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Shelby County Voters Surprised at Acceptable Voting ID's

Reported by: Marcus Holliday

Email: mholliday@abc24.com

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Published: 7/16/2012 6:14 pm

Updated: 7/16/2012 7:00 pm

MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Many forms of ID are accepted in order to vote in Shelby County, including expired driver's licenses.

Robert Meyers, Chairman of the Shelby County Election Commission, told abc24.com, "An expired passport - those will work as well… or if they work for the federal government and have an ID with a picture on it, those will work even expired."

Cordova resident Richard Nash said he was surprised to learn that someone using an expired driver's license from another state can vote in Shelby County. "From another state, I would have a problem if it's expired."

Nash said he saw it as a problem that identification could have an outdated address and still be used to vote. "They've got to prove they live here and live here long enough to vote… That would only do one thing and that's who you are with a picture. That doesn't prove where you live. They probably need to clear it up a little bit better."

Meyers says when it comes to what forms of ID can or can't be accepted, it's not his call. "Those decisions are set by state law and interpretation of the law is done by the Coordinator of Elections in Nashville."

Shelby County Election Commission, Vote 2012

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Frayserboi - 7/18/2012 8:33 PM

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There should be an I.Q. test to be able to vote....think of the possibilities!

nomercy - 7/18/2012 3:51 PM

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read the facts - simply google voter fraud and the majority of the topics where people have actually been convicted of voter fraud will be on .... you guessed it - the democrats side. thats why some replubicians would like to have voter id requirements. how idiotic and backwards is your way of thinking???? think about it - everything you do in life of any importance you have to provide i.d. but yet when it come downs to one of the most important things you can do as an individual(one that the outcome could effect a nation ) you truely feel you should not have to prove you are who you say you are ??? really - really .. how many times could we vote then ???? who or how would anyone keep track ?? so by your logic every illegal alien would be able to cast a vote ?? what a d.s.

JeffersonTao - 7/18/2012 12:56 PM

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The questions that you must answer are: How is effectively disenfranchising millions of legal voters "protecting their vote"? In the absence of any evidence (or mention, as you claim) of widespread voter fraud, then why are all these new requirements necessary at this time? We already have plenty of evidence that these new laws passed by Republicans will cheat some out of their vote. One has even commented right here in this forum. If you watch something other than Fox News on television, you will see stories from others who are similarly affected. Calling Obama clueless is rich coming from a Rush Limbaugh follower.

nomercy - 7/18/2012 12:19 PM

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" wide spread voter fraud " who you please find one clip where a republican has used this phrase - i mean really come on. you can find many clips with this phrase on msnbc, rachel maddow and other similar media outlets. it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to cover up how clueless obama is - period.

JeffersonTao - 7/18/2012 11:48 AM

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Like I said before, show us the proof of widespread voter fraud that would warrant such a national response. There is a social imperative here and a clear motive by one political party to place conditions on our right to vote.

nomercy - 7/18/2012 11:27 AM

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give me a break - how lazy are you people. it takes very little effort to get a state i.d. - so what is your solution just let everyone vote whenever and whereever they please. once again "jeff" who mentioned anything about "wide spread" voter fraud ??? you did.... why does it upset you so much that people would like to make sure their vote is being protected by not allowing fraudulent voters to be cast - and you truely are a fool if you are saying that voter fraud does not happen - i know you are not a fool.....so it's it a shame that a fradulent vote can be passed and when it is it nullifies a valid vote.

PennyPendleton - 7/18/2012 10:34 AM

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My mother hasn't driven since 1993 and hasn't needed an ID for years. The people at our polling office are mostly friends and neighbors and they know mom. There has never been a need to question her identity. Count us in the column of those who are cheated out of a vote. Standing at the long line to get a state ID would take a day off of work and that is not possible.

JeffersonTao - 7/18/2012 9:38 AM

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Show the proof of all the widespread voter fraud. Now we get to the root of the real problem. Calling the left "loony" is laughable. This coming from a person who supports a political party that attempts the same economic policies over and over again, expecting different results each time. The same political party who presents, as fact, the ramblings of primitives from the dark age. The same political party who feels it is just for the privileged to live by a different set of rules than the rest of us. The same political party who would deny the legitimacy of dedicated scientists in favor of those who profit from pollution. And now we have this same political party who know their goose is likely cooked in November, so they begin to employ tactics to suppress the vote by claiming there is widespread voter fraud. It doesn't take a fool to know there will be more legal voters disenfranchised than there ever were those who would attempt to cast their vote fraudulently. By hook or crook has never been so obvious. See you in November.

nomercy - 7/18/2012 8:10 AM

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jefferson" you are an idiot as well. who said anyhthing about vote suppression. you must have been reading from one of you democrat come back cuecards, sounds like the same b.s. line dished out from every liberal media outlet when this topic comes up. I cannot understand why people like yourself oppose a "one man - one vote" theory - why that somehow scares people like you. it really is a stupid arguement to begin with merely put out there by the loonie-left to insight more division between people and attention away from this joke of a pres. that we have.

onemanvolt - 7/18/2012 12:43 AM

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What this article don't mention is that some eligible voters in Tennessee, namely the elderly who do not drive or who are unable to get out much, will not have the ID they need to vote, even though they have voted in every election since Herbert Hoover was president. My lovely next door neighbor is one of them. She is determined that she is going to vote, but worries that she will not be able to wait in the long lines at the DMV to get herself a state ID. She has severe arthritis and recently had hip surgery. Shame on Republicans for making her go through this in order to perform her civic duty and vote. It is so sad. I think it is true that all the new voter requirements are solutions in search of a problem. It is pretty clear what the real motive is.

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