5 ms·

> You have to give your name, and they know if you've voted more than once at that station that day. So you go to other stations, duh. It's called "carousel vo

> You have to give your name, and they know if you've voted more than once at that station that day. So you go to other stations, duh. It's called "carousel voting" [0], if done on a large, organized scale. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel_voting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel_voting

cj 8mo ago
At least in NY, you would have to know the name of someone else assigned to the 2nd polling site, since your name is only on the list of 1 polling location?
- drstewart 8mo ago
  This is of course a very high bar to clear, as data such as people's names is highly confidential and almost impossible to get unless you're any one of these 750+ data brokers: https://privacyrights.org/data-brokers https://privacyrights.org/data-brokers
  - alistairSH 8mo ago
    You'd also need a fake ID. And be willing to risk a felony conviction to add a single vote. It just doesn't happen here, despite the GOP trying to prove otherwise for decades.
    - trelane 8mo ago
      I've only ever seen one time it was tried. The experiment was wildly successful: https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/01/voter-fraud-weve-got-proof-its-easy-john-fund/ https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/01/voter-fraud-weve-got-...
      - alistairSH 8mo ago
        Looks like those were in states that don't require ANY ID to vote, which I find ridiculous, so I guess we agree. I live in VA, we require ID, so the problem shown in NY shouldn't be possible. And again, you still have to be willing to commit a felony to move the needly by ONE vote, which is not likely to be very common. The risk/reward simply isn't there.
    - MC995 8mo ago
      > You'd also need a fake ID For what? In my state there's no requirement to show ID. When I first moved here I attempted to show mine at the poll and the poll worker told me to quickly put that away and she didn't want to see it. I'm not even sure it's legal for them to ask for ID here, given her panicked reaction to me trying to show it. Since then I've voted in this state for around 10 years and it's always the same. I could say I'm whoever I want, and just be given a ballot. Edit: I don't live in NY either, as the other poster used as an example. ID should be an obvious and necessary requirement, but it isn't in many states.
      - alistairSH 8mo ago
        Yeah, it's inconsistent between states. I'm in VA and an ID is required. Despite being a bleeding heart liberal, I'm ok with that safe-guard (despite much of the left being against the notion). I'd also prefer an actual national ID (not the half-baked RealID programs, which some states still haven't adopted).
        kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 8mo ago
        It's not really "much of the left" that is against it, just the loudest voices. Pew research says [1 sorry for the ugly URL] Support for photo ID requirements also remains widespread in both parties. More than nine-in-ten Republicans (95%) and about seven-in-ten Democrats (71%) favor requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/22/majority-of-americans-continue-to-back-expanded-early-voting-voting-by-mail-voter-id/#:~:text=Support%20for%20photo%20ID%20requirements%20also%20remains%20widespread%20in%20both%20parties.%20More%20than%20nine%2Din%2Dten%20Republicans%20(95%25)%20and%20about%20seven%2Din%2Dten%20Democrats%20(71%25)%20favor%20requiring%20all%20voters%20to%20show%20government%2Dissued%20photo%20identification%20to%20vote. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/22/majority-of-...
        NekkoDroid 8mo ago
        I am p sure a lot of those that aren't for it aren't for it because of access to said ID is gated behind money (or unreasonably out of the way), which would need to be fixed first.
  - throwaway85825 8mo ago
    Confidential? You can buy the voter list from your state government. They legally have to give it to you.
_whiteCaps_ 8mo ago
Interesting. In Canada, for federal elections at least, you're assigned to a specific location and station. You can't vote anywhere else. There's a separate process for mail in ballots to confirm you didn't vote in advanced voting or on election day as well.
- jfengel 8mo ago
  Same in the US. You can try voting again at other stations, especially since they don't require ID. You just need the name of somebody assigned to that station, who hasn't already voted. There is a signature check if there is a suspicion, but that's rarely done. But that's practically never done. The risks are too high, and to have a significant impact would require enough votes to make it certain you'd get caught.
  - ChoGGi 8mo ago
    You still need id in Canada; either that or someone at the same polling station to vouch for you. https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&document=ec90518&lang=e https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&do...
  - Scubabear68 8mo ago
    The signature check is actually not uncommon, particularly if the vote is contested or a recount done. We had a vote thrown out of an election several years ago, the woman died right after the election, the signature on the card looked nothing like hers and was probably done by her daughter. That said all indications are voter fraud is not any kind of wide spread problem in the United States.
jfengel 8mo ago
And in Russia, it is. That's why they call it "карусель". In the United States, it hasn't been. The article you link to doesn't even mention the United States. To do it on a large scale requires cooperation from the people running the election, and the US isn't (yet) that corrupt. The US system isn't completely robust against it, and perhaps some day it will be a problem. But right now there is no evidence that it is a problem, and all of the attempts to "fix" it are clearly aimed at preventing some people from voting.
- HeWhoLurksLate 8mo ago
  Famously, there have been significant issues in the past (see Tammany Hall) but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as widespread as it used to be, and especially not at the national election level. I’m sure that there’s shady stuff happening in local (county) level elections, but that’s of significantly less importance to the rest of the general public
  - cge 8mo ago
    An added point about Tammany Hall is that for much of time it was a relevant political power, the US did not have secret ballots. Arguably, it was the lack of anonymity/secrecy in voting that allowed for the types of election fraud that Tammany Hall and others were known for. The secret ballot perhaps made a particular type of election fraud, the kind done by dedicated partisans voting multiple times themselves, theoretically easier. But it removed the mechanics that allowed far more prevalent and lucrative election fraud. In the Tammany Hall era, you could buy votes and know that your paid voters actually voted the way you wanted. You could promise that your preferred candidates, if elected, would give rewards only to people who voted for them, and actually follow through with that promise. You could physically prevent people from voting with ballots that weren't yours, rather than trying to rely on demographics.
alistairSH 8mo ago
Limit voters to one polling location. Problem solved. That's what we do in the US. You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away. You can do a provisional ballot (for people who recently moved, and poll data isn't updated, etc) and they validate your ID/address/etc later.
- yellowapple 8mo ago
  > That's what we do in the US. You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away. That ain't universally true. Here in Nevada you can vote at any polling station (I think within the same county).
- SideburnsOfDoom 8mo ago
  > You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away And this is a way to disrupt and tilt elections. see: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/chaos-and-voter-suppression-texas-primary https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/chao...
orthoxerox 8mo ago
It only works if the people working at the polling station are in on it, because you can't normally get an absentee ballot more than once.

