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Wednesday, November 17. 2010

It tees me off, too

I agree with Cutler in the WSJ about early voting. In fact, I disagree with absentee voting and mail voting in general except for overseas military. If you want to vote, show up on Election Day with ID in hand, and do it the right way. Otherwise, don't vote.


WSJ: Too many voters are making decisions when horse-race coverage dominates the news, attention to issues is limited, and key debates haven't taken place.

Posted by The Barrister in Politics at 13:53 | Comments (17) | Trackbacks (0)

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That is likely the only thing to agree with Cutler on.
"Convenience" voting should be reserved for active duty military, college students (only those who don't ALSO vote in the town they attend college in), the infirmed and housebound, and BD when he is traveling abroad on Election Day.

Don't, however, mistake this as anything but sour grapes whining by the ultra-liberal, Carter-cloned, progressive, statist-elitist that is Eliot Cutler. He was silent on the issue when he thought he had a chance at winning.

Here in Maine, anyone with any sense welcomes a LePage administration.
#1 Mainuh on 2010-11-17 14:39 (Reply)
Hey BD, "with ID in hand" is a good one! I just got off the floor and I'm still holding my sides! Oh, man... you have to make sure people know when you're joking. Some people may actually think you should present some form of ID when you register or vote!

Obviously you don't REALLY have to do that - after all, it's so intimidating and demeaning!!

In VA and NC at least, you are not required to present ID when you vote and in VA (maybe NC and others) it is illegal to ask for it.
#2 mudbug on 2010-11-17 14:57 (Reply)
I have to show photo ID to vote - and to do lots of other things too.
#2.1 Bird Dog on 2010-11-17 14:59 (Reply)
Me too! I think it's amazing that anybody with a straight face could argue that showing an ID to vote is too onerous! But people do. I am dumbfounded by what passes for legitimate debate these days. It's just another marker for how far we've fallen.

I had hoped my sarcasm showed through on my previous post. I'm not good at it and I'm practicing! :-)
#2.1.1 mudbug on 2010-11-17 15:45 (Reply)
I don't often throw in with yall, Barrister but on this one i will.

Elections would be more fun if they had lines with chicklets jackin'.
#3 Leag on 2010-11-17 15:19 (Reply)
Dear Lord--what the hell took you so long Barrister? Mail in ballots are a result of . . . .

Voting machines are manufactured by the same folks who make slot machines. . .

Question now is how, when, where, and who in order to start cleaning up this damn mess. The voting process is the very heart of our immediate demise and I do mean IMMEDIATE.
#4 anotherone on 2010-11-17 15:29 (Reply)
Here in Washington State, we had all mail-in ballots for the first time this year. People vote starting as soon as the ballots arrive and up to election day. I hate it. John Fund says there is much more opportunity for vote fraud with this method, and we've had several fraudulent elections here.

My real objection is just that I loved election day -- everything about it -- the flag hanging outside the precinct voting place, the old ladies who manned the tables. I have never missed an election since I first voted, never mind how many years ago (a lot). Always saw some neighbors that I probably hadn't seen since the previous election. The main thing was the feeling of participating, on the same day, with all Americans doing their civic duty proudly. I really want my traditional election day back.
#5 the Elephant's Child (Link) on 2010-11-17 17:18 (Reply)
Darned spam filter will not allow me to embed the link, but it shows that our Mr. Cutler has personally taken advantage of convenience voting for quite a long while... funny it never bothered him until now.

http://downeast.com/the-tipping-point/2010/november/statements-cutler-absentee
#6 Mainuh on 2010-11-17 19:33 (Reply)
Cutler's vote total benefited from a last minute shift of Democrat voters from their party's candidate to Cutler, all in an effort to defeat the Republican. This had nothing to do with voters learning about Cutler's stand on the issues; it had everything to do with polls showing LePage well in the lead and Mitchell (the Dem) well behind. Votes shifted at that point to "anyone but LePage." Typical of Cutler's vanity to think his sudden gain was due to a pro-Cutler epiphany among the electorate.
#7 Jane on 2010-11-17 20:55 (Reply)
Saying you have to be physically present to vote is saying expat Americans don't have a stake in the outcome of elections. I assure you we're just as affected by economic, foreign policy, taxation and other issues as American residents are.
#8 Clubbeaux on 2010-11-17 20:58 (Reply)
In the country I live, expat citizens can vote at the embassy or consular office whereever they live.
They do however have to either go there to get the paperwork taken care of several weeks before the elections or get the paperwork done at home before they go abroad so the right ballots and other documents can be sent to the correct embassies and consulates.

