Premium Essay

Arguments Against Voter ID Law

Submitted By
Words 250
Pages 1
Voter ID Law has been an issue for years and they have been trying to prevent voter fraud. In my opinion, the Voter ID Law is like the modern-day Poll Tax, disproportionately disenfranchising minority voters, low-income individuals, and the elderly. Voting rights advocates are fighting against the laws to protect voter accessibility and ensure fair representation—issues like inaccessible polling locations, lack of transportation, and inadequate training for poll workers. Bottom of Form Yes, these laws significantly impact elections by reducing voter turnout, and the bill, S.B. 1111, restricts individuals from registering to vote using an address where they don’t live full time. It will put restrictions on residency that will impact the students

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Voter Identification: Disenfranchise African Americans

...2016 Voter Identification: Disenfranchises African Americans Ever since Section 4b of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was struck down, disenfranchisement of African Americans has been underway. Politicians are starting to put in place laws that require everyone who wants to vote to obtain a photo identification to show at voting sites in order to prohibit voter fraudulence. Picture this, an African American family, who are members of the poor sector, who do not own a car, and barely survives. Imagine the parents of this family who have jobs that barely allow them to feed their families and pay the bills on time. Now imagine the irritation those parents feel when they aren’t able to pay for a voter identification to vote in elections so they can make the attempt to make their lives better. Then on top of that most of the DMV offices are never close by African American neighborhoods. These families do not have the proper funds to pay someone for gas to take them to a DMV, buy two voter identification cards, pay the bills, and feed the children on limited funds. Voter identification laws are said to prevent voter fraud so that elections are fair; instead they hurt the African American population, and corruption still continues. Instead of trying to allow poor African Americans the equal chance to vote as those who can afford it, politicians who approve of voter identification laws are making it quite impossible for African Americans to exercise their right. Voter ID laws discriminate...

Words: 2051 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Voter-Id Laws and Discriminatory Intent

...Voter-ID Laws and discriminatory intent PSC 1010 American National Government The Voter-ID Laws is one of the hot issues in contemporary American Politics. Supporters of the Voter-ID Laws say they are needed to prevent voter fraud. Opponents say they discriminate against the poor, elderly and minorities. Opponents also argue that the Voter-ID Laws are against the Fourteenth Amendment and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Four principles of the Fourteenth Amendments are: 1. State and federal citizenship for all persons regardless of race both born or naturalized in the United States was reaffirmed. 2. No state would be allowed to abridge the "privileges and immunities" of citizens. 3. No person was allowed to be deprived of life, liberty,or property without "due process of law." 4. No person could be denied "equal protection of the laws." (Kelly) Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in one of the language minority groups identified in Section 4(f)(2) of the Act.” (The United States Department of Justice) 34 states have adopted some kind of voter ID law, which comes in several different variations: * Strict voter ID law requires voters to provide a valid ID. * Non-Strict voter ID law does not require a valid ID but the voters are permitted to sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. * A Photo voter ID, voters must show an accepted...

Words: 1227 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Texas Voting Rights Essay

...Moreover, the lawmaking body built up white primaries, guaranteeing that minorities were barred from elections which were upheld until Smith v. Allwright in 1944. The number of voters dropped, and the Democrats dominated the state against the Republicans. The first step enfranchised oppressed voted to happen in 1918 when women were granted suffrage, thanks to the Nineteenth Amendment. In Baker v. Carr, in 1962 and Reynolds v. Sims, in 1964 forced Texas and other states to draw their legislative districts fairly according to the population. In 1965 the national government marked the Voting Rights Act, which was intended to uphold the voting rights of racial minorities. Even after the passing the Twenty-Fourth Amendment, Texas still required early registration, which mostly affected minorities, for voting until 1971. In 1993, the Motor Voter Law, which requires state governments to offer voter enlistment chances to any qualified individual who applies for or...

Words: 514 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

American Electoral System Research Paper

...Americans and outside observers to believe that the system is broken, or worse rigged to keep power in the hands of those who hold it. While this is an easy conclusion to draw, it shows a lack of understanding of the complexities of the American voting system. In the United State, voting laws not being specifically given to the federal government, are therefore defaulted to the state. Essentially meaning that while most voting regulation laws from state to state are similar, with the exception of a few outliers, there are still 50 different specific sets of laws on voting, for Federal, state, and local elections. This can cause a number of problems, most notably the possibility for states to discriminate against whomever they determine to be ineligible, or possibly unworthy of voting; the most common example are felons. Each state...

