Should inactive voters be purged and punished by being denied their right to vote?

[L. Coyote]

Why do we discriminate against voters who have skipped a couple of elections by deleting them from the voter rolls. This seems like a good reason to sue, but no, it is standard procedure. It also is another way to shave a few points because it is a biased form of discrimination favoring conservatives.

The question comes to light because voter databases are being secretly altered to eliminate voter histories so that some voters are thereafter deleted/purged on the basis of being inactive for recent elections. Those voters are then unable to vote even though they have been active voters.

New Voting Suppression Method, Delete Past Voting History of Blacks
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1091269

In a nation that spends untold amounts of money to spy on everyone, can't we keep track of people well enough to know who is alive and who died? One reason for purging voters, a very valid one, is that you do not want the dead on voter rolls when the outcome of an election depends on a certain percentage of the electorate having voted. Another is to keep the dead from voting, or, I should say, to keep the living from voting for the dead to fix elections.

HOWEVER, all this points to and obvious solution, once a voter, always a voter somewhere. Once you are on a voter roll anywhere, you shouid always be a voter and eligible to vote somewhere until dead! This should be so no matter how many elections you ignore, how often you move, etc. We need to change the rules so they do not discriminate against certain demographics, like the infrequent voter.

MEANWHILE, election integrity activists now have one more dirty trick to monitor, purging voter histories on the sly to eliminate liberal voters from the rolls by using race to discriminate them.

[Iggy]

1. Appears the anwer is yes

Again, go back to how our nation was run politically at the beginning:

Only white men with wealth (money & property) were allowed to vote,
and only these men were allowed to run for congress.

This is clearly laid out in Howard Zinn's great book "A People's History of the United States".
If you've not read this, consider it your req'd summer reading.

Observing the behavior of people like Gov. Scott (wealthy white man) other GOP
representatives, the teabagger mob, etc., it's clear they'd like to return
to our earlier system.

[L. Coyote]

2. It appears the Conservative answer is Yes.

But, justice begs for a new solution, one that does not ever delete a living voter.

[SoutherDem]

3. Which is worst?

Purging a person who is legally eligible to vote, or allowing a person who isn't legally eligible to vote.

I keep hearing of the need to purge voter rolls due to non-citizens voting, although I have heard of very few cases where this has happened.

However, what about someone who moves and never moves their registration? Or someone who is registered in two states. I feel voter fraud is an answer seeking a problem.

Purging voter rolls are always dangerous. I understand using the official list of deaths but even that can remove eligible voters.

For the years the voters list which they used to verify who could vote had my grandmother, me and my mother in a line being the only 3 people in my small city with the same last name. My mother hasn't voted since the early 1980s but she is still on the list, but if she wanted to vote she is on the list, yes she is still a legal voter. However, I noticed in the next election after my grandmother died her name had been purged. She died on January 20, 1997 so they had two full years to do this.

Apparently, for all of the failing of the state of Alabama, who does require voter ID, does know how to purge a voter when they die yet not purge a voter just because they haven't voted for years.

[LiberalFighter]

5. Voter rolls should never be purged for any reason.

Rather, they should be marked as inactive and specify the reason. Then when it is known they have moved it would determine if it is reactivated because they still live within the jurisdiction of the election department or archived because they have moved out of county/state or have died. But record is still there if challenged.

It should not be that difficult to determine if a voter has moved considering that county governments have other records they can review when it involves property owners. Those that rent or just live with someone would be more difficult. But that can be further reduced by checking with drivers license records.

[L. Coyote]

6. The system evolved in a far less connected and electronic world, but today there is no excuse

for updating the system to ensure the "right to vote" exists in practice if not in the Constitution. We have the means to do a proper job of tracking voter eligibility, such as a voter ID number that you keep for a lifetime. The old system is precinct based. A new system could be person based.

[bigwillq]

4. No (nt)

[backscatter712]

7. What we should have is same-day registration nation-wide.

That's how most civilized nations do it. If you're not registered to vote on election day, you show up at the polling place, they have you fill out a form with an affadavit affirming you're a citizen eligible to vote, hand it it, and you get your ballot.

Other nations also do radical things like letting prisoners vote in prison, letting non-citizens vote (yes, in some nations, it's not only not a crime for a foreigner to vote, but it's actively encouraged.)

[GoCubsGo]

8. No.

Failing to exercise one's right is not cause for losing that right, which is what this kind of purging would do. If it isn't illegal, it should be. And, with the prevalence of laws requiring an ID to vote, the issue of people voting for someone who died is a moot point.

[BamaFanLee]

9. Only if verified

If you go 8 years without voting, then the government can send a letter with a return envelope asking if you are still at that address and if you plan to vote again. If the letter is returned, then the record is not purged. If the letter is not returned, then it should be purged.

The best thing to do, though, is be an active voter. Don't leave the job of getting the right wingers out of office to someone else. Get out and vote. Do your part!

[L. Coyote]

10. This is a discriminatory way of treating voters. It favors conservatives who vote more frequently.