There's no way to register fake voter registrations here, as all citizens are automatically registered and get their voter cards mailed to their registered address (or elsewhere if arranged in advance by application to their city of residence).
Anyone with a social security number (or our equivalent) is thus automatically registered and will get their voter cards which includes details on where they can cast their votes on time (if there's no postal worker strike, as happened to some towns during the recent elections).

Illegal aliens and dead people are out of luck.
#8.1 J.T. Wenting on 2010-11-18 08:26 (Reply)
Early or "convenience" voting should not be allowed, except for certain very narrow circumstances. It is becoming almost routine.

On a related note, in Minnesota, election "greeter" judges (I have been one for the past several elections, but I'm not an old lady yet!) must not ask for ID, nor even look at one if it is proffered. Several were, and I gave them furtive glances, but had to rely on the voter's spoken "word" as to name and address.

There was a citizen movement in MN (I think it was called Election Integrity) for voters to wear buttons saying "Ask Me for My ID"; judges were instructed to ask people to remove them, just as if they featured a candidate's name. None came through when I was serving, but still...

The other sketchy thing we have in MN is that someone can vouch for up to 15 people on same-day registration. At my site, this election and last, one notorious lefty 70-yr-old woman hangs around the voters' line making known the availability of her vouching services. Last election was Franken/Coleman, and she worked the line. This year, she tried it again, but our lead judge was successful in getting her kicked out early on. Quite an accomplishment, seeing as how this was in the most active Dem ward/precinct in Minneapolis.

On a final note, beware the Secretary of State project. Google it.
#9 lizzie on 2010-11-17 22:32 (Reply)
Check up on data from Roger Jonhston Argonne Vulnerability team in suburban Illinois. A click of a garage door opener can change an election.
#10 jma on 2010-11-17 23:43 (Reply)
Sorry, Johnston is the gentleman's last name.
#10.1 jma on 2010-11-17 23:46 (Reply)
Absentee voting here has severe restrictions.
You can only vote for 2 other people, and need to present their cards, countersigned by the people they're sent to originally.
If you're voting for someone outside your district, you also need to present a permit signed by the electoral commision of the district the person you're voting for is registered in, this has to be requested in person by that person several weeks in advance, with a copy of your passport so the form is listed explicitly as being sent to you.

Used this for the first time this year when we had emergency elections while my parents were abroad.
They requested I be allowed to vote for them just before they left (that trip had been planned before the elections were announced and could not be delayed), I got the forms mailed in by their city council a few days before the elections.
This situation is so rare the polling station crew at my local polling station who'd been manning that for over a decade had never seen these forms before.
#11 J.T. Wenting on 2010-11-18 02:08 (Reply)
I don't care if an ID is required to vote (either you're on the list or not), but I want a more rigorous registration process.

I worked at the polls this year. Wisconsin has same-day registration. We had a couple hundred people change their address at the polls, which is a pain in the neck and doesn't give the clerk a chance to verify the information.

I have no doubt most, if not all, of these changes were legit, but to register at all in Wisconsin you do not have to show any proof of citizenship. You have to show (at same-day registration) a Wisconsin DL or ID, but you do not have to be a citizen to get a DL.

One guy tried to use his passport as his ID, plus a utility bill to confirm his address, which would have been fine with me, but the WI legislature does not think a passport is sufficient and it is not on the list of acceptable ID.

The voters did not worry me as much as some of the poll workers:
http://class-factotum.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-fear-for-our-country.html
#12 class factotum (Link) on 2010-11-18 11:04 (Reply)
Voter fraud is going to happen if the political activist groups in place decide it is going to happen. Single individuals here and there deciding to vote twice or while not valid don't throw elections - there are not enough of them to be motivated or care. It is only when a concerted effort of a group - usually a union or similar organization - that works hard to get lots of "their" people to do it. So you have to go after group, not take away mail balloting to make it harder for individual voters.

I travel up to 60% on business. When in Texas I missed voting one year because I found out I was traveling on election day AFTER the deadline to regiter for absentee voting (for an absentee ballot you had to sign an affidavit that you would be out of the county or somehow physically unable to vote).

I moved to California and became a permantee absentee voter. I am gone about 50% of election days, but don't worry about when or how far in advance that I need to schedule travel now.
#13 Director Mitch (Link) on 2010-11-18 16:43 (Reply)

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