Saturday, January 08, 2005

    Vote Bloat

    Voting problems come down to just two issues - [1] the voting mechanism and [2] who is voting. Until both of these issues are resolved there will be continued election problems.

    1 - A method to vote accurately and without possibility of multiple voting on the same ballot needs to be developed. Current methods are evidently too complex for some people to figure out. I like the way Oregon does it - just use a pencil to connect the gap between the lines. For those that find punching a hole a real complex task a line should be a welcome relief. But I'm sure even with that someone, somewhere, will claim the proper way was not explained to them - maybe resulting with that genius drawing circles or something other than a simple line. Personally I think if a voter can't understand the simple concept of how to operate a simple ballot they shouldn't be allowed to vote on the basis of being retarded and therefore not able to understand the concept of who or what they are even voting for, let alone the process of voting.

    2 - We have laws in this country that governs who can vote, but we have little protection of that law. We have all heard various cases of voter fraud - dead people voting, felons, illegal aliens, people voting more than one time, etc. The ACLU goes out of their way to make sure our voting laws are bastardized. They have already filed a constitutional challenge to allow felons to vote and most of us are aware of their hard-core vigil to keep voters from being identified as legal voters. Personally I think secured voting is a must. Each person must be verified as legally able to vote - by proper identification. If they don't have the proper ID they will need to obtain it or they don't vote - it's their choice. Lastly, 1 ballot would be associated with 1 legal person and tracked - NOT the vote tracked, just the ballot. Tracking would prevent multiple ballots from the same person. Simple huh?

    2 comments:

    birdwoman said...

    Problem (well, not really a problem) being, election rules vary from place to place within the country. Even if a good rule of conduct were devised, there's no way to ensure it applies everywhere in the US.

    (*)>

    JustaDog said...

    That's a good point that raises another question - should some states be more legal than other states? Since state issues can have a direct effect on the country as a whole (like when California's ex-gov Davis made it legal for illegal aliens to get drivers licenses) shouldn't there be a minimal level of voting standards (federally provided) that all states should have to follow?

    Thanks for your post!