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by sinypcrx from Staten Island

Last Post 81 days, 23 hours Ago


Is this what voter ID laws are for?
Jun 11, 2008 | 10:59 PM
Category: Political
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Perhaps no one knows that as well as 97-year-old Shirley Freeda Preiss. She was born at home in Clinton, Kentucky in 1910, before women had the right to vote, and never had a birth certificate. Shirley has voted in every presidential election since FDR first ran in 1932, and proudly describes herself as a "died-in-the-wool Democrat." After living in Arizona for two years, she was eagerly looking forward to casting her ballot in the February primary for the first major woman candidate for President, Hillary Clinton. But lacking a birth certificate or even elementary school records to prove she's a native-born American citizen, the state of Arizona's bureaucrats determined that this former school-teacher who taught generations of Americans shouldn't be allowed to vote.

"I have a constitutional right to vote, don't I?" she asks with her soft Southern drawl. "I didn't get to vote because of a birth certificate. What am I going to do now?"

Her strong-willed 78-year-old son, Nathan "Joey" Nemnich, a World War II veteran, is infuriated. "I'm pissed. She's an American citizen who worked her whole life and I want her to vote," he says. He went down to the local Motor Vehicle Division to get her an Arizona ID and register her to vote, armed with copies of his mother's three drivers' licenses from her previous home in Texas, along with copies of her Social Security and Medicare cards. All that wasn't good enough for the state of Arizona. "The sons of bitches are taking away our Constitution," Nemnich says.

In Arizona and now as seems likely in Missouri, Kafkaesque rules blend with right-wing ideology to block American citizens like Shirley Preiss from voting, collateral damage in the Republican-led war on democracy. "I was very disappointed," she says of the state's roadblocks to voting. "It's not acceptable. I've always voted."

taken from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/after-id-ruli
ng-missouri_b_101261.html

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Happyg read my blog
Jun 16, 2008 | 2:48 PM

Voter ID is long overdue. Demand that thye accept her Social Security card as verification. She does have one, right?
sinypcrx read my blog
Jun 16, 2008 | 3:26 PM

While some agree that there should be some form of voter ID system in place and nationally recognized, the true heart of this issue is the timing. Very few states go haywire immediately following an election....the 'problem' of voter ID begins as elections, more specifically, expected close elections draw near. The main proponents of these rules tend to be Republicans. The truth is most acusations of voter fraud are not maelevolent in nature. They are usually clerical errors, human errors, programming errors. Investigations have proven there has never been any large scale significant fraud uncovered in relation to extra votes being cast. The same investigations reveal that of the few instances that can be labeled fraud, ID laws would not have prevented them from happening. That says to me that the heart of the issue is more than people worried about the integrity of the voting public. These laws tend to discourage and weigh unequally on the democratic supporters (who often tend to be of little means). Additionally the person featured did have a social security card, but the state said it wqsn't enough.
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sinypcrx

I am a life-long Staten Islander, with deep roots in the community. I have lead a varied 'professional' life. I served in the Navy as a Nuclear Operator, I've worked in retail for many years, I ran my own business for 5 years, I currently work for a major utility as a construction supervisor. To learn more about me go to: http://statenislandviews.
blogspot.com/

Member Since: 5/7/2007


 

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