Norm Coleman: Right to vote is a ‘privilege’

Who writes a check at McDonald’s? I’ve never seen one that even accepts checks.

I’ve never seen a lot of things, doesn’t mean they’re not there. ;)

Not that I support Coleman. Just saying.

People who don’t have photo ID’s because they don’t drive also frequently don’t have checking accounts. I will support photo ID requirements when photo ID’s are provided free of charge to all citizens. If they are not free and easy to acquire (convenient locations without long lines, etc,) then it is no different than establishing a poll tax.

Mr. Coleman is simply saying that he believes if fewer people had registered, he would have won the election. Which may have been the case. When Acorn registered 43,000 people, they were often minorities and poor folks who tend more toward voting Democrat than Republican.

The problem with Acorn is not fraud. The problem is that they register voters who more than likely will vote for people who will take their interests into account when they get into office, instead of promoting corporate welfare. The real reason Coleman and Republicans want voter ID is not fraud, but to keep people who tend to vote for someone else away from the polls. And to say that there is “a lot of fraud”…is fraud. Cuz that isn’t true, no matter how many times it is repeated on Faux News.

And by the way, I called McDonalds and asked about payment. The rep said, “I am not aware of any of our franchises that accept checks. However, 85% of our restaurants are franchise owned, and the franchise owners are allowed to choose their own payment policies.”

So, McDonalds was probably a poor choice of business to use in his example. Just saying.

The final step of picking up your new photo ID is the easy part. The hard part for many who currently do not have ID is getting the documentation required for the photo ID – birth certificate, etc. There is a cost to that too, and an inconvenience in getting to your county records office to acquire a copy. There are nursing home residents with no family, who aren’t exactly mobile. What do they need in order to prove their identity so they can get an ID?

I’m quite surprised by the quote in the headline.

There’s a major difference between a right
and a privilege.

Apparently former Senator doesn’t know one
from the other.

Doesn’t that tell you a lot about his capabilites
and knowledge? And people voted him to be
a Senator?

Lord, help you.

The right to vote is guaranteed by our Constitution, the one that Coleman and his tea party buddies say they love so much. Thing is, they only love the parts that benefit them and their narrow agenda. They don’t believe in most of the basic freedoms that are the rights of all American citizens. And since they can’t win their arguments fairly, they work to usurp the rights of those they disagree with by making voting all but impossible for the disadvantaged. In other countries, that’s called fascism.

And by the way, Norm Coleman lost his race for a simple reason. He was a hack who sold his vote to the highest bidder. Even with all of Franken’s negatives and the backing of tens of thousands of dollars of out of state money, he still lost. Pathetic.

Voting as a privilege instead of a right. There’s the Republican mindset for you. Why don’t more of them just come out and say what they’re thinking, that only wealthy white male landowners should have the right to vote?

“People who don’t have photo ID’s because they don’t drive also frequently don’t have checking accounts. I will support photo ID requirements when photo ID’s are provided free of charge to all citizens. ”

TA-DA! HF210 does exactly that! It also gives people who need an extra couple days to get their ID in order a second chance through provisional ballots!

We don’t have a right to vote, but we do have a right to own guns? Odd how these Republicans veiw things.

Carol – could you cite me the part of the constitution that says what you say, I want to look it up.

Dan,

Unless I missed it, the bill doesn’t provide any assistance for people to physically appear at a “driver licensing facility.”

So, in order to drive to such a facility, you’d need a driver’s license. But if you had that, you wouldn’t need a subsidized ID in the first place.

Are all of these “driver licensing facilit[ies]” very near a bus line? Curiously, the bill doesn’t mention this.

What if you have mobility or health issues that prevent you from easily getting to such a place? Will subsidized transportation and special needs facilities be provided? Of course not.

HF210 basically tells anyone in this category to go to hell, you can’t vote in this state.

HF210 is a solution in search of a problem. Unfortunately, it will create problems where previously none existed.

Dude, if that were true, it would be called the “Privilege To Vote”, NOT the “Right To Vote”. Does your right hand know what your right hand is doing?

Sour grapes Norm. He lost and can’t accept that fact.

I think it was Paul Weyrich who was caught on tape saying back in the 80′s that the path to victory is in preventing people from voting not through expansion of the franchise.

Voter ID is a solution in search of a problem. Remember the long game of Mary Kiffmeyer has always been to try to eliminate election day registration. This is a back door method to eliminate a given percentage of votes. Provisional ballots tend to end up being thrown away and are never counted.

First, we do not have a voter fraud problem in Minnesota. As I recall, most of the few being investigated for having voted when they were ineligible in the last election were ineligible because they were convicted felons. Does the MN driver’s license note one’s convictions? And for all those who rely so heavily on the constitution, state or federal, for their views, where in the state or federal constitution does it say one must have an ID to vote?