« More Wisconson Fraud | Main | More East St. Louis Voting Fraud »
January 25, 2005
Updated List of Voting Reforms
A few months ago I did this list of voting reforms and I think it is time for an update. So here is the revised list:
1. Make sure the person voting is allowed to vote (non-felon where relevant, citizen, at least 18, not dead or a cat, etc.) and only allow them to vote once per election. To do this you need to eliminate practices like same day registration, make sure all states coordinate their voting registrations so that people are not registered to vote in more than one state, and require a state issued photo ID to vote. Related to this, make sure that the addresses people use to register are real residential addresses (not PO boxes, non-existent addresses, vacant lots, baseball parks, etc.) and if possible determine if they live there. The state ID address needs to match the address they use register to vote. Update 1/26/05: Also have voters marked with indelible UV ink so that they can't vote multiple times in one election.
2. Have non-partisan third party observers/inspectors. These people will have the tricky job of making sure there is no intimidation and that there are no symbols of any candidate or any other form of campaigning near the poling place. Who will these people be? Maybe people from big accounting firms or some other relatively neutral place.
3. Make sure the number of voters matches the number of ballots. Allow for a very small margin of error, but if the election could be decided by the amount of missing votes or voters, then the election should not be certified.
4. Have a paper trail. When electronic voting is used the machine should spit out a paper receipt like an ATM spits out that then goes into a sealed box. This allows for manual recounts when needed and lowers the incidents of conspiracy theories when one side loses.
5. For really important elections (like president) have a sheet of paper with big print for the name of the candidates with big boxes right next to each name. Then give everyone voting a pencil. (note this last reform is a fantasy and will never happen).
Posted by Pete at January 25, 2005 03:17 PM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.petetheelder.com/mt-tb.cgi/290