CNN Portrays Disabled Woman as Victim of Court’s Voter ID Decision

Photo of Matthew Balan.

During a segment on Monday’s "The Situation Room," host Wolf Blitzer and CNN justice correspondent Kelli Arena framed the Supreme Court decision upholding Indiana’s "strict" voter ID law according to the liberal view (a law so "strict" that it calls for the voter show photo ID before voting). Arena’s report offered three critics of the decision to only one supporter, who happened to be Indiana’s Secretary of State. One of the three critics was a quadriplegic who apparently "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was" before getting an ID in Indiana. After Arena’s report, Blitzer tried to spin this as a decision by Republican-appointed justices, despite the fact it was John Paul Stevens, one of the Court’s most liberal members, who wrote the opinion. [audio available here]

Blitzer introduced Arena’s report by describing the decision as having "an enormous impact," and asked Arena to describe "the enormity of what the U.S. Supreme Court has decided." She then first harkened back to the Bush v. Gore decision in 2000. "The 2000 presidential race raised questions about election integrity. And Democrats say today's Supreme Court ruling may raise even more."

Arena then played three sound bites in a row of critics of the voter ID law. In the first sound bite, Donna Brazile charged that the "voter ID scam is a suppression tactic used by many people to undermine the right to vote in this country." In the second, Melissa Madill, identified as an "Indiana voting rights advocate," stated that it was "infuriating that people who really need to impact the system the most are being denied the right to do so." In the last sound bite, Karen Vaughn, who Arena introduced as "a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport," and who "had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was," accused the supporters of the law of not caring about people like her.

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In the only sound bite from a supporter of the law, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita explained that "[i]t's so easy for someone to claim that I'm -- that they're somebody else and steal an election that way." Arena then immediately countered this claim, citing two infamous liberal groups. "But there's little hard evidence to back that up. The ACLU and People for the American Way say there's evidence instead to suggest that disadvantaged voters will have a hard time. In past elections in Ohio and Florida, some voters reportedly complained that poll workers tried to turn them away even with proper ID." Of course, Arena didn’t say whether these reports were accurate.

After the end of Arena’s report, Blitzer made the following observation about the case:

NewsBusters.org - Media Research CenterBLITZER: [T]oday's 6-3 high court ruling reflects a splintered U.S. Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens, the chief dissenter in Bush versus Gore, in that ruling back in 2000, wrote the majority opinion this time. He was appointed by Gerald Ford. The five other justices supporting the majority opinion include some of its most conservative members. All were nominated by Republican presidents. The three justices who dissented, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- all dissented in the Bush versus Gore court decision as well. Souter was nominated by the first President Bush; Ginsburg and Breyer were nominated by Bill Clinton.

Note how Blitzer pointed out how all six justices who upheld the voter ID law were "nominated by Republican presidents" and "include some of its most conservative members," despite Stevens’ reputation as a liberal. Also, the dissenters are merely identified as who nominated to the Court, and not as liberals.

The full transcript of Arena's report, which began five minutes into the 4 pm Eastern hour of Monday’s "The Situation Room," along with Blitzer's observation:

KELLI ARENA (voice-over): Remember this? Protests, hanging chads, charges of voter intimidation. The 2000 presidential race raised questions about election integrity. And Democrats say today's Supreme Court ruling may raise even more.

DONNA BRAZILE, DIRECTOR, DNC VOTING RIGHTS INST.: The voter ID scam is a suppression tactic used by many people to undermine the right to vote in this country.

ARENA: In upholding Indiana's strict voter ID law, the toughest in the nation, the high court cleared the way for other states to follow suit. Voting rights advocates say the impact will be felt most heavily among the poor, the elderly, minorities, people who tend to vote Democratic.

MELISSA MADILL, INDIANA VOTING RIGHTS ADVOCATE: It's actually infuriating. It's infuriating that people who really need to impact the system the most are being denied the right to do so.

ARENA: The hurdles are real for people like Karen Vaughn, a quadriplegic who doesn't have a driver's license or a passport. She had to pay more than $100 to get documentation to prove who she was.

NewsBusters.org - Media Research CenterKAREN VAUGHN, VOTING RIGHTS PLAINTIFF: They just don't care. We're unimportant.

ARENA: Indiana isn't the only state to require ID. More than 20 states ask voters to present identification, including most of the key battleground states. Election officials say the laws are necessary to prevent fraud.

TODD ROKITA, INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE: It's so easy for someone to claim that I'm -- that they're somebody else and steal an election that way.

ARENA: But there's little hard evidence to back that up. The ACLU and People for the American Way say there's evidence instead to suggest that disadvantaged voters will have a hard time. In past elections in Ohio and Florida, some voters reportedly complained that poll workers tried to turn them away even with proper ID.

