Voter ID

I saw an interesting story yesterday about voter id requirements. I've followed this story as a part of my "compassionate conservative" approach to things. Or as I like to say it "think globally, act locally." What this means is I try to vote and think conservatively, then do local things compassionately.

Globally, I think a conservative approach is best for everyone, but then I also realize that there are some people who need a helping hand and when possible, I try to be that helping hand. I give to many local charities and volunteer close to 100 hours each year to help low income individuals and families in their tax preparation.

The voter id law passed by SC was done in an attempt to keep voter fraud in line. The idea is that by requiring an id, illegals won't be able to vote. Some of the opponents have noted that there has never been a case of voter fraud in SC, so the law is unnecessary. They also point to the 200,000 registered voters who do not have a valid SC id (yes, 200,000). They point out that most of these 200,000 are minorities and that, they say, shows that the law is targeted at suppressing minority vote.

Proponents of the law have offered to help un-identified, legal voters get the necessary documentation. Also, the NAACP (which opposes the law) is offering " to drive people to get their picture ID and even finds sponsors for those who can't afford one. I guess both sides can agree to help some of those impacted.

I honestly don't know how I feel about the new law and won't argue either way. But assuming that it stays in effect (the supreme court is reviewing), I think that the offers to help people get their ID is a great way to help people. But what if the people don't want to vote? According  to the story I read yesterday (seen here) a lot of the people impacted have no "interest to go out and get a picture id." The story goes on to say "A lot of people don't want to vote. A lot of people say, why should I vote, it doesn't matter."

Unfortunately, I think this lady is right. It's not just about voter id, or even voter education. In order for more people to be interested in voting, politicians have to stay true to their beliefs and state those beliefs clearly. Then, we the people, can vote our hearts and feel that our voice is being heard. Whether it's voting someone into office or kicking someone out, we want our votes to be heard.

Vote early and vote often

Ok, maybe not more than once per election (unless you live in Chicago), but I truly believe that you should vote every chance you can. And unless you've had your TV turned off and plan to keep it turned off for the next 33 days, you're probably aware that we have an election coming up. On November 2 in fact.

October 2 is the last day to register in SC if you're going to vote in this election. Of course, if you voted last time and nothing has changed, you don't need to re-register. If you've missed voting a time or to, you can easily check to see if your registration is still valid.

But what are we voting on? Well, I needed to know that myself, so I did a quick search on "greenville sc voting locations." (I didn't intend to add the period, but it got stuck in and it worked anyway - that's how easy this is)

Once the search completed, I clicked on the entry for "http://www.greenvillecounty.org/voter_registration/". There they had an item labeled Candidates for November 2010. This brings up a PDF file (4 pages). Now I'm somewhat informed. I'll do some searching on the candidates, but now I know what we're voting on.

Here's a promise I make to all of my readers: if you don't know what you're voting on, I will find this information out for you. Give me a way to contact you and I'll look up your state and district to find comparable information. I won't tell you who to vote for (at least not in this exchange) and won't ask you who you plan to vote for. I'll simply give you the information.

Incidentally, we're voting for state offices (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, Comptroller, Supt. of Education, Adjutant General and Commissioner of Agriculture), US Senate, US Representative, State House, County offices, School District Representatives and four amendments to our state constitution. What are you voting on?

Remember - vote early and vote often!!

And it's 1, 2, 3, what are we voting for?

Did you know that there are SIX choices for president on the ballot in my state? In addition to the Republican and Democratic candidates, there are candidates in the Green party, the Libertarian party, the Petition party (Ralph Nader) and the Constitution party.

We'll also be voting for senator this year, only two people on the list there, and Representative (3 choices).

I have to check my voter registration card next to determine all of the state offices I can vote for, it looks like many of these are uncontested. One person I know commented back in the spring, that in SC you HAD to vote in the republican primary if you wanted to have a choice in the elections.

I also get to vote in County elections. The main contested battle there is for Sheriff. I'm thinking Matt Dillon is getting a little old to sport his badge, so I need to check out the two candidates there.

And finally, there are three amendments that are on the ballot this year. One would allow the state legislature to set the age of consent for women (no mention of young men). The second has to do with funding public employee pensions and medical benefits (which goes along with a book I just finished) and investing these funds in the stock market. The final amendment is the same as the second amendment, but it relates to local governments.

Over the next few days, I'll be evaluating the various offices and stating my opinion. You can follow along with the ballot at this website: http://www.greenvillecounty.org/Voter_Registration/pdf/candidates_2008.pdf

If you live outside Greenville County, but inside SC, some of the information will still apply to you.