A thumbprint is an ID?
So, let me get this straight. Tennessee State Senators Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro) and Mark Norris (R-Collierville) and their merry band of Tennessee House Republicans want to make it more difficult for some citizens of Tennessee to vote (the elderly, indigent, and the disabled, if you must know) by pushing legislation that would require proof of citizenship (via a birth certificate, passport, or driver’s license) to register to vote, and then requiring a photo ID every time they go to vote, at the same time that they are passing legislation asking for less identification to buy a gun?
She links to the bill to eliminate the thumbprint requirement. Funny thing about that. See, the state law enforcement folks all got together and noted that no one actually used the fingerprints. So, they’re kinda pointless. So, why require it, right? But, hey, if we’re going to require such reasonable restrictions on second amendment rights, why not apply those to other rights as well? She then brings out this boner:
Number of murders committed recently in Tennessee by gun permit holders: 3
Number of cases of voter fraud committed in Tennessee by registered voters: 0*
Yeah, right. See Memphis, she said, had election fraud and not voter fraud. Because that’s different. Maybe if we required the dead people to submit a thumbprint, then they wouldn’t have voted.
Via ACK.
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:55 am
“… and then requiring a photo ID every time they go to vote, at the same time that they are passing legislation asking for less identification to buy a gun?”
Sound okay by me: I trust more people with a gun than I do with a vote. By a large margin.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
I’m disabled. Didn’t really affect showing ym ID to vote in November.
What a maroon.
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:14 pm
See Memphis, she said, had election fraud and not voter fraud. Because that’s different.
Well, it is different. The type of election fraud that has occurred in Tennessee would not have been prevented by a voter ID requirement, because it wasn’t the voters (allegedly) committing the fraud, but rather the poll workers (again, allegedly).
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
ah but thumbprints would have. can’t vote again if a thumbprint has been used. maybe pollworkers will start cutting off thumbs?
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Not if nobody actually uses them and they’re kind of pointless, as you argue above. 🙂
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:09 pm
(And actually, I wouldn’t necessarily have a problem with something like a thumbprint requirement in lieu of a photo ID requirement. I just oppose the photo ID thing because it’s government waste — putting time and resources into fighting a “problem” that there’s no evidence actually exists, and doing so in a way that wouldn’t really address that “problem” anyway.)