Election Commission Sets Town Hall Meeting For Nov. 1

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A new law that will require voters to show a valid photo ID at the polls won't go into effect until next year, but in preparation for this new requirement, the Cannon County Election Commission will hold a town hall meeting to inform the public of the change in the law.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:00p.m. Tuesday, November. 1,  at the Woodbury Grammar School Gym. The purpose of the meeting is to present information regarding the new law, which goes into effect January 1, 2012. The town hall meeting will include a presentation, followed by a question and answer period.

The major points of the law include:

• A voter is required to produce a federal or state government-issued photo ID before being allowed to vote. Some examples of a valid photo ID, even if expired, are a Tennessee driver license, U.S. passport, Department of Safety photo ID card, state or federal employee photo identification card, or a U.S. military photo ID. Student college IDs will not be accepted for voting purposes.

• Free photo IDs may be obtained from any Department of Safety driver license testing station.  Registered voters must sign an affidavit stating that the photo ID is for voting purposes, that they are a registered voter, and that they do not have any other valid government-issued photo ID.  The Department of Safety will not issue a free photo ID if the person already has a valid government-issued photo ID

Voters who are unable to produce a valid photo ID will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot, which is a paper ballot, at the polls.  Voters casting a provisional ballot will have until two (2) business days after Election Day to return to the election commission office to show a valid photo ID.

Voters with a religious objection to being photographed, or voters who are indigent and unable to obtain a photo ID without paying a fee - for example, the voter cannot pay for a birth certificate for proof of citizenship - may sign an oath affirming to the information and will be allowed to vote on the machines.

Voters who vote absentee by mail, voters who are hospitalized, and voters who live in licensed nursing homes or assisted living centers and vote at the facilities are not required to show photo IDs.  Registered voters over the age of 65 may request an absentee ballot and vote by mail.

“The goal of the town hall meeting is to educate the public and prepare voters for the upcoming 2012 elections,” Stan Dobson, administrator of elections said.  “We want voters to have plenty of time to obtain a valid photo ID if they do not already possess one.  We encourage everyone to attend the November 1 meeting.”

For more information about the new voting requirements, contact Mark Goins, coordinator of elections, or Andrew Dodd, elections specialist, in the state Division of Elections at 1-877-850-4959 or your local county election commission at 563-5650.
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October 18, 2011 at 7:12am
Rolling Stone recently reported that more than 10 percent of American citizens lack necessary identification, but among the traditional Democratic voting blocs, the numbers are much higher: 18 percent of young voters and 25 percent of African Americans.

Obviously an attempt by the Republican party to place a roadblock in the path of these citizens when voting.

If you are a Democrat without a valid voter ID but with your regular voter registration card be sure to vote absentee ballot. Stupid to have to drive fifty miles or more and stand in line for hours to obtain a photo ID.

A suggestion to consider if you are a Democrat with a valid ID. Either vote absentee or provisional ballot and let the state come up with a timely way of counting hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots along with the staffing to verify the hundreds of thousands coming back within the two days with their valid ID.
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October 18, 2011 at 8:00am
I guess there is not anyone in Cannon County that has to go to the doctor or the airport or need to take out a loan. All of these places will ask for your photo ID too. So like every thing else in this county you want to set back on your porch and do nothing that the future is asking. I mean come on people, get in the new century.
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October 18, 2011 at 8:16am
Apparently there are those who think a poll worker is supposed to personally know and recognize everyone who shows up to vote.
October 18, 2011 at 8:22am
AMEN TO MMW!
October 18, 2011 at 10:06am
If you want to be sure that legal citizens of the United States are voting for people who make the laws we have to live by, WHY would you be opposed to requiring a photo ID?? I don't want, felons, illegal aliens, or "dead people" voting on things that directly affect me and my family. THANK YOU to the Election Commission and the Tenn. Legislature for trying to protect the integrity of our voting system. If you don't think voting is important enough to prove who you legally are when you get to the polls, then stay home and complain.
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October 18, 2011 at 12:27pm
I would have to ask the question to MMW as why he thinks that so many Democrats don't have a valid photo ID.?

I would also ask why he thought so many Democrats are crying because they now will have to prove who they are when they vote in an election, especially when they can obtain a FREE photo ID with very little effort.

Oops, I said “effort” and I forgot that that would actually require him and others like him to actually do something besides complain.

Using his logic, this is an obvious attempt by the Democratic Party that has been going on for years to promote voter fraud and allow illegal immigrants the power to elect liberal Democrats. Otherwise there would be no complaints on why there is a need for something as simple as saying “cheese”.

