LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A House panel has advanced legislation requiring Arkansas voters to show photo identification before they can cast a ballot.
The House State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee voted 13-6 on Wednesday to advance the voter ID bill proposed by Republican Sen. Bryan King. The panel last week delayed a vote on the measure so that a fiscal impact study could be performed.
The Senate approved the measure earlier this month.
King's proposal would only take effect when there's funding for the state to provide IDs free of charge to voters who don't have driver's licenses. It would also exempt voters who live in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
Arkansas law currently requires poll workers to ask for identification, but voters aren't required to show it.
Comments (53)
Add commentReally!!
They just now thought this would be a good idea!
Gerrymandering
Yup
Gerrymandering is only going to get worse.
It's a desperation move because the GOP knows it is in real trouble.
Yup
In a nutshell
Funny, but I don't see this as gerrymandering..
Seems to me that buying cigarettes requires you to be age 18 and have the means to prove it. Buying alcohol requires you to be age 21 and the means to prove it. Driving a car requires a license and you must show it to the the officer who stops you for a moving violation. Why then would it be such a hassle to prove you are who you are and old enough to vote?
I'm sorry, but even though voting in elections in this country is a right it seems to me that proving you are who you say you are, proving that you haven't voted twice, and have the right to vote not taken away from you for felony convictions or other reasons should not be a hard law to enforce. I'm also of the opinion that anybody who thinks otherwise really must have ulterior motives.
This has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal; it has to do with common sense and protecting the right to vote. I hold that right dearly and don't want to see those who have no right to vote doing so or others voting in the place of dead people, felons, etc..
Come on now folks, voter ID should be required. Why isn't it? Don't give me this crap about taking away the right to vote if you don't have an ID.. Birth certificates are not that hard to come by and state-issued ID's could be paid for by those who want them. After all, I had to pay for my driver's license..
facts:
you mention more than once in your statement that Felons don't have the right to vote. Correction, Felons that are no longer on paper (incarcerated, on parole, or probation) DO have the right to vote. Besides, showing an ID wouldn't let the poll volunteer know if the person has the right to vote, or is a Felon on paper, just that they are who they say they are. That's is why there is a Registration.
I have no problem showing my ID, and would hate to wait in line to vote, just to find out that someone has voted using my name.
If, then,
voter fraud is such a problem that the legislature has to act, then it is acting from a place illegal, because it was elected by an illegal electorate.
Therefore now that we have a law in place, we need to hold an election right away in order to be sure these people did not gain office through fraud.
Please pass..
...the Excedrin.
"If, then, voter fraud is
"If, then, voter fraud is such a problem that the legislature has to act, then it is acting from a place illegal, because it was elected by an illegal electorate."
Here here...I knew there was something wrong with Rapert and his gang of right-wing sexist neanderthals; they were obviously 'chosen' by an illegal electorate and should do the right thing and step down.
Voter fraud is NOT a problem, much less a huge problem that requires the amount of work put into it by all the Republican state legislatures that are currently working on the urgent 'problem.' Unless you're blinded by partisanship or simply ignorant of the FACTS, all these proposed voter ID laws and gerrymandering antics are all about Republicans trying to cheat themselves into eternal office 'cause they certainly can't win em straight up because America's electorate is changing.
"This has nothing to do with being conservative or liberal; it has to do with common sense and protecting the right to vote."
Pooh, it has EVERYTHING to do with being a Republican and nothing to do with being a liberal...as demonstrated by which legislatures and which politicians are behind these antics. First, voter fraud is NOT a problem by any demonstrative measure...(and certainly not one equal to the amount of legislative action proposed to deal with it). It's about keeping much of the Democratic base, mainly POOR folks and minorities, from voting.
Well..................
Po ol dems...... Haven't had a chance since honest abe got assasinaned. What must we do?