Why so many problems with registration and voting process?

[Darth Wong]

I think its clear the left cares more, which is why they always...what's the term? put country first, if you will. And they concede contested elections and electoral manipulation and scorched-earth tactics in the name of liberal democracy.

It doesn't help that there's a long history of widespread right-wing voter disenfranchisement tactics, leading right up into the 1960s civil rights era. That's hardly ancient history: most of the politicians who are influential today seem to be from that era.

[Pu-239]

Well... my voter registration card has yet to show up... looks like I might be disenfranchised this year...

Maybe it got lost in the mail or something? In VA I just show identification when voting w/ no registration card required, and you can check registration status online.

[Uraniun235]

Anything which uses ID sign ups misses those who either can't afford or don't register for state issued IDs
Anything which uses SSN information willinvariably miss a large number of folks in the poor and homeless categories, be subject to the current SSN fraud worries, and have issues with maitnaining an accurate ward/district picture.
Anything which uses tax forms misses those who don't file (which in MD for example includes anyone making less than $8.750 per year even those living at home)

Now you could setup a system which uses all of these but you are still disproportionately likely to miss out on the homeless and poor. Moreover with the Tax and ID based systems you've opened a whole new avenue of challenges.

There's always potential for fraud, even with picture ID - if it's possible to forge official documents sufficient to qualify for voter registration, it's possible to use those same forgeries to obtain fraudulent photo ID which could then be used for voter registration.

I know I must sound like a broken record, but I linked to the Oregon system's registration requirements in my last post: simply put, they're either an official photo ID, or a Social Security Number, or an affirmation of lack of both and some other identifying documentation. Even the homeless can register under our system - they can provide a shelter or other frequented place as their address. We have pretty decent turnout - by some rough calculations, just less than 3/4ths of the eligible population were registered to vote in 2004, and of those registered voters over 80% of them actually cast a vote.

The real solution to reforming voter registration is not in throwing up obstacles to registration (like requiring multiple forms of ID, or something) - it's in reforming the review process which attempts to screen out fraudulent registrations and ensuring that elections law enforcement (like laws barring the removal of registered voters from the rolls within so many days of an election) is given real teeth.

I don't know what such a system would look like just yet btu I can say that there is no easy way to create it within the existing structure and THEN you run into the whole "its worked for 200-odd years why change it" mentality which is currently drumming up opposition to Early Voting in Maryland.

If you're willing to make it a medium-term project, there's a way to approach this: Institute reforms in states that are willing to change and try something different. Show that it works better in those states, and use that to urge the more entrenched states like (apparently) Maryland to do better.

Well... my voter registration card has yet to show up... looks like I might be disenfranchised this year...

Why weren't you registered earlier? Did you move recently?

[CmdrWilkens]

If I were designing a system from the ground up for voter registration/participation today I think it would work somewhat like this:

Step 1: All births certificates allow for entry of the person into the vital statistics database. The person will be assumed to live at the address listed as home of record unless:
a) A death certificate enters the system which is identified as the same person
b) An adoption, custody, emancipation or other legal document is generated within the state which assigns a different address
c) The individual applies for and receives state issued identification listing an alternate address

Step 2: In November of the year prior to the year in which the person would be eligible to vote in an election a postage paid return envelope will be mailed to the address listed in the vital statistics database requesting registration with the state.
-If the registration is returned then the person will be registered to vote based upon the location indicated on the returned form (or a pin-enabled web form)
-The registration will ask for a 4 digit PIN to be selected, any form returned without a PIN/illegible PIN/etc will be re-mailed and the person registered provisionally in the meantime
-If the registration is not returned the person will be provisionally registered to vote from the address listed in the vital statistics database.


Step 3: For any person who returns the registration fully completed they will be assumed to remain at that address unless any of the three conditions in Step 1 are met
If either condition b) or c) occur and the new address is within the state then all of the items in Step 2 will be repeated (unless the person has already filed for a change in registration)


Step 3: Beginning in January of any election year, or 6 weeks prior to any special election, the Board of Elections will mail barcoded registration cards to every registered voter in the databse.

Step 4: Starting with the first day of balloting (2 weeks prior to any special, primary, or general election) any individual may present their barcoded registration document at any polling place, utilize their 4 digit PIN and vote [it should be sheer simplicity for software to allow for vote anywhere based upon linking to the registration database to pull up the proper local ballot]
-If the individual forgets their 4 digit pin they may either present any other proof of identity or vote provisionally
-If the individual forgets their barcoded card they may either present any other proof of identityor vote provisionally
-If a person who is registered provisionally appears at the polling place (that is they did not return their card or returned it incomplete) they may vote provisionally or they may present proof of residency and vote normally.

Step 5 Challenges:
Challenging registration:
- A registration may be challenged by showing that an individual has applied for a permanent change of address with another jurisdiction, has filed taxes as a resident of another jurisdiction, or has died.
- A provisional ballot may only be succesfully challenged by showing proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual was not eligible.

Step 6:
Provisional ballots shall remain seperate from normal ballots until at least 1 year after the election unless extended by a signed petition. They shall be counted and certified with nromal ballots unless successfully challenged.

[eyl]

If I were designing a system from the ground up for voter registration/participation today I think it would work somewhat like this:

Step 1: All births certificates allow for entry of the person into the vital statistics database. The person will be assumed to live at the address listed as home of record unless:
a) A death certificate enters the system which is identified as the same person
b) An adoption, custody, emancipation or other legal document is generated within the state which assigns a different address
c) The individual applies for and receives state issued identification listing an alternate address

Step 2: In November of the year prior to the year in which the person would be eligible to vote in an election a postage paid return envelope will be mailed to the address listed in the vital statistics database requesting registration with the state.
-If the registration is returned then the person will be registered to vote based upon the location indicated on the returned form (or a pin-enabled web form)
-The registration will ask for a 4 digit PIN to be selected, any form returned without a PIN/illegible PIN/etc will be re-mailed and the person registered provisionally in the meantime
-If the registration is not returned the person will be provisionally registered to vote from the address listed in the vital statistics database.