A suggestion to consider if you are a Democrat without a valid ID: Go get one for free or vote absentee for free and live in a country that lets you complain for free.
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October 18, 2011 at 7:05pm
If you can't go though the trouble to get an ID I doubt you will go to the trouble to educate your self on the issues and I don't want you voting.
October 18, 2011 at 8:22pm
brittslade, I think you an Corey said it all
October 19, 2011 at 9:37am
So, what this really is about is to point a finger at the Democrats and try to make radical Republicans look pure as the drifted snow. I don't think so, remember Nixon. When you point one finger there is 4 fingers pointing back at you.
October 19, 2011 at 4:41pm
At least to me, it seems the Voting ID laws passed by the Red states are attempts to systematically disenfranchise a select group--those lower income people and the young college students who tend to vote for a Democrat.
This comment summed it up for South Carolina and applies to the other Red states as well.

"Democrats say it’s no coincidence that Republicans renewed their disenfranchisement efforts after Barack Obama was elected president. “In 2008, we had too many black folk, too many brown folk, too many poor folk voting,” said South Carolina state Representative David J. Mack III. “They (Republicans) can’t have that in 2012.”
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October 19, 2011 at 5:02pm
If those same people vote were to vote for a ticket of Herman Cain and Marco Rubio next year, would they still be "disenfranchised?"
October 19, 2011 at 6:07pm
The Daily News Journal has an article in todays paper about an appeal of the voter photo ID law.
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October 19, 2011 at 6:37pm
concerned: If you will scroll up and look above I was responding to the illogical nonsense of MMW's statement that the new law was "obviously an attempt by the Republican party to place a roadblock in the path of these citizens when voting". He wants to turn it in to a Republican vs. Democrat debate and I say that is stupid beyond stupid and that is why I said "using his logic" this has been an obvious attempt to promote voter fraud for years on behalf of the Democratic Party. Also if you want to talk about Nixon, go back to the 1959 election and count the dead people that voted for JFK that year and read how Nixon could have proved it but chose not to.

MMW your statements and opinions become more outrageous and ludicrous as you type. I also find them disrespectful to anyone who has a thimbles full of common sense, just simply because of the innuendos and unfounded accusations you try to invoke to a law that has been needed for years.

I expect more out of someone of your implied age, which is somewhere between 80 and 110 years old, depending on which article you try to comment on.

My father who is by far the greatest man I know may not be as old as you are, but is in far worse physical shape than you I guarantee.

He has had diabetes for over 60 years and taken two to three shots of insulin a day all those years, he has had a heart attack and has had FIVE by-pass surgery and two stints put in. He has had roughly 15 laser surgeries done on both eyes to keep from going blind and he can barely hear out of one ear and his kidneys are slowly beginning to fail.

Yet, somehow he managed to drive all the way to Murfreesboro by himself, wait in line at the DMV and got his driver’s license with a photo ID and hasn't complained once.

Meanwhile, you sit on your throne arguing about a law designed to improve the consistency and dependability of elections and help prevent vote fraud. Unless you are advocating voter fraud then I suggest you get off your throne and be the example of my father and come March of 2012 and following elections you can vote for someone who you think will appeal this travesty of a law you love to lament.

Grow up and act your age whatever that may be!
October 20, 2011 at 6:16am
Editor: Recently I was chastized for attempting to post a comment not directly related (it was tangentially) to the article in question but I suppose that guideline applies only to those on the left.
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October 20, 2011 at 7:07am
MMW, as others will tell you, it applies to both sides and the middle as well. However, the one you are referring too attempted to put a political spin on an article that was not political in nature. This article wasn't either into you made it one.
October 20, 2011 at 7:53am
Kevin, almost any new law enacted by a Republican or Democrat legislative branch of government is, by its very nature, invaribly political.

It would be difficult to deny that this law, the one mentioned in the very first sentence, is not and was not political in nature as was the similar laws passed by many Red States in preparation of the 2012 election.

The meeting scheduled is an attempt to sooth the impact of this political whim driven by the Right.

But I am pleased to learn that you are evenhanded in your reproach.


May I add then a comment about Corey's? It would be: "Unhinged on the Right." My favorite book.
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October 20, 2011 at 8:06am
"Kevin, almost any new law enacted by a Republican or Democrat legislative branch of government is, by its very nature, invaribly political."

Oh, you mean like ObamaCare, the Stimulas Act and Obama's latest and greatest new jobs plan? Thanks for clearing up my confusion.

That said, if less people who may be inclined to vote Democrat in future elections decide its too much trouble to obtain a photo ID to do so, it's their own fault. The same requirement applies to Republicans and Independents.
October 20, 2011 at 9:58am
Thanks Kevin for allowing me to wander around and belabor the point.

May I add that universal healthcare goes back many decades for the Democrats, even HST made an attempt and look at what LBJ did.

Why? It plays to the base, in part. The stimulus act wasn't for those living in Williamson County nor is the jobs act, but to the voters who would gain the most and would tend to vote for a Democrat.