ARENA (on-camera): Now, state election officials say that they're working very hard to make sure everyone knows what the rules are, what kind of ID is accepted, so everyone will be ready in November. But some experts say the Democrats are just going to have to work a lot harder to make sure that their members are well informed -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks very much, Kelli, for that. A major decision. And today's 6-3 high court ruling reflects a splintered U.S. Supreme Court. Justice John Paul Stevens, the chief dissenter in Bush versus Gore, in that ruling back in 2000, wrote the majority opinion this time. He was appointed by Gerald Ford. The five other justices supporting the majority opinion include some of its most conservative members. All were nominated by Republican presidents.

The three justices who dissented, David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer -- all dissented in the Bush versus Gore court decision as well. Souter was nominated by the first President Bush; Ginsburg and Breyer were nominated by Bill Clinton. Enormous ramifications potentially by this Supreme Court decision today. Much more on this story coming up later here in 'The Situation Room.'

—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.


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I thought the Indiana Dems

I thought the Indiana Dems who got this case all the way to the Supreme Court lost their case in part because they failed to produce anybody whose voting rights were violated?

I wonder if this unfortunate handicapped woman has trouble cashing her SS disability check each month since she has no identification...

Help

NYT: Would-be voters without proper identification may cast a provisional ballot that will be counted only if they appear within 10 days at acounty clerk’s office and present acceptable photo identification or, alternatively, swear either that they are indigent or that they have a religious objection to being photographed.

-The Beatles used to say they couldn't get by without a little help from their friends. The government is not paying her SSD but they are her friend?

WSJ: Judge Barker also noted that Indiana provided a photo ID for free to anyone who could prove their identity, and that critics of the law "have produced not a single piece of evidence of any identifiable registered voter who would be prevented from voting."

Since then, liberal groups have pointed to last November's mayor alelection in Indianapolis as giving real-life examples of people prevented from voting. The 34 voters out of 165,000 who didn't have the proper ID were allowed to cast a provisional ballot, and could have had their votes counted by going to a clerk's office within 10 days to show ID or sign an affidavit attesting to their identity. Two chose to do so, but 32 did not. ...

Laws tightening up absentee-ballot fraud, which is a more serious problem than in-person voting, would be welcome. But, curiously, almost all of the groups opposing the photo ID law before the Supreme Court today either oppose specific efforts to combat absentee-ballot fraud or
are silent on them.

-In this case the woman evades charges for an ID and impositions to appear in order to vote. How much more can we help?

JDW

Sen Clinton: Distinguished Founder of Media Matters

 

Laws tightening up

Laws tightening up absentee-ballot fraud, which is a more serious problem than in-person voting, would be welcome

This will be the next battleground with the libs.  The election's commission needs to be diligent about sending a mailing out to registered voters every year and any returns by the post office means purging that name from the rolls and hence start to screen out fraudulent absentee ballots.  The next step being in order to be registered in the first place you had to present proof of eligibility by giving the election commission a copy of your photo ID plus a copy of your SS card and birth certificate.  Even an illegal can get a photo ID.  Right now most states only require your sworn signature on the voter registration application, a major weakness in the documentation.

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

Eliminate fraud

The libs have shut down the FEC and in their place this fills a large void to eliminate fraud.

JDW

Sen Clinton: Distinguished Founder of Media Matters

 

JDW... Yep...and it has

JDW...

Yep...and it has been maddening what they have intentionally done, although I must say sometimes it seems to be after an election the FEC does anything about anything, but still I have been keeping up on that too....oh but couldn't you just hear the leftists in congress getting on the television screens every chance they got screeching about this until the repubs did something about this and made the appt to fill the void.....this is the difference IMO between the parties at times.

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill

Amen to that Roger.  I

Amen to that Roger.  I would venture a guess she does have an i.d. because even if the bank "knows" you, you still have to show it.

Poor and disabled hardest

Poor and disabled hardest hit.....

Thought she had to file papers, go to court, etc., to get Disabi

I thought this woman would have had to file papers, go to court, etc., to get Disability.  In all this she never needed a photo ID!  & isn't the Indiana law such that if you have verifable Birth Certificate that you could also use it to vote?

PawpawN

I am not from Indiana but your comment makes sense to me. Perhaps we will hear from one of the conservative radio shows in Indiana soon. Surely one of them will investigate.

Jerry Mack, this is what I find

I find that there are exemptions to photo ID law, see this site http://www.in.gov/sos/photoid/ and go to exemptions.  I do not see how this puts any hardship on anyone.

How about this for an idea?

To any liberals that might be lurking. Why don't we just watch how things play out in Indiana over, say, the next 20 years. If there is a major drop in voting from a particular demographic, then the Indiana legislature can revisit the law.

By the way. Dead people are not a demographic.

How about brain dead?  I

How about brain dead?  I believe most Democrats to be so. 

