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Civil rights group marks MLK Day with call for 'Trump card' national ID
A prominent civil rights group is marking Martin Luther King Jr. Day by pressing President Trump to honor his promise to create a national photo ID card for citizens.
Martin Luther King III, the oldest son of the iconic civil rights leader and a co-chairmen of the Drum Major Institute, met with Trump two years ago on MLK Day. During that meeting, the then president-elect endorsed the idea of a national photo ID. This year, the group is calling on Trump to follow through.
William Wachtel, co-founder of the Drum Major Institute, said the group sees the issue as critical to ensuring King's work to remove barriers to voting.
[...] The idea has invited controversy in the past, in particular over privacy concerns. In 2013, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) introduced a measure, the Protect Our Privacy Act, attached to a Senate immigration bill. The Paul amendment sought to prevent the creation of a national ID card, citing worries that it would make it easier for the government to track people. Wachtel sought to ease concerns about such an ID, saying it would not be mandatory and would only be an option for those who sought it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hemocyanin on Tuesday January 22 2019, @12:00AM (5 children)
Todler walks into a voiting booth and and digitalaudiorock says "leave the kid alone, don't ID". *eyeroll*
Simply being here is not enough to prove eligibility to vote. One must be a citizen, over a certain age, and in most states, not a convicted felon. So checking ID is integral to voting integrity.
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday January 22 2019, @03:03AM (3 children)
You do realize that you have to register to vote right?
Since when? Most "voter id" laws have been pushed through by Republicans fairly recently. All I need to do is to sign my name in a ledger near my previous signatures going back decades.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 22 2019, @04:26AM
And I go into every polling station in the local area and vote as many times as I can get away with until they recognize me and say "hey you've already voted today".
I register under at least a dozen different names. It's great. No ID required, no way to verify fraud.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by hemocyanin on Tuesday January 22 2019, @05:28PM (1 child)
And?
Or are you claiming that Republican==racist?
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday January 22 2019, @05:54PM
Nice spin. I'm saying that they know the demographics that do and don't vote for them, and they also know that this voter fraud is a myth.
For a guy who seems to claim to be a "lefty" and "not concervative" etc you sure do a good job of spouting right wing shit. I'm done here.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Wednesday January 23 2019, @08:47PM
When you REGISTER to vote (it's not like you can just walk in at the last minute), you provide various proofs of ID for the citizen and age etc., and you SIGN the registration book. Then, each time you vote, you SIGN next to your old signature. That is your ID. Where I vote, they print out a new copy of the current registration list with signatures, so that each person can sign near their old signature. The person at the desk checks the signature. SIGNATURE has been the accepted form of ID on checks and contracts and wills and all sorts of things for hundreds of years (like those signatures on the bottom of the Declaration of Independence). And REGISTERING is how the government already put integrity checking into the system. It is abundantly clear that creating new requirements for new forms of ID are simply trying to put yet another stumbling block in people's way. Even mine - why is my Global Entry Trusted Traveler card, which means that the US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT trusts me to come back into the country, NOT ACCEPTED as ID in my state? Because this is all about different groups of would-be dictators getting their tentacles into controlling the masses.