I will vote next year--early and often --if I can. May try voting absentee ballot and then provisional ballot also just to see what happens. Hope all Democrats will do the same.
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October 20, 2011 at 1:41pm
Might want to think twice about trying to vote "often." There are probably laws against it.
October 20, 2011 at 3:05pm
MNW: As a legal citizen of the United States I certainly hold my right and priviledge to vote to a higher degree than you apparently do. Stating publically that you will be breaking the laws of this country by trying to commit voter fraud and encouraging others to also break the law should not be tolerated on this format.
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October 20, 2011 at 4:04pm
Voter fraud and election fraud have been rampant for many years. It seems to be an idea MMW not only plans to promote, it also seems to be one he endorses other liberal, bleeding heart Democrats to engage in as well.
I expect nothing less from a chronic complainer who has nothing more to do than gripe while offering no solutions!
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October 20, 2011 at 7:01pm
I agree with kane!! Well said!!
October 21, 2011 at 6:33am
"Early and often" was a facetious comment thrown in just to gauge the reactions of some.
Did what it was supposed to do.
October 21, 2011 at 8:19am
"A facetious comment"???? I certainly do not consider voter integrity to be a joke. People like MMW who would encourage others to break the law and deliberately try to sabotage our voting process are what is wrong with this country. Sick, Sick, Sick in my opinion.
October 21, 2011 at 1:17pm
Sam Stockard has an article in the DNJ this AM that goes to the heart of what the intent of the law really meant to do--discourage those who find it inconvenient to either obtain the transportation or endure the long wait necessary to obtain that ID.
Perverse pleasure being experienced, no doubt, by those promoting this farce on the rights of a citizen to vote.
That is the real sickness.
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October 21, 2011 at 1:45pm
Good grief MMW, Stockward, who takes every opportunity to express his liberal bias, even into stories which should be straight news, writes about the problems of ONE person. That ONE person could have gotten her photo ID if she was more interested in getting it than complaining about having to wait. And, as the article said and as has been pointed out many times, she is eligle to vote absentee. There is no problem with the law and it does not neeed to be repealed. If anything needs to be done, it would be to have election offices have the equipment to make the IDs, and also county court clerk offices. I have made those suggestions to our local election office and will repeat them at the Nov. 1 Town Hall.
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October 21, 2011 at 3:49pm
Although I have no proof, it has become increasingly obvious to me that MMW is really our old liberal friend "dailyreader" whom it would seem had the heat in the kitchen get too hot and needed a name change.

For me it is easy to spot the liberal agenda, the obscure internet references, the constant desire to complain, the references to his supposed age, the need to explain how he once voted for Ike in the 1950's to try and impress (with no luck) and the blatant narcissism he has in order to have everyone talk about him and his inane nonsense.

If I remember correctly,Ted Kaczynski was revealed by printing his manifesto as well.

MMW a.k.a. dailyreader, the way you type, the way you frame your nonsense, the content you refer to and the references you pull from are as much a fingerprint to you as a criminal leaving the scene of crime touching a doorknob.

If you truly want to be heard, I will tell you as I have told you before, put your real name out here for everyone to see and quit hiding behind your pen name.
October 23, 2011 at 6:46am
I find great pleasure in being labeled a liberal. And even greater pleasure in espousing those causes. Thank you for that appellation.


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October 23, 2011 at 8:52am
I could also call you a flip flopper and you would probably be proud of that as well. One article you state you vote Republican and the next you say you get pleasure in being labeled a liberal. I expect nothing less from you dailyreader a.k.a. MMW.

However,I am not sure if you know, but the only causes you espouse are the figments of your imagination. It is clearly obvious that what you say, what you post and what you imply with your feeble attempts of division and grandure no one is buying. It was the same when you wrote under the pen name of dailyreader and it is no different now.

Scroll up dude and you can read for yourself. You are clearly in the minority on thinking this law is bad and you are clearly promoting voter fraud and corruption. On top of promoting it, you are also encouraging the Democratic Party to engage in it as well.

If I were you that is not really something I would take to much pleasure in. But, you are as they say priggish with your mantra.
October 31, 2011 at 12:04am
The Democracy we enjoy, in this Free Republic of America, has been and continues to be, paid with the precious blood of Patriots who value the Freedoms and Liberties granted by God Almighty, and gave their all.....to the cause and the wisdom and truth contained in our Nation's Constitution. Fair and honest Elections are a vital part of honoring these sacrifices and preserving our Freedoms and Liberties.

The Photo ID provisions are improvements to help insure the integrity of the balloting process. Voter fraud, and those who knowingly commit it, will have another "road block" with these new provisions. These new provisions are not "perfect" in every aspect, but they are directed to achieve "perfection" in assuring the identity of every registered voter who cast their votes in our elections. There is NO effort to "road block" any citizen from casting a "single legal ballot".

Our Attorney Generals across Tennessee should be more forthright in prosecuting those, who are more interested in fraudulently impacting the outcomes of elections, than honoring and abiding within the legal statutes governing our election process.

The Cannon County Election Commission WILL forward any evidence of voter fraud to our Attorney General. We, the Citizens, will have to insist they enforce our laws and prosecute those who subvert them.

Matt Studd
Cannon County Election Commissioner
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