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

Florida Here

After the 2000 election, the infamous Civil Rights Commission held interminable hearings trying without success to identify all (any?) the people kept away from the polls by 1. State Troopers 2. Cops with vicious dogs 3. Mean white people 4. Mean men 5. Mean Meanies etc etc etc. Hearings went on for weeks and never found even one person with a legitimate claim and the racially biased committee looked really, really hard.

Sad

How sad that Wolf and company actually call themselves "journalists". Did you see the president giving itto those jackasses today? Great stuff. He should have taken this attitude toward them years ago. The only way to treat a "liberal" is with suspicion, contempt, and condescension. It's all the fools deserve.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

Y'know...

...you're just mean (visualize my eyes narrowing).

Voting remains a privilege...

Voting remains a privilege, irrespective of what the Left think. It is not unreasonable for us to prove who we are.

Democrats hate it when vote

Democrats hate it when vote fraud is made more difficult!

Disenfranchised Voter Fund

I wonder if the rich libs at CNN offered to reimburse Ms Vaughn the $100 she paid to secure her documents? Maybe they could re-direct a small portion of the money they are pumping into Obama and Clinton coffers towards securing documents for their perceived "disenfranchised" voters.

This is not about "poor Ms Vaughn" or any other unfortunate soul CNN and the rest of the drive-by-media choose to exploit. It's about voter fraud, and they know it.

huh?

Quadroplegic or not, what American citizen goes around with no photo ID? How did she get a place to live? Get the power cut on? Get a cell phone? What, does she live completely off the radar with no credit or income or anything?

And why did it cost her 100 bucks to get some ID?

Because she is quadreplegic

Because she is quadreplegic there could be some complications.  She could have paid some shmo 100 bucks to do the required paperwork and legwork.  I would be interested to find out what teh 100 bucks was paid for.  It is concievable that some agency, she was possibly familiar with considering her condition, could have done the paperwork and legwork for free.

All in all it seems like a scam the media is pulling.

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

$500

I have a solution. To everyone who is without an ID, offer $500 if they get one in order to vote. The excuses would just fade away.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

What a crock, all you need

What a crock, all you need do is go to the DMV and ask for a photo ID, present your SS card and birth certificate and possibly a utility bill to prove residence. No photo ID is going to cost $100.  I assume the $100 was for a wheel chair taxi to go to the DMV?  So I assume she also pays someone to go to the grocery store?  If so, why then would you make a big deal out of going to the DMV other than making a lame excuse of being too inconvenienced to go out of the house?  So if transportation is the issue then she would also have to pay $100 to go and vote otherwise she would mail in an absentee ballot which requires no ID! Is she going to demand a transportation subsidy to go to vote every 2 years?  I'm sorry, she has no excuse to whine other than for being handicapped in general. 

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

I agree you'd have to be

I agree you'd have to be pretty 'off the grid' for people who have no ID to then take to the BMV and get a free voter ID.  I live in Indiana, from my understanding if you were born in some states, Michigan being one example, you have to pay the county's records office for them to give you a copy of your birth certificate. I would be all for the Indiana Legislature to reimburse people that do indeed have to pay to get copies of their birth certificates from other staes, my guess is way less than 1,000 people would claim this type of reimbursement in any given year.

But how does she cash her

But how does she cash her checks without ID?  Or do any business period without secure form of ID?  Another question is; has she done spent the money because teh ruling was just considered legal and did anyone have to show ID before it was considered legal?  Or was it just considerd she would be spending the most money she could to get ID?

Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.

Birth Certificate

I just completed the steps necessary to get a copy of my birth certificate in Illinois and it was a $10 charge.  All done by mail.  I called them and they told me what information they needed and a letter signed by me with a $10 check.  I received it a week later.  No transportation (or gas) required. 

"We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."  Hillary Clinton, 6-28-04 San Francisco

Ohio birth certificates

Two years ago I need to get mine from Ohio and I believe it was like 12 or 16 dollars. I seriously do not understand how she spent a hundred dollars to fill out a paper, mail a small check, then go to the DMV for a photo ID.

40 dollars tops. This lady makes no sense.

Costs big bucks to have

Costs big bucks to have those things printed up and look real, you know.

Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!

another exploding gas tank

As the others here, I would like a detailed explanation of the $100. Unless she's an independent multi-millionaire she has to have ID to get all the services I guarantee she is using from Feds, state, and county. This smells to high heaven much like ABC's exploding gas tank scam. If she is on assistance I can also guarantee that some agency would be able to get her the papers to sign and then take them for the processing. What a crock.

The msm can cry and whine

The msm can cry and whine all they want...they can spin it all they want...they can call it a Voter ID scam all they want like Donna Brazile did here, by the way it was a scam alright...by the dems they have used it for years ....it has now been decided....

