 |
| Photo from Daily News |
Nevertheless, I presented my drivers license and filled out the ballot access form which asked for my name, address, telephone number and date of birth. As someone who has been victimized by identity theft in the past, I refused to write down my date of birth. There are three pieces of information I do not readily provide; date of birth, social security number and mothers maiden name. I asked why it was necessary to write down my date of birth since they could easily check it on my drivers license. Refusing to do so, I was denied ballot access. So I asked the Weprin staff member to call the Councilman's office and get permission to give me a ballot so I could vote for funding of specific community projects that would help our local schools and the Volunteer Ambulance Corps.
The Weprin staff member in charge of the Participatory Budget project for the Councilman said that if I refused to write down my date of birth I could not vote! Was I the only disenfranchised voter? Later that day, I learned that 2 other people had also been disenfranchised because they also refused to provide their date of birth. I wonder how many others were disenfranchised. And I wonder still, why the voting process for participatory budgeting was so much more rigorous then the one put in place for voting in real elections for Mayor, Governor or President.
I try not to be cynical but I can't help but think that the Participatory Budget process is being used as a way for Councilmembers to harvest voter data information for their use in upcoming elections. How else to explain being denied the right to vote and the photo ID requirement?
Bob Friedrich
Glen Oaks
14 comments:
Providing proof of identity should be a requirment for voting in any municipal election.
It assures vote intergrity.
This is an important step in that direction.
I agree, providing proof of identity should be a requirement when you vote. But it's not and this vote wasn't as important as as an election for public office. I voted in the Participatory Budgeting Process that Councilmember Mark Weprin sponsored. But what everyone seems to be forgetting is these monies would have been allocated anyway for different projects within our communities.
Where is our Councilmember when it comes to the real problems in our community?
The Weprins are scallywags from way back.
They've held their turf too G-d damn long....since the days their daddy Saul conned his way up to the top.
I think that it's ironic to see Jews ask for "your papers" just like the Nazis used to do.
Voter ID....YES!
But not in a dip shit "voting" event like this.
This has nothing to do with voter integrity - probably more politician integrity. If challeged, Weprin can say that for sure all who voted were eligible to do so - then hand out money accoring to the "people's" wishes. The possibility of data-mining is very real, also. Finally, holding the line when questioned about the appropriateness sounds like low-level clerks going crazy with their new-found power.
It doesn't matter if Weprin opposed voter ID for general elections because this is a different process and Participatory Budgeting is ahead of its time and requires ID.
If he cares about the community he would have gotten over his irrational fears and voted to help out the causes he believes in.
What the hell is someone going to do with your birth-date? Expose that your old as shit?
I think they were just trying to make things difficult for Mr. Friedrich, who has been a thorn in the side of the Weprins for quite a while.
Verifying identity is legitimate. Recording sufficient personal information to make a credit application is not a legitimate activity for this function.
It is nothing more than an intimidation tactic. They can't be held responsible for a accidental or fraudulent release of that personal data.
The Weprins (and Koo) are just as much a puppet of Padavan lobbyist Bob Bishop as Halloran was. Bishop controls the party lbosses by bringing them business.
Who is Bishop?
How much did that sign cost us?
All Queens politicians are useless.
The Weprins have always catered to their power base...the Jewish voters of their district.
But their old Jewish voters are disappearing...
and the Welp-rins haven't changed their political tactics to accommodate newly arrived South Asian constituents.
Padavan made that same mistake by catering to his "White" voting constituency, who have thinned out.
Aside from Bay Terrace and the hang ons in Mitchell Linden...the former Stavisky Jewish power will be gone soon.
No wonder Evan moved to Rockland County.
Uh, why is he still a district leader in Queens?
All of these old power bases are drying up in northeast Queens, as it continues growing more varied ethnic.
Did Bishop get Ulrich the same party swap deal as Koo yet?
Who is this Bishop?
Just as a quick explanation for why they needed this information was because they weren't the board of elections. The reason you don't need to go through all this information when you go to vote normally is because you registered to vote (which when you do register to vote is actually more information than the form required) and because the board of elections has all of that information they know who you are and do not require you to fill out every time you vote. Now, since it was a community based project that was also partially directed by a non-profit "Community Voices Heard" they did not have access to all the personal information that the Board of Elections has and in order to make sure one person did not just go to a different poll site in the district and vote there and boost the vote artificially that way. Also they needed an accurate form for each voter because without it anyone could have stuffed the ballot box with however many ballots they wanted. Without a fully filled out form multiple "John Smiths" could have voted, but with the birthday and all the other personal information makes fraud almost impossible. So, it has nothing to do with suppressing votes and everything to do with trying to protect the authenticity and accuracy of the overall voting project.
Post a Comment