice, and engage in all the other civic things that “citizens” do.

  7. Matt

    A couple of things:

    I have actually been poor enough in my life that I wouldn’t drop a sawbuck on anything that wasn’t an absolutely necessary expense, such as food or rent. Had I been forced to spend that to vote, I might not have voted. And I’m a pretty determined voter. And I was never as poor as many of the people I’ve met in my life.

    Second: I like the indelible ink idea, but I would modify it to put the ink on people’s foreheads. For the aesthetic reason that it would look more mysterious, and for the practical reason that putting ink on people’s fingers–I don’t care how indelible it is–will lead to lots of inky fingerprints everywhere: on clothes, keyboards, hands, etc. Bad idea…really bad idea.

    Thirdly: it’s your blog. You get to be flippant if you want.

  8. Funky Dung

    1) Thanks for offering that perspective. However, I’d counter that regardless of your limited funds, you’d probably have a driver’s license, which is adequate ID. Of course, those without a license and insufficient funds to get a photo ID might still be likely to choose food over voting. Then again, there’s still the option of a subsidy. I just don’t see reason for the NAACP to be totally against this idea. Is it flawed? Yes. Should it be totally scrapped? Not necessarily.

    2) That would certainly fit well with the Ash Weds motif. 😉

    3) This is true, but I try to keep high standards for myself. I also appreciate constructive feedback and try to act on it when I think it’s reasonable. I have no problem with blogs being highly biases and full of from-the-hip opinions – in fact, I think it’s actually an asset – but if we get too comfortable with unsubstantiated claims and accusations, the medium will devolve into meaningless noise. As it stands, there are already a lot of people indiscriminantly parroting rhetoric and propaganda from both sides and butchering statistics (when they use it at all). I’d rather not contribute to the problem.

  9. john

    It’s not a matter that the rule is innately racist, it’s that provides potentially racist authorities with powers they can easily abuse.

    They’ll tell black people that their IDs look fake, and tell them to leave or be arrested, and most people in that situation will aquiesce.

    This is just like the reading requirements where white people were given THe cat runs and black people were given shakespeare and failed regardless of whether they coudl read it.

  10. howard

    I’m not wholly invested in this discussion, but regardless of racial implications, I’m not sure requiring a form of id that can’t be freely obtained by everyone passes constitutional muster. Therefore, it seems requisite that the government would either have to make such identification freely available to everyone or not require it at all.

    You shouldn’t pay people to vote, and you shouldn’t charge them for it either.

  11. gbm3

    “But opponents say it will keep thousands of voters away — especially poor and elderly people who don’t have drivers’ licenses and can’t afford to pay for a state-issued ID card. They say the new Georgia law essentially requires many black people to pay a fee before voting.” -NAACP

    This is not a racial issue. It is a class issue.

  12. gbm3

    I haven’t been able to find the numbers, but I remember reading or hearing that the number of poor EuroA (EA) is higher than the number of poor AfroA (AA)? (or was it total on welfare?)

    Perhaps the percentage of AA poor is higher, but the total number of EA poor is higher.

    The NAACP has a stake in this issue, but it is primarily a class issue.

    Actually, never mind my qualm. CP (which NAACP represents) have a stake in this issue so the NAACP should have said something, which they did.

  13. A. Carlton Sallet

    I wash the ashes off with holy water as soon as I leave the church. Christ disliked the Pharisees and Seducees for using outward signs of piety to put everyone else down.

    “Look at me – I’m holier than you” is not what Ash Wednesday is about.

    Great blog, BTW!

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