Religious questions for Pa. voter ID law draw fire

Nothing is sacred about your religion when it comes to getting a state identification card without a photo.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation offers ID cards for those with religious objections to being photographed, including the Amish and certain Mennonite groups. But in order to get a nonphoto ID for religious reasons, applicants must answer a series of 18 questions that delve deeply into their faiths and other personal information.

Now that Pennsylvania has passed one of the nation’s toughest voter ID laws to prevent voter fraud, the scope of the questions is drawing criticism.

The first item on PennDOT’s form asks applicants to “describe your religion.” It is followed by more questions that devout followers might struggle to answer, and some that inquire about the lives of family members:

How many members are there of your religion?

How many congregations?

What’s the process by which you came to the religion?

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Chris

SO Republican paranoia about voter fraud – which is usually miniscule- translates into loss of religious freedom. The Republicans are always good at unintended consequences.
- ORB
  
  Chris
  
  You need to get your head out of that dark, smelly place!
  - bighoss
    
    Read up and get your callous and insulting self educated:
    http://www.thenation.com/blog/167120/republican-w…
- mesaman
  
  Chris, you must continue taking your clozapine and zoloft. We can see what happens when you don't.
Kalev

Seems like reasonable questions to me.
PTTA

This ID thing is as phony as a three dollar bill. you need valid ID to, cash a check, drive a car, notorize documents, sometimes to use a credit card, bu a beer or drink, for rental car, and for many other things. This hasn't hurt minorities. So whatis wrong to require Photo ID for something as important as votiing? They want illegal aliens to vote, they want pople to vote more than nce, they want dead people to vote. Fraud possibiliities is what they want. If you can't see that, you are blind.
- daves
  
  ID's can be forged. Why don't we have a government microchip implanted in everyone who wants to vote?
  - Cliff
    
    Good plan DAVES. Why don't you be the first to be implanted so the rest of us can see how cool it is. By the way, your Socialism is showing. Just sayin'…
  - aceituna
    
    Govt. microchips are too close to the "mark of the beast" as far as I am concerned. Picture ID is a good idea!
    - Evermyrtle
      
      Correct, they aim to put one in each of us very shortly, like in the nest three or four years. With this we will be agents of the government of if you will, Satan. Take your pick. I am not the one saying this, it is in THE WORD OF GOD, called "the mark of the beast!".
      - aceituna
        
        I wish you were wrong, but I fear that you are correct. 4 years is not that far away. Your number might be wrong, but the warning is very much needed!
- bighoss
  
  Crapola! There is NO significant voter registration fraud in this country, as has been shown repeatedly by various investigators. The recent surge in ratcheting up registration irequirements is the product of a Karl Rovian mentality designed to disproportionately discourage voters likely to vote Democratic. The PHONY aspect of it is their bogus claim of any real need to impose these additional and sometimes burdensome requirements.End of story.
  - pcsrocky
    
    If there is no voter fraud or voter regustration fraud HOW can it discourage anyone from voting? The only people who should/would be discouraged from voting would be those committing fraud. If you need a photo id to buy groceries, beer, prescription drugs, see a dentist, see a doctor, VOTE IN UNION ELECTIONS; what is the problem with having a photo id proof that you are a legal citizen of a particular state of the United States of America!!!!!
    - bighoss
      
      I never contended that the impediments being employed as over-zealous registration criteria were illegal; just that they are onerous and unnecessary. I need no photo ID for doctor or dentist services or for prescription drugs or grocery purchases and I don't drink beer and most of the Amish don't either. Read up on this subject and get yourself educated:
      http://www.thenation.com/blog/167120/republican-w…
      - bighoss
        
        MORE info on scheming GOP voter suppression strategy:
        http://co116w.col116.mail.live.com/mail/InboxLigh…
      - Thomas Steele
        
        I'm not sure which is more appropriate for you, miss-guided fool, idiot, or Socialist Democrat Brownshirt.
        Yes, the true party name is the Socialist Democrat Party, look it up.
  - keyboardshark
    
    bighoss says: "Crapola! There is NO significant voter registration fraud in this country…"
    
    Illegal Alien Mass Voter Fraud Discovered In FL–Illegal alien voting is possibly changing the outcomes of hundreds of elections across America. This is a dangerous and illegal practice which is being encouraged by politician like Obama who use the illegal votes to accumulate power.
    
