The “Election and voting: Voter Identification” is a debate between three sides with different opinions about the voter identification law. Each side is represented by Chandler Davidson, Hans von Spakovsky, and Edward Foley. This debate is about whether the voter identification laws should be in place or not. Davidson is against the voting id laws stating its historical context and how it will affect the minorities, older and student during the election time. Spakovsky supports the law saying “the law would prevent voter fraud” and make elections strong and fair. Third, position held by Foley is that voter fraud is a problem and voter id law would help prevent it, but we need to make sure that everyone will have an easy access to the designated places.
Davidson’s idea would get support of liberals as they believe that states with the discrimination against minorities’ history are the ones who are moving forward with the voter id laws. And Spakovsky and Foley believe that the voter identification law would strengthen the voting results. They are concerned about the voter fraud and thinks that it is necessary to implement these laws to prevent illegal alien or felons from voting which could turn the election’s result. Foley, whose position is more likely the right-centrist, think that there should be some kind of voter identification but the government should make it more accessible for all the people.
Davidson position is against the voting identifications and its historic context. He believes that voter fraud is a smokescreen for a growing conservative strategy of disallowing poor and minority voters. The cases of voter fraud are very rare and mostly overstated. For example, In Texas, they spent 1.5million dollars to investiga...
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...should not ignore that if it exists than we should do something so it will not spread. If the voting fraud cases increase than it can threaten our democracy.
The voter identification is a serious issue. The partisan division makes it even harder to come up with any one solution which would make both sides happy. Liberal thinks that the voting identification law is a threat to our rights to vote while conservatives thinks that voter identification is to protect the voter fraud and make our election results more fair. This seems like a solvable issue but both sides do not want to compromise and solve the problem. Partisanships are stopping the country from getting anything done. If both parties cannot come up with any solution which works for both sides on the issue of voter identification, how could they work together and solve the other bigger national problems.
The voter ID issue starts with certain laws that, in the US, require that a person show a form of official ID before they are allowed to register to vote. This issue has split both Republicans and Democrats. According to Kenneth Jost, “republicans say [voter-ID laws] are needed to prevent fraud and protect the integrity of elections. Democrats say the laws are not needed and are being pushed in order to reduce voting among groups that skew Democratic in elections especially Latinos and African Americans” (Jost, p. 171). Both of these perspectives are valid, and with an open mind, can both sides have important points about the validity and inclusion of elections. On one hand, it is crucial to prevent fraud and keep the elections free of error, otherwise the outcome could be an unfair ruling. On the other side of the argument, voter-ID laws can cause discrimination and prevent people from voting, also
Since the turn of the twenty first century, in Canada voter turnout has made a significant and consecutive decline. In the last five federal elections on average only sixty-one per cent of eligible voters voted. If each eligible citizen voted in an election the government would be on par with the primary interests of the people. The easiest way to achieve this objective is by implementing a compulsory voting system. Mandatory voting systems are appealing because all citizens are affected by decisions made by the government, so it makes sense to have all those affected apart of the election process. As a result, the voting results would be more representative of the country and that would lead to an increase of stability and legitimacy. It would also be beneficial to Canadians because would cause political parties to address and focus on the needs of every socio-economic level. However, one of biggest problems that accompanies mandatory voting laws is that the choice to exercise the right to vote is taken away. Another primary concern about compulsory voting is that a large number of uninterested and uninformed voters are brought to the polls. Conversely, uninformed voters will become familiar with and learn the polling procedures and electoral system over time and uninterested voters are not forced to mark a name on the ballot. Compulsory voting laws would only make registration and attendance at the polls mandatory, not voting itself. Therefore the freedom to exercise the right to vote or not is still intact. A greater emphasis on alternate voting practices may be established such as electronic or online voting. Positive changes would not only be evident in the policies of political parties but also in the voting procedure. Th...
John Adams once said "You will never know how much it cost the present generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it." For many generations, our ancestors have fought for the right to vote. It started with the Civil Rights Act in 1964 which made it mandatory that white schools integrate black children into their institutions. The outcome of the 1964 election was a landslide, favoring the democrats, which broached the issue of civil rights legislation. In 1964 “only 7% of eligible black citizens in Mississippi were registered; in Alabama the figure was 20% (Kernell, et. al 2014, 162). The low voter turnout rate was because people of color were required to take a literacy test. This all changed when President Johnson
Hasen, Richard. "Voter Suppression's New Pretext." the New York Times 16 November 2013: A- 19. Print.
The issues in current time is the willingness for the parties to find common ground. The parties need to work together to strengthen the country. The “DACA” program is a great humanitarian program that will transform the lives of 800,000 immigrants.
As an American citizen do you think the government should enforce compulsory voting? A country usually needs three things to have a successful compulsory voting system, a national voter registration database, rewards to encourage voters, and punishing non-voters. Should americans be required to vote? There are three reasons why Americans should be required to vote, first, so citizens have interests and political knowledge, second, to increase amount of younger voters and finally, requiring people to vote is the least a citizen can do.