DEAL with IT!

"Never murder your opponent when he is committing suicide." ~ W. Churchill

Right as usual, BT

The "liberal" whine! Just can't accept reality, can they. Sad sacks, those libs.

NEVER, NEVER trust a "liberal"

 

Meanwhile the Indiana

Meanwhile the Indiana Democratic Party will be demanding a "loyalty" oath for all those voing in their primary based on swearing that the voter has voted Democrat is the past xx number of elections.

Wow. Unreal. Apart from being impossible to police, is this even constitutional?

Vote 4 change. Vote 4 anything. See Jack & Mr Shy's first campaign ad for the ONLY viable 3rd party candidate.

SCHIP Redux

It seems the liberal media types can always find some phony to back up every sob story. The problem is the stories always fall apart when someone takes a look. Where are all of the 'we take care of the poor' democrats in In? Charity starts at home and for a democrat it stays at home, street drugs are expensive.

 

Old, Retired and glad of it.

CNN=Ignorance

CNN=Ignorance

THIS WOMAN IS A

Farce.

She has a problem but her hair is perfect and her make up is nicely applied. Sure CNN paid for it?

She is full of crap. Anyone who can afford transportantion at $100 a wack should have no problem finding a way to get an ID.

I too would be interested to know how she cashes her government checkes???

She has a problem?  Nothing

She has a problem?  Nothing that a decent diet wouldn't fix by the look of her.  The bloated, fat swine ought to try some push-aways.  Then maybe she wouldn't be disabled.

My god...another voting

My god...another voting season,another round of :

I don't know where to go to vote.

I don't have photo ID

Can you do anything in life without a photo ID????

Can you get assistance, a credit card, anything without PHOTO ID!!!

I'm a refugee from the Democratic Party.

 

The correct question is,

The correct question is, "Should you be able to?" Should you be able to vote, get assistance, or get a credit card without a reliable photo ID? I would say, no, yes (to emergency assistance, anyway), and no. I don't want faceless phantoms voting or taking out what amount to loans.

www.rhjunior.com Great comics with a hefty dose of Christian and anti-nutjob goodness.

"With your mind as high as Mt. Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things near to you." -Miyamoto Musashi

Liberal Illogic

How is it the liberals have such a problem with people being required to show ID to vote?  You had to have shown ID to register to vote.  Plus, most people drive to their polling place, and you have to have a driver's license to drive.

I mean, seriously - say some illegal alien just met me (and learned what neighborhood I live in), comes to my precinct in the morning, and says he's me.  In my state, he'd get "my" ballot without any challenge.  That afternoon, I come by, but am refused a ballot because "I" already voted.  After I prove I'm me, do I get to vote?  Provisionally, probably.  Is there any way to keep the illegal alien's votes from counting?  Not likely (possibly negating my votes).  Total lunacy!

I thought the point in the

I thought the point in the decsion was that they never brought anyone forward or could give an example as to where anyone was harmed by using a photo ID. The MSM finds this woman. Why did they not use her in court?

"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." A.W. Tozer (Pharisee=modern day liberal)

ACLU and PAW don't need proof of their points?

TODD ROKITA, INDIANA SECRETARY OF STATE: It's so easy for someone to claim that I'm -- that they're somebody else and steal an election that way.

ARENA: But there's little hard evidence to back that up. The ACLU and People for the American Way say there's evidence instead to suggest that disadvantaged voters will have a hard time. In past elections in Ohio and Florida, some voters reportedly complained that poll workers tried to turn them away even with proper ID.

So the Secretary of State needs evidence to back up his argument, but the ACLU and PAW's claims go unchallenged.  The Supreme Court challenged the plaintiffs to prove that "disadvantaged" people would have a hard time getting an ID, and they couldn't do it.

The parties have get out the vote operations.  Why don't they spend some of that money they raise making sure disadvantaged people can get an ID?  Oh, right...   Because the Dems don't want their voters scrutinized.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

We need to fight for the

We need to fight for the laws of all states to be changed so that no one can vote without photo ID in any election, and if they vote anyway, and refuse to get an ID, they are banned for life from voting.

Anyone who has religious objections to being photographed, fine, they have to pay a sketch artist to draw them... if they object to that... they're too moronic to vote anyway and should be banned for life from ever voting for anything in any election of any size.

I would also suggest that anyone receiving any government assistance at all should not be able to vote while they are receiving the assistance, and for five years after they stop receiving it... this would keep them from voting themselves more money.

Voting is a privilege, not a right... but liberals and leftists have bastardized what it means to vote, and consequently, are destroying our democracy... all according to their plan.

____________________________________________________

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." ~ Winston Churchill

How does this woman cash

How does this woman cash checks -- disability checks for that matter-- without picture ID?

I call B.S. on the story.