Words: 1031 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Voting Rights Act of 1965

...necessitated selected areas with a history of voter discrimination to get approval from either the U.S. District Court for D.C. or the U.S. Attorney General before they amending voting processes. This was to preempt any minority voter disenfranchisement through the use of any variety of voting "test," such as a literacy test, educational or knowledge requirements, proof of good moral character, and requirements that a person must be vouched for in order to exercise their right to vote. It has also been updated to protect against the use of gerrymandering, prohibitive voting hours, and abusive ID requirements. Chief Justice Roberts delivered the majority opinion that ruled Section 4(b) as being unconstitutional. He described the Voting Rights Act as "strong medicine" for a time when minority voter disenfranchisement was nation wide. The Census Bureau has since reported that the number of African American voters in five of the nine states listed in the Voting Rights Act actually surpasses white voter turnout. The majority opinion granted that voter discrimination still exists, but questioned whether the laws outlined in Section 4(b) were truly the best means of ensuring minority voting rights. Chief Justice Roberts pointed out that Sections 4 and 5 were only meant to be temporary, and had been set to expire after five years. However, Congress has repeatedly extended the time limits and coverage of the Act to include areas where voter discrimination was apparent. In 1982, the...

Words: 1241 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Paternalism and Psychology

...HIER Harvard Institute of Economic Research Discussion Paper Number 2097 Paternalism and Psychology by Edward L. Glaeser December 2005 HARVARD UNIVERSITY Cambridge, Massachusetts This paper can be downloaded without charge from: http://post.economics.harvard.edu/hier/2005papers/2005list.html The Social Science Research Network Electronic Paper Collection: http://ssrn.com/abstract=860865 Paternalism and Psychology Edward L. Glaeser† Does bounded rationality make paternalism more attractive? This Essay argues that errors will be larger when suppliers have stronger incentives or lower costs of persuasion and when consumers have weaker incentives to learn the truth. These comparative statics suggest that bounded rationality will often increase the costs of government decisionmaking relative to private decisionmaking, because consumers have better incentives to overcome errors than government decisionmakers, consumers have stronger incentives to choose well when they are purchasing than when they are voting and it is more costly to change the beliefs of millions of consumers than a handful of bureaucrats. As such, recognizing the limits of human cognition may strengthen the case for limited government. INTRODUCTION An increasingly large body of evidence documenting bounded rationality and non-standard preferences has led many scholars to question eco1 nomics’ traditional hostility towards paternalism. After all, if individuals have so many cognitive difficulties then...

Words: 9936 - Pages: 40

Premium Essay

Gun Control: American Gun Laws Need Reform

...Gun Control: American Gun Laws Need Reform Roderick D. Harris Capella University Gun Control: American Gun Laws Need Reform At the national level, the issue of gun control has been in the spotlight for the last 50 years. The conversation seems to pick up or lose steam depending upon current events. In more recent years, the barrage of mass murders carried out with the use of assault-style weapons have fueled the fire and reopened the public debate. In 2012, President Obama and his administration made a strong push toward reform of current laws on gun control but were met with hard opposition and their efforts failed. Many states have developed their own gun controls in the absence of federal statues, but these new reforms do not go far enough in most cases and the variances between state laws add to the confusion around developing comprehensive reform at the federal level. Strict gun control should at the least consist of full background checks, a ban on assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines for ammunition. Congressional leaders should take the first step toward reform with a bi-partisan approach to a sweeping legislation. Strict gun control with a ban on assault-style weapons will reduce violence and shootings of mass murder in the United States (U.S.). The fewer the assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in our society will provide a greater opportunity for survival and reduced by-stander casualties during random acts of violence and mass shootings...

Words: 1577 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Medical Marijuana Conflicts

...encouraged (by state governments through their systems of regulation and taxation). This Article seeks to shed light on this unprecedented nebulous zone of legality in which an activity is both legal and illegal, an issue that one scholar on the subject has deemed “one of the most important federalism disputes in a generation.” The issue has become heightened as two states have legalized marijuana for recreational (non-medical) purposes as a result of recent 2012 Election. This Article examines the issue from a federalism perspective. It begins by arguing that unpredictable enforcement by federal authorities in states that have legalized medical marijuana not only threatens state drug policy, but also the efficacy of federal enforcement. This argument is based on the premise that the federal drug ban exists as a cooperation between the states and the federal government. That the federal government relies on the assistance, infrastructure, and know-how of the states is evinced by, as an example, the fact that ninety-nine percent of drug-related investigations and arrests are carried out by state agents. Federal enforcement in a state where the medical marijuana is legal antagonizes the state authorities to the point where cooperating to enforce a dual-ban on drugs—like, for example, heroin—becomes more...