The right to vote for non-citizens has become an increasingly controversial topic due to the strong and often divisive opinions of permanent Canadian residents. The capacity to vote is one of the most important and valued freedoms granted to individuals. Although the acceptance of non-citizen resident voting is frequently encouraged in order to propel self-governing justice and immigrant inclusion, opponents claim that it is in a nation’s best interest to delay voting rights to non-citizens. According to this claim, by preserving voting rights to citizens, non-citizens would have the social responsibility to actively learn the essential community services and self-ruled obligations necessary to earn their citizenship. In spite of this claim, non-citizens should be allowed to vote because the right to vote offers immigrants a more welcomed chance to contribute in the decision-making processes that take place in Canadian legislature. Seeing that this legislature administrates the rights and freedoms of the immigrant populations, it would only be just if immigrants had the right to elect candidates who spoke on behalf of their best interests.
The new law has seen multiple, willing and able, voters turned away at the polling station for unacceptable or expired photo IDs. It also turns away people low on income, mainly because of the cost of photo IDs or the cost to replace vital documents, like birth certificates. With the implication of the new voter ID law, it is certain that it will have an implication on voter turnouts at the polls, mainly seen by minority and elderly voters. Those, like justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, prove that the new voter ID law has very lasting and unfair effects on voters who are deemed “unfavorable.” Even a U.S. district judge in Corpus Christi ruled that the law “constitutes an unconstitutional poll tax” and “has an impermissible discriminatory effect against Hispanics and African-Americans, and was imposed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose.” African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to lack appropriate photo IDs, disenfranchising approximately 600,000 voters. Even if the state offers a free photo ID, these types voters, some of who are in the low-income tax bracket, may not be able to get their hands on necessary documents, such as a birth certificate which cost around $23, to obtain one. The new ID laws can prove to be a large hurdle for multiple types of people, causing a lot of stress to people who just want to perform their civic
The wave of new voting restrictions passed around the country, mostly by Republicans, after their victories in the 2010 elections. Supporters of the law argue that such restrictions are necessary to prevent fraud. On the other hand, voting law opponents contend these laws disproportionately affect elderly, minority and low-income groups that tend to vote Democratic. Obtaining photo ID can be costly and burdensome because photo ID laws create a new "financial barrier to the ballot box”. It would have prevented hundreds of thousands of Hispanic voters from the polls just because they lack a state-issued photo ID.
To begin with, what is voter fraud? Voter fraud is the illegal obstruction of an election. Voter fraud is composed of double voting, intimidation, undocumented citizens voting, tampering with electronic or paper ballots, as well as deceased voting. Some opponents such as Attorney General Eric Holder suggest that there is not a problem with voter fraud. He also says that voter ID laws are “unnecessary” and has kept them from being used in Texas and South Carolina (John Fund). The problem is that most people think that voter fraud is a recent thing made up by republicans so that they can get more votes in elections by coming out with laws that will keep some people that tend to vote democratic from voting. The truth is that voter fraud has been around since voting started, and is a growing problem that needs to be dealt with. Voter id laws seem to be the only sensible deterrent for voter fraud. I will admit the laws do have some flaws, but if we don’t get rid of the problem now it...
Voter ID laws in the United States have begun to create controversy since the beginning of its adaptations in the early 2000’s. Voter ID laws in the United States is a law that requires U.S. citizens to have a special form of identification in order to vote in an election. The idea with Voter ID laws is that the state must make sure that the laws do not pose any sort of burden on the voters. These laws have been proposed in order to stop voting fraud. However, the institution of Voter ID laws have made trouble in states, including Texas, regarding to the various amount of identification requirements needed.
Voter suppression is no surprise to the American Government. It goes unseen by most. of the public, or they realize the suppression of voters after the damage has already been done. done.
With the election coming to an end, presidential nominee Donald Trump made a statement, if he were to lose the election it would be because of voter fraud. With that statement he has encouraged his supports to be aware of voter fraud at the voting polls. Many believe this will cause chaos at the polls this year as his supports remain to be loyal to their candidate and will honor his request. To some, they feel this might imitate some voters. As I have seen a lot of this topic on social media, I was able to find a few articles that may answer that question to if voter fraud is a serious problem or not.
A new strategy has come into view recently, which may result in actually reversing the trend of increasing the electorate outright. So far in 2011, 14 states have enacted 19 new laws and 2 executive orders placing new restrictions on voting and registration, which could diminish voter turnout in 2012 (Weiser and Norden 2011). These laws cover a wide array of issues; ranging from restrictive voter registration and voter id laws, to even reducing the days which people were able to vote. The Brennan Center for Jus...
America’s low voter turnout has been attributed to by the political parties’ failure to enliven the potential voters with the awareness and competitiveness in elections and the overall difficulty of the registration and voting process. The research portion of this project was predominantly provided from four books focused on voter turnout, whether it was perceived to be increasing or decreasing. The article used was found using one of the books and altogether the sources provided analytical and institutional perspectives on American voter turnout. I believe voter turnout, along with voter registration is steadily declining in America due to multiple factors, though the topics touched on above are largely impacting us today.