cj 8mo ago

At least in NY, you would have to know the name of someone else assigned to the 2nd polling site, since your name is only on the list of 1 polling location?

drstewart 8mo ago
This is of course a very high bar to clear, as data such as people's names is highly confidential and almost impossible to get unless you're any one of these 750+ data brokers: https://privacyrights.org/data-brokers https://privacyrights.org/data-brokers
- alistairSH 8mo ago
  You'd also need a fake ID. And be willing to risk a felony conviction to add a single vote. It just doesn't happen here, despite the GOP trying to prove otherwise for decades.
  - trelane 8mo ago
    I've only ever seen one time it was tried. The experiment was wildly successful: https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/01/voter-fraud-weve-got-proof-its-easy-john-fund/ https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/01/voter-fraud-weve-got-...
    - alistairSH 8mo ago
      Looks like those were in states that don't require ANY ID to vote, which I find ridiculous, so I guess we agree. I live in VA, we require ID, so the problem shown in NY shouldn't be possible. And again, you still have to be willing to commit a felony to move the needly by ONE vote, which is not likely to be very common. The risk/reward simply isn't there.
  - MC995 8mo ago
    > You'd also need a fake ID For what? In my state there's no requirement to show ID. When I first moved here I attempted to show mine at the poll and the poll worker told me to quickly put that away and she didn't want to see it. I'm not even sure it's legal for them to ask for ID here, given her panicked reaction to me trying to show it. Since then I've voted in this state for around 10 years and it's always the same. I could say I'm whoever I want, and just be given a ballot. Edit: I don't live in NY either, as the other poster used as an example. ID should be an obvious and necessary requirement, but it isn't in many states.
    - alistairSH 8mo ago
      Yeah, it's inconsistent between states. I'm in VA and an ID is required. Despite being a bleeding heart liberal, I'm ok with that safe-guard (despite much of the left being against the notion). I'd also prefer an actual national ID (not the half-baked RealID programs, which some states still haven't adopted).
      - kQq9oHeAz6wLLS 8mo ago
        It's not really "much of the left" that is against it, just the loudest voices. Pew research says [1 sorry for the ugly URL] Support for photo ID requirements also remains widespread in both parties. More than nine-in-ten Republicans (95%) and about seven-in-ten Democrats (71%) favor requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/22/majority-of-americans-continue-to-back-expanded-early-voting-voting-by-mail-voter-id/#:~:text=Support%20for%20photo%20ID%20requirements%20also%20remains%20widespread%20in%20both%20parties.%20More%20than%20nine%2Din%2Dten%20Republicans%20(95%25)%20and%20about%20seven%2Din%2Dten%20Democrats%20(71%25)%20favor%20requiring%20all%20voters%20to%20show%20government%2Dissued%20photo%20identification%20to%20vote. https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2025/08/22/majority-of-...
        NekkoDroid 8mo ago
        I am p sure a lot of those that aren't for it aren't for it because of access to said ID is gated behind money (or unreasonably out of the way), which would need to be fixed first.
- throwaway85825 8mo ago
  Confidential? You can buy the voter list from your state government. They legally have to give it to you.

