Voting fraud..national ID cards,,,the solution??

[SoCalDem]

Most(?) people bristle at the idea of a National I.D. Card, and less than 20% of Americans hold passports.

People who do have passports are well accustomed to having things stamped inside them. They can have pages added. Why not just require a passport in order to vote? To get one, you must prove that you are a citizen (a good thing, no?).If everyone had one, it would prove their age, and citizenship, so it could be "oficially stamped" as a voter registration vehicle as well.

It's small and easy to carry, and every time a voter went to vote, the official stamp would "tell" if the voter tried to vote a second time. Absentee ballots would be tagged on the outer paperwork, so that the passport number would be traceable (and verifiable)..

For you people who say "NO WAY"..here's a scenario for you.. You are offered a free trip to Tahiti...will you go get a passport?? (This happened to my husband and me, and we were at the post office the very next day )..

Is your vote as important as a free vacation??

So... how would the "poor people" afford this pricey little pamphlet?? Upon financial situation proof, they would be provided one free..

one more thing that would have to happen is this...

Elections that involve senators, congresspeople, and the president could be held in even years, and all the propositional elections in odd years.. Further proof of local residency could be required to prove that the voter was eligible to vote, but it should be easy enough with rent receipts/utility bills, etc.(for the odd year only)

The "national" elections held in each state would be small, and easy to count, re-count, audit.. It would probably fit on a 5 x 7 card...

[NewHampshireDem]

1. Interesting idea ... One question:

Why would it require shifting the elections?

[SoCalDem]

2. Only the elections for local/state propositions

Most states already have some kind of election EVERY year anyway.. It would significantly streamline the elections for congress and the presidency, since ballots would be small and easy to understand, and when the propositional ballots were made up for the odd year elections, they would have undivided attention paid to the issues that cities./states just skim over now, due to all the presidential hub-bub.:)

[iconoclastic cat]

3. Why hasn't this been pushed as an option?

I mean, you could have a card that allows you access to your checking and savings accounts, and barring identity theft, nobody could get in without setting off alarms--why can't we have voting cards.

Careful, SoCalDem! You make to much sense! That's un-American!

[Eugene]

4. Caution!

Rigorous ID and credential checks can intimidate
eligible voters, especially minorities.
An ID proposal was thrown out here for
just this reason. Black and Hispanic voters
may be more reluctant to show their ID to
a policeman than white voters.
Depressed turnout is just as bad for
democracy as fraud.

Besides, has anyone shown that duplicate or
ineligible voters have made a significant
impact in a recent race? Can we show there
is a real problem before we implement
a police state solution like internal passports?


You can choose not to fly or leave the country
without much consequence. Choosing not to vote
can hurts you.

[SoCalDem]

11. This would be for EVERYONE who votes, not just "some" people

The fact that your passport could have a separate section for "voting stamps", would just be another feature of this valuable "document"..

It would be a way for you to prove who you were, that you were registered, and entitled to vote, and they would verify that you DID vote, by a visa-like "crimper stamp" with the date and location..NOT who you voted for....just that you voted.. The passport wouls be YOURS, so it's unlikely that anyone else could "use" it..

[Toots]

5. How about we follow Oregon's example instead?

Oregon has the highest turn-out of any state, over eighty percent. Turn-out is our biggest challenge, well that and a fair an accurate counting of the ballots. Oregon has no problem with "Paper Trail". They have the ability to recount the votes if needed. Paperless voting machines do not. If a candidate wins by one vote "He wins" No recounts in a precinct with these machines. We need "vote by mail".

[Andy_Stephenson]

7. How do you know your elections are valid?

Oregon uses Diebold central tabulators.

The most dangerous system around. I know...I have seen it hacked.

[SheilaT]

6. The current system

of registering to vote and then showing up and signing the list at your polling place is quite good enough. Having to show additional ID is nonsense. Middle class people are used to carrying multiple ID cards of some kind or another around. The poor, the unemployed, are not.

Minnesota is another state with a remarkably honest election system, and they allow same day registration and voting. Oddly enough, Minnesotans don't seem to go around registering and voting at multiple polling places.

Maybe, just maybe, if you trust people to be honest they will be.

[LizW]

8. Claims of voter fraud at the polls are a ruse

to get voter ID laws passed. The Republicans know that having to show ID depresses Democratic turnout. ANY hurdle they can put in front of minorities and the poor is good for them.

Remember the trickery the Republicans in Alabama used to get voter ID passed? There was a deal made in the legislature: the Democrats (who are still in the majority) agreed to vote for voter ID if the Republicans agreed not to filibuster a bill giving automatic restoration of felon voting rights. Both measures passed in separate bills. Then, surprise, surprise! Repug Governor Riley claimed he knew nothing about any deal or agreement and signed the voter ID bill and vetoed the Felon voting rights bill. The Repugs openly said that they were trying to keep blacks from voting.

[shraby]

9. For over 200 years this country

has had elections with no need for I.D. cards. The stolen election of 2000, doesn't mean we now need cards. I.D. cards is one of the steps in requiring people to present it any and every time it's asked for, not to mention the risk incurred with identity theft. In fact, before drivers licenses were required when cars were invented, most people carried no identification at all. Yet they had no problem voting. We need to use paper ballots only this election and put all electronic voting machines on hold until something is worked out about security, and accuracy of the count, period.

[RedEagle]

10. Because the danger is insider fraud, not voter fraud

Given: Someone somewhere will try to cheat. It's always going to happen.

Fact: One voter or several, still minimal impact.

Fact: Insider fraud, with access to millions of votes, immense impact.

HAVA was all about making people think the problem is voter fraud, while it does nothing about insider fraud.

I'm not talking about rank and file election officials. Most of them don't even realize the dangers.

It's the access to hackable voting systems, like Diebold, that is the greater threat.

Voter fraud is a ruse. Look there, don't look over here while we change how the entire country votes.

It's a game to get people to worry about the relatively insignificant, so that the ability to weild significant damage remains intact.

As long as you focus on voter fraud, insider/vendor/corporate fraud has an open playing field.

I am not suggesting that we forget about voter fraud, just that in the big picture of things, we need to pay attention to the fraud venue that has the most potential for huge damage. And that isn't where they want you to pay attention.

Always remember to look to where your attention is being diverted from. It's always worth checking into.