Words: 14241 - Pages: 57

Premium Essay

Affirmative Action in the United States

...In the United States, affirmative action refers to equal opportunity employment measures that Federal contractors and subcontractors are legally required to adopt. These measures are intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment, on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin".[1][2] Examples of affirmative action offered by the United States Department of Labor include outreach campaigns, targeted recruitment, employee and management development, and employee support programs.[2] The impetus towards affirmative action is to redress the disadvantages[3][4][5][6][7] associated with overt historical discrimination.[8] Further impetus is a desire to ensure public institutions, such as universities, hospitals and police forces, are more representative of the populations they serve.[9] Affirmative action is a subject of controversy. Some policies adopted as affirmative action, such as racial quotas or gender quotas for collegiate admission, have been criticized as a form of reverse discrimination, and such implementation of affirmative action has been ruled unconstitutional by the majority opinion of Gratz v. Bollinger. Affirmative action as a practice was upheld by the court's decision in Grutter v. Bollinger.[10] Affirmative action in the United States began as a tool to address the persisting inequalities for African Americans in the 1960s. This specific term was first used to describe US government policy in 1961. Directed to all...

Words: 6321 - Pages: 26

Premium Essay

Criminal Justice

...Introduction Good morning! We have a very busy day ahead of us everyone. So let’s get settled so that we can begin our day. We are going to discuss your role in the criminal justice in depth this morning. Please pay careful attention. As you all know you play a very important role in our criminal justice system. Failing to do anything that is covered under our responsibilities can make or break a case. So we have to pay very close attention to detail. If you have any questions please wait until the end of the presentation. I will address them then. The first step prior to ANY other action is the investigation stage. Investigating all of the suspects believed to be involved. This includes gathering evidence at the scene of the crime. If this is a case of probable cause this means gathering any witnesses with reliable information and writing a search warrant request so that you may fully investigate the matter. I believe that the investigation is the most important element. Without that stage there is no way of being able to prove one way or the other what happened or occurred. If necessary you can also request a search warrant for the suspect’s property. Keep in mind that we have to secure the warrants in order for the evidence found in the process of a search to be admissible in court. This is also a way of protecting the suspect’s 4th Amendment rights. In order to invade one’s privacy there has to be probable cause. A search warrant is only issued by a magistrate, if that burden...

Words: 1898 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Elections Automated University

...schools, adopted the new polling system. Last year, only 10 colleges and faculties had automated elections. Except for a brief power interruption last Feb. 20, which delayed voting at the Conservatory of Music, Education High School and UST High School, Tabon said the new polling scheme was “implemented well.” “The loss of electricity supply caused a slight delay in voting in some colleges. But it did not affect the voters’ turnout because the election proceeded after the power supply returned,” said Abadenzio Rexzy Tabon, chairman of the Central Commission on Elections (Comelec). Overall, voter turnout did not improve. In last year’s elections, 22,515 Thomasians voted. This year, 22,229 students cast their votes, more than half of roughly 40,000 students in the University. Preparations Tabon said a University-wide automated election was first proposed during the summer planning of Central Comelec officials. Thereafter, the Central Comelec met with officials of college-level Comelec units to discuss the plan. The College of Nursing and the Faculty of Civil Law were the first to have automated elections two years ago. Lack of resources hampered previous efforts to automate the polls. In previous elections, student leaders preferred to stay in school overnight, guard the counting of ballots, and wait for the proclamation of winning candidates. However, Tabon said it was “time to create a new tradition in the University” and ensure honest and quick elections. The Educational...

