Flying minis
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I don't think there's any reason to ask for ID at voting time, because it doesn't fix or prevent ANY issues.
The only thing presenting an ID does is confirms your name to the name in the voter rolls - but there's no comparative picture to show that it's you, so it doesn't discourage someone getting a false ID (they're everywhere by the way) and going in to vote as another person. It doesn't discourage someone who is not a citizen from voting, because they can also get ID's, whether by legal or illegal means. To tell the truth, the only ones it actually hurts are transgender citizens, who are generally denied ability to vote because their appearance doesn't match their ID's (I won't go on from there, I'm sure it's a touchy subject for some).
Now, to address the REAL issues. . . I think most Americans agree that you must be a citizen to vote. That said, the real solution is to ensure voter registration is correct, and that only citizens register, and to periodically require re-registration (similar to driver's licenses). . . In other words, fix the whole system, not just a symptom or perceived specific incident. If you had to show proof of citizenship when you register to vote (and maybe you do, I registered a long time ago and truly don't remember) AND had to periodically re-register, AND the registration had to be periodically reviewed for accuracy and dead / non-current registrations removed, THEN we would actually have a chance of maintaining the principals that we all seem to agree to. . . HOWEVER, comprehensive and holistic answers are more difficult and expensive than shot-in-the-dark at what looks like it could be a problem solutions, and are a harder "sell" to the populace, so I really don't look to see any changes in the near future. If the whole system were chnaged however, then I would have no objection to VERIFIED electronic voting - but I think that it would be almost impossible to do over the entire country. I work for a highly regulated industry, and I know what kind of hoops we have to go through to ensure verified, validated electronic signatures, and would expect that voting would be no less secure than our systems - and I don't think you could institute an e-compliance, 21 CFR PArt 11 compliance computerized system for e-signatures across the entire country (we have done it for a company of 100,000 people globally, and it is a nightmare to implement and maintain).
The only thing presenting an ID does is confirms your name to the name in the voter rolls - but there's no comparative picture to show that it's you, so it doesn't discourage someone getting a false ID (they're everywhere by the way) and going in to vote as another person. It doesn't discourage someone who is not a citizen from voting, because they can also get ID's, whether by legal or illegal means. To tell the truth, the only ones it actually hurts are transgender citizens, who are generally denied ability to vote because their appearance doesn't match their ID's (I won't go on from there, I'm sure it's a touchy subject for some).
Now, to address the REAL issues. . . I think most Americans agree that you must be a citizen to vote. That said, the real solution is to ensure voter registration is correct, and that only citizens register, and to periodically require re-registration (similar to driver's licenses). . . In other words, fix the whole system, not just a symptom or perceived specific incident. If you had to show proof of citizenship when you register to vote (and maybe you do, I registered a long time ago and truly don't remember) AND had to periodically re-register, AND the registration had to be periodically reviewed for accuracy and dead / non-current registrations removed, THEN we would actually have a chance of maintaining the principals that we all seem to agree to. . . HOWEVER, comprehensive and holistic answers are more difficult and expensive than shot-in-the-dark at what looks like it could be a problem solutions, and are a harder "sell" to the populace, so I really don't look to see any changes in the near future. If the whole system were chnaged however, then I would have no objection to VERIFIED electronic voting - but I think that it would be almost impossible to do over the entire country. I work for a highly regulated industry, and I know what kind of hoops we have to go through to ensure verified, validated electronic signatures, and would expect that voting would be no less secure than our systems - and I don't think you could institute an e-compliance, 21 CFR PArt 11 compliance computerized system for e-signatures across the entire country (we have done it for a company of 100,000 people globally, and it is a nightmare to implement and maintain).