    VIDEO: http://www.westernjournalism.com/illegal-alien-ma…
    
    The Department of Justice is in full-on spin mode over the James O’Keefe Project Veritas tape in which a young white man is offered Attorney General Eric Holder’s ballot. Desperate to prove that voter ID should not be presented in order to obtain a ballot, the DOJ fired back at O’Keefe and Project Veritas today, with a DOJ official telling tried-and-true media ally Talking Points Memo, “It’s no coincidence that these so-called examples of rampant voter fraud consistently turn out to be manufactured ones.”
    
    This is nonsensical. Obviously this wasn’t an actual case of voter fraud—O’Keefe and Project Veritas didn’t want to break the law. And obviously the situation is manufactured—it’s the only way to show that voter fraud is easy and plausible, since we presumablydon’t know when voter fraud takes place. That, in fact, is the point of the video: that voter fraud in this way is virtually undetectable and bears almost zero risk.
    http://visiontoamerica.org/9130/doj-ignores-voter…
    
    Project Veritas Uncovers Voter Fraud in Vermont (Video)
    http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/03/project-v…
    
    MANCHESTER, N.H. — Video footage provided exclusively to The Daily Caller shows election workers in New Hampshire giving out ballots in the names of dead voters at multiple voting precincts during the state’s primary election on Tuesday.
    
    The bombshell video is the work of conservative filmmaker James O’Keefe and his organization, Project Veritas.
    
    Voters in the Granite State are not required to present identification to vote. O’Keefe’s investigators were able to obtain ballots under the names of dead voters at polling locations Tuesday by simply asking for them, he said.
    http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/11/video-nh-poll-w…
Kalev

“Seek God according to the understanding He gives you of Himself. Seek His will for you. If you were honestly seeking God the question would be solved, the difficulty removed.” – Frank Bartleman
http://twitter.com/lambsev11 @lambsev11

I believe in Jesus, but I think in this age of terror that eventhe Amish ought to see the wisdom in a photo ID. It's not like they are being asked to be fashion models.
- bighoss
  
  Read up:
  http://www.thenation.com/blog/167120/republican-w…
msjallen

The left knows exactly what they are doing to get votes and they will look you in straight in the eye and lie about it. There is no virtue or honor in them. They have heard the "public lie" so often, they believe it.
Isaiah 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.
Invasion of privacy follows the life expectation of Nazi Germany with Hitler the possessed lier and now 0.
- daves
  
  You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
  - aceituna
    
    We are not taking vengence, only passing on what the Word of God says. Take the warning seriously.
- bighoss
  
  You do paint relentlessly with a big fat broad-ass brush, don't you?
Robert FG

We are not as bright as the Iraq voters who had to dip their finger in indelible ink to vote. Why not have either a piture ID or dip your finger inthe indelible ink. Stops all the discussion about having to have a voter ID. Too simple and would eliminate all voter fraud and end the discussion.
- bighoss
  
  Virtually no voter fraud to eliminate and certainly the very low level of any such fraud does not justify the draconian measures the GOP and their allies are taking.
  http://co116w.col116.mail.live.com/mail/InboxLigh…
- Jerry M
  
  Both are required to insure a fair outcome. ID before voting and dip a finger in purple dye after voting to insure that person only votes once.
- aceituna
  
  Dipping fingers in indellible ink does not screen out those who are's citizens.
  - aceituna
    
    those who are not citizens!!! (a correction)
Jerry M

Liberals are always crying about a voter ID card with a photo because they say it’s a hardship on the poor but what they don’t tell you is that Obamacare requires a national ID card.
Find out what else is in Obamacare. http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=HcBaSP31Be8&…
Jerry M

The problem we have is this…

“The people who cast the votes don't decide an election,
the people who count the votes do.”
Joseph Stalin
- aceituna
  
  Yes, don't forget hanging chards — Florida in 2000. We need to work on that angle also.
http://www.sargee5.blogspot.com The Watchman

In my opinion, there should be no exemption from a photo voter ID. There really is no valid excuse for not having a picture taken. The days when even American Indians thought the camera could steal ones soul, are gone. If you will not submit to a photo ID, then you are either hiding something, or perhaps up to no good. It's like having a Driver License picture wearing a hijab, shouldn't be allowed, no way, no how! The way I see it, no photo ID, no vote.
Bobseeks

Refusing to be photographed has nothing to do with any correct interpretation of Scripture, therefore such refusal cannot be considered a valid "religious" belief. If they don't want their photo on a drivers license or voter ID, then they can do without them.
http://internetfraudsissues.blogspot.com Internet Frauds

In order to hide serious financial problems, some businesses have been known to use fraudulent bookkeeping to overstate sales and income, inflate the worth of the company's assets or state a profit when the company is operating at a loss.