Words: 2746 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Setting Up a Judiciary System for Political Process

...Guam Unified Court System Research Paper for Judicial Process Instructor: Doctor Elberg By Donna Halbrook Guam Unified Court System The Judiciary of Guam is pleased to join the United States of America as the fifty-first state. The newest chapter of our judiciary journey begins with some major objectives in mind. One of these objectives is to increase access to justice for every member of our community. Another major objective is to ensure the Judiciary serves as a model of good governance. We will promote accountability, performance, and transparency (Torres 2010). The new court will be a unified court system, very serving and strong at the foundation levels where we meet the people at. We will start at the foundation and build to the highest court, the State Supreme Court of Guam. Supreme Court Court of Appeals [Problem Solving Courts] Foundation Courts Foundation Courts: Problem Solving Courts | Village Court | Trial Court | Family Court | Village Courts The Village Courts will play a vital role in the Guam State Unified Court System. These courts have broad jurisdiction and they hear both civil and criminal matters (New York State Office of Court Administration 1996-2011). In Guam, this will be for the smaller but very numerous legal affairs of our citizens. There will be a Village Court associated with each of the four police precincts, thus embracing the entire population of Guam. The offices and chambers for these courts will be in close...

Words: 5605 - Pages: 23

Premium Essay

Racial and Ethnic Politics

...Racial & Ethnic Short-Answer Questions (15) Should reparations be paid to the descendants of victims of slavery? • Some reject the decision made in the Bakke case that providing a remedy for the effects of racial discrimination is unconstitutional. They argue that the idea of reparations is rooted in international law. • Affirmative Action is inadequate, the ‘Maafa’ (meaning disaster, i.e., slavery) is a crime against humanity, and therefore compensation is required. • In the past 50 years apologies and financial compensation has been given to a wide range of groups, including survivors of the Jewish holocaust (as well as descendants of the victims), Japanese-Americans who were imprisoned during the Second World War and native Americans who had their land illegally seized in the USA. • African Americans have been demanding compensation for slavery since the end of the American Civil War. Immediately after the abolition of slavery, the demand was for 40 acres and a mule to ensure they would not be dependent on their former slave-owners. Then, between 1890 and 1917, there was a movement to lobby the government for pensions to compensate for their unpaid labour under slavery. Since 1989, Congressman John Conyers Jnr (Michigan) has introduced a bill every year to study the case for reparations. Each of these initiatives has been largely ignored by the political establishment. • Reparations would ensure full recognition of the scale of the Maafa and, at the same time...

Words: 8688 - Pages: 35

Premium Essay

European Integration

...of the EU, the dissatisfaction is rather directed at EU policy (London School of Economics and Political Science, 2013). Whether it’s the question of enlargements, social policy or country bail-outs, the Europeans seem to be disagreeing more and more with the top of the European politics. However, nowhere is the Eurosceptism as marked as it is in Britain. And it doesn’t seem to lessen. On the contrary, organising protest against new EU-initiatives has never been easier (The Economist, 2012). Of course, looking back at Britain history it’s not hard to understand why words like “United States of Europe” or “the European Superstate” fire up the public indignation (Donnelly, 2012). Those trying to appease the opponents try to point out the benefits Britain’s EU membership brings, like political and economic stability and developments. Furthermore, the very nature of the EU forces everyone to make concessions in order to create consensus. After all, as the saying goes, a good compromise leaves everyone dissatisfied. As for the growing integration, the argument is this is the natural and only path the EU can take. With the globalisation making it harder for single countries to compete globally or to influence global politics, there is now need...

Words: 1143 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Mark Scheme for Politics Use If Needed

...Mark Scheme (Results) January 2012 GCE Government & Politics (6GP01) Paper 01 PEOPLE AND POLITICS Edexcel and BTEC Qualifications Edexcel and BTEC qualifications come from Pearson, the world’s leading learning company. We provide a wide range of qualifications including academic, vocational, occupational and specific programmes for employers. For further information, please call our GCE line on 0844 576 0025, our GCSE team on 0844 576 0027, or visit our qualifications website at www.edexcel.com. For information about our BTEC qualifications, please call 0844 576 0026, or visit our website at www.btec.co.uk. If you have any subject specific questions about this specification that require the help of a subject specialist, you may find our Ask The Expert email service helpful. Ask The Expert can be accessed online at the following link: http://www.edexcel.com/Aboutus/contact-us/ Pearson: helping people progress, everywhere Our aim is to help everyone progress in their lives through education. We believe in every kind of learning, for all kinds of people, wherever they are in the world. We’ve been involved in education for over 150 years, and by working across 70 countries, in 100 languages, we have built an international reputation for raising achievement through innovation in education. Find out more about how we can help you and your students at: www.pearson.com/uk January 2012 Publications Code US030541 All the material in this publication is copyright © Pearson Education...

Words: 4968 - Pages: 20