Step 3: For any person who returns the registration fully completed they will be assumed to remain at that address unless any of the three conditions in Step 1 are met
If either condition b) or c) occur and the new address is within the state then all of the items in Step 2 will be repeated (unless the person has already filed for a change in registration)


Step 3: Beginning in January of any election year, or 6 weeks prior to any special election, the Board of Elections will mail barcoded registration cards to every registered voter in the databse.

Step 4: Starting with the first day of balloting (2 weeks prior to any special, primary, or general election) any individual may present their barcoded registration document at any polling place, utilize their 4 digit PIN and vote [it should be sheer simplicity for software to allow for vote anywhere based upon linking to the registration database to pull up the proper local ballot]
-If the individual forgets their 4 digit pin they may either present any other proof of identity or vote provisionally
-If the individual forgets their barcoded card they may either present any other proof of identityor vote provisionally
-If a person who is registered provisionally appears at the polling place (that is they did not return their card or returned it incomplete) they may vote provisionally or they may present proof of residency and vote normally.

Step 5 Challenges:
Challenging registration:
- A registration may be challenged by showing that an individual has applied for a permanent change of address with another jurisdiction, has filed taxes as a resident of another jurisdiction, or has died.
- A provisional ballot may only be succesfully challenged by showing proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the individual was not eligible.

Step 6:
Provisional ballots shall remain seperate from normal ballots until at least 1 year after the election unless extended by a signed petition. They shall be counted and certified with nromal ballots unless successfully challenged.

The main stumbling block I see here is the requirement for a central vital statistics database. Wouldn't this create a lot of opposition from those Americans who seem to have a problem with any sort of central registration?

Of course, this proposal would still require people to take a fair amount of active responsibility for their vote (e.g. if they leave the state) but I assume those who wouldn't bother probably wouldn't bother to vote anyway.

A somewhat unrelated question (for anyone who cares to answer) - under the current system I understand you can vote at any polling station, and only need to present a photo ID. How do you prevent double voting (i.e. someone voting at one station and then going to vote at another station)?

[Ekiqa]

A somewhat unrelated question (for anyone who cares to answer) - under the current system I understand you can vote at any polling station, and only need to present a photo ID. How do you prevent double voting (i.e. someone voting at one station and then going to vote at another station)?

Aren't you only registered for one polling station?

In Canada, when Elections Canada sends you your info, it tells you which location to use.

Is it more haphazard in the US?

[Alyrium Denryle]

Well... my voter registration card has yet to show up... looks like I might be disenfranchised this year...

Maybe it got lost in the mail or something? In VA I just show identification when voting w/ no registration card required, and you can check registration status online.

I checked. I am registered, thankfully. And yes. I did move recently

[RogueIce]

A somewhat unrelated question (for anyone who cares to answer) - under the current system I understand you can vote at any polling station, and only need to present a photo ID. How do you prevent double voting (i.e. someone voting at one station and then going to vote at another station)?

Aren't you only registered for one polling station?

In Canada, when Elections Canada sends you your info, it tells you which location to use.

Is it more haphazard in the US?

Here where I live, I have a voting precinct. So I go to vote there and nowhere else, unless I do an absentee ballot or whatever. Or early voting.

In any case, on election day there's a sheet with the names of voters and I have to go there, show my cards and then sign next to my name, and there's also some sticker thingy they had. So I couldn't just go around the county and vote at will.

Now I suppose one could ask what happens if I wanted to send an absentee ballot and then vote later, would they catch it? I don't know when they update the lists or whatnot, but I imagine there's a way to avoid it. Either that or they notice, "Hey, he signed in at his polling place and sent in an absentee? Arrest him!" or something like that.

But at any rate, at least here in Hillsborough County, it is not "go wherever you want and vote" on election day.

[Knife]

I'd like to see a national id push in America with voter registration tacked on top of that. Would be near impossible to push through in the US's political climate but... I guess a national database of State DMV license numbers and State ID numbers and use that to attack a voters registration program to. Of course you'll have the 'I don't have either a state ID or a state DL'. However, a couple years of 'get out the ID' would about cover that. It would also solve, more or less, the ID problem with voter fraud.

Sure, if someone is motivated enough, you can get fake ID to vote, but for rank and file citizens, if you have ID you're already registered to vote.

[Max]

I was thinking the other day, our electronic voting booths should ask you a series of questions on the different issues, and then highlight the ideal candidate based on your answers... or just outright select that candidate for you. I'm sure that isn't legal at all, but I'm just getting to that point where I can't take stupid people discussing politics when I'm out an about.

[charlemagne]

I was thinking the other day, our electronic voting booths should ask you a series of questions on the different issues, and then highlight the ideal candidate based on your answers... or just outright select that candidate for you. I'm sure that isn't legal at all, but I'm just getting to that point where I can't take stupid people discussing politics when I'm out an about.

Funny, there was a German website called "Vote-o-Mat" who did exactly that, it asked 20 questions about topics like drug policy, tax policy, ecological topics and so on, all broken down into easy real-life questions everybody could relate to, and then told you what party would reflect your views most, based on the party programs.

It had to be taken down before the last elections, though, because it didn't include one of the smaller, more obscure parties which had sued because of that.