"I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare..."

[qb]

Former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer (R) displaying her true colors.

http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/13489471.html

One citizen, one vote, one form of ID?

<snip>

Minnesotans are deeply involved in a partisan fight, headed to the Supreme Court, over requiring photo IDs to vote. Democrats say such laws keep minorities from voting.
By KEVIN DIAZ, Star Tribune
Last update: January 7, 2008 - 6:48 AM

<snip>

This week, as the presidential campaign picks up momentum, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an Indiana voter ID case that divides opinion largely along partisan lines -- and puts a pair of Minnesotans in the national spotlight.

One is Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat who has helped challenge Indiana's new photo ID requirements as an "unconstitutional poll tax" that discriminates against minorities.

The other is former Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican who has testified in Congress in favor of photo ID requirements, which she says are essential to the integrity of the democratic process.

<snip>

Ellison, who filed a "friend of the court" brief in the case last month, argues that Indiana's law is unconstitutional because it effectively imposes a financial obligation to vote. A regular Indiana driver's license costs $21. Although free photo ID cards are available to the indigent, Ellison says they still must incur costs to acquire the documentation needed to get the ID.

To Ellison, who has authored legislation preventing states from requiring photo ID to vote, any costs associated with voting eligibility are tantamount to the Jim Crow-era poll taxes that were banished by the 24th Amendment in 1964.

"It's unquestionable that this scheme creates a real obstacle to voting in federal elections," Ellison argues in his brief, which he submitted along with all 42 other members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Kiffmeyer, who testified in Congress in November against Ellison's bill, argues that photo ID is about public confidence in the polling system.

As for the presumed burden on the poor and elderly, she said, "I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare or other social services."

Kiffmeyer, as secretary of state, fought a losing legal battle to prevent American Indian tribal IDs from being used for registration in off-reservation elections in Minnesota. The case created a rift not only with Democrats, but with former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger, a Republican appointee who was later targeted for dismissal under President Bush's Justice Department, which supports photo ID laws.

[EFerrari]

1. That statement will only work on someone who has never had to endure

applying for welfare. :crazy:

[bluesmail]

2. easy yes, just not in my lifetime and I'm a child of the early '50's