Voter ID

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Any idea who appoints the board members for each county?

And I wonder what the demographics are in the immediate vicinity of those offices.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

The simplest answer to this question is to task the NSA with making sure every eligible voter has an ID. Does anyone doubt that they have the data on each of us to do the job? Just hire the people needed to get the job done and do it.

How many Rs would vote for that bill?

 

[Lone Clone]

Any idea who appoints the board members for each county?

Karl Rove? I mean, hell, you guys are in this deep, why not go for broke?

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Karl Rove? I mean, hell, you guys are in this deep, why not go for broke?

Nope. Try again.

 

[TJ8869]

You missed one metric. A middle class rural voter is going to have much less difficulty driving a longer distance to get a driver's license than a poor rural voter. Let's see that breakdown for these counties.

If you can provide me with a link that breaks down income data by race I will be happy to crunch the numbers for you. In the mean time, here is a chart I put together that breaks down the population information for the 30 counties that lost their DMV office using official data from the 2010 census.

There were 31 offices closed, but two of them were in Tallapoosa County, so there are 30 counties affected. It should also be noted that 28 of the counties had exactly one DMV office and it will be closing. Escambia County had two offices and is losing one. Baldwin County had three, so they will now be down to two.

The chart key is as follows:

Column A - County name
Column B - Total population
Column C - Total area in square miles
Column D - Total area in square miles (land only)
Column E - Population density
Column F - White population
Column G - Percentage
Column H - Black population
Column I - Percentage
Column K - Votes for Romney in 2012 (64.1%)
Column L - Votes for Obama in 2012 (35.2%)

For comparison, the values for the other 37 counties in Alabama are as follows:

Total Population - 3,953,424
Total Land Area - 28,950 square miles
Population Density - 136.6
White Population - 3,276,167 (68.5%)
Black Population - 1,054,669 (26.7%)
Votes for Romney in 2012 - 1,013,277 (59.9%)
Votes for Obama in 2012 - 662,415 (39.2%)

The counties that are losing their DMV office comprise 43% of the land area of Alabama, yet only 17.3% of the total population. Many of the counties have less than 25 people per square mile.

 

[TexMichFan]

I never made an argument that there were only 4 places. Did someone else?

Very simply, having fewer places to get the ID makes it harder to get an ID. Duh.

But does it make it equally harder for all people? No. Another duh.

If I have one of the remaining places close to me and you don't it's harder for you than for me. If I have a car and you don't, same thing. If I have a job that's easy to take time off during the hours IDs are available and you don't, again, easier for me, harder for you. If the lines are 3 hours long, maybe my employer is OK with that, but maybe yours isn't. If I'm already IDd with driver's license or passport or whatever, there's less chance I'll show up and be told I have to get some document and return.

We can go on for a long time on these. Statistically speaking, if things are even just a little harder, a small percentage of the affected demographic will give up or fail to complete the task. That's just reality.

So the only question is whether the demographics that are more negatively affected are more likely to vote D or R. What do you think?

You can say "it's not my fault" as some have done, and that's true. But so what?

You can say "it's their own fault" as many have done, and that may be true for some, but often isn't. And even if it is true, so what?

As has been pointed out so often that no one can really deny it, so-called voter fraud isn't much of a problem. But the "solution" - requiring IDs - is a problem. And when you reduce the opportunity to get the required ID, you exacerbate the problem.

If this solution did NOT preferentially depress likely D voters, do you think the GOP would be pushing for it? Sure, some individual Rs would like the idea. Frankly, even though voter fraud is a trivial problem, I would be happy to eliminate it, too. But would the party be making a fuss about it if it helped Ds? Surely you don't believe that.

Note that when libs like me offer to compromise on having an ID if we also agree to make sure everyone who wants to vote and is eligible to vote gets an ID, our cons change topics. That would mean likely D voters aren't harmed. Heck, it might even encourage a few more to show up and vote. That is NOT what the GOP wants.

The main premise of the article was there were only 4 places to get a license and the closures were mainly in areas that would effect Democrats.

You make a good argument for this making it harder for people to get an ID. I don't thing it a problem that is hard to overcome and would like to see numbers on how many people are effected. You need an ID to do a lot of things so it would be interesting to see just how many people have no form of ID.

 

[TexMichFan]

Any idea who appoints the board members for each county?

I don't but I assume you know. Would this effect a person getting an ID?

 

[TexMichFan]

It's what they did. I'm speculating as to the why...that's why I said, "It looks a lot like the legislature wants to make sure that offices get closed."

I must be missing the part in the article where they raised fees and then closed the offices anyway.

Speculating is fine but you should at least entertain the idea that there could be other outcomes.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

I don't but I assume you know. Would this effect a person getting an ID?

Yeah, I know. Would it affect them getting an ID? No idea. But having one party in control of that process seems rife for controversy.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

I must be missing the part in the article where they raised fees and then closed the offices anyway.

Speculating is fine but you should at least entertain the idea that there could be other outcomes.

From a linked article:

Merrill responded hours after the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA) said it will close 31 part-time driver's license offices because of an $11 million cut in the agency's fiscal year 2016 budget. The new fiscal year begins Oct. 1

In February, ALEA raised the cost to renew an Alabama driver's license by 54 percent. Renewing a license - which is good for four years - now costs $36.25. Previously, the rate was $23.50 for four years. The state issues 1.2 million licenses a year.

That increase would have brought in about $15M more a year.

 

[TJ8869]

Yeah, I know. Would it affect them getting an ID? No idea. But having one party in control of that process seems rife for controversy.

Have you found a source yet that breaks down income data by race and county? Or are we just gonna go with the fairy tale that rural Alabama is filled with middle class whites who will have no trouble at all trekking 50 miles or more to get their licenses?