_whiteCaps_ 8mo ago

Interesting. In Canada, for federal elections at least, you're assigned to a specific location and station. You can't vote anywhere else. There's a separate process for mail in ballots to confirm you didn't vote in advanced voting or on election day as well.

jfengel 8mo ago
Same in the US. You can try voting again at other stations, especially since they don't require ID. You just need the name of somebody assigned to that station, who hasn't already voted. There is a signature check if there is a suspicion, but that's rarely done. But that's practically never done. The risks are too high, and to have a significant impact would require enough votes to make it certain you'd get caught.
- ChoGGi 8mo ago
  You still need id in Canada; either that or someone at the same polling station to vouch for you. https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&document=ec90518&lang=e https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=bkg&do...
- Scubabear68 8mo ago
  The signature check is actually not uncommon, particularly if the vote is contested or a recount done. We had a vote thrown out of an election several years ago, the woman died right after the election, the signature on the card looked nothing like hers and was probably done by her daughter. That said all indications are voter fraud is not any kind of wide spread problem in the United States.

jfengel 8mo ago

And in Russia, it is. That's why they call it "карусель". In the United States, it hasn't been. The article you link to doesn't even mention the United States. To do it on a large scale requires cooperation from the people running the election, and the US isn't (yet) that corrupt. The US system isn't completely robust against it, and perhaps some day it will be a problem. But right now there is no evidence that it is a problem, and all of the attempts to "fix" it are clearly aimed at preventing some people from voting.

HeWhoLurksLate 8mo ago
Famously, there have been significant issues in the past (see Tammany Hall) but I don’t think it’s anywhere near as widespread as it used to be, and especially not at the national election level. I’m sure that there’s shady stuff happening in local (county) level elections, but that’s of significantly less importance to the rest of the general public
- cge 8mo ago
  An added point about Tammany Hall is that for much of time it was a relevant political power, the US did not have secret ballots. Arguably, it was the lack of anonymity/secrecy in voting that allowed for the types of election fraud that Tammany Hall and others were known for. The secret ballot perhaps made a particular type of election fraud, the kind done by dedicated partisans voting multiple times themselves, theoretically easier. But it removed the mechanics that allowed far more prevalent and lucrative election fraud. In the Tammany Hall era, you could buy votes and know that your paid voters actually voted the way you wanted. You could promise that your preferred candidates, if elected, would give rewards only to people who voted for them, and actually follow through with that promise. You could physically prevent people from voting with ballots that weren't yours, rather than trying to rely on demographics.

alistairSH 8mo ago

Limit voters to one polling location. Problem solved. That's what we do in the US. You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away. You can do a provisional ballot (for people who recently moved, and poll data isn't updated, etc) and they validate your ID/address/etc later.

yellowapple 8mo ago
> That's what we do in the US. You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away. That ain't universally true. Here in Nevada you can vote at any polling station (I think within the same county).
SideburnsOfDoom 8mo ago
> You are assigned a polling location based on your home address. You can't vote anywhere else. If you try, they turn you away And this is a way to disrupt and tilt elections. see: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/chaos-and-voter-suppression-texas-primary https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/chao...

orthoxerox 8mo ago

It only works if the people working at the polling station are in on it, because you can't normally get an absentee ballot more than once.