5 ms·
There is little if any actual evidence of voter fraud, but plenty of evidence that making voting harder (via voter ID validation, biometric markings, etc) simpl
by voxl 6y ago
There is little if any actual evidence of voter fraud, but plenty of evidence that making voting harder (via voter ID validation, biometric markings, etc) simply disenfranchises voters.
It's easy to say that software can just be hacked, but just because its a possibility doesn't give you the right to invalidate an election.
- andrewflnr 6y agoThis is a cop-out. Other countries seem to be able to have voter identification, the US should be capable of it, too. Start by making the identity card free-as-in-beer, bonus points for not requiring a permanent address.
- standardUser 6y ago"Start by making the identity card free-as-in-beer..." The people putting forward voter ID laws usually do the opposite. They want to make obtaining an ID more difficult and make that ID a requirement to vote. If we just say "getting and ID should be easy" but don't actually make it easy, and then we increase voter ID requirements, we are disenfranchising voters.
- luxuryballs 6y agoYeah but those people existing doesn’t change the actual merits of the idea itself.
- standardUser 6y agoIf the end result is that someone who could vote in the last election cannot vote in the next election, we need a better idea.
- andrewflnr 6y agoThat's a good heuristic. I would only counterbalance it with the possibility of enabling people to vote who could not in the last election (thinking again of people with no fixed address).
- maxerickson 6y agoWhich idea? Requiring id and then making it hard to get doesn't have a lot of merit if there aren't a bunch of people exploiting the lack of id checks.
- chrisco255 6y agoWho doesn't have an ID in 2020? You can't fly without one. You can't drive without one. You can't go to a bar without one. You can't book a hotel in most cases without one. It just seems like people are arguing that edge cases exist and therefore we cant require ID. There is no conspiracy against people getting an ID in 2020. Everybody very much wants you to have one.
- maxerickson 6y agoNone of that is an argument for requiring an id to vote though, it's just things you think it would be ridiculous to go without. If someone has registered and voted in the past and has an expired id, should they be excluded from voting if they don't renew in time? Even though registration is already a sufficient barrier to fraud?
- andrewflnr 6y agoDoing it right is the best way to foil the ones trying to do it wrong.
- seanhunter 6y agoI don't present ID in the UK when I vote. I show my polling card (which they send me in the mail as a registered voter), state my name and address and receive my ballot.