Reply-Politicians are full of S@!t!

Stone Mountain GA

Description

Yes Republican lawmakers have rushed to enact new unnecessary voter laws, that we did not need. Gov. Kemp said SB 202 was to ensure voting integrity, the same thing Gov Purdue said in 2005 when Ga. started our requirement that anyone voting must have a valid state drivers license or ID. Please note that applied to both voting in person or getting an Absentee Ballot. Democrats threatened to sue over that ID law saying it would disproportionally effect minority voters who did not have or could not afford an ID. The state said we all have to have a valid ID for our basic daily use from buying BB's or beer, to banking, to getting on an airplane, and they added a provision so low income people could get a free Official state ID. So any arguments about needing new voter ID laws today, were fixed 16 years ago. As for the states presently rolling out the "new REAL ID-compliant driver’s license program," Georgia was completely in compliance with the Federal Gold Star program in 2012. Also because in Ga. we can only renew a DL or ID for a maximum of 8 years, which explains why every one voting in Ga, in 2020 had the Gold Star. So that means we have already had your "voter compliant" system via our DL's for the last 8 years, and it was fully enforce last year. Problem solved! Yes, all legal citizens have Social Security numbers, the reason they CANNOT be used for any type of voter ID has to do with when SS was started. In 1935 many of our politicians were concerned giving everyone a SS number would lead to a national form of Identification, and they knew what was going on in Germany at the time, and did not like it. It would take to much time to go into detail to explain why we CANNOT use our SS number for any for of ID other than SS and Medicare. But in Ga. we used to use our SS number for our DL into the 1980's, then that was stopped for constitutional and legal reasons. The IRS is a whole other exception. As for being able to vote online, I say NO! History will show our last election was as secure as we could hope for, and 3 recounts proved it. Sure there are always some problems, and we did hear about a handful of possible illegal voters in Ga. But the catch is, we heard about them, they were caught, their votes in most cases were not counted, and even if they were, an extra 2 dozen votes would not have come close to making a difference. The single biggest change with SB202 is people will have to also write their ID number on the inner envelope where they sign their name. Big deal. Our absentee system last year worked great. Our SOS web site was easy to request a ballot from, as long as we had a valid ID. Once someone request an absentee ballot, that was it for their ID. If they decided to go vote in person also, when their ID was scanned, their absentee ballot would show up. Last year if someone requested an absentee ballot, but then decided to go vote in person, they had 2 choices, take their absentee ballot with them so the Poll Worker could scan it out of the system, then they could go vote in person. Or go through a hassle they brought on them self and vote a Provisional Ballot. Which means if their absentee ballot also finally shows up, one of their ballots would be cancelled, and a law enforcement officer would go to their home and ask them some questions about why they "tried" to vote twice. It was extremely easy and secure last year to vote by mail. We requested an absentee ballot by our SOS web site, and a week later it was in my Dad's mail box. But, and this is important, we had 2 choices of how to return the absentee ballot. 1-we could put a stamp on it and mail it back, 2-my Dad took his ballot to an Official Drop box located conveniently "outside" an early voting precinct 1 mile from his house. I know many people may have to drive several inconvenient miles to a Drop Box, so I say if they mail their ballot back via USPS, it must be delivered by 6:59PM election day. My main reason for not having online voting is hackers. Sure we all heard the conspiracy theories about 2 voting machine companies that have been completely debunked. Right now our electronic voting precincts are not directly connected to the internet, so getting hacked is all but impossible. The electronic voting machines store and transmit voting numbers via their own broadband, and backup files are stored on external devices. If we open up voting online, then call centers in India will decide our next election. I agree both parties want voting laws to be in their favor. Ga. republican politicians started pushing voting integrity 16 years ago with our ID law, and won re-election the next 13 years, then they lost last year, and now they don't like it. Overall all SB202 did was to energize anti-republicans to easily get a valid ID and vote.