Voter ID: Working as intended

The AP covers the Indiana election, and finds the state’s voter ID law worked pretty well:

About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.

Which they could have obtained for free. If you don’t want to follow the rules, yadda yadda... (And by the way, props to Sister Julie!)

Despite trying to write the story that wasn’t there...

...voting appeared to run smoothly, despite the fears of some elections experts that the Supreme Court's recent refusal to strike down Indiana's controversial photo identification law could cause confusion at the polls.

...and blame any problems on the usual (unreasonable, mean-spirited, paranoid) suspects...

The Republican-led effort was designed to combat ballot fraud, said supporters, who also have acknowledged that no case involving someone impersonating a voter at the polls has ever been prosecuted^[1] in Indiana.

even the AP didn’t find much to report.

...a group of voting rights advocates that established a separate hot line reported receiving several calls from would-be voters who were turned away at precincts because they lacked state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

(Note: “several”==“not very many.”)

One newly married woman said she was told she couldn't vote because her driver's license name didn't match the one on her voter registration record...

So let’s see, which one didn’t you update:  your license or your voter’s registration? Sounds like a case of poor planning to me.

Another woman said she was turned away from casting her first-ever ballot because she had only a college-issued ID card and an out-of-state driver's license...

And just which state is your official residence, dearie?  Clue: Being a college student doesn’t mean you get to vote twice.

...about a dozen college students at Notre Dame, Butler University and Indiana University said they were told at the polls they didn't have the right form of identification

And “college students” should have been smart enough to obtain the documents required. I call shenanigans.

There were a few ID problems (one woman says she wasn’t told that she could vote provisionally), but most glitches involved shortages of ballots.

In southern Jackson County, at least one precinct ran short of ballots and an electronic backup system failed. Poll workers made copies of ballots and planned to hand-count them, which was expected to delay results there.

Several precincts in northwestern Porter County, where Barack Obama was expected to do well, also ran out of Democratic ballots, and a judge ordered polls to stay open an additional hour.

With some precincts’ turnout close to that of general elections, ballot shortages should have been anticipated. But the fact they occurred isn’t surprising.  A friend of mine who is a poll worker told me that- because of the different layout of congressional districts, state legislative districts, and municipalities- his precinct had four different ballots, depending on the voter’s address.

Still it seems that the fears about voter ID were unfounded.  Is anybody really surprised?


Previously: Good news for election integrity
Via:  Daily Pundit
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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:14:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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