“Digital DNA” may soon be required to take SAT & ACT tests in New York

Right off the bat, I want to make a point this is not about taking hairs or cheek swabs for use in identifying students taking exams. But I find it interesting boards of education are looking at secure identification processes, when liberals freak if voters are required to show up and present a government issued ID.

For background, the Long Island education scandal broke late in 2011. They figure more than 40 students were involved in schemes to cheat on the SAT and ACT. They wanted to pad resumes and improve their chances at scholarships and getting into college. Now we have this from the local CBS News affiliate in New York.

Since the SAT and ACT cheating scandals broke wide open on Long Island, lawmakers have pledged to come up with unique cutting edge ways to combat identity theft.

This probably happens more than you think, but it’s small scale compared to the reported voting irregularities and outright voter fraud around the country. Heck, in South Carolina primary last week, the state’s attorney general reported more than 950 dead people voted. The report was forwarded to the Justice Department, who blocked the state’s efforts to implement a voter ID law prior to the primary … it was racist.

Back to the Long Island solution to test cheating, with my emphasis in bold.

“It’s a great way for people to really be who they are when they take the test, and not try to fake it,” Massapequa High School graduate Jennifer Karp told McLogan.

Karp volunteered her forensic image for a digital DNA. It begins with mandatory pre-registering at a student’s home school with official legal ID documents only.

“All of that is uploaded to an I.T. system of wireless connections called the ‘CLOUD,’” Dr. Hayward said.

The student’s unique digital DNA code is created and assigned to an ID card with covert authentication marks printed onto it. Proctors can verify instantly with a simple UV light and smart phone scan.

More on how it works in the next paragraph, but prior to taking the test – most likely weeks before – the student’s identity needs to be verified by official legal documents, and an ID card is created from that information. The ID will conclusively tie the student to the exam, which is verified by test proctors on site. What say those of you who were freaked out about President George W. Bush stealing the election in 2000?

More on digitalDNA

The digitalDNA system creates a counterfeit-proof, secure ID card. The card is embedded with infinitesimal molecules of plant DNA segments that authenticate a student’s identity in a way that is absolutely uncopyable. The anti-counterfeiting technology also features a scannable printed code, which visually represents the same identity information. Embedded within the iconic code, and in covert locations on the card, is the physical code of digitalDNA. A scan, using a Smartphone or other mobile device, may be done instantly for exam-screening purposes, or at any other point. If deemed necessary, a second level of screening is available: the plant DNA on the card may be swabbed and forensically evaluated; a system well-recognized by courts globally.

We need ID to board a plane. We need to present ID during a lawful interaction with law enforcement. We need ID to open a bank account. We need to present ID at the local bar … but it’s racist to verify identification when you vote?

I’ve got a few opinions about the voting process and wonder what you think. For the great majority of people, I don’t think it is a big deal to ask them to vote on the day of the election. You generally have more than 12 hours to get there, it takes less than 10 to 15 minutes once you walk in the door, and voting places are frequently less than a couple of miles away.

If you’re on a vacation or business trip, apply for an absentee ballot. If you’re home-bound, apply for an absentee ballot. All of these same-day voter registration and vote by ballot weeks ahead of the election simply provides additional opportunities for fraud, and does not seem to help with voter turnout. In the 1950s and 1960s, when there were practically no programs (same-day registration, vote early…) to increase voter turnout, participation rates for presidential years was more than 60 percent.

Since then, participation definitely went down, but we’re back up to previous levels in 2008. It’s apathy that lowered participation rates in the 1970s and 1980s, not our “busy lifestyles.”

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

9 Comments

  1. johnboy111 on January 24, 2012 at 10:05 am

    this card also could be used to get a card used for reciprocity for interstate carry use???how simple….



  2. Dimsdale on January 24, 2012 at 10:17 am

    The hypocrisy by liberals is palpable.



  3. Dimsdale on January 24, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    Clearly, the requirement for positive ID on SATs and ACT test, and invariably, LSATs, GMATs and GREs, will have a “chilling effect on minority students”.? The Brennan Center for Justice at the NYU School of Law (www.brennancenter.org), “Minority citizens are less likely to possess government-issued photo identification.? According to the survey, African-American citizens also disproportionately lack photo identification.? Twenty-five percent of African-American voting-age citizens have no current government-issued photo ID, compared to eight percent of white voting-age citizens.”?
    ?
    Additionally, “Citizens earning less than $35,000 per year are more than twice as likely to lack current government-issued photo identification as those earning more than $35,000. Indeed, the survey indicates that at least 15 percent of voting-age American citizens earning less than $35,000 per year do not have a valid government-issued photo ID.”
    ?
    Finally, they state “survey results show that ten percent of voting-age citizens who have current photo ID do not have photo ID with both their current address and their current legal name. The rate is higher among younger citizens: as many as 18 percent of…



    • JBS on January 25, 2012 at 7:04 am

      Dims, this Super-Max ID card is only needed in Long Island.?
      By the way, from the description, the ID card does not utilize DNA the way I understand it. A medical, laboratory DNA test would take a week+ and cost thousands of $$$. This ID card is only an enhanced identification thought up by the school bureaucracy.
      They could solve the problem by requiring all of this to gain entrance to per-school and kindergarten.



    • JBS on January 25, 2012 at 7:18 am

      Steve, in CT I have to present my driver’s license to vote. I don’t mind. I’d rather have that than somebody with a beard and long hair was voting as me, then returning with a haircut and voting again as me, then shaving the beard . . .
      But, you are right. The liberals want things both ways. The only reason to not require voter identification is so they can cheat! That way, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Yosemite Sam, deceased people (incl. deceased children) and all of the rest can vote for their favorite Democrat.
      Maybe Bush would have won Florida outright if Gore didn’t have all of those spurious votes? Hmmmmm . . .
      ?



  4. Dimsdale on January 24, 2012 at 3:18 pm

    “(con’t) ….citizens aged 18-24 do not have photo ID with current address and name; using 2004 census tallies, that amounts to almost 4.5 million American citizens.”
    ?
    ?
    So low income people, and preferred minorities in particular, won’t be able to take college entrance exams, apply for college loans, or even go to a bar when they are 21?!?!? All for a lousy piece of government approved identification, which, as in the case of South Carolina’s recent (and disputed) voter ID law, the government will PROVIDE FOR FREE and distribute at DMVs.? Oh the humanity!?
    ?
    ?
    ?
    It is nice to use the lefties own arguments (no, not logic) against them.



    • GdavidH on January 24, 2012 at 7:15 pm

      Oh the humanity is right. Next thing you know they’re going to require photo ID to purchase drain cleaners and other household cleaning products. Am I going to have to go to the hardware store with the help, who have no ID’s, in order for them to get the stuff needed for them?to clean my house?

      ?How wrong was that statement? Think hard folks!?



    • Eric on January 24, 2012 at 7:16 pm

      Nice job dims!



  5. RoBrDona on January 24, 2012 at 3:54 pm

    I recently got the new fancy driver’s license that requires your birth certificate, passport, proof of residence, etc. etc. I believe the program kicks in in 2014.? I guarantee it will be declared null and void by then, just as legitimate voter ID will never really happen, the ACLU and the crazies like the Mayor of New Haven in his sanctuary city will see to that.



square-digital-dna-id-card

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